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lS^l 



FACTS FOR FARMERS; 

ALSO FOB 

THE FAMILY CIRCLE. 

A COMPOST OF RICH IMATERIALS FOR ALL LAND-OWNERS, 

ABOUT 

DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY; 

FARM BUILDINGS; 

^arkns, ©rcljarts, ait^ fiuei|arbs; 

AND ALL 

FARM CROPS, TOOLS, FESCES, FERTILIZATION, DRAIXIXG, AND IRRIGATIOX. 



EDITED 1!Y 

SOLOX ROB IN SOX, 

AGRICULTURAL EDITOR OF TUB XEW YORK "XRIBUHE," AND AUTHOR OF SEVERAL TOPULAR WORKS. 



NEW YORK: 
JOnXSON AXD WARD, PUBLISHERS, 

No. 113 FULTON STREET. 
1864. 









/^ -^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 18G3, by 
A. J. JOHNSON, 

In tlie Clerk's OflSce of the District Court of the United States for the Southern 
District of New Yorli. 



IoHL 



/ r 



DAVIES & KENT, 

1S3 WiUiam Street, N. Y. 



PREFACE. 



THE AUTHOR TO HIS READERS. 

"Facts for Farmers?*' "What facts?" "What new theories 
have we here in a ponderous volume ? Is it filled with dry dis- 
sertations about what farmers should or should not do?" "What 
does this author know about farming?" 

The author answers — ^the last question first. Nothing. Who 
does? He does not advance new theories. He only collects old 
ones. He has made a ponderous volume, not of dry dissertations, 
but of short, crisp facts. The book is full of little things ; glean- 
ings from many fields ; from all the agricultural papers ; from con- 
versations of farmers ; from talks at farmers' clubs ; from books a 
little ; from personal experience much ; — from the memory of a long 
life devoted to the practice and study of agriculture, this volume is 
born. It is the fruit of years of labor in a great and good field. 
It certainly contains much that will be useful to all classes who 
till the earth, or live in farmers' houses. It should be in every 
rural home, as a work of reference. It is arranged in the most con- 
venient form for this purpose. Each chapter comprises one general 
subject. Each section embraces a separate branch. Each num- 
bered paraOTaph is complete in itself, and conveys an item of infor- 
mation. Each subject is completely indexed. As a whole, though 
containing much, it is not an encylopedia of agriculture. It does 
not pretend to teach all that a farmer should knoAV. That must be 
learned by daily perusal of agi'icultural papers and books. 



Though not perfect, farmers will find this book a useful one. If 
not invaluable, I hope it is one that they can not afford to do with- 
out. In its compilation, the author has enjoyed many facilities 
and much experience : he has also labored under many difficulties, 
while daily engaged as an agricultural editor of a great daily and 
weekly paper. You will find here stored up for future use man}' 
of the valuable little items that you have read approvingly in the 
Tribune, and many from other sources, useful to every farmer's 
family, and worthy of preservation. 

Usefulness instead of elegance has been aimed at. I have given 
more facts than theories. I have often given the opinions of several 
upon the same subject, and, as some of these vary, I leave the 
reader to adjust differences. 

In trying to avoid diffuseness, I have left much for inference, and 
purposely treated subjects in such a manner as to induce readers to 
make further research. A word of explanation. At the end of 
the volume you will find a list of agricultural papers, which the 
author had read for years previous to the commencement of this 
compilation. Also a list of individuals, some of whoni' are eminent 
authority in agricultural knowledge. From all these he has drawn 
matter, sometimes with, and sometimes without, credit to individ- 
uals, when facts have been condensed from their articles. Con- 
ciseness has been a study ; else, how could twelve hundred subjects 
be crowded into a thousand pages'^ Those whose articles I have 
used, must not complain that I have pruned too closel}'', or failed to 
give credit in all cases where credit is due. I freely acknowledge 
my obligations to all. 

This book is one that may be opened at any page, profitably, 
to occupy five minutes' leisure. It is printed in such large, clear 
type that it can be easily read. The author and publisher hope that 
it will be. Then it is illustrated as no agricultural book published 
in America ever has been. Look at the many large, handsome, 



PREFACE. 

steel engravings I These alone are worth the cost of the whole 
volume. 

Farmers ! you are earnestly invited to read, if nothing more, the 
titles and contents of chapters, and their subdivisions of. sections. 
If you do that, and find nothing that promises instruction, lay the 
volume aside. If so far it is promising, turn over its pages, glanc- 
ing at the black-lettei- titles of paragraphs. Of one thing be as- 
sured ; lengthy as the volume appears, it is not made so by extreme 
dilution ; the last chapter is better than any that precedes it. 
Throughout, no subject is lengthily treated ; no subject is treated 
that does not contain something useful to some one ; something that 
you can not always remember, but which you should always have ' 
at hand, convenient for frequent consultation. 

To those who know the name of the author — -and the number is 
large — I hope this book will be a welcome bequest. I hope it 
will be the means through which that name may live in love and 
honor with your children and children's children around many an 
American hearthstone. 

Of the author's portrait, a word. It is the publisher, and not the 
author, who inserts it. It represents him correctly, as he is at the 
age of nearly sixty. 

In conclusion, I earnestly hope these Facts will be an acceptable 
offering to a very large number of those whose prosperity I would 
promote, for I am one of the Brotherhood of American Farmers. 
To them it is commended, with the love and respect of their old 
friend, 

SOLON ROBINSON. 

New York, May 1, 1863. 



PLATE I. 

(The Frontispiece.) 

This is the genial face of a farmer, engaged in a work of love for 
his calling. It is placed here in opposition to the wishes of the 
author. He has been persuaded to allow his face to be seen»»by 
those , who purchase this collection of things useful to a very 
numerous class through the solicitation of the publisher, who 
knows that it will be a satisfaction to them to see how their old 
friend looks at the age of sixty. An old friend he will seem to 
those who read his earnest appeals for agricultural improvement 
twenty or thirty years ago. As a writer and lecturer upon agri- 
culture, and extensive traveler to observe its condition in the United 
States, few men are better known than the original of this portrait. 
Therefore this likeness will be, the publisher believes, highly appre- 
ciated as well by those who look upon a familiar face as those who 
see it here for the first time. 

The author was born a farmer, and will probably end his days 
where ho now lives (a few miles out of the busy hum of the city), 
in the peaceful quiet of his "home in the country," where this 
volume of facts for farmers has been prepared as a last legacy of his 
good-will to the brotherhood. 

Like other farmers' sons of New England, he learned to follow 
the plow there, thougli in early life he bec'ame a Western pioneer, and 
while a prairie farmer, became widely known as a writer advocating 
agricultural improvement, and more widely, in 1841, as the origin- 
ator of the National Agricultural Society, and earnest advocate of 
State and County societies. His connection with the New York 
Tribune since 1850 will make this picture interesting to all its 
readers. It is for these reasons that the pubhsher has incurred the 
expense of its production. 













CONTENT S. 


PAOE 

13 
19 

31 

51 

56 
60 
81 

97 
123 

157 

170 

203 
248 




CHAPTER I. 

DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 

■ 
Section I.— INTEODUCTION TO FACTS ABOUT STOCK 

Sec. II. SWINE 


This section embraces facts about the best breeds, aud best mode of feeding, gross and 
net weight, etc. 
Sbc. m. — COWS : What is a good cow, and how to choose one ; food necessary ; health ; 


. Sec. IV.— beeves : Record of the largest known, and their weights 

Sec. v.— statistics OF THE NEW YORK CAITLE MARKET, and Improvements in 


Sec. VI.— FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM STOCK ; Selecting calves ; shelter ; 

training ; kindness ; \alue of kinds of feed ; use of salt ; watering ; diseases of cattle. . . . 

Sec. VII. — SHEEP HUSBANDRY ; Breeds of sheep ; care and management ; weight of hay 


Sec. VIII— HORSES AND MULES : History of the horse ; varieties ; how to use ; proper 
size ; color ; diseases ; treatment of colts ; how to shoe horses ; breeding horses and 


Sec. IX. — POULTRY ; Full description of all kinds of poultry, and proper treatment 

• 

CHAPTER II. 

SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 

Sec. X. — BEES : Tlieir history, use, and value, management, and reasons for keeping 

Sec. XI. — BIRDS : Reasons for preserving ; their food ; and laws for protecting 

Sec. XII.— ENTOlIOLOGIC.iL : What are insects, and what kinds infest and injure various 

crops, and how to detect friends from foes, and various remedies 

Sec. XIII.— wild AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM : Dogs, cats, rats, mice, moles, 

CHAPTER III. 

THE F A R M E K Y . 

THB BUILDINGS, TARDS, WEft-S, CISTEEN8, AQUEDUCTS, AND STKUCTURES NECESSARY TC 
CARRY ON THE BUSINESS OF THE FARM, BRIEFLY DESCRIBED. 

Sec. XIV.— FARM-HOUSES : They should be convenient, roomy, light, ventilated ; their in- 













r- 








viii CONTENTS. 






PAGE 

Sec. XV.— cellars, CHIMNEYS, AND ICE-HOUSES : How to build them, and their 












Sec. XVI— THE BARN AND ITS APPURTENANCES : Location, size, and use of barns ; 






stables, how to build ; stable yards and cheap sheds 299 






Sec. XVII.— WATER FOR THE FARMERY: Cisterns, size, cost, and how to build ; aque- 






ducts and wells, how to construct ; liydraulic rams 308 






Sec. XVIII.— stacking AND STORING GRAIN ; CORN CRIBS, PIGGERIES, AND 






PIG FEEDING ; SMOKE-HOUSE, AND CURING BACON ; FRUIT-DRYING HOUSE. 318 






Sec. XIX.-ECONOMICAL FARM BUILDINGS : Balloon frames, concrete walls, and other 






cheap styles of building ; how to make balloon frames, and their cost 325 






Sec. XX.— ROOFS AND ROOFING : Paints and whitewash for farm buildings ; nails ; mor- 




1 tar ; farm gates ; sawed shingles, their value, and how to preserve shingles 332 






Sec. XXI.— LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS : Protection of farm buildings from fire ; windmills 






and their use 342 






CHAPTER IV. 






DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 






Sec. XXII.— the FOOD QUESTION : Quantity, quality, variety, adaptation, adulteration, 






changes produced by cooking, water for cooking, and effect on health 3.51 






Sec. XXIII —THE BREAD QUESTION : Varieties ; quality ; how to make bread and yeast, 










Sec XXIV.— SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD, in green corn, dried corn, pop-corn, hominy, and 




cracked wheat, and how to cook them 389 






Sec. XXV.-EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES: Economy of 






lights ; use of tea, coffee, and sugar ; preserving fruits, pork, hams, and beef ; remedies 






and disinfectants ; beds and bedding and carpets, etc 396 






Sec XXVI.-D0ME3TIC WINES, CIDER, AND PRESERVES : Rules of wine-making 






from various fruits, and cider and vinegar making 419 






Sec. XXVII.— HYGIENIC : Preparation of food for the sick ; remedies for poisons, bites, 












Sec XXVHI— THE DAIRY : Butter and cheese making ; how much milk for a pound of 












CHAPTER V. 






THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. 






Sec. XXIX.— PLEASURE AND PROFIT OF GARDENING : Origin and history of veg- 






etables 461 




Sec XXX.— garden: CULINARY VEGETABLES: Protection from insects; value of va- 




rious things for food ; chiccory culture ; what should be gro^n in the garden ; number of 










Sec XXXI.— THE FLOWER GARDEN : Varieties and cultivation of flowers ; suitable soil 




and preparation ; lists of choice flowers ; flowers grown as a crop 500 



















CONTENTS. ix 






PiOB 

Sec. XXXII. — LAWNS : How to make and how to keep them ; trees and plants suitable for 










Sec. XXXIII.— HOT-BEDS : Cold frames plant protectors ; liow to make and use hot-beds. 521 




Sec. XXXIV.— small FRUITS OF THE GARDEN : Currants, varieties and cultivation ; 






strawberries, variety and growth ; raspberries ; blackberries ; quinces 530 






CHAPTER VI. 






THE OECIIAKD. 






Sec. XXXV.— propagation, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES : Tmie to 






tran.splant ; preparation ; protection ; kibcls for trees 555 






Sec. XXXVL— the ART OF PRUNING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING : How and when 










Sec. XXXVIL— APPLE AND PEACH TREES: Tlieir general management; select list of 




apples, and descriptions ; pcivch- trees, how to grow ; how to treat an old orchard 579 






Sec. XXXVin.— CHERRIES : Best varieties ; soil, situation, and cultivation ; history, use, 












Sec. XXXIX. — PEARS : Soil, situation, cultivation, and varieties; select list of sorts; when 






to gather and how to ripen ; is the cultivation profitable GOI 






Sec XL.— plums, NECTARINES, APRICOTS, MULBERRIES, AND OTHER FRUIT ; 






How to transplant fruit ; choice selection of plums G12 






Sec. XLI.— MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE : Cranberries as a 






crop ; how to grow them ; best varieties ; cider-making 021 






CHAPTER YH. 


1 




THE VINEYARD. 






Sec XLH.— HOW TO PLANT AND CULTIVATE VINES : What sorts to plant ; historr of 






varieties ; profits of culture ; grape-growing in California 600 






Sec. XLIII.- CULTURE OK GRAPES FOR WINE: Rules for wine -making ; wine from 






various kinds of grapes ; rules of a French wine-maker ; rules of American wine-makers 657 






CHAPTER Vni. 






C E R E A L I A . 






Sec. XLIV.— wheat, RYE, OATS, BARLEY, MILLET, BUCKWHEAT: Preparation of 






soil and fertilization ; quantity of seed ; harvesting, stacking, and storing ; thrashing and 






cleaning ; profits of wheat culture ; oats, how and when to sow ; cultivation of barlev ; 






buckwheat ; millet 667 




Sec. XLV.— INDIAN CORN : Its history ; product ; profit as a crop ; when to plant, and 


1 liow to cultivate ; great yieldrper acre, North and South ; how to Btorc com, and how to 






measure in bulk ; seed com, and varieties ; broom corn 709 















CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE GRASSES, T II E I E CULTIVATION AND USE. 

PAGB 

Seo. XL VI.— mowing and PASTURE LANDS : Seeding laud ; varieties of grass ; what 
is grass ; wliat kinds are recommended for cultivation ; clover, its cultivation ; harvest- 
ing seed 748 

Sec. XLVII.— HAYING AND HAYING MACHINES : Hay caps ; stacking ; how much hay 
land should produce, and how much it is necessary to provide ; how to measure hay in 
hulk 772 



CHAPTER X. 

ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. 

Sec. XLVIII.— potatoes, TURNIPS, BEETS, CARROTS, PARSNEPS, ONIONS : How to 
plant and cultivate, and how much they should produce ; history of the potato ; charac- 
ter of varieties ; importance of the crop ; what seed should he used, and how planted ; 
substitutes for the potato ; sweet potato culture ; turnip culture ; carrots as a crop, and 
sowing and cultivation ; onions as a crop, how grown, and profits 785 

Sec. XLIX.— CHINESE SUGAR-CANE, AND SORGO-SUGAR MAKING : Preparation and 
time of planting cano ; soil and situation ; harvesting ; manufacturing, and yield and 
profits as a crop 822 

Sec L.— MAPLE-SUGAR MAKING : Tapping trees ; spouts, buckets, and boilers ; process of 
manufacture ; cost, yield, and profit of maple-sugar 835 



CHAPTER XL 

FORESTS AND FENCES. 

Skc. LI.— THEES AND TREE PLANTING ; WOOD OR COAL FOR FUEL : What trees to 
plant, and how and where ; descriptive list of trees ; value of various trees ; how to make 
timber durable ; how to season fuel 845 

Sec LIl. — FENCES : Their cost ; kinds most economical ; laws regulating ; how to make 
hedges, stone walls, wire fence, and farm gates ; how to kyanize fence posts ; waste of land 
around fences ; portable fence, its use 8G1 



CHAPTER XH. 



FERTILIZATION. 

Sec. LIII.— THE ART, USE, AND ECONOMY OF MAKING, SAVING, AND APPLYING 
MANURES AND FERTILIZING FARM CROPS : Color, fineness, and moisture of ma- 
nure affects its value ; nitrates, muriates, sulphates, lime, plaster, and bones, how to 
''PP'y ; guano, its history and use ; muck, its value ; sea-weed and other matters ; value 
of salt ; special manures for various crops ; soiling to save manure ; manuring with 
clover ; water, its value as a fertilizer 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

IRRIGATION. DRAINING. PLOWING. FARMING TOOLS. 

PAQE 

Sec. LIV.— irrigation AND TILE DRAINING : Value of irrigation ; its practice in Italy 
and otber countries ; what lands are most benefited ; tile draining, its importance, cost, 
practice, and profit ; how and what land should he drained ; the mole-draining plow. . . . 904 

Sec. LV.— plows AND I'LOWING : History of cast-iron plows ; subsoil plows, and their 
u.se and value ; steel plows and steam plows ; other farming tools ; labor saved by using 
farm machinery 917 

CHAPTER XIV. 

SOUTnEKN STAPLE CROPS COTTON, CANE, RICE, TOBACCO. 

Sec. LVI.— HISTORY, GROWTH, AND MANUFACTURE OF COTTON : History of the 
cotton gin ; upland cotton ; sea island cotton ; how cotton is grown, picked, and pre- 
pared for market ; profit of the culture ; flax cotton 928 

Sec. LVn.— sugar CANE CULTIVATION : Statistics of its culture in Louisiana ; yield of 

sugar per acre ; cost of making, and how it is made 943 

Sec. LVIII.— rice : Its cultivation, production, and preparation for market ; yield per acre ; 

value and profit ; statistics of rice plantations ; upland rice 948 

Sec. LIX. — TOBACCO : Its history, cultivation, production, and profits ; exports and con- 
sumption of tobacco ; effect of cultivation upon the soil ; its culture in New York and 
Connecticut ; rules for cultivation, curing, and packing 953 

Sec. LX.— CULTIVATION OF HEMP, FLAX, AND OTHER FIBROUS PLANTS : Hemp ; 
soil and climate ; how it is sown, harvested, and yield per acre ; cost and profit ; effect 
upon the soil ; flax cultivation ; how to prepare the soil, sow the seed, and quantity per 
acre 965 



CHAPTER XV. 

GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. 

. LXI.— JIISCELLANEOUS TTEMS OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE TO FARMERS : This 
last chapter embraces many things not classed under other titles, such as temperature for 
seeds to germinate and grow ; nutriment in food substances ; weights and measure of 
grain ; measuring land ; proverbs and maxims for young and old farmers, farmers' wives 
and children ; maxims of health ; things to be thought about ; how to dress skins, fix 
pumps, mend pipes, and prognosticate the weather ; farmers' clubs ; farm laborers ; farm 
accounts ; farm economy, and njiis 971-1 01 



INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Plate I. — Likeness of the Author Fkontispiece. 

Plate II. — Frontispiece of Chap. I. , illustratrating the subject of Domestic Animals Page 13 

Plate III. — Frontispiece of Sec. III. This Plate is intended to answer the question, " What 

is a good Cow ?" It also exhibits different breeds of Cattle 31 

.Plate IV. — Different Breeds of Cattle — Durham, Devon, Hereford, Ayrshire, Dutch, and Al- 

demey Bulls and Cows 44 

J Plate V. — The Milk Slirror, showing how to select a good Cow, and form of Teeth at dif- 
ferent Ages 48 

Plate VI. — Breeds of Sheep and Swine 81 and 19 

PL.tTE VII. — Frontispiece of Sec. VIII. — Portraits of celebrated Horses, and Illustrations of 

different Breeds 1)7 

, Plates VIII. and IX. — Illustrations of the Teeth of Horses at all Ages, showing how to 

judge the Age from One to Eighteen Years IOC 

) Plate X. — Frontispiece to Poultry, Sec. IX 1 23 

Plate XI. — Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Swans, and Pea Fowls 140 

Plate XII. Tlie Bec-Keeper at his Work 157 

J Plate XIII. — The Farmery of Farmer Snug and Farmer Slack — Frontispiece of Chap. III. . 27-5 

Plate XIV — Frontispiece of the Garden and its Fruits, Chap. V 401 

Plate XV. — Frontispiece to the Flower Garden, Sec XXXI 500 

Pl.\te XVI. — Frontispiece to the Orchard, Chap VI. — A Dessert lit for a Farmer — A Rural 

Scene and rich collection of Fruit 555 

.Pl.vte XVII. — Frontispiece to Chap. VIII. — Cerealia, representing Insects injurious to Wheat ; 

also Grapevine Pests GC7 

Plate XVIII. — Frontispiece to Sec. XLV. — Illustrations of Insects which arc injurious to 

Farmers, and others which are beneficial 709 

Plate XIX. — Frontispiece to Chap. IX. — The Grasses 748 

Plate XX. — Frontispiece to Chap. XIV. — The Cotton Plant and Cotton Field - Gathering 

the Crop 928 

1 Plate XXI. — Insects injurious to Cotton and Corn 942 

Plate XXII. — Frontispiece of Sec. LIX. — Tobacco in all stages of Growth and Curing for 

Market 953 



PLATE 11. 



(Page 13.) 



Every American farmer will look upon this picture with pride. 
It is a fitting illustration of a chapter upon Domestic Animals. It 
contains representatives of a well-stocked farm, assembled in the 
farm-yard on the south side of one of the farmery buildings in one 
of the sunny days of spring, which are so weU calculated to make 
such a collection of well-fed animals feel, as these look, full of 
gladness. There is no danger that such hogs as these will destroy 
young lambs and j^oultry. Here we see the sheep and lambs, goats 
and kids — goats that yield valuable fleeces, which are described in 
this chapter — the work-horses and brood-mare and colt — the mules 
and their progenitor, who is in an attitude of war witli a well-fed 
lieifer that is absorbed in admiration of the peacocks on the roof 
of the poultry-house. How surlily the bull looks upon the white- 
faced cow, which is deeply interested in contemplating the two hens 
that the cock has just called to enjoy a few grains of corn ! By the 
earnest looking of one cow and two horses, we judge that they see 
their good friend and master approaching. Geese, ducks, turkeys, 
rabbits, and pigeons, and a boat on the water, enUven the scene, 
which, altogether, is one of tranquil beauty. It is a scene to con- 
template and admire. It teaches a lesson. It will stimulate many 
a young man to a determination to become the owner of such a one, 
or something equally worthy of the artist who desires to represent 
American farm life. It will stimulate all, we hope, who look upon 
this pictorial index of this chapter to read it carefully. 










~. '^^M 




W^ ll 


'# 


^^^KlM 



FACTS FOR FARMERS. 



CHAPTER I. 

DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 

SECTION. I-INTRODUCTION TO FACTS ABOUT STOCK. 



HE very foundation of all farm improvement is the 

domestic animals which consume the coarse products 

of the farm, such as are not fit for human food, or 

grown iu greater abundance than is needed for 

that purpose, which, being so fed, are converted 

into milk, butter, cheese, beef, pork, mutton, wool, 

leather, and the many other valuable animal products. 

But above all are animals valuable to the farmer, because 

they convert the coarse products of the farm into manure, 

without M'hich the owner can not produce food for his own 

sustenance. 

Viewing, then, as I do, successful farming as based upon 
stock, it seems to me very fitting that I should make the 
treatise of it the leading chapter of the volume. And as swine are more 
universally kept by all classes of Americans, and tlie flesh more universally 
used every week in the year, it will be very proper to make this branch 
of farm-stock the leading subject. 

I am not going to give learned dissertations upon stock-breeding, nor, in 
fact, long essays upon this or any other subject, but such little fugitive focts 
as come to hand, in short paragraphs, consecutively numbered for reference, 
with black-letter titles lo each subject, to attract attention, and so arrantred 
that facts may be gathered at a glance, and valuable information obtained 
during leisure moments which miglit otherwise be lost. 

Many of the statements given are not only for the purpose of giving 
interesting information — such, for instance, as the weights of the largest 
animals ever slauglitered — but as an incentive to others to try lo produce 
tlie like. It is not to be expected that a man who never saw a bullock of 
over 12 cwt. should attempt to make one of 36 cwt. ; nor will he be likely 
to make the attempt before he learns the important fact, that the particular 
breed which he has kept all his life never attain that weight. 

It is for the purpose of inciting improvement that I give some statistics 




14: DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

of the New York livestock market, which I have been familiar with for 
many years. Farmers should know that there is a certain market for all 
the meat-giving animals they can produce, and what they realize, as well as 
what varieties sell best. 

I have purposely adopted a desnltory method, because I think it will be 
more satisfactory to my readers, whom I do not expect to read the work in 
consecutive order, and because I find it more convenient to pick iip the 
fugitive facts and jot them down in a sort of mosaic-work, something as 
nature does its autumn tints, which are now glowing before my window in 
the full effulgence of an October sun. 

And here, too, as I look abroad upon my neighbors' fields, and at their 
cattle gnawing the short pasture, and running after every chance apple 
dropping from the trees, and then stretciiing up their necks, looking for 
more, and browsing off the lower limbs of the trees, I am forcibly reminded 
that this is not a profitable method of keeping farm-stock. Day by day the 
milch cows fail to give the supply that good pasture will always give in this 
good butter-making month of October ; and day by day the flesh of all the 
animals is wasting, so that, by-and-by, when the cold and storms of November 
force their owner to bring them into winter quarters, they are not in such 
a condition that he may carry them economically through. There is a great 
error in farming, that the scene before me forcibly reminds me of — it is the 
error of keeping any kind of farm-stock upon short pasture, and most 
particularly in autumn, so that they come to winter quarters falling off in 
flesh, rather than gaining, which is the condition that all animals should be 
in when brought from the pasture to the stable or feeding lot. 

Some of the farmers of the Eastern States of the kind just alluded to, 
who keep their stock upon the shortest possible pasture, and consequently 
generally have scrubby animals, and always meet with great difficulty in 
wintering those, would learn a useful lesson if they would A'isit the blue- 
grass pastures of Kentucky, and see in what luxuriant feed the sleek 
Durhams of that region are kept. They would there learn one of the 
secrets of value of that breed, and why they attain at three years old a size 
and weight of beef never equaled at six years old by the scrub breed 
common in Virginia and in the hilly regions of Ohio and Indiana, which are 
sometimes designated in the New York market as "pony cattle," or "old 
style," and averaging, when fat, about six hundred pounds in the beef. A 
similar scrub breed is known in Kentucky as "mountain cattle," and the same 
style is very common in North Carolina, Georgia, and other Southern States, 
where I have often seen full grown steers, and fat, killed for beef at four 
years old, that M'ould not average four hundred pounds of beef. These 
cattle were treated, too, all their lives, just like too many of the same class 
in all the New England and Middle States — like those now before me, eking 
out their existence upon the scanty herbage of autumn, in a closely-cropped 
summer pasture, and never fed with forage prepared for winter, until the 
owner is driven to it by an early winter storm. 



Sec. 1.] CATTLE ON A MISSISSIPPI STEAMBOAT. 15 

Such is not the i-ight way to keep stock ; but so long as men M^ill keep it 
thus, it is not of much advantage to try to improve the breed. 

There is a great want of information, not only upon the subject of 
improvements in tlie kinds of stock, but in the modes of keeping it. It is 
not my intention, in this chapter upon domestic animals, to attempt to give 
all this information, but only a few brief hints, which may lead to reflection 
and improvement. 

Above all things that will tend to improvement, are annual visits to great 
cattle-shows, where the varieties in the breeds of cattle may be studied, and 
judged as to which would be the most profitable, or whether either would 
be more so than the old-style breed at home. 

It would be of great importance, too, to all farmers to travel more. How 
strange it would seem, at first sight, to a Yankee farmer, who had occupied 
a forty-acre farm all his life, to see a thousand hogs, and half as many 
bullocks, all turned into a grand-prairie corn-field, of a size large enough to 
cover his entire farm and that of twenty or thirty of his neighbors ! His 
first exclamation would probably be, " Oh, what a waste !" His subsequent 
opinion would be about like tliis: " Well, after all, I begin to believe that 
is not so bad a way of harvesting corn as I thought it was." 

And tliis is not the only curious thing that he might see in relation to 
farm-stock in traveling tiirough the West. He would see the same bad 
management as at home, about bringing the stock into winter quarters, for 
they are too often allowed to run in a corn-field, after the grain has all been 
harvested, living upon the dry stalks until after the first snows of winter. 
He might also see some very amusing, as well as instructive things, in 
connection with cattle. 

Shipping cattle on a Mississippi stcamhoaf, as I once witnessed, afforded 
infinite amusement; and I am disposed to give a j^hotograph of it, before I 
take up the more practical details of fiirra-stock. 

Engagements for boats to stop and take cattle on board at various 
landings are frequently made before leaving port, and it often happens that 
the boat reaches these points in the night; and then a scene occurs which 
might employ a more graphic pen than mine to describe, or which would 
have been a fit subject for Hogarth to paint. 

I will try to give my readers some idea of such a scene, although one so 
common on the Mississippi it rarely meets a passing notice ; yet it is full 
of interest. 

Tlie steamer left St. Louis about sundown of a dark day, during the latter 
part of which tlie rain came down in torrents, corresponding to the size of 
the great river they were destined to fill. Of course mud was a component 
part of all tlie little tributary streams; but it did not discolor the great 
river — that is always muddy. 

At ten o'clock we saw a light on the right bank, and run in for it. 
Though the rain had ceased, the night was dark — one which gave the pilot 
but little chance to see any but the most prominent landmarks. 



16 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

"Whose place is tliis?" sung out the captain, wlien he had approached as 
near the light as he thought safe — for in time of "a fresh," the master of a 
boat always approaches shore with great care. 

" Why, dis is my massa's place ; what boat dat ? If you is de Heni-y 
Clay, den dis nigger mighty glad, 'cause, gorra, cap'en, liab been watching 
all dis two free nights for de old Clay." 

" Have you got your cattle there ?" 

"All in de lot— gorra bress you, den you is de Henry Clay, sure — right 
here by de light." 

" Is the water good in shore ?" 

" Why, spec him is good for the steamboat, but not very good to drink." 

" How deep is it near the bank ?" 

" Oh, Lord, massa, dat mor'n dis nigger knows for sartin, 'cause him 
mighty deep." 

"That will do. Forward there. Get your lines ready. Light them- 
torches — let's see where we are. Call all hands ; here is a hundred head of 
cattle to be got aboard." 

In a few minutes the lights flashed a bright glare over the boat and 
shore, bringing to view a scene worth a long journey to behold. The 
torches are composed of "liglit wood," which is the concentrated pitch of 
old pine trees, of the long-leaf variety — the richest of all the family in 
tui-pentine. This wood is split in small pieces and put in an iron frame, 
with a staft' not unlike the common hod used to carry mortar, so it can be 
carried about or stuck in the ground, where by a little replenishing it will 
burn for hours, giving a light unequaled by any other portable contrivance 
I ever saw. In the present case, it disclosed more mud than anything else. 
The whole bank was alluvial clay loam. The face was steep, and sixty or 
eighty feet Jiigh. The boat, made fast to stakes driven into the soft earih, 
lay wuthin twenty feet of the shore, between which and the guards was a 
gangway made of long planks lashed together, about six or eight feet wide, 
without side-railing, or anything to prevent springing down in the center. 
The cattle were in a yard on the top of the bank, where, around the watch- 
fire, huddled about a d(«en sleepy negroes, amongst Avhich the anxious 
face of niassa soon made its appearance, having been awakened at his house, 
two miles distant, by the tremendous noise which is made by one of these 
river steamers, by the puffs of her high-pressure engine. 

" Halloo, Captain Smith, is that you ? I might have known it, though, for 
no other fool would come here in the night for such a job as this. What 
are you going to do — hold on till morning?" 

"Hold the !" 

"Well, I might just as well as hold you. I do believe, if the Clay's 
engine should break going up stream, the boat would not stop — there is 
steam enough in the captain to keep her going." 

Evidently pleased M-ith this compliment, he jumped ashore, with that 
most encouraging of all words, " Come, boys," and floundered up the muddy 



Seo. 1.] HANDLING A 'WILD STEER. 17 

road, to greet his planter friend with one of those hearty shakes of the hand 
which alone is equal to a whole volume on the man's character. 

" Well, captain, you see how it is. I am all ready ; the cattle are here, 
wet, wild, and muddy, and the bank awful. I couldn't help it. It would 
rain, and the river is on the fall. I doubt whether your men can stand on 
the slippery bank. My boys will take down some of the gentle ones, but 
Lord help you with two or three ; we had to bring them in with the dogs." 

'' So much the better, then, that the road is wet — the}- will slide the easier. 
Kopes and men will bring them down ; don't you fret, colonel." 

" Well, well, I'll leave it to you ; I'll risk the cattle, if you will your necks. 
Better wait for daylight, though — what say?" 

" Never ! what should I do with that surplus steam you say I carry ? Wait 
— no ; I intend to have them all aboard, and win half of them playing poker 
with you before morning; and at daylight 1 am going to take in Tom 
Kilgore's, at Rocky Landing. So bear a hand, boys. Stir up your lights, 
and rouse 'em out, one at a time, and often." 

In a few minutes tliere was a line of men and bullocks from the top of the 
bank to the boat. The first dozen or two came down very orderly to the 
end of the gangway, where, if they hesitated, a rope was tlirown over so as 
to encircle them behind, and two or three stout fellows at each end gave 
them material aid about coming on board. The owner said we should see 
fim directly, but not caring to participate in it personally, he took care to 
make himself one of the spectators, in a safe, comfortable position on board 
the boat. Upward of half were brought down without giving us a taste of 
the promised amusement, though the whole scene was exceedingly interesting. 

At length they got hold of one of the animals, wliich the colonel said was 
wilder than forty deer, and vicious as an old buck in running time ; and then 
there w-as fun. He was a great, long-legged, five-year-old steer, of the mouse 
color, long taper-horned Spanish cattle, who had never before felt the weight 
and strength of a man's hand upon his heretofore unrestrained wild-woods 
liberty. Round and round the yard he went, carrying or dragging through 
the mud as many negroes, sailors, and firemen as could find horn, ear, nose, 
or tail to hold to. Finally they got a rope round his horns and drew him up to 
a stake at the edge of the bank, to wait till others were caught to lead down 
first, thinking that he would better follow than take the front rank. He did 
follow. When about a dozen or fifteen head were on the way down, the 
wild one was cast oft" from his moorings and led up to the edge of the bank, 
wlien just at that moment the engineer blowed off" steam, at which tlie 
frightened animal leaped forward on to the slippery path, lost his foothold, 
and down he went against the next, and the next, and so on ; like a row of 
bricks, one tumbled or slid against another, upsetting men and beast, till the 
whole came down like an avalanche upon the end of the platform with such 
force that the strain upon the mooring line of the bow drew out the stake, 
when the strong current almost instantly swung her off shore so far, before 
the men could get hold of the line and make fast again, that the platform 



18 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

dropped off into the water, and -with it eight or ten men and steers, among 
wliich was the one that caused all the inischief. I must say the fun was not 
so great as the friglit, for a minute, as it did not take much longer to finish 
off the greatest feat of " sliding down hill" which I have witnessed since 
the halcyon days of hand-sleds and boyhood upon the snow-clad, wintry hills 
of my native land. That all were got out safe was owing to the instant 
thought and action of the mate, who sprang ashore with a pole which he 
placed in the wheel, so as to prevent the cattle from floating down past the 
stern, where it would have been impossible for them to got np the soft, 
slipjjery bank. As it was, some of them were in the water over an hour ; 
the catamount, as the colonel called him, being purposely left until the last, 
and severely threatened with being towed to New Orleans. But when he 
was at length taken out, there was not a more docile animal in the herd ; he 
had been completely subdued. The whole affair, though fraught with danger 
at first, afforded all hands a scene of most uproarious mirth. Even at tlie 
time when it looked as though half a score of men might be killed in the 
grand tumble, it was almost impossible to avoid laughing, the whole thing 
was so extremely ludicrous. 

One big negro fellow, finding himself hard pressed by the bullock he was 
leading and half a dozen more behind him, either for sport or to save his 
shins, jumped uj^on the animal's back and came down with a surge into the 
water ; but he never let go till he had him safe ashore again, where he met 
some of the most hearty, though rude congratulations of his companions, for 
his skillful feat of horsemanship on an ox. 

Finally, in spite of mud and peril, the grand entertainment of shipping 
cattle on the Mississippi was concluded, and the boat was off before dayliglit 
for the next landing, where the operation was to be repeated. Owing to 
better ground and a diftcrent plan adopted, this was not quite so entertaining. 
The cattle were yarded in a loig, narrow pen, which came near the shore. 
A rope being passed over the horns of the forward steer, with the other end 
through a snatch-block on the boat, a dozen or fifteen men would lay hold 
of it, while two men by the tail to steer, and one on each side to keep him 
on the gangwa}', would have the fellow out of the pen and sliding ujj tlie 
planks before he knew what he was bellowing for. 

As in all cases where science and skill direct human efibrts, the labor 
was lessened and business expedited. 

And so in all cases where science and skill are exercised in regard to all 
kinds of domestic animals, success may be looked for. 

And now, after this little incidental digression from the main intent of 
this chapter, in the exhibition of a life-like scene on the Mississippi, we will 
begin to arrange our facts in order and shape for useful reference, always 
aiming more at the practical than ornamental. 

As we shall an-ange each subject undei- its separate and proper head, we 
will begin the chapter \ipon domestic animals with that kind in most universal 
use. 



Sec. 2.] 



SWINE. 



19 




SECTION II.-SWINE. 

ceding Pigs and Fatting Pork.— Next to procuring 
a good breed of swine — that is, a breed suitable 
to the purposes for which it is required — the 
best way to feed the stock Iiogs, and the cheapest and 
best way to fatten them, is the most important matter 
for a farmer to consider. No man can say, " My breed 
is the best of all," unless he specifies for what purpose it 
is best for. A good grazing breed would be best for 
some situations ; quite the contrary for some others. The 
Berkshire, Essex, and Suffolk have each been denomi- 
nated " the gentleman's pig," because well fitted for 
keeping up in close pens, one or two to a family ; while a 
much larger breed is required by the great corn-growers 
of the West. And this brings us to the next most 
important question. 
3. Corn and Pork— How much Pork will a Bushel of forn make? — ^Tliis 
is one of the most important questions that can be asked by every man 
who raises a bushel of corn or feeds one to a hog. Yet it is a question that 
not one in ten can answer. To see the ignorance of mankind upon subjects 
of most importance to them, makes us ready to exclaim. Does anybody know 
anything about anything? In conversation with many farmers, we have 
not yet found a man who could say how much corn it required to make a 
hundred pounds of pork, and consequently could not fix upon any relative 
price of one or the other, at which it would be profitable to feed corn to 
hogs. In some experiments made by Henry L. Ellsworth, at Lafayette, Ind., 
in warm weather, with thrifty young porkers in a pen, fed with corn in the 
ear, if we remember aright, he gained 12 lbs. of pork per bushel of corn. 
Samuel II. Clay, of Kentucky, gained 17 jibs, per bushel, feeding the corn 
in the form of cooked meal. As a general thing, we should like to know 
if corn, fed as it usually is in the "West, averages six pounds of pork to the 
bushel of shelled corn. 

We have received several answers to this question, but they only proxr- 
mately settle the point. Leroy Buckingham, of Cadiz, Cattaraugus Co. 
N. Y., says, a pig that weighed 52 lbs. when connnenced with, fed on tho 
spare milk from one cow and 800 lbs. of raw corn-meal, weighed 36i lbs. (live 
or dead not stated) when killed at seven and a half months old. He thinks 
each bushel of corn made about 20 lbs. of pork. 

The two following letters we print entire, and commend them to the careful 
attention of all formers, although they do not contain all that is necessary to 
be known upon the subject : 



20 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



" Glenn's Falls, N. Y., Oct. 23, 1858. 

"Sir: You think it important that farmers sliould hioio how much pork a 
barrel of corn will make. It is an important question, and I am sorry to say 
I think there are ten lawyers and mechanics to one farmer that can answer 
the question correctly. I once made a very accurate experiment in New 
York ; the first day of September I weighed into the pen two hogs, a year 
and a half old, and three pigs, six months old. I measured old corn 
accurately, and had it ground. At night I wet with boiling water (to a 
consistency tliat would run freely) meal sufficient for the next day's feed. 
The hogs had no slops from the house — nothing but the meal and water. I 
killed them the first of December, deducted five cents per pound for what 
they weighed the first of September, and found, at six cents per pound for 
the pork, they had paid ninety-eight cents per bushel for the corn, which 
would give about sixteen and one third jjounds of pork to the bushel. One 
year since I fatted fifteen old hogs and thirty-five pigs on India wheat and 
potatoes. I measured the feed accurately, steamed the potatoes, and mixed 
the meal in while hot, twelve hours before feeding. At five cents per pound 
for the pork, they paid forty-two cents per bushel for the India wheat, and 
fifteen cents for the potatoes. Of course the relative value of the wheat and 
potatoes is guessed at in that experiment. I "worked" the hogs in the 
manure business, carting in muck, weeds, etc. I got 15 cords of manure 
although less pork— -I suppose for the working the hogs. I would like much 
to know if any one (especially in the Western States) has made the expei'i- 
ment of turning liogs into the corn-field, with free access to water, and let 
them help themselves. 

" If any other class of business men knew as few facts in i-egard to their 
business as farmers do, they would all fail every year. New Maksh." 

A. G. Perry, of Newark (State not named), weighed a thrifty pig, five 
months old, 150 lbs., and then fed it 56 lbs. corn- meal, mixed with hot water, 
thin enough to answer for victuals and drink. Tliis was eaten in six and 
a half days, and the gain was 18 lbs. 

A correspondent writes from North Chatham, Columbia Co., N. Y. : 
" The 24th of August I put up a sow to fatten — a large proportion Suffolk 
— her weight, 235 lbs. Price on foot, 4 cents per pound. For food from 
August 24th to October 4th, gave her 309 lbs. rye bran. Eye bran is worth 
here $1 12^ per 100 lbs. October 4th her weight was 295 lbs., making 60 
lbs. increase from the bran. From October 4th until November 17th I fed 
her 10 bushels, by weight 560 lbs., of marketable corn. Killed her Nov. 
17th. Her live weiglit, just before killing, was 413 lbs. Increase from the 
10 bushels corn (or 56U lbs.), being 118 lbs. pork — it taking a fraction more 
than 4i lbs. corn for 1 lb. pork — and is a fraction less tlian 12 lbs. pork from 
1 bushel of corn, making tlie increase per day a little less than 2| lbs. Tiie 
present price of corn here is 70 cents per bushel, and tlie pork 7 cents 
per pound, being barely a paying business." 



Sec. 2.] SWINE— PROFIT OF FEEDING. 21 

J. J. Carter, of Ilornville, Chester Co., Pa., sajs that B. P. Kirk kept a 
debt and credit account witli his pig. He fed 49^^ bushels of corn, at CO 
cents a bushel, and added the first cost of the pig, at two months old, $5, 
making a total of $34 46. At 17 months old the animal weighed 649 lbs., 
and sold for 7^ cents a pound, making $48 67, giving a profit of $14 21. A 
little bran was fed, but that was reduced to the equivalent of corn, and 
counted as above. The breed of hogs common in Chester County is one of 
the best in the world. The hogs are of a white color, medium-sized, easily 
fatted to weigh 300 to 400 lbs. at 10 to 15 months old, and have small 
bones, fine-grained flesh, large hams, well marbled, and large leaves of 
kidney fat. It is a distinct American breed, and one of the best for farmers 
who desire to graze their hogs in part, and then fiitten them easily upon 
house-slops, apples, potatoes, and coarse grain. Even for large farmers, and 
for making pork upon a large scale, there are not many, if any, breeds of 
swine in this country superior to that known as Westchester, or Chester County 
(Pa.) hogs. And as I consider it an important fact that farmers should 
know where to get a real good breed without paying fancy prices, I am glad 
of the opportunity to make this breed better known. 

D. C. Nye, of Lexington, Mass., in reply to an inquirer in the Genesee 
Farmer, writes that — 

"The Chester County hogs are distinguished for their early maturity, 
great facility for fattening, and are very quiet and docile. They are well 
covered with bristles, and, unlike the Suffolks, can endure the heat and cold. 
The Chesters will probably make as much pork (and of a superior quality) 
on a given amount of food as any other breed — some of them, when well 
fed, having attained the weight of six or seven hundred pounds." 

Another correspondent of the same paper says, in addition, that the 
thorougli-bred Chester liogs are always white, and that " they are peculiar in 
being fit for slaughtering at any time." 

But to proceed with the subject of feeding hogs. The second letter is 
very much to the point. It says: 

"In answer to your question, 'How much pork will a bushel of corn 
make?' 1 send you the result of two experiments, made some years ago, 
while occupying a farm in the northern part of Chester County, Pa. 

" My first experiment was with five very ordinary pigs that I bought of a 
neighbor; weighed, October, 1851, 249 lbs ; fed on corn and cob meal, boiled 
into mush, of which they consumed in 30 days 279 lbs., and gained 87 lbs. 
live weight. 

" In the next 32 days they consumed 375i lbs., and gained 75 lbs. live 
weight, making a gain of 157 lbs. in 62 days, having consumed 654| lbs. of 
corn and cob meal, which is equal to about 9i bushels pure meal ; or one 
bushel pure meal cooked made 16.8 lbs. live weight. 

"My second experiment was with a lot of five very superior pigs, of the 
Chester breed; they weighed, Feb. 7, 1853, 695 lbs; consumed in 9 days 



22 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

252 lbs. corn and cob meal, scalded, and gained 78 lbs. In the next 9 
days tliej consuiiiedl25 lbs. whole corn, boiled, and 128 lbs. of corn-cob 
meal, scalded, and gained 57 lbs. 

"In the next 9 days they consumed 278 lbs. corn-cob meal, scalded, and 
gained 70 lbs., making a gain in 27 days of 205 lbs. on a consumption 
of 658 lbs. corn-cob meal, and 125 lbs. whole corn. Assuming that 70 lbs. 
of the cob-meal contains 56 lbs., or one bushel pure meal, we have 9f 
bushels -of pure meal and 2i bushels whole corn, making a consumption of 
11 1 bushels nearly, and a gain of 205 lbs., flesh; or 56 lbs. of pure meal, 
scalded, made 17.44 lbs. of live weight. 

"The above surprising gain for food consumed was the result of very 
careful feeding, clean and warm bedding, and a tight house. 

" RicHAED Thatcuee, Darby, Pa." 

Thomas Iloag, of Somhanock, N. Y., lias sent us a detailed statement of 
the feeding of ten i^gs, out of a litter of twelve from a native-breed yearling ■ 
sow, taken from her at seven weeks old, and fed till slaughtered, at forty 
weeks old, with the following substances, with estimates of expense added : 



212} bushels of com, at 75 cents S150 38 

63 bushels of oats, at 45 cents 28 35 

Paid for grinding H 79 

13 bushels of small potatoes, 12J cents. 1 63 

loads of pumpkins, at $1 6 00 

209 lbs. of carrots 1 00 



Pasture S3 00 

Wood used in boiling food 2 00 

Extras 2 00 

Value of pigs at seven weeks old 30 00 



Total $248 15 

These hogs weighed, dressed, 4,066 pounds, and sold, 

(in 1853), at Lansingburg, N. Y., at S7 50 per cwt $304 95 

Kough fat, 175 lbs ' 17 50 



Total $322 45 

Total cost 248 15 



Balance $74 SO 

This is the amount of profit, or, rather, pay for labor, and the sjiare milk 
of four ordinary cows fed to them, and not estimated as above. 
At six cents a pound the result would have been 

4,066 lbs., at 6 cents $243 96 

Kough fat 17 50 



Total $261 46 

Cost 248 15 



Profit $13 31 

This certainly docs not give a very flattering picture of the probable profits 
of pork-makiug in this section of the country, where every kind of feed is 
salable at high prices. 

Other letters were subsequently received, from one of which we gather 
the following information : Wm. Reuick, of Circleville, Ohio, a large farmer, 
and long engaged in the raising of cattle and hogs, writes more extensively 
than we can find room for. Mr. Eenick thinks that farmers are not ignorant 
of the fact " how much pork will a bushel of corn make," and says : 



Seo. 2.] SWINE— GAIN IN FEEDING. 23 

" Probably nine tenths of our best practical farmers could, without hesita- 
tion, give you an approximate answer in general terms." 

This is exactly what we supposed, and that they would give nothing but 
an approximate answer in general terms, because there is a general lack of 
positive information upon this and many other important matters connected 
with the farming interest. Mr. Renick gives the gain upon five hogs fed by 
himself in the common rough method of the West — that is, turned into the 
corn-field, 200 head together. Three of these hogs weighed, at seven months 
old, 140 lbs. each, and two older ones M'eighed 125 lbs. each. After feeding 
120 days, the three weighed 286 lbs. net average, and the two 185 lbs. 

" Now, say that hogs on an average will eat 20 bushels of corn per hundred 
head per day for the first 60 days, 16 busiiels for the next 30 days, and 12 
bushels per liundred head per day for the last 30 days, and we have 21 
bushels per head for the whole time of 120 days (though tin's is under rather 
than over the mark), and we have a production in the case of the three hogs 
of lOilbs. of gross pork for a bushel of corn, and but a small fraction over 
5 lbs. per bushel for the two hogs." 

Now, this is exactly in proof of what we originally stated. It is all guess- 
work. Mr. Eenick further says : 

" The large feeders of hogs and cattle are oftentimes greatly mistaken in 
their calculations in regard to the cpiantity of stock their corn will feed, 
sometimes largely overrunning, and again falling largely short of their 
calculations." 

This is not to be wondered at, wlien it is considered that no one pretends 
to have any settled rule of action, but buys as many lean cattle or hogs as 
he guesses he can fatten. Mr. Renick thinks the most common answer to 
the question would be something like this : 

" That hogs fed in the ordinary way will gain from one pound to one and 
a half pounds per day, and they will consume some twenty bushels or more of 
corn in three and a half or four months; that it all depends u})oii tiie quality 
of the hogs, quality of the corn, weather, and other contingencies." 

Tlie gain varies from five to twelve pounds gross per bushel. So he says: 
" "We will compromise the matter by (juesshuj that, all things favorable, one 
bushel of corn, fed in the ordinary way, will make seven pounds gross weight." 
It is, after all, then, nothing but guessing. And we guess that feeding corn, 
where it is worth a dollar a bushel, as it frequently is in and about New 
York, won't pay while dressed hogs are sold from the hooks, as they gener- 
ally are, at seven or eight cents a pound, and the average price of live hogs 
is less than six cents a pound. With our arithmetic we can not figure up any 
profit for a farmer hereabouts to keep a single hog more than he wants to 
eat up the milk and house-slops, and a little waste grain ; and ptobahly that 
could be more profitably fed to poultry. 

The greatest advantage from feeding grain to make pork in all the New 
England States must be looked for more in the manure than in the meat. 
Where manure must be purchased, it may be profitable to purchase corn- 



24: DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

meal to convert into manure through the pig-pen manufactory. Tlie next 
paragrapli is to the point in this connection, of feeding pigs to make manui'e. 

4. Working PigSi — We once recommended farmers to make their pigs 
working animals. To this a writer in an agricultural paper objected ; be- 
cause, as he alleges, the same amount of food consumed by an idle hog will 
make 12 pounds of pork as easily as it will make 8 pounds if the animal is 
allowed to exercise his natural propensity to root. In this we entirely agree, 
and have often contended that when a hog is shut up to fatten, if he was 
confined in a slip so narrow that he could not turn round, having one side 
of his narrow prison made so as to be moved out as he increased in bulk, he 
would fatten faster than in any other position. Now, will the writer, Avho 
thinks that we difl'er from him in opinion, read over again the article that he 
criticises, and see that it is the pig-pen, and not the fatting-hog pen, that 
we were talking about. Our facts are not intended to be elaborated into 
proofs and arguments for farmers, but rather as texts for thinking men to 
think over and reason upon with themselves and neighbors. Our opinion is, 
that all the swine family should be kept imprisoned, if not in close pens, 
certainly in strongly fenced lots ; and in all the Eastern States, where manure 
is so valuable, it is very doubtful whether a farmer can afford to let any of 
the family out of the pen — which, as we before hinted, should be a great 
manure manufactory — except, perhaps, for a short season to eat clover, peas, 
or glean a stubble-field. If there is a greater neighborhood nuisance than 
hogs in the highway, we have yet to find it out ; and as we would always 
keep " Mr. Pig" in the pen, we recommended to make him work in the 
manufactory, furnishing a part of the materials to be worked, and the farmer 
the remainder. In his immediate preparation for death we don't care how 
idly he spends the last of his days. As long as farmers will persist in 
making the flesh of swine their leading article of food, we shall contend 
that the flesh of an animal that has worked his way up to a mature age, and 
is then fattened ready for slaughter, will make more healthy food than the 
oily fatness of one always kept in a state of obesity and idleness from his 
birth to death. It is this great physiological fact that causes the flesh of the 
Avild hog to be sought after and eaten with gusto. We fully agree with the 
orthodoxy of E. M. Brewster, a model farmer of Griswold, Conn., who says 
if he was to fatten a half-dozen hogs upon a flat rock, he would be sure to 
have two rings in each nose. The latitude that we desire our readers to 
give to our suggestions is just this : to make a distinction between working 
and fattening animals, and make the pig a useful one. 

" Keeping pigs eighteen months to fatten them the last three is not a 
paying business. Feed a decent pig well from weaning i;ntil eight months 
old, and you will get 250 lbs. to 300 lbs. of pork, and you do not usually get 
50 lbs. more for those ten months older. There can be no question but an 
animal can consume much more to produce in eighteen months about the 
same quantity of meat which is made by another in half that length of 
feeding. If the object of raising a hog is to make porlc, that end should be 



Seo. 2.] COOKING .FOOD FOR SWINE. 

kept steadily in view — bis swiiieship should see it, and eat for it." This is 
our view exactly. Winter none but autumn pigs, keep tliein in pens, and 
alwaj's growing. "To keep a pig growing, one must keep him eating, and 
eating about all the time. To do this, there is nothing like ' change and 
variety' — now a little corn, then a little milk, a few boiled potatoes, a few 
raw apples — now a pudding, then a dish of greens — anything to keep them 
eating and stuffing when awake, even if it does require a little extra atten- 
tion." 

5. Cooking Food for Swine< — Circumstances must govern the feeder. K 
corn is worth but twenty-five cents per bushel, it is plain that it will not pay 
to expend much money either for cooking or crushing it ; but whei'e food is 
high, a small quantity saved pays for considerable labor, etc. It will hardly 
pay to expend dear labor upon cooking cheap roots to make low-priced pork. 
It has been proved that crushed barley, soaked in cold water 46 hours, gave 
more increase of weight to sheep than when not soaked ; but crushed malt 
did not. Tiie figures are : Four sheep in 10 weeks ate 280 lbs. of crushed 
barley 7ioi sicepe(U and 3,867 lbs. of mangel-wurzel, and increased in live 
weight 81 lbs. ; while four sheep, with barley crushed and steeped, ate 280 
lbs. and 5,321 lbs. mangel-wurzel, increasing lOl-J lbs. Four sheep, with 
crushed malt, not steeped, ate in 10 weeks 2271 lbs., and 3,755 lbs. mangel- 
M'urzel, and increased 8i lbs. ; while four sheep, with malt crushed and 
steeped, ate 226i lbs. malt and 4,458 lbs. mangel-wurzel, and gained only 
78 lbs. In the above experiment, the question is, Did the additional 20ilbs. 
pay the extra trouble and extra feed of roots? 

An experiment in Ireland, lately made, proves that hogs gained more 
upon raw than cooked vegetables. Eigiit hogs were selected and divided 
into two lots, as evenly as could be, and put in to fatten, on the 27th of 
November. Each lot was fed regularly three times a day, having each 12 
lbs. of bran and barley meal, tlie only difference being that one lot had 
steamed ruta bagas, and the other pulped or rasjied ruta bagas. The experi- 
ment was continued 39 days; the lot having cooked food ate 468 lbs. bran, 
etc., and 10,920 lbs. ruta bagas, and increased 103 lbs. ; while the lot having 
uncooked food ate 468 lbs. bran, etc., and only 5,460 lbs. ruta .bagas, and 
gained 110 lbs. 

Samuel H. Clay, of Bourbon, Ky., has been exj^erimenting in feeding several 
lots of hogs, changing them from raw to cooked, and from ground to 
unground food, with the following results : One bushel of dry corn made 
5 lbs. 10 oz. of live pork ; one bushel of boiled corn made 14 lbs. 7 oz. of 
pork ; one bushel of ground corn, boiled, made in one instance 16 lbs. 7 oz., 
in another nearly 18 lbs. of pork. To get the value of corn, estimate the 
pork at 8 cents a pound ; we have as the result of one bushel of dry corn, 
45 cents' worth of pork ; of one bushel of boiled corn, 115 cents' worth of 
pork ; and of one bushel of ground corn, 136 cents' worth of pork. 

6. Pig Feed— Boiled Weeds. — A widow, who was short of feed for her pig, 
said, in presence of her little boys, that she thought she would have to sell 



26 DOMESTIC ANPIALS. [Chap. I. 

it, for she had so little to feed it with, and could not afford to buy feed. 
One of the little fellows promptly answered that he knew what would be 
good to feed piggy with, and of which they had plenty. 

" What is it, my son ?" 

" Greens, mother — ^boiled greens. They are good for us, why not for 
pigs ? And we can gather them, and pick up wood and boil them in the 
big kettle out doors, and it will be real fun." 

So it was settled that pig should eat greens — all sorts of weeds boiled ; 
and eat them he did, and liked them, and fatted on them, with the small 
addition that could be made of bran and house-slops, mixing the slops and 
greens together. 

This is a hint worth remembering and acting upon. Tlie weeds were 
destroyed, the boys employed, the pig kept growing, and the boys had the 
satisfaction of feeling that they had been usefully employed. 

7. Hog Pastures. — It being generally understood that hogs live by " special 
providences" until it is time to fat tliem, there is little attention paid to 
the most economical way of growing them up. Certain it is that a good, 
easy-keeping variety will make commendable progress on grass. 

It may be safe to calculate that a good-sized, thi-ifty pig will gain in six 
months, on grass, 100 lbs. or more. If an acre of grass would keep three 
hogs and add 100 lbs. to the weight of each, that would be $12 for the acre 
of pasture, reckoning the 300 lbs. gain at four cents a pound, live weight. 
Instead of being forced to bite twice at a short, dirty, dried, and battered 
spear of June grass by the roadside before getting any off, imagine a clean 
and comely Sutiblk in a fresh, green pasture of clover, four inches high, filling 
himself with evident relish. 

8. The Pig-Pen and its Value. — As a manure-maker, there is no animal 
equal to the hog, provided he is furnished with suitable facilities. The 
eating and sleeping apartments of Mr, Pig should always be a good frame 
building, with a plank floor and shingle roof, and it will in many places be 
found economical to give him an iron eating trough. His house should 
be cleaned out every day, and washed as often as necessary to keep it clean. 
All the wi^hings and cleanings should go into an adjoining pen, which may 
as well be made of fence rails, on account of cheapness and convenience of 
removal, into which the tenants of the hog-house must be invited by a little 
corn, scattered in every day, to induce them to mix up a compost of their 
own offal with sods, mold, leaves, weeds, and all sorts of trasli. This pen 
should be equal to ten feet square for every two hogs, and so long as it is 
worked every day it will not much injure by exposure to the weather ; but 
it should afterward be covered, and it should always have stuflf enough put 
in it to keep the hogs from getting into a very muddy condition. If you 
have not mold enough to entirely absorb the ammonia, you must use plaster 
or charcoal dust. It must be kept sweet, or you will lose much of its value ; 
and where manu^ is valuable, if yon neglect to use your swine for the 
purpose of increasmg it, you will lose about all the profit of making your 



Seo. 2.] SWINE— FEEDING THEM HONEY. 27 

own pork. There is another way in wliidi you can make tlie pig-pen 
valuable. If you Lave a spot of ground that you want to enrich and work 
deeply and thoroughly for fruit-trees or for garden vegetables, plant it with 
Jerusalem artichokes, and then yard your hogs upon it, taking care to give 
them room enougli, so as not to necessitate them to make a quagmire. 
Again, you may use these animals to advantage if you have a piece of grass 
land infested with grubs. Fence ofi' a piece, and shut your swine in npon 
it for a few days without feed, and if they leave a sod unturned or grub 
uneaten it will be a wonder. It is the best preparation of such a spot for a 
hoed crop, or for sowing again in grass, that can be given. There is no good 
reason why the pig should be always kept in idleness or mischief. Let him 
be trained to be useful in his life as well as at his death. 

9. Hay Seed for Hogs. — A coYreS])ondentoi the Co untri/ Ge}itlema7i y.'rites: 
In addition to the grain and meal given to growing hogs in the sty, they 
should have a daily allowance of green clover, or in winter, when this is not 
available, a liberal allowance of hay-seed from the barn, mixed with their 
slop, which they will eat with avidity. lie knows of no mode by which so 
great an amount of growth and weight can bo induced, with equal cost of 
food, in the winter season, as by this haying system. 

10. Cinders for Pigs. — J. J. Mechi, of Tiptree Hall, England, says, in 
publishing his experience in fattening swine, that among otlier things, he 
has learned the fact " that pigs are very fond of coal-ashes or cinders, and 
that you can hardly fat pigs properly on boarded floors without giving them 
a moderate supply daily, or occasionally." He says : " In the absence of 
coal-ashes, burned clay or brick-dust is a good substitute. If you do not 
supply ashes, they will gnaw or eat the brick walls of their sheds. I leave 
to science to explain the cause of this want. It is notorious that coal- 
dealers, whose pigs have access to the coals, are generally successful pig 
feeders. Those who find that their pigs, when shxit np, do not progress 
favorably, will do well to try this plan. A neighbor of mine found that a 
score of fat pigs consume quite a basket of burned clay ashes daily. We 
know that there is an abundance of alkali in ashes." 

11. Parched Corn and Honey for Hogs. — A correspondent of the Highland 
Democrat, published at Peekskill, N. Y., furnishes that paper with the fai- 
lowing communication : 

A few years ago I chanced in Albany to meet a farmer who is noted for 
raising unusually heavy hogs. The year before he had brought to market 
one that weighed over 700 lbs., and said that year that he shoidd have one 
of 900 lbs., or near that mark. As there always seems to be a cause for every 
effect, I was anxious to know the course he pursued. 

" Well," said he, '• you must first select the right kind of a critter. Get 
the right breed, and then pick out the good-natured ones from the litter ; I 
can't afford to feed a cross critter ; I sell them when they are pigs." " How 
can you judge ?" said I. "Well, if you watch them when they are feeding, 
you will find that some pigs are allers fighting about their victuals, and 



28 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

some go in for eating. There is as much difference in pigs as there is in 
folks." 

" "Well, when you have selected the right kind of a pig, what next is 
important ?" 

" Well, then you must have a nice place for the critters to live in, and 
feed them on the right kind of victuals." 

" What kind of food ?" 

" Well, the best and cheapest kind of food I have found, when it comes 
time to put on the fat, is parched corn. I generally manage to buy a barrel 
or two of Southern honey, if it is cheap, which I mix with the jjarched corn, 
for my fatting hogs." 

12. Feeding Standing Corn to Hogs— in the Field— or Gathered, Ground, 
and Cooked— Comparative Advantages of these MethodSi — The method often 
practiced by large farmers of turning fattening hogs into the fields of 
standing corn, if properly conducted, has its advantages over that of 
gathering the corn and feeding it dry to the hogs in the pen. 

The earlier in the season the pi'ocess of fattening swine is begun the 
better, after the grain has reached a certain period of maturity, whether it 
be r^'c, oats, or corn, because all farm animals, and hogs in particular, will 
fatten much faster in warm than in cold weather. And the grain between 
the periods of its doughy state and full maturity, or rather, before it becomes 
dry, is more easily digested, and assimilated, and converted into flesh and 
fat than when it has passed into its dry state. It is clear, then, that the 
sooner the hogs are turned into the iield after the grains of corn are fully 
formed, and while yet in the milk, the more speedily they will fatten ; for 
if the weather be dry, the corn hardens very rapidly. 

A very interesting experiment in feeding hogs is detailed by Mr. James 
Buckingham in the Prairie Farmer. On the 6th day of September (in 
ordinaiy seasons corn, at this date, is too far advanced to commence feeding 
to the best advantage), the hogs, 189 in number, were weighed, and footed 
up in the aggregate 19,600 lbs. A movable fence was used, confining the 
hogs to an area sufficient to afford feed for two or three days. The entire 
field, thus fed, contained 40 acres, with an estimated average of 40 bushels 
]5fer acre. The consumption of this corn gave a gain of 10,740 lbs. Tlie 
hogs, when turned into the corn, cost three cents per pound, equal to $588 ; 
worth, when fed, four cents per pound, or $1,213 60 — giving a return for 
each acre of corn consumed of $15 64. Adding to this $1 per acre for tlie 
improvement of the land by feeding the corn on the field, making the 
actual gain per acre $16 64, equal to 40 cents per bushel, standing in the 
field. The whole cost of corn per acre, exclusive of interest on the land, is 
set down at $3 65. 

By way of comjjai-ing the advantages of ground and cooked food over 
that which was merely ground, and that whicli was unground, Mr. B. put 
up three hogs into separate pens. To one he fed two and a half bushels of 
corn in the ear, during a period of nine days, fe -ding all he would eat ; this 



PLATE IIT. 

(Page 31.) 

This plate is intended to answer the question: "What is a good 
cow ?" It shows a model cow, without regard to breed, as described 
in ^ 45, and a portrait of the " Oaks Cow," which was one of the 
most remarkable of the early age of stock improvement as a great 
butter producer. She gave 467 pounds from May 15 to December 
20, 1816. Another portrait gives the side view of what is taken 
as a model of a good dairy cow. The Dutch dairy cow is also con- 
sidered a model, not only of that breed, but of a form that shows 
a good cow for milk. The Hereford cow and bull, and Devon cow 
and bull, also give good studies, and make up a picture no where 
else to be found in such compact form and such beauty of execu- 
tion. 



m 




\ 1 l)^ll•^ ( 



Sec. 2.] SWINE— EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING. 29 

gave a gain of 19 lbs. ; another ate in the same time one and three quarter 
bushels of corn, ground, and gained also 19 lbs. ; and to the third he fed 
one bushel of corn, ground and hoilcd, which gave a gain of 22 lbs. By this 
it will be seen tliat one and three quarter bushels of corn, when ground, will 
give a gain of flesh equal to two and a iialf busliols of unground corn, and 
that one bushel, when ground and coolced, gave a gain greater than either. 

Tiie comparative results of these three methods of feeding may thus be 
set down : one bnsliel of corn, ground and cooked, is equal to nearly three 
bushels when fed dry and unground ; and one and tliree quarter bushels 
when ground and uncooked is equal to two and a half bushels when fed 
whole. 

Or it may be stated thus : one bushel of dry corn in the ear makes 8i 
lbs. of pork, wliich at four cents per pound is equal to 33 cents per bushel 
for tlie corn ; while one busliel of corn, ground and boiled, makes 22 lbs. 
of pork at four cents per pound, and is equal to 88 cents per bushel for the 
corn. This result about sustains our calculations made upon the experiments 
by Mr. Samuel II. Clay, of Kentucky, as appears in T[ 5. 

It is worthy of remark for those who wish to feed corn in the field, that 
had the hogs been turned into the field when the corn was in the milk, 
it would have given a result more nearly like that of the hog fed upon 
ground and cooked food. 

Tiie obstacles which seem to be in the way of adopting an improved 
method of fattening hogs result from the imperfect apparatus used for 
preparing the food. Sending corn a long distance to mill to be ground, and 
then to cook the meal in an ordinary kettle, even if it holds a barrel, will 
prove an expensive operation, as all have found who have undertaken it. 
But to realize the full advantages of feeding prepared food, a complete 
grinding and steaming apparatus must be erected on a large scale, with the 
view to perform the grinding, cooking, and feeding with the greatest facility 
and at the least possible cost. This may be done to advantage by employing 
steam for grinding, using the same boiler to furnish steam for cooking the 
meal. 

13. Origin of the Chester County Hogs.— It is stated that Captain James 
Jefferis, a sea-cajjtain, somewhere about 1820, or a little later, in one of his 
voyages from England, brought over a pair of pigs of the Bedfordshire 
breed, which he sent to his farm on the Brandywine, whence the breed has 
been disseminated, and lost its original name. Some of the characteristics 
of the Chester County hog are, large size, remarkably symmetrical form, 
easy keeping, comparatively little offal, great depth and length of carcass, 
and producing large quantities of lard. Spring pigs are often put in market 
at nine or ten months old, and weighing at that age from 200 to 250 lbs. 
This weight is of course produced by good feeding and proper attention. 

14. To prevent Sows Killing their PigSt — A correspondent of the Maine 
Farmer speaks of several cases of sows destroying their pigs — which, indeed, 
is not unusual — and commends as an easy and sure prevention, " to give 



30 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

the sow about half a pint of good rum or gin, which soon produces intoxica- 
tion, and the druulven mother becomes entirely harmless toward her young, 
and will ever accommodate her position to the best advantage of tlie pigs, 
retaining this disposition ever afterward." The editor conlirms this statement 
from cases within his own knowledge. 

15. Pig-Brecdiilgi — Notwithstanding the fact that more people are interested 
in the breeding of jiigs than of any other class of domestic animals, the atten- 
tion paid to improvement of the stock is very small. Plow few farmers know 
that the sow should always be larger than the male, and that he should 
always be of the most perfect form, of good color, and perfectly sound and 
healthy, because almost invariably the pigs take the cpialities of the sire in- 
stead of the mother; that is, his good or bad points will preponderate largely 
over those of the sow. Farmers, please think of this fact, and profit by it. 

16. Large UogSt — Isaac Harrison, of Burlington County, N. J., fatted, in 
1858, 32 hogs that averaged 569 lbs. each ; and "William Taylor, of Ocean 
County, fatted 30 that averaged 537 lbs. each. Thomas Hood, of Ocean 
County, fatted 41 that averaged 533 lbs. each. So says C. W. Hartshorn, 
of Burlington County, who sends us a list of weights, among which are vei-y 
few under 500 lbs. ; the lightest that we notice weighs 428 lbs. 

17. Gross aud Net Weight of Swine.— The rule of ascertaining the net 
weight of fat hogs is to deduct one fifth of the gross weight. It is an easy 
way to make the calculation, or reduction of gross to net weight, by using 
the decimal 8-10 as a multiplier, cutting off one right-hand figure of the 
product, to show the net sum. Thus: 10 hogs weigh 2,729 lbs. ; multiply 
by. 8, which will make net 2,183.2 lbs. 

If you have the gross weight of a drove of hogs at home, which you may 
have taken to market and sold at net weight, and wish to ascertain how tiic 
net and gross compare, take your sum of the net weiglit, say 2,183.2. Divide 
by 8-10, and you will find the cpiotient 2,729. 

This will be found a very convenient and useful rule. Sometimes a person 
may be ofiered one sum as a gross price, and another as a net price of the 
same lot, and would like to know at once which oft'er is the best. This is 
quickly done. You have simply to appl}' the same rule of division by eight 
tenths to the price, instead of weight. For instance suppose the offer is — 
as it sometimes is in New York — $5 25 per cwt. gross, or $6 50 net. Divide 
$5 25 by 8-10, the quotient will be $6 56.2, showing that it will be six cents 
and two mills per cwt. gross to the owner's advantage to sell at $5 25 gross. 

18. Salting Meat Warm.— C. Bovie, of Gnllprairie, Michigan, asks : " Will 
pork cure, if packed before the animal heat is all out of it?" He then 
answers : " Last year I killed my hogs and packed them while warm. I 
have some of the pork now, and I never ate any sweeter pork than this is. 
The most of farmers think pork salted, while warm, will not keep." 

We have tried the experiment rei^eatedly of salting pork as soon as we 
could cut it up after dressing, and certainly prefer it, as it will, when dry- 
salted, cure much quicker. 



Seo. 3.] 



COWS. 



31 



19. Species of AnimalSi — The Revue Horticole, of Paris, gives a very inter- 
esting account of a discussion in the Academic upon tlie species of animals. 
Tiie primitive source of animals is lost ; the fossil bones of the horse are 
identical -vvitli those of the present day. There is no account of anything 
new in animal life since the Mosaic account of creation. 

20. Animal Strncture. — " The bony frame-work of the animal owes its so- 
lidity to phosphate of lime, and this substance must be furnished by the 
food. A perfect food must supply the animal with these three classes of 
bodies, and in proper proportions. What proportions are the proper ones 
we have at present no means of knowing with accuracy. The ordinary 
kinds of food for cattle contain a large quantity of vegetable fiber or woody 
matter, which is more or less indigestible, but which is indispensable to the 
welfare of herbaceous animals, as their digestive organs are adapted to a 
bulky and rough food. The addition of a small quantity of feed rich in oil 

.«and albuminous substances to the ordinary kinds of food, has been found 
highly advantageous in practice. Neither hay alone, nor concentrated food 
alone, gives the best result. A certain combination of the two presents the 
most advantages." 

The above is the view of an eminent professor of agricultural chemishy 
(S. W. Johnson), and it contains a great fact that should be adopted into the 
every-day practice of every farmer, and not only for his stock, but his own 
household. Every animal of a higlier organization than a worm needs a 
diversity of food to make up a healthy animal structure. 



SECTIOX III.-COWS. 

J HAT is a Good Cow ?— This is a cjuestion that many 
owners of cows can not answer, because there is no 
standard. Every one has his own, and one person 
may recommend a cow on sale as positively good, 
that is not half as valuable as one that comes only 
lip to the standard of another person's idea of good- 
ness. Besides, one cow may be good for producing 
milk for sale by the quart ; another good for making 
butter, where that alone is the object ; a third one 
may be good for a cheese dairy and very poor for 
butter ; and a fourth not good for either purpose, 
and should at once be turned out for beef. Farmers 
do not experiment enough with their cows to ascer- 
tain these facts. We have known one cow discarded 
from a butter dairy because she gave less milk than another, when one was 
to be sold, without any other proof that the rejected one was not equally 




32 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Chap. I. 

good. For butter-making, we think a cow which gives 14 quarts of milk a 
day, when fresh, and 14 lbs. of butter a week, a good com', and that that 
might be adopted into use as the meaning of a good butter-dairy cow. A 
good many cows, it is true, go above that, but thej'^ should be ranked as 
extra good. A cow that gives 12 or 14 quarts of milk a day, and 10 lbs. of 
butter a week, might be called a fair medium cow ; and one that gives 8 to 
12 quarts a day and 6 or 7 lbs. of butter a week, shoiild be called com- 
mon, and all below that inferior, as in fact they are ; and so is a cow 
that gives 15 or 16 quarts of milk a day that j'ields only a pound of butter, 
and there are many of this description. The lowest rate we ever heard was 
3 quarts of milk for 1 lb. of butter ; but that is very rare, the average being 
over 12 quarts. 

It would be an excellent plan for some leading agricultural society to 
establish a standard for a good cow. We think a cow that comes up to the 
standard of that owned by Otis Hunt, of Eaton Village, N. Y., will pass forv 
a good one. He gives the following statement of the amount of butter 
made from her: " Amount made from April 8 to July S, 191 lbs. ; amount 
made during the month of June, 74 lbs. ; amount m;ide during the year, 
516 lbs., besides furnishing all the milk and cream used in a fiimily of four 
persons (and occasional visitors) all the time." 

The breed of this good cow is given as " native," and the quality of milk 
and butter excellent. 

22. Garget in fowsi — A letter from Fort Independence, Castle Island, 
Boston Harbor, Mass., says : 

" Within the last two j^ears I have purchased at different times three 
cows, say about one every six months. After they are on the island a few 
months they become ' gargety ;' therefore I should think the complaint is 
brought on from eating some weed peculiar to this island, which is limited 
in extent, say about thirty acres." 

No, sir ; it is because they have not eaten some weed — a weed called poke 
or scoke, producing the " scoke-berries" tliat robins and school-children arc 
both fond of gathering in the fall. This scoke is the natural cure for garget. 
It is said that the disease never affects cows thnt run in pastures M'here it 
grows. We have known the dried roots sell for $3 a lb. in Vermont to feed 
cows, and to make little plugs to insert in the teats to cure the garget. It is 
there known by the name of garget root, {jphytolacca decandra). 

23. How to Increase the Value of a Cow.— Every one who owns a cow 
can see at a glance that it would be profitable to increase the value of her, 
but every one can not see how to do it. We can, and we think that we can 
make it equally palpable to our readers. If a cow is kept for butter, it cer- 
tainly would add to her value if the butter-making properties of her milk 
should be improved. In summer or winter this can be done, just as the yield 
of a cultivated crop can be improved by what is fed to each, and it is simply 
a question of, will it pay, in manuring one or feeding the other. Indian corn 
will add to the quantity and quality of the butter to a very sensible degree, 



Seo. 3.] COWS, AND THEIR FOOD. 33 

and it is simply a question of easy solution, by experiment, -whether it will 
add to the profit of the butter-maker to buy corn at one or two cents a pound, 
and convert a portion of it into butter at 25 cents a pound, or whatever the 
niai'ket price of corn and butter may be, and another portion of it into fat, 
and another portion of it into manure, for that is the natural result of the 
cliemieal change produced in the laboratory of the cow's stomach. The same 
result will follow any other kind of feeding. Good pasture will produce an 
abundance of milk, often as much as the cow can carry ; but does it follow 
that even then it will not be profitable to feed her with some more oleagi- 
nous food to increase the quantity of butter, just as it sometimes proves 
profitable to feed bees, to enable them to store more honey? It certainly 
does appear to us that the value of a cow feeding upon ordinary winter 
food may be almost doubled by making that food suitable for the purpose 
of increasing the quantity of milk, if that is the object, or the quantity of 
butter, if that is the purpose for which the cow is kept. Farmers generally 
understand that they can convert corn into beef, pork, and lard, and some 
of them know exactly at what price per bushel it will pay to convert it into 
these substances; but does any one know at what rate it will pay to convert 
corn or any other grain into butter, or any other kind of feed into any of the 
dairy products? Is the whole business a hap-liazard one? We fear so. 
Some persons know that they can increase the salable value of butter by 
adding the coloring matter of carrots to it. Does any person know the 
value of a bushel of carrots fed to a cow to increase her value as a butter- 
ju'oducing laboratory ? Experimental proof ujjon this point would be far 
more worthy of agricultural pi'izes tiian it is to see who can show the largest- 
sized roots ; for by a few carefully-conducted experiments we should be able 
to increase the value of a cow almost at pleasure. 

24-. Pasture— How ma;iy Cows lo au Aero. — In Cheshire, England, which 
is a great grazing county, the land that has been under-drained and top- 
dressed with ground bones, will carry one cow to each acre through the 
summer, but the land not thus treated will only carry one cow to two acres. 
The dressing of bones upon pasture land is 12 to 15 cut. per acre once in 
seven years. But even if not repeated at that time, it still continues better 
than it was before the bones were ajjplied. 

Now, how many acres of pasture, on the average, does it require in this 
country to the cow? Would it not be economy to improve our pasture 
lands up to the Cheshire standard? 

25. Food CoBsiiiatd by a Cow. — It is generally estimated that a cow needs 
each day three per cent, of her weight in hay. That is, if she weiglis 8 cwt., 
which a fair-sized cow will do, in working order, she will require 21 lbs., or 
its equivalent, of hay. For five montlis' feeding — 150 days — you will require 
3,600 lbs. In the New England States the feeding period averages nearer 
six than five months, and therefore two tuns of hay should be allowed for 
each cow. 

20. Feed, Exercise, and Shelter have a powerful influence upon the health 



34 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

and comfort of all domestic animals, and upon none is it more marked tlian 
upon the most valuable of all, the cow. Every judicious former, Avho has 
au eye only to his purse, will see that his cows are bountifully supplied with 
proper food to produce the largest flow of milk, and rich in cream, and tliat 
his meadows and pastures are free from noxious weeds, that will impart a 
disagreeable taste to the milk and butter. A mixture of timothy and white 
clover is the most desirable pasture for the dairy ; and the best and sweetest 
butter is generally produced in May and June ; for then kind JSTature sends 
up a spontaneous supply of rich, juicy food, and the air is cool and jiure, 
and all things combine to render the dairyman's task easy and delightful. 
But when the sun has scorched the vegetation and impaired its nutritive 
properties, and the temperature of the atmosphere is like an oveu, then there 
is tieed of skill to counteract the opposing influences of nature ; and the task, 
though difiicult, can be accomplished, and a cool atmosphere created in the 
milk-room, and proper food supplied, as the reward of well-directed labor. 

Every farmer should practice, at least on a small scale, growing extra feed 
for his cows, when pasture fails. One of the easiest things grown for fall 
feed is cabbage. It gives an immense amount of food per acre. 

27. Feeding Cows for Butter-Making. — A writer in the Farmer and Gar- 
dener (Phila.) says: "Tiie use of corn and cob-meal in my practice has 
produced more fat than butter. The best feed I have' tried is two bushels of 
ship-stufi' to one bushel of ground corn. In the use of corn fodder, I have 
found great advantage in not only cutting, but steaming it. Many cows 
will not eat it without its being steamed. Turnips are good enough, if the 
taste they impart to the butter is not objectionable. Pumpkins add largely 
to the quantity of milk, but the cream, iu churning, is always frothy, and 
requires a longer time to be converted into butter. 

" My plan of feeding is as follows : I always let my cows go dry about 
the first of the new year, giving them, by this plan, a rest of some two 
months. During this period of rest I feed them on hay, corn-fodder, and 
straw. As soon as they begin to spring, I add four quarts of meal to each 
cow, which, after being mixed with the long straw and foddei', is steamed, 
and fed a little warm. Until tiie calves are separated from the cows, this 
amount of food is given once a day, after which time I feed them three times 
a day." 

28. Health of Cows. — A sickly cow not only yields a diminished profit, 
but she yields sickly milk, and sickly iu a liigher degree than her flesh. 

If a cow eats anything that lias a strong or disagreeable odor, it appears 
in her milk. 

If she eats anything medicinal, it comes out in her milk. 

If she is feverish, her milk shows it. 

If she has sores about her, pus may be found in her milk. 

If she is fed upon decayed or diseased food, her milk, since it is derived 
from her food, will be unliealthy. It is as impossible to make good milk 
from bad food, as to make a good building from rotten timber. 



Sec. 3.] COWS— DIRECTIONS FOR SPAYING. 35 

If there is anything wrong about her, it will appear in the milk, as that is 
an effective source of casting it from her organism. 

Tliese facts should at all times be well impressed upon the minds of dairy- 
men, but more esjiecially in the cold season of the year. Closely confined in 
their narrow stalls thiough the long winter, where the air is not always 
fresh and pure, nor Avater and exercise always had when desired, nor their 
food always free from foul medicinal weeds, as thistles, daisies, white top, 
etc., cows are very likely to vary from a perfectly healthy condition ; spriii"' 
cheese will be faulty enougli, do the best we can — that every dairyman 
knows. The health of the cows should not, at any rate, be allowed to 
become a cause of deterioration. Green food should now, if it has not been 
before, alternated as often as possible with the dry; for this purpose, beets, 
carrots, turnips, potatoes, cabbages, parsneps, and apples are valuable. 

Ventilation and watering should be j^roraptly attended to, and salt and 
meal, made by pulverizing burned bones, should be kept where daily access 
can be had to them, if desired, nor should their strength and flesh be allowed 
to fail for the want of a sufficiently nutritious diet. The best flavored butter 
and cheese can not be made from cows that are badly fed, or ailing, or poor. 

As bad health in parents transmits a tendency to disease in the offsprin"-, 
it is important that every kind of animal we desire to continue on our farms 
should be kept vigorous and healthy. 

As an unhealthy animal can not consume food to as good advanta"-e as a 
well one, it is again economical to avoid disease. 

29. The Amount of Hay required for Cows— The Cost of Milk.— Otis Brig- 
ham, of Westborough, Mass., after seventy years' experience in farniin"- 
says, in the Nno England Farmer, that good cows will eat, on an averaf^e 
20 lbs. of hay per day when giving milk, and 15 lbs. when dry — not by 
guess-work, but tested by actual weighing, for months at a time. Then it 
is easy to calculate the cost of milk. In the neighborhood of N'ew York, 
the average value of hay is one cent a pound, and the rpiantity of milk not 
over six quarts. At three and a half cents a quart, it will pay the hay bill, 
and one cent a day over. If other feed is given, the increase of milk must 
pay for that. The manure will be worth at least the cost of attendance and 
milking. If the milk is worth more than three and a half cents, it s:ives a 
profit ; and if less, a loss. 

30. For Kicking Cows. — Take a short strap, and fasten the ends together. 
Next prepare a pin of some soft wood, about si.x or eight inches long, one 
and a half inches in diameter. Take the cow by the off" fore-leg, and double 
it at the knee-joint close; pass the strap or loop over the knee, pressino- it 
back until you can insert the pin between that and the knee-joint, and she 
can not kick. 

31. Directions for Spaying Cows. — Dr. Dadd, vetevinary surgeon, in the 
Anwrieaii StocJc Journal, says that the milk of spayed cows gives more cream 
than ordinarj'^ milk, and that tiie butter made from it is more delicious in 
taste. The milk is also invaluable for nursing infants. lie thinks there is 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

110 danger in performing the operation, if skillfully clone, and the animal 
jiut under the influence of sulphuric ether. 

Dr. Eiggs, a veterinary surgeon, does not ajaprove of giving chloroform to 
cows. He says: "It is no easy task to give ether or chloroform to animals 
generally, and it is usually quite as distressing to them as so slightly painful 
an operation as spaying. The operation of casting is a very aukwaid one, 
and needless, and interferes with the ease, if not the certainty, of the opera- 
tion. The ovaries are attached near the back-bone; hence, when a cow 
stands up, the paunch and intestines fall away from them, and leave clear 
working sjiace ; but when she is thrown nj)on her side, the case is different, 
and M'hen the cow is in good flesh, there is none too much space any way." 

Dr. Eiggs allows the cow to stand up, her head tied short, and an assistant 
holds her by the nose with clasps ; a rope is tied loosely about her hind legs, 
to keep her from kicking ; an assistant pushes her up against a partition or 
wall, and another aids in the first part of the operation. Thus, tlie cow is 
not at all alarmed or uncomfortable. 

Tlie skin is folded so that the hair can be shaved off where the cut is to 
be, and thus a straight line, three quarters of an inch wide and five inches 
long, is laid bare. The skin is then drawn up in a fold, at right angles, to 
this line and in the middle of it. The operator grasps this fold on one side 
of the shaved line, in his left hand, and his assistant grasps it on the other 
side ; then, with a single, Avell-directcd stroke, with a sharjJ knife, he severs 
the two thicknesses of hide exactly' in the shaved line, letting go at the 
same time; a straight, clean cut through the skin is seen, and the cow suffers 
almost no pain at all — not so much as that produced by the blow from a 
M-hip. If the cut is made slowly, it is the most painful part of the operation. 
There is little feeling in the tissues forming the walls of the cavity of the 
abdomen, and when these are cut through, the hand may be easily introduced. 
The cow Avinces a little when the edges of the skin are rubbed, but shows no 
signs of pain. 

The removal of the ovaries appears very easy, but it is not. If the ojjcra- 
tor has a strong, sharp thumb-nail, he can Avork or cut them loose ; but if 
not, or if the ovary is strongly attached, the operator is obliged to do as the 
books say — "in short, pull them away" — and in this is tlie great danger to 
the cow ; internal hemorrhage or inflammation is apt .to ensue. Dr. Eiggs 
avoids ail this by the use of the "steel thumb-nail." This is simply a sharp 
knife, shaped like and bound upon the thumb-nail of the right hand. There 
is no danger of cutting in the wrong j^hice. A clean cut does not produce 
bleeding, as was feared at first, and it greatly simi^lifies and shortens the 
operation. Dr. Eiggs has never operated upon a cow with this instrument 
when she struggled or attempted to get down, but once, and then she was a 
little nervous, and came down upon her knees, but soon got up again. 
Usually there is no struggling throughout the operation. 

32. Calomel for Cows. — ^A correspondent of the ^mmca/i i^(«v«c;' -writes: 
" I wish you would say to your readers that calomel, in one-ounce doses, will 



Seo. 3.] COWS— DAIRY STOCK. 37 

cure a cow of almost any disease. At least, let me give my experience. I 
have two fine, vahiable cows ; they have had, it seems to me, some of the 
worst diseases that prevail — black-tongue, murrain, dry ranrrain, elc. — and 
when I saw tlie}' were dying, I mixed one ounce of calomel in dry corn-meal, 
which tiiey would lick up, and it has never failed to cure." 

33. Keep Cows GeutSe. — If you milk out doors, with the cow loose, provide 
good stools for each milker. See that they are never used to pound the cow 
with ; and never allow man or woman to kick or pound a cow in the stable 
or milking yard. If gentle means will not make a cow gentle, harsh means 
never will. Ifr may be necessary to reduce a cow to obedience by a little 
])unishinent — to teach her, as you would a liorse or ox, that you are master; 
l)ut to accomplish tliis, never use anything but a light lash or smart switch, 
and never use that in anger. An angry man is a fool, com^jared with a 
sensible cow. 

Si. Ayrshire €ows. — In Massachusetts, the improvement of dairy stock by 
the introduction of Ayrshire blood has become so apparent, that no argu- 
ment could induce those acquainted with their value to return to the hazards 
of native breeding. We could point to farmers in Essex, Middlesex, an.d 
Worcester counties, who, under the most prudent management, avail them- 
selves of every opportunity to introduce Ayrshire blood into tlieir herds, and 
our own observation teaches us that the importations of the Massachusetts 
Society for Promoting Agriculture, of Capt. Eandall, of New Bedford, and 
others, have been vastly beneficial to our dairy stock. The bulls of this 
hrecd can be traced wherever they have been, by the good stock they have 
left behind them. One of them was kept upon a secluded farm in Essex 
County, and rendered it famous for its fine dairy cows. Another gave 
superior character to tlie herd of one of our well-known farmers, and to all 
the dairies in his neighborhood. An imported Ayrshire cow, not far from 
us, has produced, through a variety of- mixtures and pure breeding, a little 
herd of cows and heifers of the higliest uniformity of excellence. 

35. Poor Butter Cows. — The Vetrrhuirian gives a remedy for this difficuliy 
with cows that are well kept, and whose milk has been previously rich in 
butter. It is to these that the remedy is principally directed. The remedy 
consists in giving the animal two ounces of the sulphuret of antimony, M-ith 
three ounces of coriander seeds, powdered and well mixed. This is to be 
given as a soft bolus, and followed by a draught composed of half a pint of 
vinegar, a pint of water, and a handful of common salt, for three successive 
mornings, on an empty stomach. 

This remedy, according to the author, rarely fails, and the milk produced 
some days after its exhibition is found to be richer in cream. The first 
churning j-ields a larger quantity of butter, but the second and third are 
still more satisfactory in their results. 

A letter from a farmer states that he had fourteen cows in full milk, from 
which he obtained very little butter, and that of a bad quality. Guided by 
the statements of M. Deneubourg, which had appeared in the Annales Vet- 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

erinaires, lie had separately tested tlie milk of his cows, and found that the 
bad quality of it was owing to one cow only, and that the milk of the others 
yielded good and abundant butter. It was, therefore, clearly established that 
the loss he had so long sustained was to be attributed to this cow only. lie 
at once administered the remedy recommended by M. Deneubourg, which 
effected a cure. 

30. Winter Feed of Orange founty Dairy €ows. — Mr. C. Edward Brooks, 
one of the best dairymen in the county, claims that rye makes more milk 
than corn or oats, or other meal. Brewers' grains were formerly bought so 
as to cost 6 cents delivered at the farm, but now, at 12 cents, they are 
not so profitable as rye feed at 75 cents per bushel. Oats he esteems 
the jjoorest kind of grain for milk. He thinks that by currying a cow, and 
keeping her and her stable scruj^ulously clean, she will give her full quantity 
of milk on half the feed required if she is neglected. His daily allowance 
to each cow is five pounds of meal, either corn, corn and oats, or buckwheat 
or wheat bran, changing the kind frequently — for practice approves what 
thegry teaches, that animals thrive best on a frequent change of diet. The 
animals are fed and milked at regular hours — generally at four o'clock in 
the afternoon and six in the morning; in winter, somewhat earlier in the 
afternoon and later in the morning. Care is taken to observe great punctu- 
ality as to time of milking, for the animals give mudi less ti'ouble and thrive 
better. Mr. Brooks chaffs his hay, steeps it in warm water to soften it, and 
sprinkles the meal over it, mixing it thoroughly. Throughout the day as 
much long hay is fed as the cows will eat. The feed is mixed in a long box, 
shaped like an ordinary bath-tub, which runs on small iron truck-wheels, 
one at either end, and two at»the sides, half way between. This is a very 
convenient method for carrying the whole mess along the passage between 
the stalls, and with a wooden scoop giving to each cow her share as her stall 
is passed. The water to steep the hay is heated in a caldron, in a small 
out-building, and conducted to the cow-stable through a small tin pipe. 

Mr. Seeley C. Eoe, near Chester, a large dairyman and an intelligent 
farmer, thinks that half-clover hay, well made, and half grain, is better for 
milk production than twice as much timothy with grain. lie does not cut 
and steep his hay, but dampens it with cold water, and adds meal, as usual. 
He finds it an excellent plan to feed buckwheat whole, and prepares it by 
boilinf the grain with the hulls on, and when it has become thoroughly 
soaked, puts it into the feed-box at the rate of two quarts to each cow. He 
adds to this two quarts of diy meal, and the heat and steam of the cooked 
buckwheat cooks the meal. Four quarts of this mixture are allowed to 
each cow — two in the morning and two at night — and the animals are kept 
on this feed until turned out to grass. 

Mr. Gregory has an eight-horse power engine for cutting hay, threshing, 
grinding, etc., and uses the waste steam for steaming his hay. He has 
constructed a large chamber, capable of holding one hundred bushels of 
cut hay, which, before being steamed, is dampened. Tlie steam-pipe from 



Seo. 3.] 



COWS— FEEDING EOQTS. 



39 



tlie engine empties into the chamber, and the hay is steamed for about a 
quarter of an hour, and then fed to the stock unmixed with meal — that is, 
given in the form of a warm mash. 

37. Su^ai'-i'aue for €ows. — If the Chinese sugar-cane does not prove to 
be a prolitable sugar-making plant, we think it will be a profitable one fi>r 
forage. The Homestead says that Deacon Edward Hayden, of East Hartford, 
Conn., has raised the Chinese sugar-cane for two years, and has used it for 
feeding milch cows with great success. The first year the stalks were left 
in tlic field, scattered about, we believe, and occasionally in dry weather 
brought to thabarn to the cows, ^diich ate them up clean, stalks and all. This 
was merely a sort of accidental experiment, as no especial value was set upon 
tlie canes. The past year he raised more, shocked in the field, and left it 
tliere. It cured well, and tlie cows ate it with great avidity, and Mr. Hay- 
den esteems it as a great milk-producing diet. 

38. Feeding Roots. — I have a word to say on winter feed for stock. It is 
more by way of query, and for feeders to think of, than by way of instruc- 
tion. My experience in feeding domestic animals is not sufficient to wai-rant 
me in giving instruction. I have served my time in too rough a school for 
tliat. I have fed a good deal of liay, worth from $1 50 to $5 a tun ; and 
corn from 10 to 25 cents a busliel, and otlier grain in proportion, and 
straw absolutely valueless. While living in such a district, I have often 
been asked the question. Why I did not raise more roots for my cattle? I 
answered : Simply because it would not pay. I did bi;y a lot of ruta bsgas 
one autumn, delivered at my house at six cents a bushel, and the use of them 
taught me that they were dear food. I Avould now, if living in such a dis- 
trict, feed roots to stock just so far as I thought necessary to keep the animals 
in good health, and no more ; not if I could buy at the same price, which 
was one fourth the price of sound corn ; and I question the economy of feed- 
ing any kind of roots at the same rate of value to any greater extent than is 
required for health. That roots, particularly white turnips, are too largely 
fed in cold weather to young cattle, I have no doubt. They are so full of 
water that too much of it is taken into the stomach with the food. If roots, 
or any otlier watery food, are too largel_y fed to milch cows before and after 
calving, you will be sure to have a mean calf. If we will think, and take 
reason for a guide, as to what man requires for healthy food, \vc shall not go 
far wrong with domestic animals. Man likes roots occasionally, and so he 
does soup, or other sloppy food ; but what would he be good for if fed week 
after week upon such watery stuff as turnips, or such porridge as some people 
compel their cattle to eat ? After all, this question of winter feeding is a 
question of values ; and it is not alone the value, counted by first cost, but 
the value of results. Now, what is the use of giving my opinion that this or 
that kind of food is the best, or most economical, when I can not say of a 
single thing, I Icnov}. I don't know, and don't know anybody M'ho does. 
It is all guess-work, and at the present price of cattle-food, it is expensive 
guessing. 



40 DOMESTIO ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

39. Wintering Cows. — The method of feeding cows in winter is not so im- 
portant as it is to malie the cliange from grass to hay and from hay to grass 
without producing any deterioration in their condition. It is higlily import- 
ant, if your cows are giving milk upon autumn pasture, that you do not 
allow tliem to fall off in nulk or flesh for want of a little extra feed. I have 
never found anything quite equal to corn-meal for cow-feed, particularly 
when you are making butter. It may not be necessary nor economical to 
feed cows meal in autumn, even if pasture does fail, if you have green corn- 
stalks, pumpkins, turnips, cabbage, etc., which must be consumed, because 
not good to keep through winter. But in spring, when cows are first turned 
to grass, they are very apt to fall away, and then it will be found to be good 
economy to feed meal every night-in the yard, and so it will before the cows 
are turned out, if not in first-rate condition. 

I see the calculation of one writer that corn-meal, thus fed, was worth $3 
a bushel, fed at the rate of one quart a day to a cow, for twenty or thirty 
days. He says : 

"4have also found, by other experiments, that there is a great difference 
in the manner of getting animals to grass. When turned out early, with 
little or no other feed, they fall away greatly ; on the contrary, if fed all the 
good hay they will eat, night and morning, with a judicious feeding of meal 
of some kind (and I prefer mixed feed — that is, mixing the different grains 
together before they are ground — to any one variety), they will soon begin 
to gain finely by such a course, and carry their extra weights through the 
season. In an experiment now being conducted, I have a cow that has, since 
the first of December last, been quietly laying on her two pounds per day 
(or nearly so), and her feed has been only moderate, as I am no advocate for 
forcing, but simply good fair keeping and care ; then, with good animals, we 
are sure of a fair remuneration for care and feeding. 

"I woidd that what I have already written could reach the eye of every 
farmer in these United States, and that each one would set himself about 
making at least one experiment in the care of farm-stock." 

40. Cows Badly Wintered arc UnprofifabJe. — A farmer can not afford to 
winter any stock poorly, and least of all, milch cows, or those which are to 
produce calves in the spring. Look at the following statement, and see if the 
"Western Reserve farmers can afford thus to winter cows. 

A letter from "Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, written in April, ISGO, 
says : "The- present times are the worst we have ever known in this country. 
Cows and cattle are dying by the hundred ; six hundred head have died 
within tlie three adjoining counties this winter for want of food. The 
weather is still dry and cold." 

This is only one, among many illustrations, of the folly and wrong com- 
mitted by "Western farmers in keeping more stock than can be housed and 
fed. This is the case all through the Western country. Travel over any 
portion of it, and you will see scores of cattle shivering in the cold storms 
of winter, without shelter, and so poorly fed that if they live through the 



Seo. 3] COWS— HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD ONE. 41 

severe season it is more by chance than for any care which they receive. On 
the prairies, cattle can be kept so easily in siunnier that every one is temjjted 
to overstock himself to such a degree, while the grass is green, that a portion 
must die in winter. Now we would say to the farmers, you can not alford 
this. Every one of these six hundred cattle which perished in Ohio could 
have been sold at a low price by the owners, who were short of feed, to 
others who would have carried them through the winter. And how infinitely 
better this would have been than to allow such an amount of stock to die 
of starvation ! 

It is not only in Trumbull County that cattle have perished in winter ; 
the entire "West has suflered equally in this respect with Ohio. On the 
Illinois prairies, where there is no limit tj^the aiaount of hay that might be 
cut, cattle have died in large numbers for the want of a quarter more hay 
than they had eaten during the winter. And yet the farmers of those dis- 
tricts persevere in their criminal folly, although the result of each year's 
experience ought to be sufficient to open their eyes to a proper realization 
of tlie truth. Xo farmer can aiford to keep more cows or horned cattle than 
he can provide hay for at the rate of two tuns per head ; he should never 
attempt to keep more cattle than he can house warmly, unless he has hay to 
waste, and is willing to sacrifice at least one fourth of the stock. 

It is one of the most painful sights to be met with in traveling through the 
West, while jiassing the little cabins of the new settlers, to see cows and 
calves, oxen and young stock, all huddling together, without any shelter from 
the cold winter storm. Is it any wonder that one half of these famished, 
neglected things should perish before spring? Farmers, you must learn 
wisdom from the calamities of severe winters. Keep fewer cattle, and 
keep them better, and you will make more money. We might give hundreds 
of extracts from country papers to convince you that feed is scarce every 
year, but it would be superfluous. The richest corn country of Indiana 
has suffered quite as much as its sister States during many hard winters ; 
and this is because it is a rich corn country, and ricli in nothing else. Large 
farms without grass ; cattle without food, dying by thousands ; farmers 
losing all their stock, "because it is a late spring," or, rather, because they 
undertook to winter an unreasonable number. Will the farmers of our 
country never take advantage of the ex}ierience of the past, and learn that 
they can not aftord these wasteful and ruinous sacrifices ? 

4-1. To Choose a Good Milch Cow. — Select from a good breed. We ju-efer 
the Devons — bright bay red. The Durhams arc roan, red, white, and mix- 
tures of these colors. Ayrshire cows are generally red and white spotted. 
Ileretords, red or darker colored, with white faces. Alderneys, pale red and 
mixed with white. These are the principal colors of the several breeds of 
which the Durhams are the largest and Alderneys the smallest. Different 
individuals will contend for each breed being the best and only one that 
should be selected for their milking qualities. But animals of each breed 
and of crosses of them, often prove remarkable milkers, and so do some of the 



42 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

native stock of the countiy. Two families of cows — one owned by Colonel 
Jaqnes, of Ten Hills Farm, near Charlestown, Mass., and one owned by 
Major John Jones, of "Wheatland Farm, near Middietown, Del. — were called 
native breed, yet were the most remarkable butter-makers we have ever seen. ■ 
We have seen Col. Jaqnes produce good butter in three minutes, by simply 
stirring the cream in a bowl. If we were about selecting a milch cow, we 
•would endeavor to get one out of such a herd of good milkers ; one with a 
soft, velvety-feeling skin, slim neck, fine legs, broad stern, with what is 
called a large escutcheon — that is, the hair of the stern pointing inward ; a 
large udder, slim teats, and large veins, commonly called milk veins, on the 
belly. Above all things, select your cow of a gentle, pleasant countenance, 
because a first-rate milker may be^so vicious as to be worthless. Do not look 
for flesh, as the best cows are seldom fat ; their hip-bones are often very 
prominent, and they have the appearance of being low in flesh. A beefy 
cow is seldom a good milker. 

The next thing is, what is a good milker? That is, how much milk must 
she yield per day ? A cow that will average 5 quarts of milk a day through 
the year, making 1,825 quarts, is an extraordinary good cow. One that will 
yield 5 quarts a day for 10 months is a good cow, and one that will average 
4 quarts during that time is more than an average quality. That would 
make 1.200 quarts a year, which, at three cents a quart, is $36. We believe 
the Orange County milk dairies average about $40 per cow, and the quality 
of the cows is considerably above the average of the country. 

It is as important to keep a cow good as it is to get her good. This can 
never be done by a careless, lazy milker. Always milk your cow quick and 
perfectly clean, and never try to counteract nature by taking away her calf. 
Let it suck, and don't be afraid " it will butt her to death." It will distend 
the udder, and make room for the secretion of milk. Be gentle with your 
cow, and you will have a gentle cow. Select well, feed well, house well, 
milk well, and your cow M'ill yield well. 

42. The Different Breeds of Cowsi — We advise you to examine, in this 
connection, the difierent breeds of cows, so that the general appearance, so 
far as outline of form is concerned, may be very well understood. Good 
and full descriptions may be found in a standard work upon " Milch Cows 
and Dairy Farming," edited by Charles L. Flint, secretary of the Massachu- 
setts State Board of Agriiculturc, and we give a few short extracts from that 
work, upon each breed, as follows : 

43. Ayrshire Cows Described. — "Tlie Ayrshires are justly celebrated 
throughout Great Britain and this country for their excellent dairy qualities. 
Though the most recent in their origin, they ai-e pretty distinct from the 
other Scotch and English races. In color, the pure Ayrshires are generally 
red and white, spotted or mottled — not roan, like many of the short-horns, 
but often presenting a bright contrast of colors. They are sometimes, 
though rarely, nearly or quite all red, and sometimes black and white ; but 
the favorite color is red and white brightly contrasted, and by some, straw- 



Sko. 3.] COWS— BREEDS COMPARED. 43 

berry color is preferred. The head is small, fine, and clean ; the face long, 
and narrow at the muzzle, with a sprightly, yet generally mild, expression ; 
eye small, smart, and lively ; the horns short, fine, and slightly twisted 
upward, set wide apart at the roots ; the neck thiu ; body enlarging from 
fore to hind quarters ; the back straight and narrow, but broad across the 
loin ; joints rather loose and open ; ribs rather flat ; bind quarters rather 
thin ; bone fine ; tail long, fine, and bushy at the end ; hair generally tliin 
and soft; udder liglit color and capacious, extending M^ell forward under the 
belly ; teats of the cow of medium size, generally set regularly and wide 
apart ; milk-veins prominent and well develojied. The carcass of the pure- 
bred Ayrshire is light, particularly the fore quarters, which is considered by 
good judges as an index of great milking qualities; but the pelvis is capa- 
cious and wide over the hips. 

" On the whole, the Ayrshire is good-looking, but wants some of the sym- 
metry and aptitude to fatten which characterize the short-horn, which is 
supposed to have contributed to build up this valuable breed on the basis 
of the original stock of the county of Ayr." 

44. Yield of Milk of Ayrshire Cows. — " Youatt estimates the daily yield of 
an Ayrshire cow, for the first two or three months after calving, at five 
gallons a day, on an average; for the next three months, at three gallons; 
and for the next four months, at one gallon and a half. This would be 850 
gallons as the annual average of a cow; but, allowing for some unproductive 
cows, he estimates the average of a daily at COO gallons per annum for each 
cow. Three gallons and a half of the Ayrshire cow's milk will yield one 
and a half pounds of butter. He therefore reckons 257 lbs. of butter, or 
514 lbs. of cheese, at the rate of 24 lbs. to 28 gallons of milk, as the yield 
of every cow, at a fair and perliaps rather low average, in an Ayrshire 
dairy, during the year. Alton sets the yield much higher, saying that 
" thousands of the best Ayrshire dairy-cows, when in prime condition and 
well fed, produce 1,000 gallons of milk per annum; that in general three 
and tliree-quarters to four gallons of their milk will yield a pound and a 
half of butter ; and that 27^ gallons of their milk will make 21 lbs. of full- 
milk cheese." Mr. Eankin puts it lower — at about 650 to 700 gallons to 
each cow ; on his own farm of inferior soil, his dairy produced an average 
of 550 gallons only." 

45. Yield of Milk of Breeds Compared. — " In a series of experiments on the 
Earl of Chesterfield's dairy farm, at Bradley Hall, interesting as giving 
positive data on which to form a judgment as to the yield, it was found that, 
in the height of the season, the Holderness cows gave seven gallons and one 
quart per diem ; the long-horns and Alderneys, four gallons and three 
quarts; the Devons, four gallons and one quart; and that, when made into 
butter, the above quantities gave, respectively, 38^ ounces, 28 ounces, and 
25 ounces. 

"The Ayrshire, a cow far smaller than the Holderness, at five gallons of 
milk and 34 ounces of butter per day, gives a fair average as to yield of 



4:i DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Cdap. I. 

milk, and an enormous production of bxitter, giving within four and a half 
ounces as much from her five gallons as the Holderness from her seven gal- 
lons and one quart ; her rate being nearly seven ounces to the gallon, -while 
that of the Holderness is considerably under six ounces. 

" According to Mr. Harley, the most approved shape and marks of a good 
dairy cow are as follows : Head small, long, and narrow toward the muzzle ; 
horns small, clear, bent, and placed at considerable distance from each other; 
eyes not large, but brisk and lively ; neck slender and long, tapering toward 
the head, with a little loose skin below ; shoulders and fore quarters light 
and thin ; hind quarters large and broad ; back straight, and joints slack 
and open ; carcass deep in the rib ; tail small and long, reaching to the heels ; 
legs small and short, with firm joints ; udder square, but a little oblong, 
stretching forward, thin-skinned, and capacious, but not low hung; teats or 
paps small, pointing outward, and at a considerable distance from each other ; 
milk-veins capacious and prominent ; skin loose, thin, and soft, like a glove ; 
hair short, soft, and woolly ; general figure, when in flesh, handsome and 
well proportioned." 

46. The Ajrshires for the Dairy — Thoir Value Cousidered.— Upon this 
point Mr. Flint quotes and indorses the following opinion : 

" For purely dairy purposes, the Ayrshire cow deserves the first place. 
In consequence of her small, sj'mmetrical, and compact bod}^ combined with 
a well-formed chest and a ca^jacious s'omach, there is little waste, compara- 
tively speaking, through the respiratory system ; while, at the same time, 
there is very complete assimilation of the food, and thus she converts a large 
proportion of her food into milk. So remarkable is this fact, that all dairy 
farmers who have any experience on the point, agree in stating ihat an 
AijrsJure cow generaVy gives a larger return of milk for the food consumed 
than a cow of any other hreed. The absolute quantity may not be so great, 
but it is obtained at a less cost ; and this is the point upon Avhich the question 
of profit depends." 

47. The Jersey or Alderney CoWi — Tliere is a great diversity of opinion 
about the value of this breed of cows. It is our opinion that they are the 
most valuable of all, where only one or two are to be kept, and when butter 
is the main object. The milk of an Alderney cow is the richest of all for 
household consumption, and makes the most and best butter ; and the cow 
is generally very docile, and in her native country is frequently kept upon 
very much such food as we keep a pig upon in this country. The greatest 
objection that we have heard urged upon them is their small size and lack 
of beauty, as compared with the symmetrical forms of Durhams, Devon.?, 
Ayrsiiires, and some of our natives. It is objected, too, that butter and 
cheese made from Alderney cows' milk will not keep, because it is " too rich." 
If it is mixed with other milk, it improves both, for then the butter ai]d 
cheese are rich, and have no 1 ick of keeping qualities. 

48. Origiu and Description of Jersey Cows. — "The Jersey race is supposed 
to have been derived originally from Normandy, in the northern part of 





ifr ( > i.i ^ 1 I I r,(..j.. 



t IM ( K«» '^'I.V (IjS 



PLATE IV. 

(Page 44.) 

This picture is a study of four of the improved breeds of cattle 
which are briefly described in Chapter I., pages 31 to 51 ; and with 
the other two upon Plate III., the reader has, as it were, at one 
view, representatives of the Durham, Devon, Hereford, Ayrshire, 
Jersey or Alderney, and the improved Dutch — six of the most im- 
portant breeds of imported cattle. These beautiful pictures, with 
what we have said of the animals, will give those who have no op- 
portunity of studying them alive, a very good insight of their varied 
form and character. For this they should be highly valued, as they 
are true representations from life. 



Sec. 3.] COWS— BREEDS COMPARED. 45 

France. The cows have been long celebrated for the production of very 
rich milk and cream, but till witliin a quarter of a century they were- com- 
paratively coarse, ugly, and ill-shaped. Improvements have been yery 
marked, but the form of the animal is still far from satisfying tlie eye. The 
head of the pure Jersey is fine and tapering, the cheek small, the throat 
'clean, the muzzle fine and encircled with a liglit stripe, the nostril high and 
open ; the horns smooth, crumpled, not very thick at the base, tapering, and 
tipped with black; ears small and thin, deep orange color inside; eyes full 
and placid; neck straight and fine; chest broad and deep; barrel hooped, 
broad and deep, well ribbed up ; back straight from the withers to the hip, 
and from the tojj of the hip to the setting on of the tail ; tail fine, at right 
angles with the back, and hanging down to the hocks ; skin thin, light color, 
and mellow, covered with fine, soft hair; fore legs short, straight, and fine 
below tlie knee; arm swelling and full above ; hind quarters long and well 
filled ; hind legs short and straight below tlie hocks, with bones rather fine, 
squarely placed, and not too close together ; hoofs small ; udder full in size, 
in line witli the belly, extending well up behind; teats of medium size, 
squarely placed, and wide apart, and milk-veins very prominent. The color 
is generally cream, dun. or yellow, with more or less white, and the fine 
head and neck give the cows and heifers a fawn-like appearance, and make 
them objects of attraction in the park ; but the hind quarters are often too 
narrow to look well, particularly to those who judge animals from the 
amount of fat they carry." 

49. FalteiiiHg Properties of a Jersey Cow.—" It is asserted by Colonel Le 
Couteur, of the island of Jersey, that, contrary to the general opinion here, 
the Jersey cow, when old and no longer wanted as a milker, will, when dry 
and fed, fatten rapidly, and produce a good quantity and excellent quality 
of butchers' meat. An old cow, he says, was put up to fatten in October, 
1850, weighing 1,125 lbs., and when killed, the 6th of January, 1851, she 
Meighed 1,330 lbs., having gained 205 lbs. in 98 days, on 20 lbs. of hay, a 
little wheat-straw, and 3o lbs. of roots — consisting of carrots, Swedes, and 
mangel-wurzel — a day." 

50. The Sliort-horu Durham Cow.— There is no room for dispute about the 
Durhams being good for beef. For butter or for general dairy purposes, I 
should not choose them. Mr. Flint says: 

" In sections where the climate is moist and the food abundant and rich, 
some families of the short-horns may be valuable for the daii-y ; but they 
are most frequently bred exclusively for beef in this country, and in sections 
where they have attained the higliest perfection of form and beauty, so little 
is thought of their milking qualities, that tJiey are often not milked at all, 
the calf being allowed to run with the dam." 

Crosses, however, of this breed upon other breeds have produced excellent 
milkei's. In Wesfchester County, N. Y., there is a valuable strain of dairy 
stock known as " Dutch and Durham." 

51. The Dalch Cow. — The old Holland stock shows a very syramet- 



46 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

rical, liandsome form, but not quite as mucli so as the Durham, which was 
made up, it is generally supposed, by a cross of the Dutch breed upon the 
Teeswater stock. The Dutch cow is not as heavy an animal as the improved 
Durham, but she is more highly esteemed for dairy purposes. 

53. The Hereford €ow. — " Tlie Hereford cattle derive their name from a 
county in the western part of England. Tlieir general characteristics are a 
white face, sometimes mottled ; white throat, the white generally extending 
back on the neck, and sometimes, though rarely, still farther along on the 
back. The color of the rest of the body is red, generally dark, but some- 
times light. Eighty years ago the best Hereford cattle M^ere mottled or 
roan all over ; and some of the best herds, down to a comparatively recent 
period, were either all mottled, or had the mottled or speckled face. The 
expression of the face is mild and lively ; the forehead open, broad, and 
large ; the eyes bright and full of vivacity; the horns glossy, slender, and 
spreading ; the head small, though larger and not quite so clean as that of 
the Devons; the lower jaw fine; neck long and slender; chest deep; breast- 
bone large, prominent, and very muscular ; the shoulder-blade light ; shoulder 
full and soft ; brisket and loins large ; hips well developed, and on a level 
with the chine ; hind quarters long and well filled in ; buttocks on a level 
with the back, neither falling otf nor raised above the hind quarters ; tail 
slender, well set on ; hair fine and soft ; body round and full ; carcass deep 
and well formed, or cylindrical ; bone small ; thigh short and m'cU made ; 
legs short and straight, and slender below the knee; as handlers very excel- 
lent, especially mellow to the touch on the back, the shoulder, and along the 
sides, the skin being soft, flexible, of medium thickness, rolling on the neck 
and the hips ; hair bright; face almost bare, which is characteristic of pure- 
bred Ilerefords. They belong to the middle-horned division of the cattle 
of Great Britain, to which they are indigenous." 

There are individual good milkers among the Ilerefords, as there are 
among the Durhams, but like them, we must say they are better for beef 
than milk. We certainly never should select the Herefoi'd breed for dairy 
purposes. The form of the cow, as represented among the specimens we 
have seen of the best herds in this country, is that of a beef-producing ani- 
mal, or a breed for good working oxen, for which it is noted. 

53. The Devon Cow. — "This beautiful race of cattle dates farther back 
than any well-established breed among us. It goes generally under the 
simple name of Devon ; but the cattle of the southern part of the county, 
from which the race derives its name, differ somewhat from those of the 
northern, having a larger and coarser frame, and far less tendency to fatten, 
though their dairy qualities are superior. 

" The North Devons are remarkable for hardihood, symmetry, and beauty, 
and are generally bred for work and for beef rather than for the dairy. 
The head is fine and well set on; the horns of medium length, generally 
curved ; color usually bright blood-red, but sometimes inclining to yellow ; 
skin thin and orange-yellow ; hair of medium length, soft, and silky, making 



Seo. 3.] COWS— BREEDS COMPARED. 47 

the animals remarkable fine handlers; muzzle of the nose white; eyes full 
and mild ; ears yellowish, or orange-color inside, of moderate size ; neck 
rather long, with little dewlap ; shoulders oblique ; legs small and straight, 
and feet in proportion ; chest of good width ; ribs round and expanded ; 
loins of first-rate quality, long, wide, and fleshy; hips round, of medium 
width ; rump level ; tail full near the setting on, tapering to the tip ; thighs 
of the bull and ox muscular and full, and high in the flank, though in tlie 
cow sometimes thought to be too light; the size medium, generally called 
small. 

" As milkers, they do not excel, perhaps tliey may be said not to equal, 
the other breeds, and they have a reputation of being decidedly below the 
average. In their native country the general average of a dairy is one 
pound of butter per day during the summer. 

"Tliey are bred for beef and for work, and not for the dairy, and their 
yield of milk is small, though of a rich quality. 

"On the whole, whatever may be our judgment of this breed, the faults 
of the K^orth Devon cow can hardly be overlooked from our present point 
of view. The rotundity of form and compactness of frame, though they 
contribute to her remarkable beauty, constitute an objection to her as a dairy 
cow, since it is generally thought that tlie peculiarity of form which disposes 
an animal to take on fat is somewhat incompatible with good milking quali- 
ties, and hence Youatt says: 'For the dairy, the North Devons must be 
acknowledged to be inferior to several other breeds. The milk is good, and 
yields more than the average proportion of cream and butter; but it is 
deficient in quantity.' He also maintains that the value of this breed for 
milk could not be improved without probable or certain detriment to its 
grazing qualities. 

"But the fairest test of its fitness for the dairy is to he found in the 
estimation in which distinguished Devon breeders themselves have held it 
in this respect. A scale of points of excellence in this breed was established 
some time ago by the best judges in England ; and it has since been adopted, 
with bnt slight changes, in this country. These judges, naturally prejudiced 
in favor of the breed, if prejudiced at all, made this scale to embrace one 
hundred points, no aniujal to be regarded as perfect unless it excelled in all 
of them. Each part of the body was assigned its real value in the scale : a 
faultless head, for instance, was estimated at four ; a deep, round chest at 
fifteen, etc. If the animal was defective in any part, the number of points 
which represented the value of that part in the scale was to be deducted /iro 
rata from the hundred, in determining its merits. But in this scale the cow 
is so lightly esteemed for the dairy, that the udder, the size and shape of 
which is of the utmost consequence in determining the capacity of the milch 
cow, is set down as worth only one po bit, while, in tlie same scale, the horns 
and ears are valued at two points each, and the color of the nose and tiie 
expression of the eye are valued at four points each. Supposing, therefore, 
that each of these points was valued at one dollar, and a perfect Nortli 



48 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

Devon cow was valued at one hundred dollars ; then another cow of the 
same blood, and equal to the first in every respect, except in her udder, 
Avhich is such as to make it certain that she can never be capable of giving 
milk enough to nourish her calf, must be worth, according to tlie estimation 
of the best Devon breeders, ninety-nine dollars ! It is safe, llierefore, to say 
tliat an animal whose udder and lacteal glands are regarded, by those ■vrlio 
best know her capacities and her merits, as of only one quarter part as much 
consequence as the color of her nose, or half as much as the shape and size 
of her horns, can not be recomuiended for the dairy. The improved North 
Devon cow may be classed, in this respect, with the Hereford, neither of 
which have well-developed milk-vessels — a jjoint of the utmost consequence 
to the practical dairyman." 

5i. The 3IiIk-Mirror. — Tliis is a term given in the Guenon method of 
selecting good cows, to the eseutclieon formed by the change of direction in 
the hair on tlie rear part of the udder and parts adjacent. If this mirror is 
large, it is supjiosed to indicate a good milker. For tlie better understanding 
of it, we recommend a careful study of the "milk-mirror," and see how it 
is generally developed upon all real good milkers — that is, good for quantity 
rather than quality. 

" Milk-mirrors vary in position, extent, and the figure they represent. 
They may be divided, according to their position, into mirrors or escutcheons, 
properly so called, or into lower and upper tufts, or escutcheons. The latter 
are very small in comparison with the former, and arc situated in close 
proximity to the vulva, as seen in different breeds of cows. They are very 
common on cows of bad milking races, but are very rarely seen on tlie best 
milch cows. Thej' consist of one or two ovals, or small bands of up-growing 
hair, and serve to indicate the continuance of the flow of milk. The period 
is short in proportion as the tufts are large. They must not be confounded 
with the escutcheon proper, which is often extended up to the vulva. They 
are separated from it by bands of hair, more or less large, as you M'ill find 
from careful examination." 

It requires some skill to determine the exact size of a milk-mirror, since it 
is not equally m'cU defined in all cows, being at first sight apparently large 
in some, which, upon close examination, will show faults — that is. that the 
escutcheon of out-growing hairs is broken by tufts of down-growing hairs. 
Mr. Flint says : 

" We often find cows whose milk-mirror at first sight appears very large, 
but which are only medium milkers ; and it will usually be found that lateral 
indentations greatly diminish the surface of up-growing hair. Many errors 
are committed in estimating the value of such cows, fi'om a want of attention 
to the real extent of the milk-mirror. 

" All the interruptions in the surlace of the mirror indicate a diminution 
of the quantity of milk, with the exception, however, of small oval or 
elliptical plates, which are found in the mirror, on the back part of the 
udders of the best cows. 



PLATE V. 

(Page 48.) 

This is a very instructive picture to every young farmer, and there 
are a good many old ones who may make of it a valuable study. 
Many persons are not aware that the age of a suckling calf, week by 
week, can be told by examining the teeth. Look at these drawings 
and see how easy it is to learn the art — an art which every farmer's 
boy should understand. So the age of a cow, as well as a horse, 
can be told from year to year, by looking at the teeth, more cer- 
tainly than by the horns. For this purpose this plate possesses 
great value ; but it has a greater one in the illustration of what is 
now well known as the "milk mirror," which is described at *f[ 54, 
and much more fully in Guenon's work, from which the theory is 
derived. In this plate the mirror is rejDresented by coloring the pic- 
ture so as to show the field of upturned hair around the udder in its 
most fully developed form upon No. 1, and quite defective in No. 4. 
By studying these, and comparing them with living cows, something 
of the theory may be learned. It is very fully illustrated in Flint's 
work upon milch cows and dairy farming. It is a subject worthy 
of the attention of all farmers. 



Seo. 3.] COWS— THE MILK-MIRROR. 49 

In a fat cow, with an inflated udder, the mirror would appear larger 
than it really is; while in a lean cow, with a loose and wrinkled udder, it 
appears smaller. Fat will cover faults ; this is a fact to be kept in mind in 
selecting a cow ; because good fatting qualities are not the qualities which 
the purchaser is desirous of obtaining. 

" These marks, though often seen on many good cows, should be considered 
as certain only when the veins of the perineum form, under the skin, a kind 
of net-work, which, without being very apparent, may be felt b^' a pressure 
on them, when the milk-veins on the belly are well developed, though less 
knotted and less prominent than in cows of the first class ; in fine, when the 
udder is well developed, and presents veins Avhicli are sufficiently numerous, 
though not very large. 

"There are cases where a knowledge and careful examination of the form 
and size of the mirror becomes of the greatest importance. It is well known 
that certain signs or marks of great milkers are developed only as the 
capacities of the animal herself are fully and completely developed by age. 
Tiie milk-veins, for instance, are never so large and prominent in heifers and 
young cows as in old ones, and the same may be said of the udder, and the 
veins of the udder and perineum, all of which it is of great importance to 
observe in the selection of milch cows. Those signs, then, which in cows 
arrived at maturity are almost sufficient in themselves to warrant a conclu- 
sion as to their merits as milkers, are, to a great extent, wanting in younger 
animals, and altogether in calves, of which there is often doubt whether they 
shall be raised ; and here a knowledge of the form of the mirror is of 
immense advantage, since it gives, at the outset, and before any expense is 
incurred, a somewhat reliable means of judging of the future milking 
capacities of the animal, or, if a male, of the probability of his transmitting 
milking qualities to his offspring." 

55. What Kind of fows lo Buy.— "In buying dairy stock, tlie fanner gen- 
erally finds it for his interest to select young heifers. They give the promise 
of longer usefulness. But it is often the case that older cows are selected, 
with the design of using them for the dairy for a limited period, and then 
feeding them for the butcher. In either case, it is advisable, as a rule, to 
choose animals in low or medium condition. The farmer can not ordinarily 
aflFord to buy fat; it is more properly his business to make it and to have i 
to sell. Good and well-marked cows, in poor condition, will ra]iidly gain in 
all flesh products when removed to better pastures and higher keeping, and 
they cost less in the original purchase." 

56. General Conclusions. — We have now devoted all the space that we can 
afford to the subject of cows. We have given them a large share of our 
attention, because we consider them of more importance than any other 
single branch of our domestic animals. They not only furnish a great 
amount of food, in milk, cream, butter, cheese, and meat, when done fur- 
nishing milk, but they are the foundation of prosperity in American farmiiio-. 
" A good cow may produce a bad calf," but it is only a may-be — it does rot 




50 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

hold as a rule. It is therefore very important to select good cows, and keep 
none but good cows — certainly nfever breed from a poor one. 

We shall now give some important facts relative to other branches of neat 
stock. And lirst we refer the reader to the following facts concerning bulls 
of various breeds. 

57. The Ayrshire Bulli — In comparing this with those of other breeds, it 
should be borne in mind that the Ayrshires are not bred for beef, in their 
own country, as much as they are for dairy purposes. For working oxen, 
they are of fair quality, but not the best. For feeding purposes, they should 
be crossed with Durhams. 

" It is the opinion of good breeders, that a high-bred short-horn bull and 
a large-sized Ayrshire cow will produce a calf which will come to maturity 
earlier, and attain greater weight, and sell for more money, than a pure-bred 
Ayrshire. This cross, with feeding from the start, may be sold fat at two or 
three years old, the improvement being especially seen in the earlier matu- 
rity and the size." 

58. The Jersey Bull. — So far as beauty is concerned in the sexes, the 
males of llic Jersey or Alderney stock have the largest share. It is a 
somewhat curious physiological fact, that the Alderney cows in this country 
produce two or three times as many bulls as heifers, so that bulls can gener- 
ally be purchased at lower prices than cows. 

"The bulls are usually very different in character and disposition from 
the cows, and are much inclined to become restive and cross at the age of 
three or four years, unless their treatment is uniformly gentle and firm. In 
all portraits of Jersey bulls, they are represented as handsomer animals 
than they are generally considered by American farmers. 

59. Short-horn or Durham Bull. — This breed has been more largely 
imported and bred from in the United States than anj^, in fact all, others. 
It is the great beef-producing breed of the AVest, particularly in Ohio and 
Kentucky. 

" The desirable characteristics of the short-horu bull may be summed up, 
according to the judgment of the best breeders, as follows: He should have 
a short but fine head, very broad across the eyes, tapering to the nose, will 
a nostril full and prominent; the nose itself should be of a rich flesh-color; 
eyes bright and mild ; ears somewhat large and thin ; horns slightly curved 
and rather fiat, well set on a long, broad, muscular neck ; chest wide, deep, 
and projecting ; shoulders fine, oblique, well formed into the chine ; fore 
legs short, with upper arm large and powerful ; barrel round, deep, well 
ribbed home; hips wide and level; back straight from the withers to the 
setting on of the tail, but short from hip to chine; skin soft and velvety lo 
the touch ; moderately thick hair, plentiful, soft, and mossy." 

This picture gives only a fair impression of the fine form of the best 
animals of this breed. 

60. The Dutch Bull. — The foim of Dutch and Durham bulls is not unlike. 
"W. W. Chenery, of "VVatertown, Mass., whose name has since become famous 



Sec. 4.] 



BEEVES. 



51 



as being identified with tlie alarming cattle disease prevailing in Massachu- 
setts iu the summer of 18G0, is one of the largest importers of the A'aluable 
stock known as the Dutch breed. 

61. Thg Hereford Bull.— This always fairly represents this good breed of 
cattle. Good, at least, for beef, and excellent for working oxen. Their 
beef rates highest of all in the London market, and the few grades which 
have been brought to New York have been highly esteemed. The objection 
to them is, that they do not come so early to maturity, or, rather, to a salable 
condition, as the Durhanis. The breeders of Herefords contend that the 
keeping that will starve Durhams will keep the Herefords in a thriving 
condition. 

62. The Devon Bull. — In color and form a Devon bull is perfect ; always 
of a pure bay-red color, of medium size, and progenitor of the handsomest 
working oxen in America. The deficiency in size of the pure Devons, for 
working oxen, is made up by crossing upon larger animals. These grade 
oxen make as fine beef as any brought to the New York market. 



SECTION IV.-BEEVES. 



ross and Net Weight of Beef Cattle. — The ordinary 
rule of ascertaining the net weight of beef cattle 
from the live weight on the scales varies, accord- 
ing to quality, size, and age, and after all, is no rule 
at all, because it is entirely' a matter of agreement 
between the parties at the time. 

It also depends upon the localitj'. In New York, 
the net weight of the beef in the quarters only is 
wanted. In Boston, the hide and fat are included, 
counting those products equal to one quarter of the 
beef, or, rather, calling the wliole five quarters. There 
the net weight of a fat bullock is estimated at 60 to 
68 lbs. of each 100 of live weight. In extra fine 
animals the per-centage is higher. 
In New York, where the hide and fat are left out of the calculation, the 
bullocks are estimated at 55 to 60 lbs. net to each 100 lbs. gross; and if the 
animal is very fine, the estimate runs from 61 to 61 lbs. net to each 100 lbs. 
gross. Extraordinary animals sometimes dress 65 or 66 lbs., and even higher, 
and ordinary and lean stock run from 55 down to 47 lbs., though not often 
below 50 lbs., or one half the live weight at home. The common practice 
at the "West is, to weigh fatted cattle some hours after feeding and a little 
exercise, and calculate the net weight at 55 lbs. per 100 of the live weight. 




52 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. ' [Chap. I. 

64. The Largest Bullock— The Great Massachusetts Steer.— The question 
of " what is the greatest weiglit of any bullock ?" we definitely answer and 
place on record in the following notices. The heaviest alive and dead was 
sold by John Sanderson, of Eernardstown, Mass., in February, 1862, to 
Bryan Lawrence, butcher, Centre Market, New York, by whom he Avas 
publicly exhibited, killed, and weighed. His live weight at home was 36 
cwt. Here, when very empty, 33 cwt. His dead weight was, fore quarters, 
743, 732—1,475 lbs. Hind quarters, 496, 502—998 lbs. Total, 2,473 
lbs., after shrinking a week. This is within 2 lbs. of 75 per cent, of live 
weight. This steer liad been kept in a small yard and stable, eating meal 
and hay two years; was eight years old; a cross of Durham and native 
Vermont stock. He girted back of shoulders, 10 ft. 8 in. ; forward of hips, 
11 ft. 8 in. ; hight, 6 ft. 3 in. ; length from horns to tail, 9 ft. 8 in. ; breadth 
across hips, 3 ft. 6 in. This is the largest bullock of which we have any 
certain record. We also place upon record the weights of several other 
remarkable large bullocks. All stories of bullocks of 40 cwt. we disbelieve. 

65. The Washiugton Ox. — The ox George "Washington was 5 years, 9 
months, and 14 days old when slaughtered, in the year 1840. 

His live weight was 3,204 lbs. 

Weight of one fore quarter 612 " 

Weight of the other fore quarter 698 " 

Weight of one hind quarter 487 " 

Weight of the other hind quarter 477 " 

2, 174 lbs. of beef — 70 lbs. per cwt. of live weight. 

Measurement from button to root of tail 9 ft. 7 in. 

Girth 10 " 4 " 

Hight 5 " 9 " 

From hip to hip .■ 2 " 9 " 

The ox Eed Jacket, killed March 5, 1851, 

Weighed alive 3,080 lbs. 

Weight of meat 2,114 " 

Loss, 31 per cent. 

The OX John Hancock, killed the same time, 

Weii,'hed alive 2,9101bs. 

Weight of meat l,946i " 

Loss, 33 per cent. 

Eobert L. Pell's two-year-old heifer, fatted at Pellham Farm, 30 miles up 
the Hudson, 

Weighed alive 2,000 lbs. 

Weight of beef 1,380 " 

Loss, 31 per cent. 

66. A Big Ox in Olden Time.— "We print, as we find it, the following 
extract from " Thacher's Military Journal of the Kevolution," under date of 
June 24, 1779 : 

"I have just had the satisfaction, with a number of gentlemen, of viewing 
a remarkably large /at ox, which has been presented by some gentlemen in 
Connecticut to his Excellency, Gen. Washington. He is 6 ft. 7 in. high, and 
weighs on the hoof 3,500 lbs., the largest animal I ever beheld." 

67. The Ox Leopard. — An ox called "Leopard," raised and fed by Dr. 



Sko. 4.] 



BEEVES OF GREAT WEIGHT. 



63 



^m. Elmer, of Eridgton, N. J., was slaughtered, Feb. 24, 1832, at llie age 

of 6 years and 8 months. His live weiglit was 3, 300 lbs. Size — length from 

nose to rumiJ, 10 ft. 6 in. ; from nose to end of tail, 15 ft.; girth behind fore 

shoulders. Oft. Sin. ; around the body, 10ft. 9 in. ; around the brisket, 10ft. 

3 in. ; length from shoulder to rumi?, 7 fr. ; along tlie back from horns, 9 ft. ; 

width across the hip, 2 ft. 10^ in. ; Light of fore shoulder, 5 ft. 6 in. ; behind, 

5 ft. 8 in. ; circumference of leg below the knee, 1 foot. 

C8. Two Big Oxen iu Pennsylvania. — We have a letter from James Stewart, 

Pennsylvania, and another from Andrew M. Frantz, giving the weight of 

two bullocks heavier than the Washington. One known as the " Lancaster 

County Ox," Mr. Stewart writes, " M-as owned and fed by Emanuel Landis, 

near this city ; was a half-bred Durham, deep red, large fore quarters, long, 

fine horns, and was over seven years old. Wm. F. Miller, of Lancaster, 

purchased him for $800, and slaughtered him on the 22d of February, 1858. 

This ox weighed : 

Live weight 3,387 lbs. 

Net weight 2,409 " 

Weight of one fore quarter ": 747 lbs. 

Weight of the other fore quarter 760 " 

Weight of one hind quarter 469 " 

Weight of the other hind quarter 442 " 

2,418 lbs. 

Deduct weight of hooks for weighing 9 

Total net weigh.t 2,409 lbs. 

"The Berks County ox, that was butchered some years ago in Philadelphia, 

weighed as follows : ^ ■ 

Live weight 3,350 lbs. 

Net weight 2,388 " 

Weight of one fore quarter 732 lbs. 

Weight of the otlier fore quarter 728 " 

Wi'iu'ht of one hind quarter 464 " 

Weight of the other hind quarter 464 " 

Total net weight 2,338 lbs. 

" There has long been a generous rivalry between the farmers of Berks 
and Lancaster counties in regard to which could grow the fattest and largest 
oxen. As it now stands, Lancaster is ahead, but we may look out for some- 
thing ere long greater still from Old Berlcs, for the resources of that county 
are astonishing, as even jDoliticians can testify. 

"There was another steer butchered in this city, in February, 1856, by 
David Killinger, owned and fed by Abram Landis, of Manheim towilsliip, 
that netted 2,108 lbs., but that weight, and greater, has been frequently 
attained in this State, and even in this county. The first two (whose weights 
I have given) I will not say are the largest cattle ever slaughtered, even in 
Penosylvania, but they are the largest that have ever come under my obser- 
vation, and in regard to whose weight there was no dispute. I, however, 
entirely concur with the writer in the Tribune, that there ticver was an ox 
fed to the weiglit of 4,000 lbs. gross. An animal that will weigh 613 lbs. 
more than the one butchered in this city in February last, has certainly never 
been yet produced." 



54 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

Mr. Frantz says the Berks County ox was fed by a man named Soetz, 
and was slaughtered, lie tliinks, in 1846. If so, his weight should have been 
known here and remembered, but it was not by one of the butchers and 
others that we thought likely to know, of the many of whom we sought 
information. "We have often heard of heavier bullocks, but lack the proof, 
as in the case below. The above figures are now matters of record, where 
they can be referred to in future. 

69. The Saratoga Bis Bullock. — Since writing the above, we see the fol- 
lowing in the Country Gentleman of May 27, 1860 : 

" The Saratoga County Press says that J. M. Cole, of Saratoga Springs, 
slaughtered an ox, in 1847, whose live weight was 3,520 lbs. ; dressed, 
2,567 lbs." 

Let Mr. Cole give us the vouchers. If he has made an ox of that 
weight, he has probably beaten the world, and should give the world the 
proof. It wants to know certainly the weight of the heaviest bullock. 

70. Weights of the Crystal Palace Show Cattle. — The following are the net 
weights of the nine head of fat bullocks, exhibited as a show at the Crystal 
Palace. Some of them were full-blood Kentucky and Ohio Durhams, aftd 
others, grades of that blood. They were bought by Jim Irving, of Washing- 
ton Market, and fairly weighed as follows : 

Tlie best pair weighed — one, 2,178 lbs. — and his quarters, 60-4 and 612 lbs. 
for the fore quarters, and 480 and 482 lbs. for the hind quarters. Tlie other 
weighed 2,066 lbs. — the fore quarters 570 and 568 lbs., and the hind ones 
470 and 458 JJ)s. 

Another pair weighecl together 3,680 lbs. The old cow, which was 
excessively fat, weighed 1,460 lbs., dressing, it is said, 73 lbs. per cwt. Tiie 
best steer dressed 72ilbs. per cwt. The other four head weighed 2,024, 
2,008, 1,930, and 1,860 lbs. 

Forty head of Illinois grade Durhams, five and six j'ears old, sold in 1858, 
in the New York market, averaged 22 cwt. each alive, and one hundred 
head averaged over 20 cwt. each. 

71. The llaxtun Steer. — The Ilaxtun steer was raised by E. Ilaxtun, in 
Beeknian Township, Dutchess Co., N . Y. He was out of a cow bought from 
a drove that came from near Cleveland, Ohio, which was probably three 
fourths Durham, and a full-bred short-horn bull, of Mr. Sheaf's (Dutchess 
County) importation. The steer was called jfths Durham, part of the blood 
appearing to indicate a descent from the long-horn of the old Kentucky 
importation. His color was nearly all red, having some whitish roan spots, 
and he was, notwithstanding his great size and fatness, one of the hand- 
somest-formed fat bullocks we have ever seen, and as firm on his legs almost 
as he ever was, and was in appearance as fresh and healthy as ever, taking his 
rations regiilarly. His feed Avas 14 qiiarts a day of meal, made of two parts 
Indian corn and one part oats, and as ninch hay as he would eat. His feeding 
commenced in the fall, after he Avas four years old, and he was seven years 
old the spring before he was killed. His weight at home, Dec. 1, 1859, was 



Sec. 4.] 



BEEVES OF GREAT WEIGHT. 



55 



3,472 lbs. He was probably weigbed full at tliat time ; bnt after a railroad 
passage of 75 miles, he was weighed here, Jan. 9, ISOO, before he was filled up 
with food and water, and his fair, honest weight, as given by David Allerton, 
who weighed him, was 3,452 lbs. Three days afterward, weighed upon the 
same scales, by the same man, M'ith scales carefully balanced, he weighed 
3,418 lbs. Afterward, upon two other scales, his weight was 3,419. He was 
sold Jan. 10, 1860, to Wm. Lalor, of Centre Market, for $850; and was 
slaughtered and dressed at Patterson's slaughter-house, Jan. 19, by the same 
man who dressed the Washington, and hung until Jan. 26, when the quarters 
were weighed, under the careful supervision of Barney Bartram, John Harris, 
John M. Seaman, and James L. Stewart, and in the presence of a large 
company of lookers-on, many of whom were considerably interested, having 
invested largely in the way of bets upon the net weight. 

The following was the result: fore quarters, 700 and 668 lbs.— 1,368 lbs. ; 
the hind quarters, 4S2 and 469 lbs.— 051 lbs. ; total, 2,3l9 lbs. This was 2?- 
Ibs. over 67f lbs. per cwt. of tlie last live weight. Tlie shrinkage was esti- 
mated at 50 lbs. ; but he was hung just the same length of time as the 
Washington, and, like him, has had his hide stuffed and form preserved, 
being, up to that time, the largest bullock ever brought to ISTew York. The 
fatting of this steer has been one of the most perfectly successful experiments 
to produce a monstrous animal, so evenly formed and faultlessly shaped, 
tliat no one could say where he could be improved. 

72. Other Large BullOCks.^A pair of oxen, called the " Cayuga Prize 
Oxen," was also sold in the New York market, the same week, for $700, which 
was considered remarkable ; their live weight, however, was 2,865 lbs. each ; 
they were six years old. 

file Michigan Farmer of Jan. 20, 1860, says : " We lately gave an account 
of several fat cattle v.'hich were killed in this city on the week before the 
jS'ew Year. The pair weighed 6,437 lbs., or 3,218 lbs. each. The net weight 
was estimated at 68 lbs. per cwt." Of some others the Farmer said: '-'The 
actual yield of the cattle killed by William Smith, in this market, was 66 lbs. 
to tlie 100 lbs. of live weight, or 2,150 lbs. from 3,218 lbs. It will be seen 
by this, therefore, how those great oxen killed in the Detroit market 
approximated to what is considered the largest and fattest animal ever killed 
in the United States." 

We have a letter before us from Isaac Hubbard, of Claremont, N. H., 
who is ninety years old, but not too old to read with interest the accounts 
of these fat bullocks. He says that, seeing an account of the Haxtun 
steer, which interested him very much, induced him to give the history of 
a fat bullock fed by him twenty odd years ago. 

Tlie calf was dropped Jan. 4, 1832, and was then estimated to weigh 100 

lbs.; Jan. 4, 1833, he weighed 8741bs.; Dec. 3, 1833, 1,280 lbs. ; Jan. 5, 

1835, 1,800 lbs. ; Dec. 26, 1835, 2,350lbs. ; Feb. 15, 1837, 2,9101bs. 

■ In Oct., 1838, Mr. H. sold him, and he was conveyed to Hartford, Conn., 

and weighed 3,370 lbs. This steer was bought by Paran Stevens, since of 



56 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



great hotel notoriety, and was extensively exhibited in this country as " the 
largest ox ever seen." Perhaps some persons in this State may remember 
the exhibition of this mammoth ox. 

In 1840, this great show animal was sent to England for exhibition there, 
and, it is said, attracted much attention. From there he was taken to 
France and Belgium, and exhibited as the great bullock of the world. He 
was brought back to England and slaughtered, but his weight at the time, 
either alive or dead, was not published, but it was less in this country than 
that of several whose weights we have published. This is one of the great 
show bullocks which have been exhibited and advertised as weighing over 
4,000 lbs., a weight that never has, so far as we have any satisfactory records, 
yet been attained ; and although we believe that 4,000 lbs. is above the 
limit that can be attained by one of the bovine race, we would not discourage 
the efforts of those who have made noble attempts to improve this class of 
livestock, both in form and quality, and who will not be content until the 
utmost possible limit of weight is accomplished. 

The name of Mr. Hubbard's steer was " Olympus," in this country, but in 
Europe he was exhibited iinder the name of " Brother Jonathan." He was 
of the " native stock," common in New Hampshire ; his color a dapple-bay 
or red, a little changeable in tlie sun, with white spots on the face and legs. 

It is not, however, generally profitable to feed such great bullocks as we 
iiave noticed ; but, to see what has been done, it will always be an interest- 
ing matter of reference. So will be the matter we shall give in the next 
section. 



SECTION V.-STATISTICS OF THE NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET, 

umbers of Butchers' Animals Annually Sold in New 

York. — Farmers are very justly accused of a 
neglect of statistical information in relation to the 
business upon which all their prosperity depends. 
In the very important matter of furnishing the 
cities with bullocks, the producers had no means 
of forming estimates of the needed supply, until we 
instituted reports of the cattle markets of all the prin- 
cipal cities, and particularly the city of New York, 
which is an enormous consumer of fresh beef. To this 
market we have devoted many years, attending almost 
every weekly market, and have given the farmers statis- 
tical tables of immense value to them. "We now 
embody some of this useful statistical information, 
where it can stand as a table of permanent reference ; and we earnestly 
commend it to all who are engaged in agricultural pui-suits. 




Seo. 5.] STATISTICS OF THE NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET. 57 

ANNUAL EECEIPTS FOE. TEN YEA.KS — 1854-1863. 

Tears. Beeves. Cows. Calves. Sheep. Swine. Ann. Totals. 

1854 169,864.... 13,131.... 68,584.... 555,479.... 252,328.... 1,059,380 

1855 185,564.... 12,110.... 47,969.... 688,741.... 318,107.... 1,152,491 

1856 187,057.... 12,857.... 4.3,081.... 402,739.... 345,911.... 1,051,645 

1857 162,243.... 12,840.... 34,218.... 444,036.... 288,984.... 942,321 

1858 191,874.... 10,128.... 37,675.... 447,445.... 551,479.... 1,238,601 

1859 205,272.... 9,492.... 48,769.... 404,894.... 399,665.... 1,068,092 

1860 226,933.... 7,144.... 39,436.... 518,750.... 323,918.... 1,116,181 

1861 222,835.... 5,749.... 32,868.... 512,306.... 559,421.... 1,. 333,239 

1862 239,486.... 5,378.... 30,465.... 484,342. ... 1,148,209. .. . 1,907,880 

1863 264,091.... 6,470.... 35,709.... 519,310. ... 1,101,617. .. . 1,927,203 



Total ^,055,219. . . . 95,299. . . . 418,774. . . . 4,938,108. . . . 5,289,639. . . . 12,797,039 

Av. pr. year . . . 205,522.... 9,530.... 41,877.... 493,811.... 528,964.... 1,279,704 

WEEKLY AVERAGE OF ALL ANIMALS FOR TEN YEARS — 1854-1863. 

Years. Beeves. Cows. Calves. Sheep. Swine. Tolai. 

1864 3,257 253 1,315 10,682 4,852 20,359 

1855 3,565 233 922 11,322 6,117 22,009 

1856 3,597 247 828 8,898 6,650 20,224 

1857 3,120 245 658 8,539 5,657 18,119 

1858 3,680 195 724 8,004 10,605 28,809 

1859 3,947 182 841 9,709 7,686 22,365 

1860 4,304 139 758 9,976 7,229 21,405 

1801 4,285 110 632 9,853 10,758 25,637 

1862 4,518 101 574 9,138 21,664 36,000 

1863 5,079 125 687 9,987 21,185 37,002 

The increase of bullocks in this decade is 55 per cent. Cows have 
fallen off more than half, and calves nearly the same. The supply of sheep 
remains nearly stationary, but swine have increased enormously. The fol- 
lowing is the estimated number of pounds of meat, derived from slaughtered 
animals in 1863, and the wholesale value. In the estimate, cows are added 
to the bullocks, because the most of them, eventually, go to the butcher. 

Beeves— 270,561, av. 700 lbs. net 189,392,700 lbs. at 9ic. per lb. net $17,513,824 75 

Veal— 35,709 calves at 75 lbs 2,078,175 " at 10c. per lb. net 267,817 50 

Sheep and Iambs— 519,316, at 42 lbs.... 21,811,272 " atlOc.perlb.net 2,181,127 20 

Swine— 1,101,617, at 150 lbs 165,242,550 " at G.]c. per lb. net 10,740,705 75 

Total 379,124,097 lbs $30,708,535 20 

It is also very important for farmers to know where the supply comes 
from. Of 210,3S-1: bullocks sold in 1863, the six following States furnished 
the respective numbers, viz. : Illinois, 118,692; New York, 28,985 ; Ohio, 
19,269; Indiana, 1-1,232; Michigan, 9,074; Kentucky, 6,782. As the same 
proportion holds good for all the cattle received in New York, it will be seen 
that Illinois furnishes 56i per cent. True, a good many credited to that 
State come from Iowa, Missouri, and other States. 

The proportion of hogs from Illinois is probably greater than upon beef 
cattle. The great bulk of pork from the hogs slaughtered here is packed 
and sent to other places for consumption ; large quantities of it to Europe. 
A small portion of the beef is packed and sent abroad. The great bulk of 
it, and all the veal and nearly all of the sheep, and a vast quantity besides 
that comes in ready dressed from the country, goes to furnish fresh meat to 
the cities of New York and Brooklyn, three small cities in New Jersey, and 
several towns within fifty miles, ships in port, and most of our armed ships 
and forts and soldiers ou the coast between Hampton Roads and Key "West. 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

Estimated average price of beef cattle per net i^ound eacli year, 1854—63 : 
1854, 9 cents full; 1855, 10 cents; 1856, 9i cents nearly; 1857, lOi cents 
nearly; 1858, Si cents nearly; 1859, 9 cents; 1860, 8 cents full ; 1861, 7| 
cents; 1862, 7| cents ; 1863, 9i cents. Up to March, 1864, prices liave ranged 
from 9 to 16 cents a pound net, which was higher than before since 1857. 

During 1863, the live-weight price of corn-fed hogs ranged from 4 to 7 
cents per pound. In February, 1864, it reached 8| and 9 cents per pound, 
which was the highest price for Western stock ever attained. 

That all who read this page may see what an immense interest is involved 
in the live-stock trade of the country with New York city, we add the fol- 
lowing calculation of number of pounds of meat and estimated value : 

CONSUMPTION OF TEN TEAKS — 1854-1863. 

Peeves— 2,100,518 head av. 700 lbs. net. ..1,505,362,600 lbs. at 9 cents per lb. net. . $135,482,6.34 

Calves^l8,774headav. 75 lbs. net .31,408,0-50 " atlOcentsperlb.net.. 3,140,805 

Sheep and lambs-^,938,108 head av. 42 lbs. 207,390,536 " atlOcentsperlb.net.. 20,739,053 

Swine— 5,289,639 head av. 125 lbs 661,204,800 " at cents per lb. net. . 39,672,288 

Total 2,406,305, 986 lbs $199,034,7>-0 

Average per annum for the ten years.. . . 240,.536,598 " 19,903,478 

Farmers, look at these figures. They teach you au important lesson ; one 
well worthy of being placed ujDon this permanent record, to remind you and 
your children of the great importance of the live-stock interest of the country. 
You sec by the tables the rapid increase of the trade, and the enormous sum' 
tliat it amounts to in ten years. Lest you sliould be confused by tlie sum in 
numerical figures, let us repeat it in words. Two billions four hundred and 
five millions three hundred and sixty-five thousand nine hundred and 
eighty-six pounds of meat, amounting to one hundred and ninety-nine 
millions thirty-four thousand seven hundred and eiglity dollars. Tiiis is 
the sum that New York city has disbursed to the farming interest for leu 
years' supply of meat, derived from tlie slaughter of twelve millions seven 
hundred and ninety-seven thousand and thirty-nine animals. 

These statistics enable us to realize tlie vast resources of America. The 
country is now feeding a million of men in tiie army, fighting for freedom, 
full rations of meat, and sending nearly two millions a year of animals to 
the city shambles of New York, for which the city is sending back to the 
country twenty millions of dollars. 

This is the greatest meat-eating country in the world ; it produces all that 
it consumes and a great surplus to send abroad. 

74. Cattle Transportation! — Nearly all the stock sold in the New York 
market is transported upon railway cars. We assume that the beeves for 
ten 3'ears' supply have paid a tarifi" of $10 a head average to railroads, 
making the sum of $21,505,180; calves at fifty cents a head, $209,387; 
sheep at seventy-five cents, $3,703,681; hogs at $1 25 each, $6,612,048. 
Total $32,030,296, as the estimated amount paid for the transportation of 
animals butchered in New York for ten years. 

Improvement is needed in transportation. Animals are forced to stand 
without food or water two or three days, or as long as their tired legs will 



Seo. 5.] 



STATISTICS OF THE NEW YORK CATTLE MARKET. 



59 



6ustain'tliem, and when they fail, as sometimes they do, the fainting creature 
falls and is trampled to death. 

We must have an improvement in cattle-cars. It certainly would not be 
difficult to construct them so that cattle should stand with heads to one side, 
where water could be given them in a trough by means of hose ; and if this 
can not be done, it must be made a criminal oflense to keep the animals on 
a car more than 30 hours without water. In fact, it would be better for all 
parties if the number were limited that a car should contain, and that in no 
case should the stock remain on the cars over 30 hours, without being 
unloaded, rested, fed, and watered. The present practice is a loss to owners 
and an injury to consumers, by making the beasts feverish and imhealthy, 
besides being an outrageous act of cruelty to animals. The whole commu- 
nity is interested, and should cry out against tlie wicked practice, wliich is 
enough to make humanity shudder. 

75. Comparative Measurenicnfs of fattle« — Inquiries are often made in 
regard to the relative size of difierent breeds of cattle. It is not easy to give 
a very definite answer to questions of this kind ; but as several of the leading 
breeds of this country were derived fi;om England, where they are bred in 
greater numbers than they are here, an idea of their comparative size may 
be had from certain measurements taken of prize animals at the English 
shows. We give the following tables in reference to Sliort-horns, Herefords, 
and Devons, which took prizes at the shows of the Royal Agricultural 
Society, in 1858 and 1859. The first was prepared for the Society by Mr. 
Robert Smith. 



CLASS. Aver 

Short horns. J" 

Aged bulls 4 

Yearling bulls 1 

Bull calves 

Cows 3 

Two-year-old heifers. 2 
Yearlings 1 



Average Girth. 



Herefords. 

Aged bulls 4 

Yearling bulls 1 

Bull calves 



CLASS. Avoro 

Herefords. jrs. 

Cows 7 

Two-year-old heifers . 2 
Y'earlings 1 



Devons. 

Aged bulls 3 6 7 6 

Yearling bulls 1 .6J 6 2 

Bull calves 8i 5 2 

5 8 3 Cows 6 2i 6 9| 

Wi 7 0^ Two-year-old heifers. 2 G C 10 

10| 5 11^ Y'earlings 1 7} 6 1 

The next table was furnislied by Mr. Thos. Duckham, the editor of the 
" Plerd-Book of Hereford Cattle." As far as it goes, it comprises measure- 
ments of Short-horns and Herefords, which received prizes at the Warwick 
show that year, the rank of the awards having been according to the order 
observed in the table. 



CLASS. Averi 

Short-horns, yrs. 

Aged bulls 4 

4 



Yearling bulls. 



Average Girth. 



CLASS. Average Age. 

Herefords. J". mos. 

Aged bulls 2 10 . . 

4 6 .. 



Y'earling bulls . 



Cows 4 



4 

9i 
10.V 
0' 



Average Girth. 



Bull calves 

Cows 3 



60 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



76. The Improvement in Breeds and Weights of Cattle. — What has raised 
the average weight of beef cattle from 500 to 800 lbs., and some individuals 
up to 3,600 lbs. ? What has raised the crops of corn to double their former 
yield, and in several instances produced over 190 bushels of corn to the acre 
— that was in Kentucky ; but in the State of New York whole fields have 
averaged 100 bushels. In Connecticut, 13i bushels of ears of corn have been 
produced upon half an acre, at an expense for culture and harvest of less 
than $3. What has induced men to root up old orchards of natural fruit, 
"five to the pint," and plant pippins, baldwins, greenings, russets, etc., some 
of which have been sold from $8 to $20 a barrel, and retailed at a guinea 
a dozen ? What has induced ingenious men to devote the best energies of 
their minds to inventing plows, harrows, drills, reaping-machines, and evei'y 
other implement of husbandry, while every class of domestic animals has 
also been improved — neat cattle probably the most of all ? 

The answer is, the publication of just such facts as we are now giving, 
which tend to show what has been done by some men, and may be done by 
others. This encourages us to continue our labor. 



SECTION VI.-FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 

electing Calves for Rearing. — Use judgment in 
selecting such heifer calves as are to be reared. 
Select only those whose mothers are good milkers, 
and whose sires have come fi-om good milking 
stock ; at the same time, the calf itself should have 
those characteristics that indicate an aptitude to develop 
good milking qualities, viz. : small, fine head, rather long 
^\ in the muzzle; bright eyes; thin, tapering neck; small, 
well-shaped legs ; long body ; large hind quarters, set wide 
behind ; soft skin ; fine hair — the color of which is immate- 
rial ; and, above all, the milk-mirror or udder veins should 
be large and well developed. 

The raising of bull calves for breeders had better be left 
to those who have time and means to devote their attention 
to it, who procure the best animals to begin witli. It would be no loss to 
the country, were the, numerous specimens of scrub bulls, too often seen, 
condemned to perpetual exile. 

But there is no reason why a portion of the male calves, at least, should 
not be reared as bullocks, either for the team or the butcher; and it is 
important that such as are reserved for this purpose should possess certain 
points indicative of future excellence, viz.: well-shaped head; small ears; 
short, thick neck; deep brisket; broad chest and shoulders; fine bone; long 




Sec. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 61 

body, well rounded behind the shoulders ; straight back ; wide loins ; full 
quarters ; tail tliiu and tapering ; skin soft, and not too thin. 

It is too often the case that animals are selected for rearing from being of 
pretty color — that takes the fancy of some member of the family — or the 
calf of some pet cow of the dairy-maid, without attention being paid to its 
promise of excellences. Not unfrequently valuable calves are fattened for 
veal, simply because their color is unpleasing to tJie eye. 

This is about the most important branch of the stock-raiser's business. 
Too many persons pursue the careless mode of the person who wrote the 
ibllowing item : 

" In the spring of 1S5S my two cows had bull calves, which I determined 
to raise for sale, and so gave them a good chance to grow, adding an extra 
iu the shape of a handful of barley meal, M-ith their feeds of milk. They 
grew finely, or rather Bobby did, for Billy, taking a sudden dislike to sour 
milk, had rather slim rations for the last six weeks befoi-e weaning. I told 
liim lie might starve if he liked, and took no special pains to humor his 
fancies. In September I had an ofler of §G for Bobby, and concluded to 
let him go, but the buyer was behind time about two weeks, and thought 
the additional keepi'ig worth nothing, so I did not turn him oif. So, of 
course, Bobby was kept, and grew up to propagate the race of Bob calves." 

78. Calves — Give them Shelter. — It is almost impossible to winter calves 
without shelter ; if they survive the winter, they are mere skeletons, and 
liave to be lifted up before spring, and never make anything but poor, raw- 
boned, unprofitable stock. Sheep are many times allowed to pick up what 
they can get for half the winter; but the dead iambs, and probably dead 
sheep, that lie scattered over the fields, tell the profit of such a course. 
When protected, all food not required to maintain the natural waste of the 
system goes toM'ard increasing the growth of the animal. To obtain perfect 
form, animals should be kept continually growing until they arrive at 
maturity. They are often turned out in the spring so poor that it requires 
half the summer to make them as good as they were the fall before — a loss 
of three quarters of the year in the growth of the animal. A grazier lately 
said to us, in speaking of such a lot of cattle that he bought, "It took the 
whole summer to soak their hides loose, so that they could begin to grow. 
They seemed as hard and dry as a pair of old boots, and in some spots as 
destitute of hair." 

79. Training Steers. — At the Maine State Fair, a boy of fifteen years, 
from the town of Woodstock, had a pair of three-year- old steers, which 
obeyed him as an obedient boy will his parents. By a motion of his liand 
they would go forward, halt, and return, go to the right or left, kneel down, 
and perform other things, much to tlie surprise of some older farmers, who 
are in the habit of putting the brad through the hide. At a New York 
State Fair there was a perfect Karey of an ox-tamer, who practices breaking 
steers for farmers, and as he never treats thera inhumanly, he soon has them 
under perfect control, and as bidable as well-trained children. 



62 DOMESTIC ANIMALS., [Chap. I. 

80. Unruly Animals. — As a general rule, our domestic animals are never 
unruly, except wlien taught to be so. For instance, some persons, in turning 
stock from one field to another, only let down a few of the top rails or bars, 
and force the animals to jump over. Too lazy to put up as well as to let 
down, they leave the gap half closed, as a temptation to tlie stock to jump 
back again. A few practical lessons of this kind make stock unruly. Care- 
lessness in regard to putting up fences wlien thrown down, or in repairing 
weak spots, coniirms the habit. A writer says his practice has always been 
to teach his cows, calves, sheep, and hogs to go tiirough or under, rather 
than over, the bars or fences, always leaving a rail or bar up at tlie top. 
Taught this way, they never think of jumping, and he has never been 
troubled with unruly animals, even when his fences were low. 

81. Kindness to BruteSi — No man can afford to be unkind to his domestic 
animals, because animals which are treated the most kindly are the most 
gentle and obedient, and also thrive the best ; hence, no one can afford to 
use them unkindly. By kindness, mingled with fii-raness, the most ferocious 
animals are subdued, and it is vain to suppose that the same means would 
not be effectual in training domestic animals. Sui'clj', no one should degrade 
himself by continuing a practice which is both unprofitable and inhuman — • 
a practice that makes man the brute instead of tlie quadruped. There is no 
economy in half starving any stock tlirougli the winter, and causing them to 
take all the storms without any shelter ; but, on tlie contrary, it is a clear 
waste and loss to the owner. 

82. Shelter for Cattle. — Next to the necessity of an adequate supply of 
food for stock, comes the importance of shelter. It needs no argument to 
prove the truism that animals can not live without food; and it is just as 
certain that our domestic stock, artificially susceptible to the storms and 
clianges of our Northern climate, can not thrive without proper slielter. It 
seems now to be well settled, that a due degree of warmth is equivalent, in 
a measure, to food; and we all know that an entire ahamhii to ease and 
comfort, while in a state of rest — a perfect freedom from apprehension of 
any kind, which may arise from a lack of food, or from exposure, or any 
other cause — is necessary to the maximum of thrift or usefulness. 

On old, improved, rich lands, it would be policy in the fiirmer to stable or 
yard his cattle and horses during the whole year ; but I should prefei- yarding 
in the summer season, as more air and room for exercise would be allowed, 
both of which would be conducive to the health of the animals. 

One acre of land, in good condition, sown to corn, and cut and fed from 
the time it begins to tassel until it begins to glaze, will keep six liead of 
cattle during the time, and perhaps more— say two months — while it would 
have taken six acres of pasture to keep them the same length of time. 

On farms where tlie pasture is generally the roughest, poorest part of the 
farm, and that which could not be applied as profitably to other purposes — - 
on such lands the cattle must be allowed to get their own living in summer. 

The above are cxcerpta from several excellent essays in the Genesee 



Seo. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 63 

Farmer^ and might have been much more extended, only that we have a 
great many other good things to glean from other sources. 

83. Straw for Cattle. — Mr. Johnson says, in a letter to the Genesee 
Farmer : " You say that I put straw in my boxes for my cows. This is not so. 
No man ever saw me feed straw to cattle, at least for the last twenty- -five years. 
If they choose, they can eat the straw sjsread out for litter, but I never 
compel them to eat straw. I know cattle can be fatted on grain and straw, 
but I don't think so profitably as part grain and part hay, or part oil-cake 
and part ha}'. Grass is the natural food of sheep and cattle ; and hay made 
from grass, if properly made, puts on fat, even if very little else is fed. I 
am satisfied that either cows or fatting cattle do much better in yards, with 
ample sheds and plenty of straw for clean, dry beds. I can not feed any 
kind of stock pi'otitably unless they have such beds." 

84. Wintering Cattle. — There is yet a good deal of Avisdotn to bo learned 
upon this subject, even by those whose talk is of bullocks, and particularly 
in wintering calves. The one great error is in neglecting them in autunni, 
after the frost has destroyed the sweetness of the grass, and allowing them 
to commence getting poor before winter feeding is commenced. There is no 
error more fatal to success than such neglect. It is often the foundation of 
disease that the animal never recovers from. There is no condition so good 
for an animal going into winter quarters as a thriving fatness ; and if that 
can be kept up till mid-winter, the danger of starvation upon very light 
feed in the spring is greatly diminished. It is one of the worst things in all 
farm economy to neglect feeding stock in the fall, because it is not yet time 
to begin to fodder. You had better begin in July, if your pasture fails, 
so that your animals begin to lose flesh. All that is saved of fodder in tlie 
fall, upon the plea that " cattle can shift a while longer," exactly verifies the 
old saw about " saving at the s2)igot and wasting at the bung." 

85. FeediE,? Pcmpkins. — A subscriber sends a long communication against 
feeding pumpkins to cows. The writer's reasoning is not entirely sound, and 
does not agree with our own experience and observation. As a general rule, 
we are quite snre that pumpkins increase rather than diminish the quantity 
of milk ; and instead of making neat stock grow poor, we have fattened 
large numbers of cattle on pumpkins alone. There is one suggestion in our 
correspondent's letter, however, wliich may be worthy of attention. He 
refers to the fact that the seeds of pumpkins have a decided diuretic (urine- 
producing) efl'ect upon the human organs, and that if they have the same 
effect upon cows, the excessive .flow of urine must necessarily reduce the 
flow of the milky fluid. He advises that when pumpkins are fed, the seeds 
should be taken out. The idea is plausible, and -worth being acted on. 

86. Keeping Stock Warm, and Variety of Food. — Man craves a variety of 
food ; that is, a variety of substances, either one of which would sustain life, 
but would not be satisfactory. Nature demands the variation, and the mix- 
ing together the several substances. "Why ? Simply because no one will 
give all the elements that go to make up the animal economy. One article 



G4r DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

furnishes phosphate for bones, which another article is destitute of, yet it 
may contain matter that will clothe the bones with muscle. Food that con- 
tains neither fat nor sugar will be found sufficient to keep up the animal 
heat. Food that contained all the elements of bone, muscle, fiber, fat, and 
heat-producing qualities, might be bo concentrated as to be unhealthy. 

A man fed upon pemmican, would have a disposition to eat straw, husks, 
and twigs, or gnaw the bark from trees, to get something to distend the 
stomach and enable it to perform its functions healthily. Let this be thought 
of in feeding domestic animals. It will furnish an easy rule for your 
guidance. Judge them by yourself, and act accordingly; you will find it 
an easy and sure road to success. We do not for animals, quadruped or 
biped, recommend a variety of food at the same meal — only a change from 
time to time, so as to give variety, and consequently all the elements neces- 
sary to produce growth. 

Never neglect to give your cattle water until you learn to do without it 
yourself, and never ofler them drink where you would vomit if compelled 
to slake your own thirst. 

Never leave a horse, a cow, a sheep, out in a cold winter storm, until you 
arrive at that condition of unfeelingness that you could endure it younelf. 
When you think you could find comfortable sliclter under a common rail 
fence, jon may leave your cattle there. No domestic animal can ever reach 
tlie highest state of perfection its nature is capable of unless always kept in 
a healthy, growing condition, in an equable climate, or in warm shelter if 
the inhabitant of a cold one. 

Farmers do not pay sufficient attention to the warmth of their stock, but 
sufier them to roam about in the open air, exposed to the inclement weather. 
The amount of exercise is another most important point to attend to. The 
more an animal moves about, the quicker it will breathe, and the more 
starch, gum, sugar, fat, and other respiratory elements it must have in its 
food; and if an additional quantity of these substances be not given to 
supply the increased demand, the fat and other parts of the body will be 
drawn upon, and the animal will become thinner ; also, as before observed, 
every motion of the body produces a corresponding destruction of the mus- 
cles which produce that motion. It is therefore quite evident that the more 
the animal moves about, the more of the heat-producing and flesh-forming 
principle it must receive in its food. Hence we see the propriety of keeping 
our cattle in sheds and yards, and not suifering those (particularly which 
we intend to fatten) to rove about, consuming more food, and wasting away 
more rapidly the various tissues of the body already formed, and making it 
more expensive and difficult to fatten them. 

87. Fattening Cattle upon llay^ — Speaking upon this subject, a committee 
of the Massachusetts Board of Agricultui-e, of wliich John Brooks and Paoli 
Lathrop are members, remark : 

*' Fattening cattle in winter upon hay alone is a i-esort of many farmer?, 
and where hay is plenty and distant from market, the practice is not incou- 



Seo. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 65 

sistent with economy. If well attended, good animals consuming four per 
cent, of their live weight of good hay daily, will gain daily two pounds of 
flesh. Suppose the flesh gained to be worth 16 cents, it will be equal to $8 
a ton for the hay. The better practice, however, is to give only three per 
cent, of the live weight of the animal in hay daily, and an equivalent for 
the other one per cent, in Indian meal or roots. The gain would be greater 
for the same cost of food." 

Another remark worth qiioting is the following : 

"The best age for feeding cattle for beef is from four to eight years. 
Young growing cattle may be fattened, but it Avill require more food in pro- 
portion, and longer time." 

88. How to Feed Roots. — ^There seems to be much diversity of opinion as 
to the value of turnips, carrots, etc., for feeding. One man feeds his hogs a 
great amount of them, but neglects to provide a bed secure from the intru- 
sion of cold winds and snow, and then wonders they do not grow ; or feeds 
a cow four bushels per day, and wonders she does not fat. How could she? 
She is almost physicked to death, and her urinary organs are injured by 
over-exertion ; and although she is thoroughly littered with straw, still her 
feet are in the water ; and when she lies down, her side is wet. 

After many trials in a similar Avay, many have come to the conclusion 
that root feeding is an unprofitable business in our climate. If hogs must 
sleejj in snow-banks, give them corn by all means, and give them plenty of 
it. If cattle can not be stabled, or kept so sheltered that they may be dry, 
then roots will not give one half tlie return they would under a judicious 
system of management. 

After many trials of fattening sheep and horned cattle, and feeding store 
stock of all kinds with roots, I came to tlie conclusion that tliey are all valu- 
able when properly fed witli hay and grain, but that their j-elative value to 
grain is often overrated in this country of cheap corn. Roots, unless cooked, 
are not economical food for swine. 

The great error in relation to feeding roots is, that tliey are too mucli fed 
to the exclusion of grain. A farmer has shoats to winter, or horned cattle 
to fatten ; ho first feeds his turnips, carrots, beets, small potatoes ; next his 
corn or meal. This is wrong. The corn should be fed from the first. A 
dozen shoats of 100 lbs. each woidd profitably receive a bushel per day of 
roots, if cooked with corn. A fattening ox should have one busliel, or not 
over two, per day, with six or eight quarts of meal. Cows should have one 
half bushel per day, whether being milked or not. That amount will bring 
them out, in the spring, fat and ready to do good service at the pail, provided, 
of course, that the}' liave hay and stalks in due proportion. Calves and 
yearlings should always have one fourth bushel per day, Avith a very small 
allowance of grain. 

The above is partly from tlie Stoclc Journal, and the following from the 
Working Farmer ; both of which are good authority. 

We beg again to remind our readers, particularly tiiose who are engaged 



6G DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

in dairy and stock fiinning, to appropriate a full anionnt of land to root- 
growing. Carrots, beets, turnips, parsneps, njay all be raised with protit 
wherever stock is to be fed. For horses, carrots are invaluable. For milch 
cows, they not only furnish a milk of superior flavor, butter of fine color and 
odor, but, when used as a portion of tlieir food, they guarantee a healthful 
condition. The power of the pectic acid of tlie carrot to gelatinize all veg- 
etable matter held in solution in the stomach, puts its contents in such a 
condition that the peristaltic motion of the intestines can manage it. Flat- 
ulence is prevented, and thorough digestion secured. The dung of the 
horse fed partly on carrots, never contains the undeconiposed shell of the 
oat, nor large amounts of starch unappropriated ; and it is for this reason 
tliat a bushel of oats and a bushel of carrots will do more for the horse than 
two bushels of oats ; and not because the carrot contains as much flesh- 
making material as the oat, but because it causes all the flesh-making ma- 
terial of the oat to be appropriated, instead of being voided with the excretia. 
For cows and oxen, other roots may occasionally be substituted with profit, 
as variety to all animals is pleasing in their food ; and no one root should 
be so continuously used. Since the introduction of pulping machines, pulped 
roots mixed witli cut hay, cut straw, and other cheap material, add much to 
the economy of tlie fiirni as well as to the health of the cattle. 

89. Feeding Liusced aud ('olton-secd Oil-fake. — Never having had per- 
sonal experience enough in feeding oil-cake, having always preferred corn- 
meal, to give an opinion which we would ask others to rely upon, we select 
the following from a lecture by Prof. Voelcker, before the meeting of the 
council of the Eoyal Agricultural Society of England, in June, 18G0. It is 
worthy of attention from all cattle-feeders. lie says : 

" It is not my object, in giving a practical turn to the lecture to-daj^ to 
record any experiments of my own, or in any way to presume to teach the 
feeder of stock in what way he may best expend his money in the purchase 
of food, but I shall endeavor simply to give to the practical man some indi- 
cations whereby I hope lie will be enabled to form for himself a trustwortliy 
opinion respecting the relative value of difterent cakes, and likewise what is 
perhaps of more importance to him, to introduce some remarks which will 
enable him to distinguish a good from a bad cake; and in conclusion, shall 
allude briefly to the various substances with which oil-cakes are at the pres- 
ent time often largely adulterated. 

90. Fat ill Food. — " Let me first point out to you some peculiarities in 
the composition of oil-cakes. A reference to their composition is necessary 
to the understanding the remarks wliich will follow. I would then observe, 
that what characterizes oil-cakes, distinguishing them from all other articles 
of food pre-eminently, is the large amount of oil that is left in the cakes, 
obtained by expression of the oil-seeds. If you glance at the diagram (see 
table on page 71), you will find that they contain a considerable quantity of 
oil — from 6 to 12 per cent. ; and in some instances, as in the decorticated 
cotton-cake, even 16 per cent, of oil. I may observe at once that the value 



Sec. G: 



FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 



67 



of oil-cake in a very great measure depends upon the amount of oil wliicli is 
left in the cake. And I may further say, that the tendency of the manufac- 
turer at the present day is to produce an inferior description of cake, inas 
much as improved machinery enables him to sfjueeze out more oil than 
formerly, and thus to render tlie refuse less fattening, less valuable to the 
feeder of stock. I am very much inclined to believe that tlie oil is ^j far 
the most valuable constituent of all oil-cakes. I am aware that it was the 
fashion, not many years ago, to measure the feeding properties and even the 
fattening qualities of articles of food by the amount of nitrogenous or flesh- 
forming matters ; but these views are not supported by any practical 
experiments, nor, indeed, by the every-day experience that we have respect- 
ing not only human, but cattle food. "We pay more for food ricli in starch, 
mucilage, and matters capable of producing fat, than we pay for food which, 
like bean-meal, is extremely rich in nitrogenous matter, but wliich does not 
produce so much butchers' meat. It is a matter of much importance to the 
farmer to know how much he gets back for the money he expends in the 
piirchase of food. I have no hesitation in saying that more money is made 
by the purchase of food rich in oil, starch, or sugar, than in the purchase 
of food which contains an excess of nitrogenous matters. 

91. Flesh ia Food. — "Still, we ought not to leave unnoticed that tlic 
flesh-forming matters are very important indeed, and that oil-cakes are 
peculiarly rich in them. In one sense they are perhaps most essential — per- 
haps even more essentially necessary than the other constituents of food 
which produce fat, or are employed in the animal economy to keep up the 
animal heat. They are more important in this sense ; whereas the animal or- 
ganization has the power to make fat from gum, sugar, mucilage, and even 
from young cellulose or young vegetable flber, it has not the power of making 
a particle of flesh. Unless, therefore, food is given to animals which contains 
ready-made flesh, an animal can not grow, and the other constituents of food 
remain unavailable. It is in this sense that the nitrogenous matters of food 
are extremely valuable ; but in a purely practical sense the}' are not so val- 
uable as tlie oil, starch, or sugar of food, because by spending a certain amount 
of money in food, we do not get so great a return in the shape of butchers' 
meat by purchasing these flesh-forming matters as by purchasing feeding 
substances rich in oil or starch. However, in speaking of the relative value 
of the various constituents, especially the oily and the flesh-forming constit- 
uents, we are not to overlook that tlie quantity of nitrogenous matter which 
is not applied for the formation of flesh, ]>asses tlirough the animal, and is 
obtained again in the dung, with the exception of a small quantity tliat 
escapes by evaporation through the skin or tlirough the lungs. A certain 
quantity of nitrogenous food evaporates through the skin, or with the jier- 
spiration ; but by far the largest proportion, according to some experiments, 
nineteen twentieths, of the flesh-forming or nitrogenous matters of food are 
found again in the dung ; according to others the amount is seven eighths. 
But, speaking in round numbers, I think we are not far wrong in saying that 



68 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. L 

we may fairly expect three fourths of the nitrogeuized matters of oil-cake back 
a^ain in the manure ; and periiaps we are safe, likewise, in asserting that 
fully one half of the money value of rape and the best cotton cakes is ob- 
tained back again in the manure. So we must not put down these constit- 
uents, which are called nitrogenous, as useless, because they alone do not 
produce much butchers' meat ; nor must we estimate the value of oil-cake 
entirelj' by the increase in the live weight of cattle fed upon the cake, but 
also, and chiefly, I believe, by the increased value of the^manure which is 
produced througli the instrumentality of oil-cake. 

92. Bone in Food. — " I will now direct attention to the inorganic matters 
or ash of oil-cakes. These inorganic matters may be called bone material ; 
for the ash of oil-cakes is particularly rich in phosphates of lime, or the ma- 
terial of which the greater part of the bone is composed. Now, the large 
proportion of oil ; next, the large proportion of flesh-forming matters ; and 
third, a considerable proportion of bone material are characteristics that 
confer a particular value upon oil-cake, either directly as food, or indirectly 
as useful material for increasing the value of farm-yard manure. For let me 
observe, that oily matters and substances that make butchers' meat are the 
most valuable constituents in all feeding materials, and therefore also in an 
oil-cake. On the other hand, the flesh-forming constituents and the bone- 
forming materials — in other words, the nitrogen and the phosphates of the 
cake — are the two most valuable fertilizing constituents. We have thus in 
oil-cakes, in a concentrated state, materials ihat produce butchers' meat, 
and, at the same time, yield the most valuable fertilizing constituents. There 
is no other description of food which unites tliese useful properties. 

93. Linseed-Cake. — " You are all aware we distinguish chiefly the follow- 
ing kinds of linseed-cake : English cake, American cake, and foreign cakes. 
Among foreign cakes there are various descriptions. There is the Baltic, 
the Marseilles, the Naples cake, and various others. We have here an ex- 
cellent specimen of good English cake. The English cake is made now of 
two qualities, tliick and thin cake ; the latter is made in imitation of the 
American barrel cake, of which specimens are before you. You observe 
how closely the thin English cake resembles the American barrel cake. The 
latter has gained much favor, and therefore the manufacturers in England 
have found it to their advantage to imitate the form in which it is sold. In 
the first place, notice that the American cake occasionally is as bad as 
English and foreign cakes. It is not every description of American cake 
which is good, but generally speaking, as it comes into the market, espe- 
cially the barrel cake, it is of a very superior character. But the question 
whether it is generally superior to the English cake or not, is one which is 
not very i-eadily decided ; you may get English cake quite as good, if not 
better, than the American cake. 

" Some years ago it was the fashion to buy the English cake in preference 
to any other, but it is now the fashion to buy the American barrel cake. I 
can only account for this by the fact that the English cake, being produced 



Sko, 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 69 

in good quality, was rapidly consumed ; the American cake was usually 
sent in a very damaged condition to this country, coming as it did in bags ; 
our sharp American friends very soon found that they must send their cake 
here in a good condition. They dried it previously to sending it over, and 
imported it in barrels, and this improved condition of the American cake 
greatly increased its reputation, which has been kept up ; so that at the pres 
ent time in most markets, American cake, especially the barrel cake, fetches 
a higher price than the English. But a reference to the diagram will show 
you tliat tliere is no essential difference between good English cake and 
good American ; indeed, if anything, the advantage is in favor of the speci- 
mens of English cake. The difference is extremely small. There is the 
same qiiantity of oil in both cases. The proportion of flesli-forming matteis 
is rather larger in the English than in the American. There is the same 
amount of ash in both. The proportion of sand hardly amounts to one per 
cent, in the English cake, and in the American it is only a half per cent. 
These differences are extremely small and unimportant, so that yon may 
get, and often do get, as good English cake as American. And occasion- 
ally, also, yon get bad American cakes ; but on the whole, the exporters 
of American cake are very jealous as to the kind of article they send to this 
country, especially if they go to the expense of j^acking it in barrels. 

94. Cotton-faliCi — " We distinguish now principally two kinds of this cake 
— the one made of the whole seed, and the otlicr of the shelled seed. TJie 
diflerenco in the two qualities of cake will at once become intelligible by 
an examination of the seeds, or the raw materials from whicli the cakes are 
made. The decorticated or shelled cake is made of the kernel of the cotton 
seed ; the whole cake, in which we recognize an abi;ndance of the husk, is 
made of the entire seed ; and inasmuch as the cotton seed contains full half 
its weight, and some descriptions contain as much as 60 per cent, of the hard 
husk, we must not expect that the cake made of the whole seed should be 
so valuable as the decorticated cake. Tliere are several specimens of cotton- 
cake on the table. There is very little value in the husk itself; the difference 
in tlie two kinds of cotton-cake, then, arises from the different mode in which 
they are made. The one, the decorticated cake, is made from tlie kernel ; 
the otlier kind is made from the whole seed. The difference in the compo- 
sition of the two kinds of cake is very great. The decorticated cotton-cake 
contains 16 per cent, of oil (more than any other description of cake), while 
the wliole-seed cake contains only 6 per cent. The proportion of albuminous 
or flesh-forming matfers in the decorticated cake amounts to 41 per cent. • 
in the wliole-seed cake it is only 23 per cent, or just one half. So witli 
respect to the other constituents, the proportion of woody fiber is very much 
larger in the whole-seed cake than in the other. The husk in tlie whole- 
seed cake for a long time was a great impediment to the general use to 
which cotton-cake is now applied in this country. I remember when tlie 
first cargoes of cotton-cake came info England, before flie decorticated 
cotton-cake was known ; trials were made of it, which proved quite unsuc- 



70 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



cecsfiil. People did not like it at all, and I believe the cotton-cake would 
never have been extensively used if it had not been for the invention of a 
very useful machine, patented in America, by means of Avhich the hard 
husks can be removed from the kernel. The use of this machine gives us a 
superior oil and a superior cake. The cotton-seed oil made from the kernel 
alone is a very useful article, and so is the cake, whereas the oil expressed 
from the whole seed is dark-brown in color, and can not be used except for 
the commonest purposes for which oil is employed. Tlie difference in the 
value of the two descriptions of cake is so great, that I almost think two 
tuns of the oil-cake, made of the whole seed, do not go further than one tun 
of the best decorticated cotton-seed cake. Moreover, there is a certain 
danger in using the whole-seed cake. Several cases of so-called poisoning 
have been brought under my notice within the last year or two. Animals 
that have freely partaken of tlie whole-seed cake have died suddenly, and 
people have imagined that there was something injurious in the husk; but 
examination has shown that the eflect produced is very much like that which 
is occasionally produced in the case of boys who die from inflannnation of 
the bowels in countries where cherries are very abundant. Being very 
greedy, and eating the cherries with the stones, they get a stoppage of the 
bowels, and so die from inflannnation. There is nothing poisonous in the 
husk of the cotton-seed, and when given judiciously, no injury will result; 
but if animals are supplied with an unlimited quantity of dry food with the 
whole seed, there is indeed a dangei-. The hard husk is indigestible, and 
may roll together in such large masses that inflammation of the bowels will 
ensue. There is no such danger, however, in the use of decorticated cotton- 
cake. The decorticated cake occurs of various degrees of quality. And 
allow me to observe, with respect to all kinds of cake, that not only the 
composition, but, even in a higher degree, the condition of the cake, deter- 
mines in a great measure its value. I have here a specimen which you 
would hardly recognize as of the same description as another specimen also 
on the table, of a very beaiitiful character ; it is the same kind of cake, only 
it is in a bad condition. I say, then, the condition of a cake determines 
everything. 

95. Condition of fake. — " Some lime ago I was very much gratified in 
finding what great care Mr. Stratton, of Broad Ilinton, a celebrated short- 
horn breeder, takes in selecting the very best of American barrel cake for 
his stock. We often forget that animals have appetites as we have, and that 
they like food in a good condition better than food in a bad one. The com- 
position of two samples of the same food may not vary much, yet the prac- 
tical eftect produced by them may vary exceedingly. There is nothing 
remarkable in this, for we know that if we get good, wholesome bread, which 
is one or two days old, we do well upon it ; but if it remains in a damp 
cellar and gets moldy, stale, and moist, it loses its fine flavor, and in this 
condition may do us harm. So it is with stale, moldy cakes. Animals 
never do well on very old cakes. In examining, thei'efore, the diflerent 



Sec. C] FEEDHsTG CATTLE AND CAEE OF FARM-STOCK. 71 

cakes, we ought to examine particularly their condition. I allude especially 
to tlie examination of cotton-cake, because every person has the means _of 
examining its condition with very little trouble. It is not so easy to examine 
the condition of linseed ; it presupposes an extensive acqx;aintance with 
various descriptions of linseed-cake. You must have seen a great many 
samples of cake before you can give a trustworthy opinion. Not so with 
decorticated cotton-cake. In this the color affords an excellent criterion as 
to its freshness. The freshest cotton-cake is as yellow as mustard. I hold a 
jiiece of cake in my liand, the exterior of which is brown ; but if I cut away 
a portion, you will observe that the interior is bright yellow — veiy diflerent 
from the part that has been exposed to the air. Tiiis was an excellent cake 
when we first got it for feeding purposes, and we are feeding it extensively 
on our farm at Cirencester. "When we first had it, it was of a bright yellow 
color; but you observe how it has since changed. From this we may learn 
a very useful lesson, that we may take the color as a guide to the condition 
and age of the cakes. If we are presented with a cake Mdiich is as brown 
as the specimen before me, and if you find on cutting it that the brown color 
has penetrated deep into the interior, we may at once conclude that it is a 
stale old cake. The deeper it has penetrated, the older the cake, and the 
more it has suffered by bad keeping. If it is kept in a damp place, its color 
and condition are rapidly deteriorated. 

COMPOSITION OF LINSEED AND OF OIL CAKES. 

T insHori Mii«t,r,i Cot'on-secd cakc Poppy- 
Linseed. Linseed- E.,pe.cake. ""7"''" made of seed 
'^'"'"' '-'^"' whole seed. cake. 

Water 7.50 12.44 10.68 11,90 11.19 11.63 

Oil 34,00 12,79 11.10 6,69 9,08.... 5.75 

Flesli-forming matters 24.44 27.69 29,53 23,48 25,16 31,46 

Heat-giving constituents 30,73 40,95 40,90 52,14 48.93 38,18 

Inorganic iiiatters (ash) 3.33 6,13 7,79 5.79 5,64 12,98 



100,00 100,00 100,00 100 00 100,00 100,00 

06. Salt for Stocki — A great deal has been written upon the use of salt 
for animals, and much reasoning employed to prove various positions ; but 
very few accurate experiments have been made. Loose and general observ- 
ations have been the basis for most of the opinions formed. A certain 
quantify of salt is unquestionably useful ; an excess is as certainly hurtful. 
The proper amount is what we want to have determined. All ordinary food 
of animals contains more or less salt — as, for examjile, a tun of barley or 
oats straw, and of some kinds of hay, contains six pounds of salt ; a tun of 
carrots contains four pounds. We can not, therefore, speak of animals eating 
no salt — they all partake of it, but we wish to know the right quantity. 

The Genesee Farmer, from which we have frequently extracted useful 
facts, and to which we are indebted for the next half dozen, says of salt for 
cattle feeding for thg shambles : 

" We have had our doubts whether it was good economy to allow animals 
feeding for the lutcher the free use of salt. Salt is doubtless conducive to 
health, favoring the formation of bile, and aiding in carrying eft'ete matter 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Cuap. I. 

from the system ; but there is no reason to suppose that it favors the accu- 
mulation of fat. Liebig, indeed, asserts tliat ' the absence of common salt is 
favorable to the formation of fat,'' and that tlie ' fattening of an animal is 
rendered impossible, when we add to its food an excess of salt, although 
short of the quantity required to j^roduce a purgative effect.' Recently, 
however, in allusion to experiments made since the publication of the work 
in which the above sentences occur, Liebig says : ' Salt does not act as a 
producer of flesh ; but it neutralizes the injurious actions of the conditions 
which must be united in the unnatural state of animals fed or fattened in 
order to produce flesh ; and the advantages attending its use can hardly be 
estimated too highly.' 

" Boussingault is also in favor of salt. Two lots of steers were fed thirteen 
months, one with and one without salt. The average weight per head of 
the salted lot, at the commencement of the experiment, was 995 lbs. ; at the 
end of thirteen months, 2,090 lbs. Increase, 1,135 lbs. They consumed per 
head 15,972 lbs. of hay. One tun of hay, therefore, produced 143 lbs. of 
increase of animal. 

"The second lot, which received no salt, averaged at the commencement 
of the experiment 896 lbs. ; at the end of thirteen months, 1,890 lbs. 
Increase, 094 lbs. They consumed per head 14,553 lbs. of hay, or one tun 
of hay produced 137 lbs. of increase of animal. 

"The steers receiving salt produced six pounds more increase for each tun 
of hay consumed than those which were not allowed salt. This may be 
considered only a slight advantage, and in France did not pay the cost of 
the salt; in this country, however, where salt is much cheaper, its use will 
doubtless be profitable. Boussingault remarks : ' The salt exercises no con- 
siderable influence on the growth, yet it appears to exert a beneficial eflect 
on the appearance and condition of the animal.' Up to the first fourteen 
days no perceptible difference was observed between the two lots ; but in the 
coui-se of the month following, the diflerence was visible, even to the 
unpracticed eye." 

With such good authority, it is presumed feeders will continue the use of 
salt ; but let us give them this one word of caution — do not give it in excess. 
K you can not get rock-salt, or if that is too expensive, mix fine salt with 
soft clay, and dry that in large cakes, and lay them under cover for the cattle 
to lick. 

97. Rock-Salt. — We reiterate that rock-salt is not only the most econom- 
ical, but the most convenient for the farmer to salt his cattle, since it can be 
placed where they can lick it at their leisure, and there it will remain, sum- 
mer and winter ; the rains have very little effect upon it while in a lump, 
as it comes from the quarry, it being really what its name indicates, a piece 
of rock. When broken fine it dissolves easil}', but not \jefore. 

A farmer who has the least idea of economy shoiild learn how much he 
can save in a year, or a lifetime, by the simple operation of substituting rock- 
salt in place of that in ordinary use for farm-stock.^ A lump of rock-salt 



Sec. C] feeding CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. . 73 

may be placed in any out-door situation, where cattle can go and lick it 
whenever their appetite inclines them to do so, and it will not waste by 
exposure to dew or rain, because it is not hygrometric, as is the manufactured 
salt in common use. Another thing in its favor is this — your stock, M'ith 
salt always before tliem, will never eat too much. Neither will they eat it 
too fast, as they almost always do when salted with fine salt ; nor waste it 
by scattering it in the dirt, or leaving it to dissolve and sink into the earth. 
Another difficulty is obviated by the use of rock-salt constantly within reach 
of stock, and that is, the hooking and punching of the weaker animals by 
the strong ones, in fighting their way to the once-a-week, or perhaps once- 
a-month, salting-place. 

Rock-salt is a mineral as much as marble, and almost as solid and hard, 
and is quarried out of mines, like coal or other mineral substances. The 
most extensive salt mines are at Cracow, in Poland, where there are regular 
cartways, streets, and villages of miners' huts, where men, women, and 
children, and domestic animals live deep down in the earth. Our principal 
supply of rock-salt comes from Cheshire, England, where there are extensive 
mines. In its mineral state, the salt is of a slightly reddish color, and dingy 
white, and some of it needs to be melted and purified for culinary purposes. 
The purest portion may .be reduced at once to powder by breaking and 
grinding, and is then quite white. The salt known here as Liverpool salt is 
refined rock-salt from the Cheshire mines. 

A lump of rock-salt as big as a man's head may be fixed by pins upon a 
rock or block, where the water will not stand around it, and it will remain 
until all licked away by the cattle's tongues. In case of stock in stables, a 
lump may be placed in each manger. 

OS. Bones for Auintals. — A good deal has been lately said about feeding 
animals with bone-meal. We give several opinions upon the subject : 

E. C. Wright, of Gallatin County, 111., states, on the authority of the Rev. 
John Crawford, of Crawford, in that county, that the bones of swine dying 
with what is called hog cholera, decay as rapidly as the flesh, and that portions 
of the skin outlast the bones. He wants scientific men to give attention to 
this strange consumption of the solids, and thinks that it may be the means 
of suggesting a remedy for the disease so fatal and so pecuniarily distressing 
to a vast number of farmers in the West. Now, as we know that feeding 
bone-meal to animals and phosphate of lime to plants that need it, has 
proved beneficial, is it impossible or improbable that feeding it to swine 
suftering from a disease that produces the effect described, may not be the 
means of curing or preventing the disease ? 

Dr. Waterbury says : " There are some new theories in relation to feeding 
phosphates to animals. It is possible that this may have some effect. There 
is an idea prevailing that feeding material that makes bones will increase 
their size. It is a subject well worthy of more attention." 

Prof. Mapes states^hat, when a calf is deficient in bone, that is, too weak 
to stand, feeding bone-meal to the cow that suckles the calf will furnish it 



74 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

with the necessary materiaL This fact is well known to many farmers, and 
that cows eat old bones with great avidity. We also know that pliysicians 
are using a solution of phosphate of lime in their practice, and there is no 
doubt it may be administered to domestic animals with cr|ually good ettect; 
and whether, in the case named, it worked a cure or not, it is well worth 
trying. Many things much more simple have produced wonderful results. 

99. Water for Stock. — See that your stock have an abundance of clear, 
good water in hot weather. If it is pumped from wells, it should always be 
standing in boxes or troughs, so that stock can have access to it. Select, for 
liot days, fields with plenty of shade trees in them, to protect stock from the 
burning sun. Pastures should always contain shade trees, and they should 
be planted, if not there. 

Mr. Strawn, the great Illinois farmer, has successfully tried this method 
of keeping water on a stock farm : 

Dig a basin five or ten rods square, and ten feet deep, upon a high knoll ; 
feed corn in the basin to your hogs and cattle, until it is well puddled by 
the tramping of their feet, which Avill make it almost water-tight. Mr. 
Strawn says the rains of a single winter sulficed to accommodate several 
hundred head of stock, and that it had been dry but once in twelve years. 

For watering at the barn, in all situations where digging wells is expen- 
sive, cisterns should be provided, if running water from some brook or 
spring can not be brouglit in pipes, or sent up by a water-ram. 

100. Chaffing Food for Stock. — There is no disputing the fact that chafling 
food, particularly all coarse forage, will pay well, where it is as dear as it is 
in the vicinity of New York. At the State Fair Farmers' Club, at Elmira, 
October, 1860, the following opinions were given upon the subject : 

A. B. Dickenson said : " On good hay you can fat cattle, but you can not 
upon corn-stalks, but they are better than poor hay. -I can not make an 
acre of corn-stalks as good as an acre of grass. If you want to raise a big 
crop of corn, put on barn-yard manure year after year on grass, and after- 
M'ard plow it in and make it mellow and rich, sixteen inches deep, and then 
corn Avill never exhaust the soil. Corn-stalks must always be chafled to 
obtain their full value." 

Col. Butterfield, of Utica, said : " Up to two or three years ago, I thought 
but little of corn-fodder. I then cut the top stalks ; now I cut up by the 
ground, and my cattle do first-rate on corn-stalks till March. To get the 
greatest benefit from corn-stalks, they must be chafi"ed and steamed." 

Hon. T. C. Peters, of Darien, JST. Y., said : " I grow corn for fodder as well 
as grain, and cut up from the ground, and chaff the stalks for feeding. There 
is no other feed for milch cows in winter equally valuable if it is well cured 
and then chafted ; and if steamed, it is still better." 

Mr. Lyman Barnard, of Steuben County, said : " I cut up my corn from 
the ground, and ciit the stalks up fine in a stalk-cutter, and mix with cut 
straw, and I find my cattle and horses do as well, or better, than upon good 
timothy hay." ♦ 



FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 

Mr. Plumb, of Onondaga County, said : " We don't raise any crop as val- 
nable as corn, and we do raise good wheat. I foddered 150 sheep and 12 
cows till March upon ten acres of corn-stalks, allowing the stock to run at a 
straw-stack besides. I raise tlie large eight-rowed yellow corn with a small 
oob, and like it better than Dutton corn. It yields better than any white 
corn." 

It is tlie opinion of some really scientific men we have conversed witii 
npon the subject, that in all places where hay usually sells as high as $2(1 a 
tun, and power is not unusually expensive, that it would pay, not only to 
chafi" all hay, stalks, straw, etc., but actually to grind tliese substances into 
meal — not very fine, to be sure, but so that none of the particles would be 
more than an eighth of an inch in length. We saw, a few years ago, the 
model of a newly-invented mill that was most admirably well calculated for 
doing such work as reducing hay and straw to meal. It was the invention 
of Mr. Blanchard, of Boston. 

Flint, in his " Dairy Farming," in speaking of feeding milch cows, says : 
" One of the best courses is, to feed in the morning, either at the time of 
milking — which I prefer — or immediately after, with cut feed, consisting 
of hay, oats, millet, or corn-stalks, mixed with shorts, and Indian, linseed, 
or cotton-seed meal, thoroughly moistened with water. If in winter, hot 
or warm water is far better than cold. If given at milking-time, the cows 
will generally give down the milk more readily. The stalls and mangers 
ought always to be Avell cleaned out first." 

101. Nutritive Value of Tarious Kiuds of Fodder.— Tlie following tables 
will be useful, as showing the relative value of various substances : 

^— Per centage of Nitrogen.^ 
Net. equivalent. Dried. Undried, 

1. Meadow hay 100 1.34 1.15 

2. Red clover hay 75 1.70 ] .54 

3. Rye-straw 479 0..30 0.24 

4. Oal-straw 383 0.36 0..30 

5. Wheat-straw 426 0.36 0.27 

6. Barley-straw 460 0.30 0.25 

7. Pea-straw 64 1.45 1.79 

The following is the composition of these several substances, in which 
their relative value will more distinctly appear : 

Simen,' elc^ ^""J' '°='"«'^- Valine matter. 

7.1 2 to 5 5 to 10 

9.3 3 to 5 9 

1.3 ....... - 4 

1.3 0.8 6 

1.3 ....... 2 to 3 5 

1.3 — 5 

12.3 ;. 1.5 4 to 6 

From these tables it will be seen that, taking good English or meadow 
hay as the standard of comparison, and calling that one, 4.79 times the 
weight of rye-straw, or 3.83 times the weight of oat-straw, contains the same 
amount of nutritive matter ; that is, it would take 4.79 times as much rye- 
straw to produce the same result as good meadow hay. 



Water. 


Woody fiber. 


Starch, Gum, G 


14 


..^.. 30 ... 


.... 40 


14 


25 ... 


.... 40 ....... 


12 to 15 . 


45 ... 


.... 38 


12 


45 ... 


.... 35 


12 to 15 . 


50 ... 


.... 30 


12 to 15 . 


50 ... 


.... 30 


10 to 15 . 


25 ... 


.... 45 



76 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



Chap. I. 



NUTRITIVE EQUIVALENTS. (Pkactical and Theoretical.) 



ARTICLES OP POOD. 



English hay,. 



Red clover hay 

Ked clover (green) 

Rye-3traw 

Oal-3traw 

Carrot-leaves (tops) 

Swedish turnips 

Mangel-wurzel 

White silician beet .... 

Carrots 

Potatoes 

Potatoes kept in pita... 

Beans 

Peas 

Indian corn 

Buckwheat 

Barley 

Oats 

Rye 



TBEOBETICAL VALUES. 



n.n 


l.M 


16.6 


1.66 


10,1 


1.70 


76,0 


— . 


i8.r 


.30 


21.0 


.36 


70.9 


2.94 


91.0 


1.33 


SS.B 


1.43 


K7fi 


2.40 


75.9 


1.60 


76.S 


1.19 


7.9 


5.50 


8.6 


4.20 


1S,0 


2.O0 


12 5 


2.40 


13.2 


2.03 


12.4 


2.22 


ll.-i 


2.27 


10.5 


2.38 


1S.4 


6.U0 



llOO 



1.38 

1.54 

.64 (811 

.24 1479 

.30 183.3 

.85 I 185 

.17 676 



669 



1 to 2.8 

1 to 2.14 

1 to 6.55 

1 to 6.05 

1 to 4.25 

1 to 4."8 

1 to 4.42 

1 to 2.42 



84 5-12 
84J 



53 11-12 
6.3 1-16 
S3 5-0 



afited by experimcDts IQ 



Oats in tlie bundle, well cut up, straw and all, make excellent, cheap feed 
for horses oi- other stock ; in many cases it is much better than threshing 
them. For heavy teams hard at work, a little sound corn-meal mixed wet 
with them, makes a feed that can not well be beaten. It is a highly econ- 
omical and satisfactory way of feeding, both to man and beast, where oats 
sell at a low price by the bushel. 

102. A Treatise ou Feeding. — A valuable treatise on feeding, which might 
be studied with profit by all farmers, has been made by Mr. Horsefall, an 
English farmer, and published in the journal of the Royal Agricultural 
Society, which may be found complete as an appendix to Flint's " Dairy 
Farming." 

103. Soiling Cattle. — Soiling is a term applied to the practice of confining 
animals to the stable, and growing a green crop, such as sowed corn, sorgo, 
wheat, rye, or oats, clover, c^tc, which is cut up as needed, and carried to the 
animals, instead of allowing them to have the range of the pastures. Mr. 
Philo Gregory, of Chester, Orange Co., JST. Y., sowed a patch of half an 
acre, with corn for fodder, making the rows thirty inches apart. With the 
product he kept twenty-five cows for six loeeks without other food. 

The most extensive and successful system of soiling is pursued by Hon. 
Josiah Quincy, Jr., of Boston, who has published a small volume giving 
details of his practice. One of the great advantages of soiling is the saving 
of manure, the quantity being largely increased over that made by an equal 
number of cattle at pasture, or fed in the ordinary way. "We recommend 
any one disposed to attempt the soiling system to read Mr. Quincy's book. 

104. Diseases of Cattle. — We shall not attempt to give a treatise upon the 



Sko. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 77 

diseases of cattle and the remedies ; for this, we must refer the reader to 
Dr. Dadd, veterinary surgeon, Boston, and his valuable writings, as ■well as 
several other good publications, not forgetting the Sioclc Journal, New 
York. We will give, however, the following sensible remarks upon one 
of the most common diseases, or symptoms of disease, from Thos. E. Hatch, 
Iveene, N. H. 

105. The Uoru Ail.— Mr. Hatch says : " ' Horn Ail,' or ' Hollow Horn,' 
is an absurd misnomer for an imaginary disease in many cases, and for a 
symptom of fever in others. Many a farmer has reluctantly ' cut oif one 
inch,' or more, from the tail of a beautiful animal, when it was turned out 
to pasture, under the erroneous impression that it would do better, 'for the 
hair hung in curls,' although the animal was in perfect health and good 
condition, and needed no remedy of any kind. In fever, the degree of 
arterial excitement is estimated in part by the heat at the base of the horn, 
which is very thin, and covers the most vascular bone in the animal, thereby 
dis[ilaying symptoms of great value to those cajiable of appreciating them. 

" But even in fever there can never be the slightest occasion for ' cutting 
off one inch of the tail,' nor for pouring hoiling water upon the horns of a 
suffering animal until he '■dodges.'' A cathartic of epsom or glauter salts, 
sulphur or linseed-oil, combined with ginger, red pepper, or any stimulant 
aromatic, 'will do all the good, and much more, than the slight bleeding from 
the cut can do, and not leave the animal to thump its sides the remainder 
of its life with a mutilated stump, a living monument that all the darkness 
of the dark ages has not yet passed away. 

"The hope tliat I may be the means, in a single case, of preserving intact 
one of the beauties of the bovine race, to the unfortunate animal suffering 
from 'Horn Ail' or 'Tail Sickness,' is the only apology that I can offer for 
tliis comnninication. I would as soon knock off' the horn, or slit the ears of 
a favorite animal, as to ' cut off one inch of the tail,' and should have as 
good physiological reasons for so doing. The disfigurement in either case 
would be about equal, but the inconvenience which the animal would suffer 
from the loss of the long, silky brush so kindly furnished by nature, espe- 
cially in ' fly time,' would be immeasurably greater." 

The Ohio Kerciima, an ounce to a dose, given in whisky a few times to 
a cow with this disease, is recommended as a valuable cure. In our opinion, 
good feed and warm stables as a preventive are worth more than all the cures. 

106. Cure of Scours iu Cattle. — An English farmer recommends the use 
of acorn-meal as a sure cure of diarrhea in horned cattle, sheep, and lanib«, 
and young stock generally. He says : 

" I sent the dried acorns to the mill to be ground into flour, and when I 
found symptoms of scour or diarrhea in my cattle, I ordered two handfuls 
to be mixed in a bran mash, and given warm immediatelj', and to continue 
it once a day, until the disease disappeared. This proved a never-failing 
cure — insomuch that I never had any trouble from the disease afterward ; 
and my neighbors, seeing this, had recourse to me for a little of my acorn 



78 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

flour, when the disease appeared in their cattle, which, of course, I was glad 
to give them, the result being the same as in my own case." 

107. To Cure Lice on Cattle. — Some farmers have great; faith in the 
efficacy of oiiious for ridding cows or oxen of lice. Mr. Eoe, of Orange 
County, N. Y., claims to have found them an infallible remedy in his prac- 
tice. Tiiey also give a tone to the stomacli, and are especially valuable in 
hot weather, when working cattle will lie in the shade at noon-time, and 
refuse to eat. Mr. Eoe uses the " scullions," or small, unsalable onions, and 
those which become soft or sprouted toward spring. He gives a feed of half 
a peck once a daj', at noon, and says that two feeds are sufficient to extirpate 
any number of vermin. 

A correspondent recommends the following remedy for lice or ticks : " One 
tablespoonfal of sulphur to one pint of salt, mix thoroughly together, and 
feed to cattle or sheep once a week, in cjuantities, as Ave usually feed cattle, 
for two months in succession, and there will be no ticks or lice on them." 

lOS. Cattle Poisoned Mitli Brine. — Many formers have learned to their 
sorrow that old brine, placed within the reach of hogs, cattle, and perhaps 
other farm stock, will cause death ; and as there are others who may not have 
learned this fact, we now place it on record for their benefit. We will also 
give the results of certain investigations made at the Veterinary School, at 
Ayort, France, by M. Reynal, which throw additional light npon the subject. 
It is ascertained that the poisonous properties of brine are not immediately 
accpiired ; but it assumes this condition only after it has been in contact for 
several months with the meat, when, if mixed with the food of stock, even 
in small quantities, it will produce death ; but wdien hogs and other stock can 
get to it, unmixed with food, its effects are still more speedily fatal. The 
poison acts as a local irritant, exciting violent intestinal congestion and 
inflammation. It likewise increases the secretion of the skin and kidneys, 
and exerts a direct effect npon the nervous system, giving rise to trembling, 
loss of sensation, convulsions, etc. 

The salt of the worst brine may be saved in a pure state by boiling the 
brine and carefully skinnning off all the scnra. The remainder may then be 
used as brine, or reduced to salt b}' still more boiling. 

109. Cattle Poisoned by Wild Cherry Leaves. — It is not an unusual thing 
for cattle to be poisoned with the leaves of the common Avild cherry-tree, 
which are almost sure death if eaten in a wilted state, unless a remedy is 
immediately administered. The most convenient, readj' remedy which a 
farmer can Tise is hog's lard and molasses, mixed in about equal quanti- 
ties, by melting the lard and warming the molasses. It should be given in 
doses of a pint or a quart, by means of a black bottle, pouring it well down 
the animal's throat. 

110. Overstocking the Farm. — Tliis is about the worst practice in farming, 
as regards stock, either in summer or winter. It is not only unprofitable to 
keep useless animals, such as horses or oxen, but if you are overstocked, the 
whole must deteriorate. There is nothing about a fann that has a more 



Seo. 6.] FEEDING CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 79 

distressed appearance than half-starved animals, and there is nothing about 
farming that is more unprofitable. Even the manure accumulated from 
such stock is far less valuable than that saved from well-fed animals. 

The most important thing in farm-stock is a good team, and that should 
be the first consideration. Have a team or teams sufficient to do all your 
work, except some particular things, such as threshing, and for such extra 
work have a standing arrangement, if possible, with a neighbor to exchange 
team work. You can not afford to keep any extra team. You may be 
overstocked in any other kind of animals with less damage than working 
ones, but j'Ou can in no way afford to do without enough of them, and the 
better they are, the better it will be for you. Farm-stock must be adapted 
to circumstances to be profitable. AYhen milk sells at two cents a quart, at 
or near the farm, milch cows are profitable stock, because if one average five 
quarts a day, her milkAvill bring $3G 50 a year, and some of the milch dairy 
cows near New York double that. The average we have heard estimated 
at Sis for all the cows kept on a farm. We have known the profit of 
grazing a herd of fatting bullocks through the season often to range from 
S38 to $-iO a head, but we could not recommend every one to go into the 
business, because it requires skill in buying, keeping, and selling that all" do 
not and are not hkely to possess. In all cases fiirm-stock should be adapted 
to circumstances, and there is certainly a want of judgment in this respect 
that is amazing. Men in Mississippi have tried to raise fine-wool sheep 
suited to Yermont, and men in Yermont have tried to use mules for farm- 
work, instead of their own hardy breed of horses, because they had read 
that they were much the most economical foivfarm-work in all the Southern 
States. The pastures of New England are noted for their sweet grass and 
excellent red cattle ; and the blue-grass fields and fat Durhams of Kentucky 
are equally noted, and all should know that it would not serve either section 
to advantage to exchange breeds of cattle. The adaptability of stock to the 
farm is a subject that we do not wish to dictate upon, bat we ask reasonable 
men to take counsel with reason, and apply that in all cases to their own 
circumstances. 

111. Imported vs. Native Stock. — Eobert Purvis, of Byberry, Penn., has 
a farm in a high state of cultivation, one of the best in Pennsylvania, and 
consequently, in our opinion, his ideas are entitled to a share of our respect. 
He says : 

"For many years I have made it my business, as it has been my pleasure, 
to do what I could to promote the improvements of farm-stock. My chief 
attention has been given to cows, hogs, and fowls, though I have not been 
mnnindful to other varieties. Of cows, 1 have raised the Durham, Ayr- 
shire, and the Devonshire ; of hogs, the Berkshire and the Suffolk ; and of 
fowls, a great variety. I have confined my attention chiefly to those of for- 
eign growth or origin. That I have succeeded as well as others, may bo 
inferred from the fact that at the various shows I have taken a fair share of 
the premiums. Nevertheless, my success, though encouraging, has not been 



80 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

altogether satisfactory ; that is, it has not proved to me that any of tliese 
foreign breeds, whether of cows, hogs, or fowls, are the best that we can 
have in this country, or arc just the thing we want. On the contrary, it has 
demonstrated to me quite the opposite, viz. : That before we can attain the 
desired success in this field of experiment, we must give more attention than 
we are now giving to animals luhich are the growth of our ow7i soil. Not 
that I would undervalue the advantages of importing the best varieties of 
foreign breeds, for too- much praise can not be rendered those public-spirited 
men who spend their money liberally in bringing to our shores the best 
specimens they can obtain of European animals ; but, at the same time, too 
little credit may be given to others who are doing what they can to improve 
our native breeds. 

" I don't know how it may be with others, but according to my experience 
and observation, there is an unvarying tendency in all imported stock to 
deterioratio)!'. "Whether it is owing to the climate, or soil, or what, I 
don't pretend to say ; but this tendency to degenerate in all foreign animals, 
whatever pains may have been taken with tliem, has been, according to my 
knowledge, without an exception. Now, assuming this to be true, wliicli, 
understand me, I do not aver, the question arises : Would it not be better tor 
us, in trying to improve our stock, to make our selections for the purpose 
witliout I'egard to the animal's origin ? In milch cows, for instance, ouglit 
we not to choose the finest-looking animal and best milker we can find, 
M'hether native, imported, or mixed ? and ought we not to see that the ofi- 
spring are the product of a sire chosen on the same principle ? Is it not 
likely, and does not experience, so far as it has been made, show that the 
tendency of this sort of breeding is to a continual improvement in the stock ? 
I would ask the same questions in regard to hogs, fowls, horses, sheep, and 
all other kinds of animals. In other words, ought we not to make more ac- 
count of our native breeds, and seek, by judicious crossing and care in other 
respects, to attain the end which we have not yet readied in the matter of 
stock-raising ?" 

Do farmers generally sufficiently appreciate the reason why imported or 
high-bred cattle look so much better than tlie natives ? Is it not because 
one class is high-fed as well as high-bred, and treated with the greatest pos- 
sible care, while many of the poor natives arc treated with the greatest 
possible neglect — exposed to storms, summer and winter, and kept upon 
short pasture while it is possible for the animals to get a living, and then 
grudgingly fed coarse herbage to carry them alive through tlie winter. 
With such treatment, the poor natives have no fair clrance to com[)ete with 
the pampered stock lately imported ; yet, with equally good treatment and 
constant care in breeding, we believe as good cattle may be raised up out 
of some of the natives as can be found among those imported and maintained 
at such great exh-a expense. At least, we believe that if as inuch care had 
been bestowed on our native stock as has been on the imported breeds for the 
last thirty years, the natives would now be nearly equal to the imported. 



PLATE YI. 

(Page 81.) 

The subject of feeding swine is treated of in Section II., but to 
enable readers to understand the style of the different breeds, fed 
to a condition for show, we have preferred to direct his attention to 
this picture rather than to a written description. Upon the left 
hand he will see representatives of the Berkshire, black and white. 
In the center are the beautiful white, thin-haired Suffolk, and on 
the right the black, thin-haired Essex, a favorite breed in England, 
lately introduced into this country. Indeed, all three of these 
named are favorite English breeds. On the right, in the rear, an 
American breed, the Chester County, is represented. All that is 
known of the history of this breed is briefly told in ^ 13. This 
picture of four families of swine is equal to any other ever printed. 
It is worthy of careful attention. 

Above the swine, as they always should be, in tlie estimation of 
farmers, are the sheep, showing good representatives of the three 
great families of long wool, fine wool, and medium. On the right, 
the long-wool variety, under the name of Cotswold, are well repre- 
sented. In the center, the pair of merinos stand as fair types of 
the fine wool, and are handsome portraits of the large-sized sheep 
of this variety. The noble South Downs on the left show what this 
breed looks like. Their black faces and legs and round, full bodies 
are characteristics of the famil}*. Altogether, these four families of 
swine and three of sheep make a picture that is not to be passed 
lightly over. 



Seo. 7.] 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



81 



"Why should we import hogs ? All the improved English breeds are 
made vp. And why we can not just as well make a breed here that sliall 
suit our circumstances, and need no acclimating, we can not imagine. Tlie 
fecundity of pigs gives the breeder a greater facility in improving his hogs 
than he possesses with any other large domestic animal. Let him have an 
object in view and steadily pursue it for a few years, and success and great 
profit are certain. 




SECTIOX VII.-SHEEP HUSBAIsDRY. 

reeds of English Sheep. — At a recent meeting of 

the Central Farmers' Club at London, Mr. Charles 

Howard delivered an address on the subject of 

"The Merits of Pure-Bred and Cross-Bred Sheep." 

> In tliis address he gave the origin and merits of 

several of the " establislied" breeds. "We condense as 

follows : 

I. SoTTTHDOWNS. — " The South, or Sussex Downs, are de- 
scended from small, gray, and dark-faced sheep which 
were found on the hilly and mountainous districts through- 
-^^ \\\" c\ \ <^"'' England. John Ellman was the original improver. 
^*^^)^ V2,^ He was followed and surpassed by Jonas "Webb, who has 
made the Southdown perfect. The peculiarity of this sheep is its supe- 
rior quality of mutton and wool. Average weight, from thirteen to fifteen 
months, is 12G lbs. ; weight of fleece, 6 lbs. The ewes are capital breeders, 
and generally produce one third twins. They are best adapted to elevated 
situations and bare pasturage. Among the nobility and fancy farmers tliey 
are regarded as the elite of slieep. 

IL Hampshiee Downs. — -" This valuable sheep has been established from 
various crosses, commencing with the century. They present as great a 
uriformity in wool, color, and general appearance as their smaller but hand 
somer cousins, the Southdowns. They have risen into favor i-apidly. They 
are very hardy, and of good constitutions, and good wool-bearers, the aver- 
age fleece being 6 to 7 lbs., of early maturity, and have plenty of lean as 
well as fat meat, and will graze to almost any weight you may choose to 
make them. The ewes are good breeders and sucklers. 

• in. Leicesters. — " These originated with Bakewell. To this breed all 
other long-M^ooled sheep are indebted for their improved shape and greater 
disposition to fatten. Their chief characteristics are, great aptitude to fatten 
with a comparatively small consumption of food, and early maturity; fleece, 
7 lbs. ; carcass, at fourteen or flfteen months, 140 lbs. They are not very 
good breeders, and it is a rare thing to have more Iambs than ewes. 

IV. The Cotswold. — "This is one of the oldest of the established breeds. 



82 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

They were originally heavy, coarse animals, with a thick, heavy fleece, well 
adapted to the bleak, uniuclosed Cotswold hills. They are now very hardy, 
and will succeed well in almost any situation, and produce a great amount 
of wool and mutton at an early age. They sometimes reach SG lbs. to the 
quarter. The average weight of an ordinary flock when flt for the butcher, 
at fourteen or fifteen months old, is about 180 lbs., and the weight of wool 
of the whole flock would be about 7^ lbs. each. Many of these sheep are 
now being exported to Australia to produce mutton for the miners. 

V. LiNCOLNSHiEES. — " As the western part of Great Britain is famous for 
its Cotswolds, so is the northeastern esteemed for the heavy-wooled and 
large-framed Lincolns, to which district they especially belong, and where 
for many years they held their own. Tlicy, like the Cotswolds, have been 
improved by an admixture of Leicester blood. The present improved Lin- 
coln sheep partakes largely of the peculiarities of the Cotswold and Leices- 
ter, having the expansive frame and nobility of appearance of the one, with 
the quality of flesh, compactness of form, beauty of countenance, and pro- 
pensity to fatten of the other ; but they far exceed either in weight of fleece. 
Three-year olds sometimes weigh 96 1 lbs. to the quarter, and yearlings Yl 
lbs. The weight of wool of an entire flock, under fair average management, 
is about 8ilbs. each; weight of carcass at twenty-eight months, IGOlbs. 
The Lincoln breeders consider the mutton excellent, having less fat and a 
greater proportion of fine-grained, lean flesh than tlie Leicesters. The ewes 
are good breeders, but, like the Cotswolds and Leicesters, they are not good 
Bucklers. 

VL SriKOPSHiEES.^ — ^" These are crosses. Tiieir merit consists in their su- 
periority over any other breed in their own country. They possess hardiness 
of constitution, excellent quality of mutton, and are prolific breeders ; but 
they are not equal to other breeds. 

VIL OxFORDSHiKE DowNS. — " This breed of sheep was produced twenty. 
seven years ago by crossing the ILampsliire, and in some instances South- 
down ewes, with Cotswold rams, and tlien putting the crosses together. 
They drop their lambs in February, and at thirteen or fourteen months old 
they are ready for market, weighing, on an average, 140 lbs. each, with a 
fleece vailing from 7 to 10 lbs. The ewes are good mothers, and produce a 
great proportion of twins." 

"We might add here, as these last two breeds are crosses, that Mr. Howard 
stated, at tlie conclusion of his experience and address, " that from a judicious 
pairing of cross-bred animals, it is practicable to establish a new breed alto- 
gether," and for some locations better fitted than most of the existing breeds. 

113. Production of Sexes among Sheepi — The Journal d' Agriculture Pra- 
tique has a paper giving a variety of facts on this subject — from which the 
deduction is made, that the sex depends on the greater or less vigor of the 
individuals coupled. This has long been known and acted upon. It is fur- 
ther stated, as shown by careful observation and experiment, that more 
males are born among the first and last births in a flock reared by a single 



Sko. 7.] SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 83 

ram, than among the lambs bom in the intervening period, wlien the male 
is weakened by excessive exertion; and that the ewes wluch produce males 
are on an average lighter than those which produce females, and lose more 
weight than the latter during the nursing period. Thus vigor in tlie male 
tends to produce males, but more from tiie M'eaker than tlie stronger ewes ; 
and the opposite fact in regard to females tends to keep up the equilibrium, 
and secure the perfection and preservation of the sj^ecies, by confining the 
reproduction of either sex to the most perfect type of each respectively. 

114. First Importation of Merinos. — The first importation of Spanish sheep 
into the United States took place in 1801. Four were shipped by Mr. Deles- 
sert, a banker of Paris, three of which perished on the passage. In 1802 a 
large importation was made by Col. Humphreys ; and iu 1809, '10, and '11, 
the Hon. Wm. Jarvis, the American consul at Lisbon, sent home large and 
valuable flocks to his farm in "Weathersfield, Vt. 

115. Gcueral Care and Mauasoment of Sheep. — There are not many men in 
this country more capable of giving information upon this subject than T. S. 
Gold, of Cornwall, Connecticut. In the series of Yale College lectures, in 
the winter of 1859,' '60, Mr. Gold gave a lecture upon sheep husbandry, in 
which he made the following points, worthy of note by all sheep farmers : 

" Thrift. — It should always be the object of the flock-master to keej) his 
sheep in a thriving condition. The quality of the wool, as well as its quan- 
tity, and the general productiveness of the flock, demand this sj'stem. 

" Shelter is the first necessity in providing for wintering sheep success- 
fully. The Sotithdowns will bear exposure better than any other class of 
sheep. The open fleece of the long-wooled parts on the back when wet, and 
admits the water, which completely drenches the animal, so that his abund- 
ant fleece is no longer a protection from cold. 

" Economy in feedimj demands shelter for all sheep, as. not only less food 
is required, but also it is better preserved from waste. Water-soaked hay, 
or that which is in any way soiled, is alwaj's rejected. The improvement 
in the qtiality of the mayiure- forms another argument in favor of shelter. 
That this is not only healthful but grateful to the sheej) at all seasons of the 
year, we see in the fact that even in summer they will seek their winter 
sheds at the approach of a storm if they are within their reach. 

" Ventilation is of paramount importance as connected with shelter ; and 
to insure this, sheds open to the south are to be j^referred. A stable with 
an open window will answer for a small number, but the crowding of a 
large flock in such a place affects the organs of respiration, and may result 
in serious disease, and should never be tolerated. 

" The best form of racJc has posts three feet high in the corners, a bottom 
of boards, the sides and ends of two boards each, and the lower one the 
widest, with narrow perpendicular strips nailed on to keep the stronger 
sheep from crowding the weaker. The spaces are larger in their perpen- 
dicular than their horizontal opening. The size of these, as well as the 
width of the rack, must be iu proportion to the size of the sheep. Not more 



84 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

tlian one lumdred of the line-wooled sheep should be confined in the same 
yard, while the long-wooled will not thrive with more than twenty-five. A 
hospital, sung and comfortable, should receive any slieep that may be weak 
from age or disease, until, by careful feeding and nursing, they can be re- 
turned to the flock. 

" It is the worst possible practice to allow the sheep to fall away in flesh, 
as the grass falls in autumn. The increasing wool conceals the shrinking 
carcass, much to the disappointment of the careless flock-masters. Better 
confine them in the yard than allow them to ramble about in search of some 
field of winter grain, which furnishes a little green food, but too light to be 
of any real value. 

" Winter fodder should embrace, in addition to the dry food, a due pro- 
portion of that which is green and succulent. Fine early-cut clover hay, 
well cured — that from old meadows, consisting of a variety of grasses — 
forms the best dry fodder. Economy demands that the quality should be 
good, else much waste ensues ; yet the sheep is very fond of variety, and al- 
,most all of the so-called weeds become a choice morsel. The botanist knows 
full well that a sheep-range will be most barren of the objects of his search. 
The immortal Linnajns tested the plants most indigenous to Sweden by 
offering them, fresh gathered, to the various domesticated animals. Horses 
ate 263 species, and refused 212; cattle ate 27G species, and refused 218; 
while sheep took readily 385, and refused only 141 species. For fattening, 
add to the hay, root^, grain, or linseed, or cotton-seed meal. The English 
system of winter feeding on turniijs in the field is here prevented by e.v- 
cessive cold. Use them in the yards in moderate weather. Sudden changes 
from green to dry food, and the reverse, should be avoided. Regularity in 
the hours of feeding is very important. 

" The amount of fodder varies with the kind of sheep, though it is not 
directly proportioned to the live weight. Ten small, fine wooled sheep will 
eat as much as a cow, the larger ones requiring more. Two to two and a 
half, or even three and one third per cent, of the Jive weight in hay value is 
estimated by diflerent authors as daily required. 

" No other animals except calves should lie in the yards with sheep. The 
losses from the horns of steers and the heels of colts more than balance any 
supposed gain. As the breathing of the sheep on the hay does not of itself 
render it distasteful to cattle, it may be gathered from the racks and fed in 
another inclosure. 

" It is estimated that 300 lbs. of good hay will winter a small sheep, while 
larger ones may take three times the amount. 

" Water is absolutely necessary to the thrift of the sheep in the winter. It 
is best brought into the yards, as the steep banks of streams prove danger- 
ous to the sheep. 

" Salt may be provided in winter by a moderate salting of the hay — 
two to four quarts a tun ; but excessive salting must be avoided, for with ib 
neither sheep nor cattle will thrive. 



Sko. r.] SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 

"As the lambing season approaches, snug quarters must be provnded for 
the breeding ewes, where they can be clean, warm, and dry." 

116. Graia for Shcopi — Major Wm. Lee, one of the most successful wool- 
growers of western Pennsylvania, manages his sheep as follows, according to 
the Ohio Farmer : " They are not confined to sheds ; they are only provided 
with a dry ^Jlace for slielter and rest. After they r se of tlieir own accord, in 
the morning, he feeds again, two thirds corn, and one third barley or oats. Af- 
terwards he feeds hay, and also at three o'clock again, so that the sheep have 
finished eating before nightfall. He considers that corn will make more 
wool than oats, and general opinion favors out-door feeding. Sheep housed 
•will not eat as much, nor will they shear as much wool." 

Another sheep-farmer saj's : " I am willing to make affidavit that with 
me, in many years' experience carefully' tested, sheep of the same kind, weigh- 
ing from 110 to 130 lbs., will put on more fat and gain a great deal more 
weight on 1 or li lbs. of grain or oil-cake per day, in three or four months, 
xolth only sf rata for fodder, than those weighing 80 to 90 lbs. ; and I value 
a sheep weighing 125 to 130 lbs. as worth half a cent more per pound of live 
weight, for me to feed fat than one weighing 90 or 100 lbs. Now, no man 
will suppose that the straw will put on any fat, or make sheep gain in weight. 
If you feed sheep straw only, they would lose weight, and that greatly ; but 
with a pound of meal or grain daily, they will gain daily. I can prove all I 
have said by neighbors who have been feeding for a few years past, and who 
will now only buy the largest sheep of their class, or the largest cattle of 
their age." 

117. Weight of Hay for Sheep. — The question. How much hay do sheep 
or cattle require per day ? is thus answered by Alexander Speck von Stern- 
berg, of Lutzchena, Saxony, to the Hon. Joseph A. Wright, American min- 
ister at Berlin. He says : " 0>ie thirlleth part of the weight of the live 
animal, in good hay, is considered necessary per day for its sustenance. 
According to the quality of the fodder, and its abundance or scarcity, this 
may be increased to one twentieth part ; but less than one thirtietli ]iart 
ought not to be given. Taking good meadow hay as the fodder standard, a 
ram should receive about 3^ lbs. per day, a ewe about 2| lbs., yearlings, 
etc., in that proportion— taking the average of a full-grown ram at 110 lbs., 
of a ewe at 72 lbs., the weight of each varying, according to age, size, and 
condition, between 105 and 125 lbs. as regards the full-sized rams, and fi'om 
70 to 85 lbs. as regards the full-grown ewes. The weight of a ■wether varies 
between 80 lbs. in lean condition, and 110 to 115 lbs., if strong and fat for 
the butcher. One pound of good meadow hay is considered equivalent to 
1^ lbs. of oat, pea, wheat, or barley straw, 4 lbs. of turnips, or 2 lbs. of grains 
in the wet state, as delivered from the brewery in winter. When the time 
for stabling' for winter arrives, the sheep-master has his supi)lie9 of straw, 
hay, and turnips allotted to him on the basis of the above calcula'ion, and 
he is bound to make them serve out the proper time, under-feeding being as 
much guarded against as over-feeding and waste." 



86 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

Another writer says : " The usual rate of the consumption of food is at 
the rate of 3^ lbs. of hay daily for every 100 lbs. of live weight. K we take 
the avera"-e of flocks, the live weight of 100 common sheep would be about 
7 500 lbs., or from that uj) to 8,000 lbs. It is rare tliat a whole flock of 
fine-wooled sheep will average more than 70 lbs. for each head, though it may 
be that tliis weight is exceeded in some instances. At the rate mentioned, 
a flock of 100 sheep should use up or consume 280 lbs. of hay per day, or a 
total of 25 tuns in the M'inter season that lasted 180 days. This would also 
equal 50ilb8. to each single sheep ; or it may be stated as a general rule, 
that a full-grown Merino sheep, averaging in live weight from 75 to 100 lbs., 
will consume during the winter season a quarter of a tun of hay, or its equiv- 
alent, if comfortably kept. If grain forms a part of the ration, of course 
some of the hay may be saved ; but if the animal is to be kept growing 
wool, it will need its full ratio of hay, and a little grain, too." 

118. Changing Pasture. — Some sheep-farmers are very particular about 
changing pastures. This is right, if the inclosures are small. If there is a 
wide range, it is of no particular advantage to confine sheep to one portion 
of it, and then shift, them to another. 

119. Feeding Sheep ts. Beeves. — Mechi, who is a highly enlightened and 
practical English agriculturist, says he is convinced that beef must sell at 
20 per cent, higher than mutton to make them pay alike. He also remarks, 
that he agrees with a friend of his, who says, that he who keeps many bul- 
locks will never need to make a will. 

Our observation in relation to the comparative profits^ in this country 
coincides with Mr. Mechi. 

Thos. Bell, of Monmouth County, K". J., makes the following statement in 
regard to the profits of feeding sheep : 

" I usually keep about 100 sheep, and renew my flock every year. My 
neighbors and myself agree with a drover to take certain numbers, and he 
goes up the Delaware into the State of New York, where he obtains a large 
strain of common sheep. I buy the best ones in the flock, paying the high- 
est market price, which this year was $3 50 a head, while my neighbors prefer 
to take the lower-priced sheep, graduating down to $2 50 or $2 25 a head. I 
get my new flock in about the 1st of October, and immediately put the ewes to 
full-blood Southdown bucks, so as to have the lambs dropped early in April. 
I have good autumn pasture, so as to keep the flock in good condition to go 
into winter quarters, where I keep them in yards with open sheds, fifty sheep 
in a pen, with feeding-racks, and freedom to lay under cover or out in the 
open weather. Their own instinct governs them about seeking shelter when 
it storms. I feed the flock once a day upon hay, and once a day upon wliole 
stalks of Indian corn cut from the ground as soon as it is hard enough to 
ripen in the shock, when the shocks are well cured, and afterward the corn 
is husked and stalks stored for winter. The sheep trim them of leaves, 
and the dry stalks make good bedding for them. I watch my ewes and take 
them out of the flock as the time approaches to drop their lambs, and put 



Sec. T.] sheep HUSBANDRY. 87 

tliem ill other yards, where tliey are fed on grain and good hay, and I sel- 
dom lose a lamb. I graze my flock upon less than eighteen acres of good 
pasture, which has been made to produce sweet grass by the application of 
green sand marl, by which I have renovated a worn-out farm. By the end 
of July I have my lambs, which are large and fat, and well marked with the 
Southdown characteristics, all off to the butcher — this year at $i 75 each, 
selling the whole lot to one man. I could have sold them in small lots so as 
to average $5 a head. The ewes, after the lambs are taken off, become fat 
upon grass alone, so as to bring the best market price of tliat class of sheep 
in September. I have just sold all off, and find that the 100 head which I 
purchased at $3 50 one year ago, have yielded me in wool, lambs, and old 
sheep $7 50 a head over the cost of the stock. Last year I realized $7 a 
liead profit, or rather, I got that for keeping 100 head of sheep one year, and 
I think that sum may be safely calculated upon every year. And besides 
this profit, I find my sheep are enriching my land and are more advan 
tageous in every way than any other kind of stock. Every farmer keeping 
sheep shoxild have a lot of movable fence, and inclose small plots— say half 
an acre at a time — of the poorest parts of the farm, such as gravelly knolls, 
upon which to yard the flock nights. Tlie only drawback to keeping sheep 
upon hundreds of farms near New York is the worthless cur dogs. In New 
Jersey we have a good law which gives out of the general tax $5 a head for 
all slieep killed by dogs. That insures every common sheep, but does not 
warrant me in keeping full-blood Southdown or other valuable breeds. The 
State of New York needs a stringent law against dogs to protect the interest 
of farmers who keep sheep, particularly in the counties near the city." 

The above statement of Mr. Bell is a very encouraging one, and would 
doubtless encourage many of tlie farmers convenient to the city market to 
adopt the same course if the State Lcgislatui-e would protect tliem against 
dogs. The question resolves itself into this simple form : Is it of more gen- 
eral advantage to the State to grow wool and mutton than it is to grow dogs 
— dogs, too, of the most worthless sorts ? It is one of the rarest things in the 
world that a shepherd dog or a good house watch-dog ever kills sheep. It 
is only the meanest, prowling, thieving, worthless curs, of no value to their 
owners, that destroy sheep. Let lis have a law to annihilate them, and then 
every man can keep sheep with the same results as Mr. Bell. 

Mr. Carpenter, of Elmira, said : "A neighbor of mine makes just about 
the same average upon his flock of grade Southdowns. He shears six pounds 
of wool per head, and he sells his lambs at Si." 

Samuel Tliorne, of Dutchess County, N. Y., pursues the same course, 
with the same results, as Mr. Bell. 

Mr. Wade, of Canada West, says: "That he prefers the long-wool sorts, 
because they are more hardy. The mutton sells readily, and the wool, 
though not worth so much a pound as the fine-wool sorts, weighs so 
much more that the value of the fleece is equal. We don't grow much 
corn, but we feed a great many roots, and feed well. It is foolish to try to 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

keep any animal upon low diet. "We feed anything that sheep eat best, and 
I fatten principally upon turnips and hay, with a little meal. The long-wool 
sheep are better adapted to Canada than the fine-wool. We shear eight 
pounds of clean wool per head. The Cotswold variety are preferi-ed ; they 
have stronger constitutions than the Leicester sheep." 

Gen. Harmon, of Monroe County, says : " I commenced with fine-wool 
sheep, forty years ago. I then tried Leicestershire, and then came back to 
Merino. I have less than 200 acres, and grow 30 or 40 acres of wheat every 
year ; the land improves by sheep. My average weight of fleece is five pounds. 
I keep 330 head, and get over $700 a year for wool and increase. I stable 
50 sheep in a room 14 by 40 feet, without change in the winter. I wash my 
sheep clean and let them run six or eight days, and then shear. I don't 
breed from gummy sheep. I feed in board-racks, with straight sticks, so 
the sheep can put in their heads. There are about 25 acres of reclaimed land 
on my farm that will keep sheep alive, but won't fiit them. My farm is 
limestone, and I prefer fine-wool sheep to any other for profit; and I con- 
sider sheep twice as profitable as cattle upon any grain farm. I never 
breed from ewes less than three years old. I don't like the cross of Lei- 
cester bucks upon fine ewes. I have sold of wool and sheep over $900 a 
year." 

Lewis F. Allen, of Black Eock, says : " I have kept sheep twenty-five 
years upon a clay loam, natural to sweet grasses, limestone formation, on the 
Niagara River. There is no general rule as to the profit of keeping sheep. 
All depends upon circumstances. In Canada I have seen the best long-wool 
sheep I ever saw, but these sheep are too fat for eating. You might as well 
dine off a cake of tallow as such meat. Such sheep may be profitable in 
Canada. With me those sheep require good shelter. They are not kept 
warm by their long fleeces. My sheep sheared five to eight pounds of wool. 
I don't approve of feeding many roots except to breeding ewes. They are 
likely to scour sheep ; at least they do mine. 

" On some soils it may be best to plow in clover ; on other soils it is not. 
As to mutton sheep, I have fed Southdowns, and the cheapest way that I 
can make mutton is upon grass, and wethers of 150 lbs. bring five cents a 
pound gross at Buffalo. I would keep mutton sheep if I had a good farm on 
a railroad. I can always sell my lambs at $2. My Soxxthdown fleeces bring 
$1 50 average. Southdown mutton is the best we have, and the sheep 
always sell well for mutton. The fine-wool sheep mutton is apt to taste of 
the greasy wool. Tlie Merino sheep are a hardy race of sheep, but they are 
not a good breed to feed for mutton." 

Mr. Bowen, of Orleans County, says: "I have bred both coarse and fine 
sheep. I have raised coarse- wooled sheep that weighed 150 lbs. each at one 
year old. I find the coarse-wool breed the most profitable. My sheep 
average six pounds of wool, that sells at 31 cents a lb. My sheep are a 
cross of Cotswold, and are close-wooled and hardy. I live on a gravelly 
loam, wheat soil, and 1 think it desirable to increase the stock of sheep in 



Sect.] sheep HUSBANDRY. 

this State. A field of clover fed oif by sheep will yield more wheat than 
if not fed off." 

Mr. Pettibone, of Vermont, says : " If a man keeps but few sheep he 
should keep a mutton breed. If he keeps a large flock, or say 200 or 300, 
he should keep fine-wool sorts. The trouble in sheep-breeding is in letting 
them run down in October. I winter 300 head, and 100 ewes will give 100 
lambs. I use 400 acres, but many of them are on the mountain, and valued 
at only $7 an acre. I do not let all my ewes breed. I keep my sheep in 
very close winter quarters on hay. I feed breeding ewes one jjeck of corn a 
day to 100 head. In eleven years I have not had a lamb die, and ewes are 
kept without grain, but always with water and salt by them. There is a 
material difl'erence in the value of the fleece, according to the way sheep 
are kept. I prefer always to have my sheep fat. In January I select )ny 
ewes, and never sell the choice ones. I have a ewe that has produced 
eighteen lambs and shears four pounds of good wool. I do not select the 
most gummy sheep for my use ; they are much more tender than those less 
gummy. Still, you must have greasy wool if you have fine wool. I feed 
generally twice a day — sometimes only once. The sales of my wool last 
year produced over $2 a head for my flock, and the average for fifteen yeai's 
has been four and three quarter pounds, such as sold this year at 50 cents 
a pound. My land is limestone clay loam. I have picked out and sold 
twenty wether lambs to a neighbor who sheared eight pounds a head, and 
sold two sheep for mutton at $3 50 a head. A flock of 300 head of sheep 
ought to average five pounds of clean wool. I select in the fall eight or ten 
wethers, and feed them with meal through the winter, and give them good 
grazing in summer, and kill through the summer, and the tallow averages 
10 or 12 lbs. and the meat 10 or 15 lbs. per quarter. The pelts sell at 75 
cents. A three-year old wether, pure Merino breed, often weighs 75 lbs. 
I have sheared H lbs. of wool per head from bucks, which sold for 50 cents 
a lb., and 8 lbs. of wool from ewes." 

A. B. Dickinson says : " I have sheared 11,000 sheep in a year, and know 
sometiiing of them. The man who raises sheep for mutton had better raise 
the largest kind, for they produce the most money, though they may not make 
the best kind of mutton. For wool, I would keep none but the fine-wooled 
variety of sheep, but I would not keep the gummy sort, because the clean 
wool will always produce the most money. In washing sheej), I am sure 
that the wool can always be made cleaner when the sheep are washed in a 
vat than in a stream. If 20 sheep will weigh 20 cwt., they will eat just 
about as much as two bullocks of that weight — that is, if they are ma- 
ture sheep. Young sheep eat more, according to live weight, than old 
ones." 

Mr. Johnston bought thirty Leicesters one fall, put them in his yards, fed 
them each twelve ounces of oil-meal with wheat straw, and no hay, all 
winter. In spring he sheared from them five pounds of wool each, pastured 
them all summer, kept them over imtil the following February, and sold 



90 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 



tliein for nitie dollars and twenty cents each. They cost him two doUars. 
Slieep fed with oil-cake meal or grain eat but little salt, make riclier manure, 
more wool, and more carcass. He gives usuallj' one pound of oil-meal when 
feeding with straw, and half a pound with hay. If there should be any 
signs of foot-rot in the flock, he pares the hoof, and rubs into the sores a 
salve of blue vitriol and lard. In very hot weather he mixes tar with the 
salve, to make i^ adhere. Sheep are never let out of the yards in winter, 
but to the yard they have free access at all times from the low, open sheds, 
and every part of the sheds and yard are deeply bedded with clean straw. 
Tiie shepherd, instead of wading through a slough worse than that described 
by Banyan, walks on a soft bed of straw, so clean at any time as not to soil 
the white ileece of the cleanest Leicester. 

Wm. H. Ladd, of Ohio, says : " My practice is to turn the lambs in with 
their mothers, after tliey have been separated some twelve hours, and as soon 
as they nurse, separate them again; then, after twenty-four hours, allow 
them to nurse once more. Since I have adopted this plan, I have never had 
a ewe's udder injured. Lambs should have a very little salt frequently, 
when first weaned, as the herbage lacks the large proportion of salt which 
the mother's milk contains. But great care should be used not to give them 
much salt at once, or it will set them to purging; and if a lamb commences 
to purge soon after being taken from the mother, it seldom, if ever, recovers 
from it. 

" Lambs that come eai-ly are invariably the largest, strongest, and most 
healthy ; consequently they are the best breeders. The ewe that has her 
lamb early has sufiicient time to get in good order before winter, and after 
the lamb is weaned, she is not subject to weakness and disease, as those of 
late weaning, and is consequently a better breeder the next season. Poor, 
late feeble lambs and ewes should never be permitted to breed, for if such 
are, it invariably follows that the flock will degenerate. Generating or 
breeding ewes should be carefully selected. Ewes sometimes continue strong 
and productive \mtil twelve or fifteen years of age ; this depends on their 
general health and constitution." 

120. Age of Sheep for Mutton. — A late English writer says: " A sheep, to 
be in high order for the palate of the epicure, should not be killed earlier 
than five years old, at which age the mutton will be rich and succulent, of a 
dark color, and full of the richest gravy— whereas, if only two years old, it 
is flabby, pale, and flavorless." 

121. Grub in Sheep. — ^Take one quart of whisky and two ounces of yellow 
snuff, mix, and warm to blood-heat. Let one man hold the sheep, and 
another take a small syringe, and discharge about a teaspoonful of the mix- 
ture into each nostril. It is said to be a certain cure. 

122. Gross and Net Weight of Sheep. — The usual estimate of gross and net 
weight of sheep is, that the dressed carcass will weigh one half as much as 
the gross weight, and therefore, when the sheep are sold at, say five cents a 
pound alive, the price is equivalent to ten cents a pound for the meat, sinking 



Sec. 7.] SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 91 

the pelt and all the oifal, so that the butcher, if he could sell the carcass at 
cost, would still have the pelt, rough fat, head, etc., for a profit. Hence it 
will be seen how it is that mutton in the carcass is often quoted in market 
reports at less than it appears by livestock reports to have actually cost. 

123. Western Mutton. — It is one of the incomprehensible things in "Western 
agriculture that so little attention is paid to the business of fattening sheep. 
"VVith a vast country, as well adapted to making mutton as pork, and in many 
respects even better, it is one of the rarest tilings to see a farm devoted to 
the raising of sheep for their meat alone, while it is equally rare to find a 
farmer who does not raise hogs and fatten them for their pork. 

"We are aware that the "West is full of sheep, and that the business is not 
considered very profitable. There are some good flocks — in fact, some large 
flock-masters, whose principal business is to raise sheep — but it is for their 
fleece alone. Very few farmers. East or "West, have ever made a business of 
making mutton. The sheep are almost entirely bred for wool, not for meat. 
And besides this, more than one half of all the sheep in the United States 
are not bred distinctly for meat or wool, but simply because they are sheep, 
and will answer in some sort for botli purposes ; but their fleece is often of 
a coarse, unprofitable kind, and their bodies lean and light. Such sheep are 
naturally slow to acquire fat, when fed for that purpose, just as their fleece 
is naturally of light weight or coarse fiber. Such sheep are not profitable, 
although so common all over the country. 

Of all varieties of domestic animals, the flesh of sheep is least used, except 
in cities, in proportion to the quantity that is, or rather might be, profitably 
consumed. "\Ye esteem mutton almost the very best kind of meat provided 
for a civilized people. That its production would be found among the most 
profitable we have no doubt, pi-ovided a good breed of sheep were selected, 
especially for their meat-producing qualities. For this purpose we esteem 
the Southdown variety the very best. "We have known flocks of fat sheep 
of this sort sold here for $25 per head. Certainly this is a paying price. 
We have several times reported sales of sheep in New York, of the long-wooled • 
kind, at $12 to $20 per head, which was equal to 12 to 16 cents a pound 
for the meat. Is this a profitable price for the farmer, particularly the 
farmer of the West, the greatest country in the world for tlie j^roduction of 
pork ? 

All the long-wooled varieties of sheep, known as Bakewell, Leicester, 
Cotswold, New Oxfordshire, etc., are fat-producing animals ; that is, they 
are as naturally inclined to acquire fat as other animals are to produce only 
lean meat. In England, such mutton is much esteemed. In this country 
the lean kinds are preferred. In Ohio and other Western States there is a 
grade of sheep called common, that are as well fitted for the purposes of the 
AVestern farmer as any he could obtain in this country (except the South- 
downs) to breed for mutton, if careful selections were made, and some care 
exercised in breeding and feeding. If is true they are a mongrel breed, 
made up of crosses of all the varieties ever imported, but they are strong 



92 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

and hardy and long-legged, Avliicli are valuable qualities for the drover. 
Their bodies, when well fatted, at two or three years old, will weigh from 
fifty to sixty-five pounds, and the meat is just fat enough to suit the Ameri- 
can taste. The heavier carcasses of the long-wooled variety are generally 
too fat, though we think the taste for fat mutton is an acquired one, like that 
for fat pork. 

But, fat or lean, mutton will always find ready sale in this city at remu- 
nerating prices. Western farmers should turn their attention more earnestly 
to the subject of raising sheep, not for wool, but meat for the supply of all 
the Eastern cities. We profess to be tolerably well acquainted with the 
great prairies of the West, and fully believe that there is no branch of agri- 
culture so certain to produce sure and profitable returns as that of raising 
sheep of the kind we have indicated. We know of no other pursuit that 
the new settlers in Kansas could adopt at all to compai'e with this. Such a 
town, for instance, as Lawrence, might own a hundred thousand sheep, all 
of which should be kept out on the broad prairies in summer, under the care 
of shepherds and their dogs, to guard them night and day from their greatest 
enemy, the prairie wolf In winter they could be provided for on a hundred 
farms, under cheap shelter, with earth walls and grass roofs. They winter 
well upon •\vell-cured wild hay, without grain, except for those in hospital, 
if fed occasionally upon any kind of roots, such as can be grown in great 
abundance in tliat soil. In the fall or latter part of summer, select the best 
animals for market, and start them eastward across Iowa and Illinois, feeding 
them on cheap grain when the grass fails on the great prairie pasture. 

The raising of cattle must be the business of Kansas settlers, and we 
believe the best of all will be mutton sheep. The new settlers, too, must for 
a time make meat their principal diet — in fact, it is the national diet of that 
region, just as vegetables are in China. We do not know of a greater act 
of folly, or a greater humbug, than inducing people to go to Kansas to 
practice the peculiar, not to say stupid, doctrine of vegetarianism. 

What the peojjle of the West want — what all who grow meat and all who 
consume it want — is to have the great sea of prairie grass converted into 
meat — cheap meat. This should be the leading object of all emigrants to 
the West. The business of grain-growing naturally belongs to a pastoral 
people, upon old farms, rather than to new settlers. It is a subject to be 
thought of both by emigrants and old settlers, which is the most profitable, 
stock or grain, and if stock, wliich particular kind. 

124. Sheep iu Texas. — ^There is, or has been, a sort of mania about sheep in 
Texas. The start made a few years ago by G. W. Kendall, and his success, 
after going through all the phases of ill luck, losses, and discouragements, 
which perseverance overcame, has induced many others to establish great 
sheep-farms in that State. Major Wm. Leland, one of the proprietors of 
the Metropolitan Hotel in tliis city, is one of the number who has followed 
the lead of Mr. Kendall, with every prospect of success. There is, besides 
the fine wool-flocks established in Texas, a constant and large importation 



•Sec. 7.] SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 93 

of the coarse-wool sheep of Mexico. It is estimated that a fourth of a 
million of Mexican sheep have crossed the line into Texas since the first of 
1859, and the number is constantly increasing. These Mexican sheep are 
crossed with Northern stock, and make a valuable progeny, both for wool 
and mutton. We shall expect before many years more to see Texas mutton 
sheep in the New York market more frequently than we now see Texas 
beef-cattle, and that they will be mnch better liked, both by butchers and 
mutton-eaters, than the bullocks are. 

A Massachusetts correspondent wants to know more than we do about 
sheep-farming in Texas. We commend him to Wm. Wilkinson, Comal 
Ranche, near New Braunfels, Texas. 

We don't know " what part of the State is most suitable for sheep 
husbandry," but we do know that part of it is, as above indicated, for there 
George W. Kendall and others have succeeded. 

"What breeds of sheeji are to be chosen?" We can answer: All breeds 
that have succeeded in the Northern States have succeeded in Texas. 

" What are the pecuniary advantages?" This question we can answer by 
stating that the first cost of land for a location is very small compared witli 
the cost in Massachusetts, while there is a boundless range of open country 
upon which great flocks can be grazed, in charge of the shepherd and his 
dogs ; and as for winter feeding, that is not worth mentioning, and the rudest 
shelters — mere earth walls— to break the force of the wind, will answer at 
first in place of costly barns. Subsistence, too, for hirelings, is also quite 
inexpensive, and, taken altogether, Texas certainly ajipears to have many 
advantages for sheep husbandry. 

There are, to be sure, some drawbacks. It is a long way from the great 
center of commerce to which wool must be transported, and so far as we can 
see, it is so far away from mutton-eating communities, that the meat is nearly 
valueless. We very well remember, however, when the same thing was 
true of Ohio, where thousands of sheep have been slaughtered for the pelts 
and fat, and the meat fed to the pigs. Now, sheep are worth in Ohio within 
a dollar what they are in New York. Time may work a similar change for 
Texas, and then it will rival all other States as a sheep-producer, for that is 
a business that can and will he conducted without slave labor. 

125. ProdilciBg TwinSt— A large sheep-breeder has declared " that sheep 
highly fed with meal or other good provender, about tlie time the buck is 
with them in the fall, will almost invariably have two lambs apiece, and that 
these may nearly all be raised by proper attention to the mothers. The 
great mistake in regard to sheep is in not keeping them well enough. If 
you wish them to be prolific or profitable, give them plenty of the best hay 
through the winter, and meal daily, and for shelter a warm barn-cellar, 
wherein is an open tank of pure water. No kind of grain need be ground for 
feeding sheep — the hardest is thoroughly masticated and digested by them. 
The importance of good feeding is unquestionable." 

It is by no means an unheard-of thing for all the ewes of a flock to average 



94 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

twins. An average of 130 per cent, to 150 per cent, is quite usual, and with 
some breeds a much greater increase is tlie general rule. The sheep offers 
her owner more sources of profit than any other animal. First, her natural 
increase ; second, her wool ; third, her flesh ; and this is the most important 
of all tiie considerations connected with sheep husbandry, because a greatly 
increased consumption of the flesh of sheep will greatly promote health. 

Sheep " come in play" wonderfully in well-managed farms, especially such 
as are pushed to their utmost capacity, as a means of increasing fertility in 
various ways, feeding off" green crops, such as clover or rye, previous to 
plowing them under, securing thus the advantage of passing the crop through 
the animal system without moving it from the field, scattering the manure 
very evenly previous to plowing, and giving what remains of the green crop 
when plowed in the advantage of undergoing its decomposition in contact 
with animal excrements. The sheep possesses other and greater advantages 
over other kinds of stock, which recommend it for general culture. Among 
these is its great fecundity. 

12G. Nunibcriug Sheep.— W. D. Dickinson, of Victor, Ontario Co., N. Y., 
gives, in the Stock Journal, the following plan of numbering sheep: 

" About twelve years since I commenced numbering, classifying, and 
registering my flock, whicli has been of great advantage to me, enabling ine 
to select at all times for sale (which I invariahly do myself) such as are of 
the least value, wliether with regard to age, weight of fleece, quality of 
wool, or value as breeders. 

" My method of numbering is by notches in the ear, as follows : A notch 
in the fore part of the left ear stands for 1, one in the back part of the same 
for 3. With these I number up to 10 ; thus, two notches in the fore i:)art, 2 ; 
two in the back j^art, 6 ; two in each, S, etc. A notch in the fore part of 
the right ear stands for 10, one in the back part of the same, 30. Witii 
these I number to 100. Tliis is as far as I have occasion to go in my flock, 
as I seldom have over 300, and consequently never have as many as 100 
lambs of each sex in one year. This might be carried much fartlier by 
cut'ing off the end of the left ear for 100, and of the right for 200 ; a notch 
might then be made in the end of the left ear for 400, and in the end of the 
right for 800. 

"The age of my sheep is known by the holes through the ears. A hole 
through the left ear stands for 1 — that is, the year 1841, '51, or '61, showing 
the year in which the slicep was born ; one in tlie right ear for 3, so that a 
sheep born in the year '5G would have two holes through the right ear ; if in 
'57, two holes through the right and one through the left ; for '58 would re- 
quire two through each, instead of which I simply make a notch in the end 
of the left ear ; and for '59, one in the end of the right. The years '40, '50, 
'00, etc., the ears are left without any holes — thus commencing anew every 
ten years, by wliich time those of that age are usually gone. I number my 
lambs as they are dropped, commencing each year with No. 1, both buck 
and ewe lambs. 



sko. r.] 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



95 



" My book is kept in the following manner : 










No. of 
Ewes. 


. Year 
born. 


Class. 


Live • 
weight. 


\1ete°' Buck used. 


Teaned. 
AprU. 


Sheared. 
June. 


Buck 
Lambs. 


Ewe 
Lambs. 


Remarks. 


7 

15 
3 


'51 
'51 

'51 


3 

1 


84 
93 

83 


6-1 34-53 
4-1 39-53 
4 51-53 


12 
13 
13 


^ 11 

26 

24 


1 
2 


1 





" In tlie first column is the number of the ewe ; in the second, the year in 
which she was born ; in the third, the class denoting the quality of the wool, 
which is regulated by the number of curves to the inch ; the first containing 
24 and upward ; the second, 22 to 2-i ; the third, 20 to 22 ; the fourth, 18 to 
20. The fourth column gives the weight of the sheep when sheared;' the 
fifth, the weight of fleece ; the sixth, the number of buck used and the year 
in which he was born ; the seventh, the month and day the lamb was 
dropped ; the eighth, the time when the ewe was sheared ; the ninth and 
tenth, the number of the buck and ewe lambs. My flock now numbers 267, 
principally breeding ewes and yearlings. Mj* average weight of fleeces, 
when well washed, is usually abcait 4i lbs., the quality of wool equal to me- 
dium Saxon, numbering from 20 to 28 curves to the inch, averaging about 24." 

Another plan is given as follows, for numbering sheep, which, though not 
quite as permanent as the method detailed above, may be preferred by some 
persons on the score of humanity. 

" We were handed a sheet of paper xqjon which was noted the weight of 
fleece of each sheep in the flock ; opposite was set the number of the sheep, 
a corresponding number having been branded upon the animal itself at the 
time of taking its last clip, by applying a mixture of lampblack and tar with 
cast-iron figures. This course had been ])ui-sued for some years, and its 
results were apparent in a wool crop brought up from an average of four 
pounds to over five, and a corresponding increase in tlie size and quality of 
sheej). The practice had been to slaughter and otherwise dispose of all ani- 
mals ranking lowest in weight of fleece and to improve upon the quality of 
the remainder by judicious crossing." 

127. Shearing Sheep. — An old sheep-shearer, who can clip a sheep hand- 
somely in three minutes, or shear and tic up the fleece in four minutes, who 
has often clipped 100 sheep a day, wants us to give our readers the benefit 
of his plan of doing it. First, have two pairs of good shears; one pair to 
trim with, and the other to do the principal M'ork, and never use dull shears. 
A good oil-stone is the best sharpener. What is termed a down-set shear, 
with blades five inches long, he considers best. In using them, never draw 
the shears backward while making the clip, but rather push forward and 
keep the shears level and close, and never clip twice in one spot, as that cuts 
the wool. 

To hold the sheep, have a bench as high as the lower part of the knee- 
cap ; or if the sheep is large, it may be lower. Lay the sheep back to you, 
witli head to your right hand. Put your right knee gently on the sheep's 
neck, with its right fore leg in the bend of yours as you kneel, having the 
sheep close to the edge of the bench, with its back braced against your left 



96 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

leg. Rest jour left arm on the sheep's left flank, ■while you hold its right 
hind leg in that hand, stretched out to the edge of the bench, and holding to 
it if you wish, if tlie sheep is disposed to struggle. 

Commence shearing at the opening on the left side of the breast, and trim 
off all the wool on the belly and inside of the hind legs, and remove it to 
one side till the fleece is ofi", when the trimmings of clean wool are to be 
wrapped in it. 

To shear the body, place your left leg on the bench astride of the sheep, 
taking the jaws in your left hand, and clipping the foretop and right side 
of tlie neck, and down on the left breast. Then you change position, step- 
ping back a little and raising the sheep on its hips, by catching hold of the 
left hind leg with your right hand without laying down the shears. Pull 
the sheep close to the edge of the bench and place your right leg between 
its hind legs, with its neck and shoulders on your left knee, as it rests on the 
bench. Now clip over the point of the shoulder, and then straighten the 
neck with your left hand, without stopping the shears, and finish ofi" the 
brisket and the neck, and then clip on down the side, and over the hip and 
back, letting the sheep down gradually, so as always to have the skin you 
are clipping free of wrinkles. Now take your left knee off the neck, and 
hold it with your left hand while you remove your right leg and place the 
left one in its place, so that you can bring tlic right knee upon the bench, 
keeping the shears going all the time with tlie right hand. Then lift the 
head with the left hand, and cV\p that side over the point of the shoulder, 
and, raising the sheep gently, bring its head between your legs, while you 
finish clipping. Take care that the sheep docs not struggle, and when done, 
lift it clear of the fleece, so as not to tear it. Fold the fleece with all tlie loose 
wool that is clean inside and roll it very snug, with the cut end of the wool 
out, and tie with cotton twine, so as to look neat and bear handling without 
getting loose and ragged. 

Following the above directions, you will need to stop but twice for a mo- 
ment to turn the sheep, so that the shears are almost incessantly clipping 
from the time you begin till you have finished. 

128. Taggiog. — One of the cares of sheep most important for their health 
and comfort is tagging, and this is most often neglected. Probably the 
only attention ever given to this matter is at shearing-time, and we have 
seen, even then, sheej^ sent off out of the shearer's hands with the tag-locks 
untouched. If there is anything in farming more slovenly than this, we 
don't know what it is. 

129. To CleaDse Fine Wool. — ^There are a few old-fashioned houses from 
which the spinning-wheel is not yet entirely abandoned. Tiie inmates of 
such do not always know how to cleanse the gum out of Merino wool before 
sending it to the carding-machine. Let them be sure to remember this 
direction, by which we have cleaned many a hundred-weight, some of which 
was almost as black as my hat, with dirt and gum, characteristic of all fine- 
wool sheep. 



PLATE VII. 

(Page 97 ) 

In this plate we present to the reader such a collection of excellent 
portraits of the most celebrated horses in America as can nowhere 
else be procured. The four upper figures will be at once recognized 
as correct likenesses of animals that have won a name that makes 
them famous in equine history. That of the Justin Morgan horse 
will be found in this chapter. He is the progenitor of a family that 
has won the hearts of the people. Flying Childers stands as the 
rej^resentative of the race-course. Patchen and Flora Temple are 
the most noted of the great family of American fast trotters. The 
Arabian here represented is a portrait of one of the noted horses 
presented to Hon. William H. Seward, and by him to the New York 
State Agricultural Society, and tliis picture gives one a good idea 
of the spirited appearance of that breed. The Cleveland Bay is the 
representative of a class of noble carriage horses which has given 
character to many of the same class in this countr}^, ^particularly in 
Central New York. 

The Norman horse, as we see him here, gives a good idea of the 
appearance of the heavy diligence and common work-horses of France, 
having a thick neck, short, strong legs, and round, compact body, 
capable of sustaining great burdens, and pulling immense loads at 
a slow gait, as compared with some of our American fast horses. 
This breed was made quite notorious in this country by the import- 
ation of the late Edward Harris, of New Jersey, about twenty years 
ago. The portrait of the Canadian horse is a fine representative 
of his class, Avhich was formed by a mixture of the Norman horses 
of the early French settlers of Canada with some smaller breed, 
which, by neglect and exposure, and carelessness of improvement in 
breeding, has produced a race of small, hardy horses, known as 
Canadian, which are sometimes, though erroneously, called ponies. 
A careful study of these portraits will be useful to all farmers, as 
well as many other persons. 



JlTieTPKKKya' MHaKEaJs nm m.«bmis.» , 




Sko. 8.] 



nOESES AND MULES. 



97 



For 100 lbs. of wool, take four gallons of urine and eight gallons of rain- 
water; mix and beat a little above blood-lieat, until the scum rises, which 
skim off. Keep it at the same heat in a kettle on coals or a little tire out of 
doors. Put in what wool the kettle will conveniently hold, and let it remain 
about five minutes ; take it out on a board that will drain the liquid back 
into the kettle, or else put it in a basket over a tub, so as not waste the liquid, 
for it will be equally good for the last batch as the first. When it is drained, 
put the basket under a stream of water running on it if convenient, or in a 
running stream if you can, or else with plenty of clear water in a large tub ; 
it will wash very easily, and lie as " wliite as wool." 

Don't forget to sprinkle the dirty liquid upon the poorest spot in the gar- 
den, for it is a powerful manure. 

The same kind of liquid is the best thing known to take the dirt and 
grease out of any kind of foul woolen clothes or yarn. 



SECTION VIII.-HORSES AND MULES. 

GENERAL history of the horse and his uses, and 
how to use him, will not be looked for in a work 
that only professes to give little items of informa- 
tion upon a great many things. It would occupy 
a volume larger than this one to give a tolcral)ly 
full history of the equine race, since it has been sub- 
jected to the use of man. 
Eqmisis the generic name of the quadrupeds which 
lave a single digit and hoof upon each foot, as has 
lie horse, ass, zebra. The horse has been a domestic 
as well as a wild animal from a very early time. He 
is mentioned in Genesis as being in harness when 
Joseph transferred the remains of his father fi-om 
Cgypt to Canaan. 
Horses exist in a wild state in various jiarts of the 
globe. Tliey were once quite numerous in the territory embraced in some 
of our most western States. Domestication works material change, the mi'st 
marked of which is an increase in the size of the trunk. Then follows an 
increased size of all parts, and a loss of the fleetness natural to the horse in 
his wild state. 

The Arabian horse, though domesticated by a semi-savage race, still re- 
tains some of his wild characteristics, one of which is fleetness and long 
endurance. Tlie Arab tradition in regard to the horse is, " that he was 
created out of the wind, as Adam was out of the earth." Hence, " fleet as 
the wind," is often applied to the horse. The tradition is, that the male of 
the horse was created first, as the more noble of the two, and that the horse 




98 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

was created before man, and after he was created he was told to choose the 
most beautiful of all animals, and he chose the horse ; upon which God said 
to Adam : " You have chosen that which is a glory to j'ou, and will be to 
your children." The Arabs profess to know the pure Arabian horse, the 
descendant of Zad-el-Iiakeh, which Solomon presented to their tribe, by the 
firmness of his lips and cartilage of the lower part of the nose ; by the dilata- 
tion of his nostrils ; by the leanness of the flesh about the veins of his head ; 
by the elegance of the neck and shoulders ; by the softness of his hair, mane, 
and skin ; by the fullness of his breast ; by the large size of his joints ; and by 
the dryness of his extremities ; and also by his moral indications, for a noble 
horse has no malice in him. He loves his master, and frequently will suffer 
no other to mount him. He refrains from doing what nature prompts as 
necessary while his master is on his back. lie will not eat food left by 
another horse. He loves to splash limpid water whenever he meets it. His 
instinct, smell, sight, hearing, intelligence, and address are all used for his 
master ; and he will fight for him. Hence the Arab's love of his horse. It 
will be well for us all to remember some of the traditions of the Arab, for 
they describe valuable points in a horse. 

130. Tliorougb-Rred> — This term does not appear to have any very def- 
inite meaning in this country. It is generally supposed to trace back to 
something in the way of pure blood, of a better stock than the common one 
of the country ; but what that stock is, perhaps not one in ten who owns 
horses can tell. A writer in the (English) J^ur/iier^s Magazine says : 

" The term thorough-bred is an expression not clearly defined as regards 
any of our domestic animals, but it would be very desirable to have some 
rule established. It may be accepted as a principle that breeding from ani- 
mals endowed with certain properties and perfections through several gen- 
erations, constitutes the claim to distinction ; hut there is no adopted rule to 
determine how many generations are sufficient to edahlish the title.'" 

Yet, according to our understanding of tlie term, a " thorough-bred" horse 
must trace back, free from contamination of baser blood, to the pure Arabian 
stock. The original of that stock in England, so far as pedigrees are at- 
tempted to be traced, was the " Darley Arabian," brought from " Araby the 
blest" by a Mr. Darley. That horse was the sire of Flying Childers, and 
grandsire of Eclipse, one of the most remarkable horses ever on the English 
race-course. He was not what would be considered a handsome horse, by a 
breeder of Morgan stock, but his fleetness and endurance vt'cre beyond com- 
petition, and his stock have followed in his footsteps. He died at the age 
of twenty-five years, after having begotten a greater number of prize-win- 
ning colts than any other horse that ever lived. 

If a horse can trace back to old Eclipse, or any of his famous colts, there 
is no mistake about his being " thorough-bred." So he would be if he 
traces back to the "Godolphin Araliian," a Barb that was introduced into 
England at a later period than the Darley Arabian. 

There should be some definite rule established among horse-breeders and 



Seo. 8] nORSES— ENGLISH BREEDS. 99 

our several State agricultural societies as to how far back and to what stock 
the pedigree of a horse should go to make hiui eligible to a prize as a '' thor- 
ough-bred " 

131. Euglish Hunters* — Tliis is a term given to a breed of English liorses 
which are liigh up in thorough-bred blood, with a strain of other blood 
possessing great powers of endurance. The head of a hunrcr of perfect form 
is small ; his neck thin, particularly below; a firm and arched crest; jaws 
wide, and very light on the bit. 

132. Au English €oach-!!orse. — The type of this variety is the " Cleveland 
Bay," some of which have been imported into this country, and have left 
their nuirk upon the finest coach-Iiorses we have in the United States — such 
as are to be found more abundantly in Central liew York, than in any other 
locality. 

133. English RoadsterSo — Tlie term more common for this class in En- 
gland is "Hackney" — -a terra seldom lieard in this country, and if heard, 
would be more likely to be understood as meaning a " hack-horse." The 
nearest type of a hackney that we have, as a distinct breed, is the Morgan ho: se. 

Youatt says : " A hackney is a hunter in miniature. His hight should 
rarely exceed fifteen hands and an incli. He will be sufficiently strong and 
more pleasant for general work below that standard. He should be of a 
more compact form than the hunter, of more bttlk according to his hight. 
It is of essential consequence that the bones beneath the knee should be 
deep and flat, and the tendon not tied in. The pastern should be short, and 
less oblique or slanting than that of the hunter or race-horse. The foot 
should be of a size corresponding with the bulk of the animal — neither too 
hollow nor too flat, and open at the heels. The forelegs should be perfectly 
straight; for a horse with his knees bent will, from a slight cause, and espe- 
cially if overweighted, come down. The back should be straight and short, 
yet sufficiently long to leave comfortable room for the saddle between the 
shoulders and the luch without pressing upon eitlier. Some persons prefer 
a hollow-backed horse. It is generally an easy one to go. It will canter 
well with a lady, but it will not carry a heavy weiglit, or stand much hard 
woi'k. The road-horse should be high in the forehead, round in the barrel, 
and deep in the chest." 

134:. Tlie English Dray-Horse. — Tliere is a variety of horses known as the 
dray-horse, or more generally in this country as the English cart-horse; a 
very heavy, strong, slow-gaited horse, originated by a cross of the Flanders 
or Norman horse with the Suffolk Punch, a sorrel horse of fifteen or sixteen 
hands high,- with low, rounded shoulders; thick on the top; low back; 
deep, round chest ; long back ; high croup ; large, stron^ c_[uarters ; full 
flanks ; round legs, and short pasterns. This is a good description of a 
strong work-horse. We have something like it, though rather increased in 
size, in the Pennsylvania -wagon-horse. 

135. Morgan HorseSi — The most distinct strain of American horses — in 
fact, the only one which assumes the character of a race — is that now widely 



100 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

known as the Morgan. The origin of this race is given in the following ox- 
tracts from letters written by a son and a relative of tlie original owner of the 
old Morgan horse : 

The following is an extract from a letter of Justin Morgan, originally 
furnished for the CuUlvaior (vol. ix., p. 99), dated Slockbridgc, Vt., March 
1, 1842. After stating that his father owned the horse from which the race 
of Morgan horses sprung, he says : 

" I will now relate the facts relative to said Morgan horse as I recollect 
them. My father, Justin Morgan, brought said horse, or rather said colt, 
into Randolph, Vt., in the summer or autumn of 1795. Said colt was onl^' 
two yeuis old when my father brought him to Randolph, and had never 
been handled in any way, not even to be led by a halter. My father went 
to Springfield, Mass., the place of his nativity, and tlie place from which he 
removed to Randolph, in the spring or summo- of 1795, after money that 
was due to him at that place, as he said ; and instead of getting money, as 
he expected, he got two colts — one, a three-year-old gelding colt, which he 
led ; the other, a two-year-old stallion colt, which followed all the way from 
Springfield to Randolph ; having been, as my father said, always kept with 
and much attached to the colt he led. Said two-year-old colt was the same 
that has since been known all over New England by the name of the Morgan 
horse. My father broke said colt himself, and, as I liave befoi-e remarked, 
owned and kept him to the time of his decease, which took place in March, 
1798, and said horse was five years old the spring my father died ; and, as 
before stated, soon after my father's decease, he passed from my father's 
estate into the possession of AVm. Rice, of Woodstock, Vt. I can not state 
positively that my father purchased said colt in Springfield, Mass., but I am 
very confident that he purchased him in that town or in the immediate 
vicinity, on Connecticut River." 

"\Ve next offer an extract from a letter of John Morgan (see Cultivator, 
vol. ix., p. 110), in which it Avill be seen that the material points set forth 
by Justin Morgan are confirmed, and some further light given in regard to 
the blood of the first Morgan horse. John Morgan resides at Lima, New 
York, and is, we believe, a relative of Justin Morgan, Sr., and was a near 
neighbor of the latter previous to his removal from Springfield to Vermont. 
In reference to the colt above described by Justin Morgan (2d), John Mor- 
gan says : " ne was sired by a horse owned by Sealy Norton, of East Hart- 
ford, Conn., called the ' True Briton, or Beautiful Bay.' He was kept at 
Springfield one season by the said Justin Morgan [Sr.], and two years after, I 
kept him two seasons. This horse was said to have been raised by General 
Delancy, commander of the refugee troops on Long Island, and rode by him 
in the Revolution. It was said that one Smith stole the horse from the 
General at King's Bridge, while the General was in the tavern ; ran him 
across the bridge and took him to the American army, near White Plains, 
and sold him to Joseph Ward, of Hartford, Conn., for $300. It was also 
said at that time that he was sired by the imj^orted horse called ' Traveler,' 



Sko. 8.] HORSES— THE MORGAN BREED. 101 

said to have been kept in New Jersey. Ward was a m^-cliant, and kept tlie 
liorse three or four years for a saddle and carriage horse, and then traded 
liini off to Norton, and Norton kept him for mares while he lived. The 
description of the Morgan breed given by Mr. G. Barnard {Cultivator, vol. 
ix., p. 33), answers well to the stock of ' True Briton.' I have always under- 
stood that Morgan kept the colt for a stallion at Randolph, and was very 
celebrated for his stock." 

The above statements of Justin and John Morgan comprise, as we believe, 
the true history, so far as it is known, of the origin of the far-famed Morgan 
horses. From the position of the Messrs. Morgan, they have had the best 
possible facilities for obtaining correct information on this subject, and we 
are not aware of anything which should hinder their statement from receiv- 
ing full credence. 

" Of the old Morgan's progeny, three became famous as stallions, viz., the 
Sherman Morgan, the Woodbury or Burbank, and the Chelsea. Of these 
the Sherman Morgan was greatly the most distinguished. I have ascer- 
tained to a certainty that he died in the winter of 1835. Black Hawk was 
sired by him." 

136. Black-Hawk Morgans. — Fifteen years ago, S. W. Jewett, of Vermont, 
wrote of these as follows : 

" I believe the Morgan blood to be the best that was ever infused into the 
' Northern horse.' They are well known, and are esteemed for activity, 
hardiness, gentleness, and docility throughout the New England States ; 
well adapted for all work; good in every spot, except for racers on tlie turf. 
They arc lively and spirited, lofty and elegant in their action, carrying them- 
selves gracefully in the harness. They have size in proportion to hight ; 
bone clean; sinewy legs; compactness; short, strong backs ; powerful lungs; 
strength and endurance. A mixture of the Morgan blood, though small, 
may be easily known from any other stock in the country. There is a re- 
markable similax'ity prevailing in all of this race. They are known by their 
short, lean heads, wide across the face at the eyes ; eyes lively and prom- 
inent ; open and wide in the under jaws, large windpipe, deep brisket, 
heavy and round in the body, broad in the back, short limbs in proportion 
to size, broad quarters ; a lively, quick action ; indou:itable spirit ; move 
true and easy in a good round trot ; fast on the walk. Color : dark bay, 
chestnut, brown or black, with dark flowing wavy mane and tail ; head up, and 
move without a whip; about fifteen hands high ; action powerful and spirited. 

"They are highly celebrated for general usefulness, make the best of 
roadsters, and live to a great age. In fact, they are the perfect ' Yankee 
harness horse.' 

"The Morgans are very like the noble Arab, with similar eyes, upright 
ears, high withers, powerful quarters, hocks well placed under their weight, 
vigorous arms and flat legs, short from the knee to the pastern, close jointed, 
possessing immense power for their size, with great fire and courage. But 
a few of the Morgans, however, evince extraordinary speed. 



102 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

" It is said that the best stock of horses in the New England States are 
found among the progeny and descendants of the Sherman Morgan, which 
was owned by Mr. Bellows, of Vermont. 

" The fignre given on another page is a portrait of Black Hawk, ' a colt 
of the Sherman Morgan, which was got by the old Justhi Morgan horse. 
The dam of Black Hawk was a three-quarter-blooded English mare, raised 
in the province of New Brunswick. She could trot a mile in less than three 
minutes, and weighed 1,025 lbs., and was in every respect a most perfect 
animal. ' 

" Black Hawk was bred by Mr. Matthews, of Durham, N. H. He is a 
jet-black color ; weighs, in good flesh, 1,0-10 lbs. ; his hight is fifteen hands 
and one inch. A line drawn from the hip even with the ham, just below 
the setting on of the tail, is four inches longer than the back, or the distance 
from the hip to the withers. A line dropped perpendicular from the neck, 
parallel with the fore leg, is nineteen inches forward of the junction of the 
withers. The distance between the hip and the ribs is only one and a half 
inches. He has a broad and vigorous arm, fat and clean leg, large muscles, 
short from the knee to the pastern, large windpipe and nostril, Avell open 
when under motion. He is one of the best proportioned and most elegant 
moving horses that can be produced. He is perfectly sound, a close-jointed, 
clean-limbed animal, and carries a beautiful waving head, mane, and tail. 
His legs are flat and hard, clean from long hairs on the fetlock ; his eyes 
stand out prominent ; his disposition kind and playful. He keeps fat with 
very little feed of oats and bran, three quarts of each daily, and five or six 
pounds of timothy each day. 

" No fault can be found with the horse, unless it be in his size ; however, 
his stock are sufiicicntly large for roadsters and for general usefulness in 
this State." 

137. The Faults of the Morgan Horse.— Of the Morgan horses as they 
were at the time Mr. Jewett wrote, particularly the Black Hawk strain of 
the blood, we have no fault to find — we rather indorse his statement. But 
fifteen years have wrought a change. As a general thing, Morgan horses 
have been bred too much in-and-in, and without regard to size. They are 
DO longer " lofty" in proportion to the weight, but, on the contrary, are 
" squatty," and to the eye of a good judge of horses, far less attractive than 
they were formerly. "What is needed, is an infusion of blood of a taller race 
—such as gave character to the Black Hawks. "Wherever they have been 
crossed with Messenger stock, Cleveland Bay, or others of similar form, the 
improvement has been marked, and some of the very finest roadsters and 
carriage-horses have resulted. The Morgans, crossed upon other good 
breeds, do not improve those as much as it improves theirs. It is still a 
favorite breed of horses in New England, but not as much so as it was some 
years ago. Tlie uniform color of the family has been a great recommenda- 
tion, and there has been also a greater degree of general beauty in the Mor- 
gan family of horses than in any other ever extensively bred in this country. 



Sko. 8.] HORSES— SIZE OF ROADSTERS. 103 

We shall now give a few useful items for owners of horses of whatever 
breed, mongrel or thorough-bred. 

138. Driving— The Start. — The first mile is the most important of the jour- 
ney. More horses are injured in the start than in the balance of the whole 
day. You should carefully avoid rapid driving immediately after a horse 
has been full fed. Many old travelers feed over-night all the grain they 
intend the horse to eat in the twenty four hours. Others feed at night and 
at noon, and then give time after the horse has eaten his mess before start- 
ing, or else drive very slowly for an hour, making up time as night 
approaches. In all cases when a horse has been fed and watered an hour or 
two before starting upon a journey or drive of several miles, it is proper to 
drive slowly for the first mile or two ; but when the feeding and watering 
have been more recent, the propriety of going along at a jog or easy pace 
is still more iirgent. Colic, founder, broken wind, have all of them resulted 
from too rapid driving when a horse was full. A friend of ours, a pliysi- 
cian, who had occasion sometimes to violate this dictate of good manage- 
ment in his haste to reach some case of great urgency, once informed us 
that when he drove at a rapid rate immedlatehj after feeding, his horse 
would scour almost invariably, and seem to suffer considerably. 

Even in such cases where a horse must be driven upon a full stomach, it 
is better to divide the distance into equal parts — say ten miles, which you 
intend to drive in an hour, and give forty minutes to the first half, and do 
the other five in twenty minutes. In that case be careful, when you stop, 
not to leave the horse to cool suddenly. If the weather is hot, and you have 
driven hard, don't mind trying to get your horse in a cool shade. The sun 
won't hurt him. 

There is another great error in driving which has often been suggested to 
us. It is that of constantly urging a horse to exert himself beyond what is 
natural to him. For instance, if a horse is urged to perform in two hours 
a distance that he would, at his natural pace, require three hours to do, it 
will injure him more than four hours' driving at his regular pace; and if 
this urging is continued all day, he will break down, just as a man would, if 
urged to double his speed in walking. 

139. Size of RoadsterSi — A road horse should be about fifteen hands high 
(a hand being four inches), measured from the top of the shoulder or withers 
to the ground, when the horse stands naturally ; his weight should be about 
1,000 lbs. ; for such weight in an animal fifteen hands high, in moderate 
flesh, indicates compactness and power someiohere. Experience has ]>roved 
that horses of this size carry their weight better on long journeys, injure 
their feet less on the pavements and hard roads, and are apt to be more fleet 
than those of a larger class ; for while greater length and hight will give an 
increased stride, either running or trotting, the power to gather rapidly, and 
especially for long distances, requires much greater muscular exertion in 
large than in small horses, from the greater weight to be propelled. Our 
fastest trotters have generally been from this class. 



104 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

140. Walking Horses. — ^The best gait a horse ever had for every-day use 
is a good walk. It is a gait that uot one in ten possesses. Colts are not 
trained to walk in all the Eastern States. Young America wants more speed. 
Kentucky has more good walking horses than any other State, for there horse- 
back traveling has long been in fashion for men and women over a country 
where muddy roads, at some seasons, rendered any other gait impossible, and 
so horses have been bred for the saddle and trained to a walking gait. This 
is also the case in all the Western States, and perhaps might have been so in 
New England, when our grandmothers rode to meeting on a pillion behind our 
grandfathers. But one-horse wagons have put horseback riding out of fashion, 
and now a good walking horse is more rare than one that can trot a mile in 2.40. 

At the Springfield (Mass.) horse show of 1860, the writer was one of a 
committee to award prizes to the two best walking horses. Out of seven- 
teen entered, the committee found but one which was considered a first-rate 
walker. This was a Morrill mare, which walked five miles an hour with ease. 
Two others were fair walkers, and the others knew no gait that could be 
called walking. At the New York State Fair the same state of facts was 
again developed. A letter from Wisconsin says : " I think horses trained to 
walk fast would be a greater benefit to farmers in general than fast trotters, 
as almost all of his work has to be done with a walk. I once knew a man 
in Massachusetts who, before the railroads were built, kept from two to four 
teams at work on the road, and never allowed them to trot at all, and made 
the distance in quicker time than his neighbors, who made their horses trot 
at every convenient place. He said that when a liorse commenced to walk 
after a trot, he walked much slower than his common gait if kept on a walk, 
and thereby lost more than he gained." Will farmers think of this, and jjay 
more attention to walking horses ? 

141. Iiistrumcuts of Torture Used by Ilorseimen. — The following sensible 
remarks are from the Irish F'armer''s Gazette. They are quite applicable 
here : 

" The good old English roadster's style of walk, trot, or canter is too steady 
for your fast young man ; he thinks it far beneath him to speak a kindly 
word to his horse, or to control him by an easy signal ; and however quiet 
the horse may be, he is rarely seen on his back without at \Qa,s,tfour unnec- 
essary instruments of torture — namely, two spurs with sharp rowels, one 
whip, and a severe curb bridle. Why should it be the universal custom in 
this country for men armed with these cruel instruments of torture to ride 
quiet, docile horses, and often punish them for a fanciful fault which they 
themselves bring about by their own want of experience and knowledge of 
the horse's nature ? 

" If a man has not the ability to handle a horse lightly, and at the same 
time keep his balance in the saddle, he has no business to ride one of value 
and high courage. It would be better for the horse and safer for the man 
to keep his feet on terra firma. 

" The more a horse's mouth is iised to a severe bit, the less he will care 



Sko. 8.] HORSES AND HORSE STABLES. 105 

for it, as he will soon leani to neutralize its eflects by pulliiuj and keeping 
the reins in a state of tension, and thereby j^revent the rider from checking 
or wriggling the bit — to jDunish him. The dead, steady pull is far less pain- 
ful to him than the jaw-breaking the rider would be able to inflict upon him 
if allowed to keep his reins slack and ready for a jerk. 

" One of the many causes which makes pulling horses is the lansteady seat 
of their riders. Many men can not ride a light-mouthed horse, but they can 
sit a puller with ease, because the firm hold this horse allows them to have 
on the reins is the main thing upon which they depend to keep their balance. 

"I have seen the most inveterate pullers in some people's hands ridden in 
bits invented by their owners, regular jaw-breaking or choking power, and 
still pulling so hard as to tear the skin of their rider's hands. And I have 
no hesitation in saying — having frequently proved my assertions by prac- 
tice — that if one of these tear-away pullers changed hands, and his new 
owner would bridle hiui with an easy snaiHe, and let him stand in the stable 
— to feel the diflerence— an hour before he was mounted he would forget his 
old habit." 

142. Saddle-Horses. — One of the meanest things ever taught a saddle- 
horse is to cavort and curve, and go dancing and prancing about as though 
trying to keep within a circle ju?t large enough to hold his four feet closely 
drawn together. If you are selecting a saddle-horse, see that he does not 
stand sqiuire upon his forward feet. They should reach well forward, and 
then there will be such an easy spring that you may ride at a smart trot 
without feeling as though you are struck with a sledge at every step, as you 
may upon some horses whose hoofs are square under the legs, and appear to 
have about the same degree of spring that you would have upon wooden 
pins stepping along, and brought down at every step like a pavier's rammer. 
Never select a very round-backed horse for the saddle. It does not hold 
its place well upon such a back. A good saddle-horse must possess good 
sense as well as a good gait and gentleness. 

143. Color Indicative of GentleuesSt — It is asserted that the reason why 
circus managers select parti-colored horses is not their fancy color, but be- 
cause it indicates gentleness and tractability, and that the animals Avill 
submit to training better than horses of one color. A little thouglit and 
observation upon this subject will enable any farmer to settle the question 
in his own mind. Perhaps there is more than appears at first view in the 
common expression, " a fiery black horse." Is it not because black indi- 
cates a fiery temper ? Independent of color, we would look in the counte- 
nance of a horse to see whether he would bear training. In some animals 
there is a general appearance of an ugly disposition. A face broad and full 
between the eyes indicates good sense, which is one of the most important 
things in a horse. 

144. Horse Stables should be light, roomy, and well ventilated. Never 
put a horse in a cellar. Build your stables high ; that is, high between 
floors. Most stables are built low " because they are warmer." But such 



106 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

people forget that warmth is obtained at a sacrifice of pure air and the 
health of the animal. Shut a man up in a tight, small box; the air may 
be warm, but it will soon lay him out dead and cold if ho continues to 
breathe it. If stables are tiglit, they should have high ceilings ; if they 
are not tight, but open to admit cold currents of air from all directions, they 
are equally faulty. 

Slatted floors are getting into vogue. My own stable is built with a tight 
floor nine feet long and four and a half feet wide for each stall, with a pitch 
of two inches. At the end of the plank there is a slatted portion, four feet 
wide, two inches lower than the plank. Through these slats all the urine 
runs into the manure pile in the cellar, and so leaves the beds of the horses dry. 

145. Sand for Ilorses' Beds. — Mr. Small, of Dundalk, Scotland, a veteri- 
nary surgeon of considerable experience, states that sand is not only an ex- 
cellent substitute for straw for horses' beds, but superior to straw, as the 
sand does not heat, and saves tiie hoofs of tlie horses. He states that sand is 
exclusively used for horses' beds in his repository. 

146. To Remove Horses from a Building on Fire. — Tlie great difliculty of 
getting horses from a stable, where surrounding buildings are in a state of 
conflagration, is well known. Wilkes' Sjjirit of the Times says, a gentleman 
whose horses had been in great peril from such a cause, having in vain tried 
to save them, hit upon the experiment of having them harnessed, when, to 
his astonishment, they were led from the stable without difflculty. Tlirow- 
ing a blanket over a horse's head will often answer, also, and may be easily 
tried before harnessing. 

l-tT. Proportion of Horses to Men. — The following curious account is given 
in Appleton's Encyclopedia, of the number of horses in the various parts of the 
world : "The general estimate has been eight to ten horses in Europe for every 
hundred inhabitants. Denmark has 45 horses to every hundred inhabitants, 
which is more than any other European country. Great Britain and Ire- 
land have 2,500,000 horses ; France, 3,000,000 ; Austrian Empire, exclusive 
of Italy, 2,500,000 ; Eussia, 3,500,000. The United States have 5,000,000, 
which is more than any European country. The horses of the whole vi'orld 
are estimated at 57,420,000." 

148. What Constitutes Legal Unsoundness in Horses. — A Knee-sprung horse 
can hardly be said to be imsound. He may be a very fast horse, and can 
eudure with ease the labor of any common, ordinary horse, although there 
is an alteration of structure which unfits him for the race-conrse. Tliis 
would not be likely to produce disease or lameness ; he would be more 
likely to grow better than worse, if used for common purposes. But if so 
bad as to produce stumbling and falling, he would be unsound, and a war- 
ranty should be taken against such defects. 

Capped Hocks can not be considered unsoundness, if produced by an un- 
even stable floor or by kicking ; but if produced by a sprain, and a perma- 
nent thickening and enlargement of the membranes, there would be unsound- 
ness. A special warranty should be required in such cases. 



ysL 




BOJRSIKS TkiRTH at f I WFIRIRIEWT AfiES , 




# 



PLATES VIII., IX. 

(Pijges 106, 107.) 

These plates need no description ; they require study. As they 
contain all that could be said to fully understand the subject illus- 
trated, we have written nothing about the art of "telling the age 
of horses by examining their teeth." Whoever studies these plates 
will learn that art. Observe the steady change, year by year, as 
it is mapped out before you. Open the mouth of your horse, and 
compare its appearance with the illustration of the year correspond- 
ing to his known ago, and so on of all others. Thus you will learn 
the art and the value of these engraved representations. 



Sao. 8.] HORSES— "WHEN UNSOUND. 107 

Contraction of the Iloof is a considerable deviation from the natural form 
of the foot, but does not necessarily constitute unsoundness. It requires, 
however, a most careful examination by the purchaser to ascertain that there 
is no fever or ossification of the cartilage ; that the frog is not diseased ; that 
the animal is not tender-footed or lame. Unless some of these symptoms 
are indicated, he must not be jjronounced nnsound. A special warranty 
should be required where the feet are contracted. 

Coims manifestly constitute imsoundness. Although few men lay much 
stress on this malady, still much inconvenience, and many times serious 
difficulties, must be encountered by them, as they are seldom thoroughly 
cured. Many horses are almost constantly lame with corns, through a scrof- 
ulous habit of the system. A warranty against such animals would be safe. 

Tremhling Knees. — This can not be considered unsoundness, yet it is a 
precursory symptom of knee-sprung. Trembling of the knees, after a smart 
exercise, indicates weakness, and should be regarded as objectionable. 

A Cough constitutes unsoundness, however slight or of short standing. 
If a horse is noticed to cough before the purchase, or immediately after- 
ward, he is diseased ; but if warranted sound, and the cough is not discov- 
ered till one or two days afterward, he is not returnable ; for a few honrs are 
sufficient to contract a cough, by taking cold M'hile standing in a damp, 
musty stable, or by eating different feed, mustj- hay, etc. 

Roaring, Wheezing, or Whistling is unsoundness, being the result of alter- 
ation of structure or disease in the air-passages. Although there have been 
decisions to the contrary, courts and jurors are often at a loss for the want 
of intelligent witnesses ; and if a veterinary surgeon is called to the stand, 
not having seen the animal, he is liable to be mistaken from misrepresenta- 
tion. BroTcen Wind is still more decidedly unsoundness. 

Crib Biting. — A difference of opinion exists as to this being unsoundness, 
and courts have given opposite decisions in respect to it. There are cribbers 
that can scarcely be said to be unsound, as they are not perceptibly injured, 
and it does not interfere with their condition or endurance. Others inhale 
and swallow a great amount of wind ; they bloat and are subject to colic, 
which interferes with their health and strength ; this would constitute un- 
soundness. A warranty should always be taken against injury from crib- 
bing ; then if he breaks his teeth or injures Inmself, recompense may be had. 

Ciirh constitutes unsoundness as long as it lasts, and perhaps while the 
swelling remains, although no inflammation exists ; for a horse that has once 
thrown out a curb, is liable to do so again on the slightest exertion. A 
horse, however, should not be returned if he spring a curb five minutes after 
purchase, for it is done in a moment, and does not indicate any previous 
imsoundness. 

149. Soiling Horses. — We commend the following statement of J. C. Ad- 
ams, of Seymour, N". Y., to the attention of all owners of small farms, like 
the little one where we practice the same course : 

" I have in close proximity to my barn a patch of ground, ^\ rods by 16 



108 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

(three quarters of an acre), seeded to clover, from which I kept one span of 
horses in thriving condition from the first day of June last to the last day 
of August, besides cutting 900 lbs. of good hay, which I put into the barn, 
and harvested of the second mowing seed sufficient to stock an acre or two 
of ground. This may, and undoubtedly will, seem to many like a big barn 
well stretched. In fact, I should doubt the reality of such a story myself, had 
not my eyes seen and my hands felt the truth of such a statement. By the 
time I had mowed two thirds of this little patch, the remainder was fit to be 
made into hay, which I accordingly did up after the most approved fashion. 
And that part mowed first was sufficiently large to mow again. I fed them 
three times a day all they could eat. They smelt not, touched not, tasted 
not one particle of grain during the three months ; used them more or less 
every day, and at the end there was a perceptible gain in flesh. Never, 
since I could say my team, have I sunmaered a team so cheaply. The great- 
est cost is cutting and putting it before the horses. I off"ered them water, 
but they did not drink to exceed a pailful a week. 

" I am of the opinion that if they had been turned loose npon this piece 
of ground, ten days would have been sufficient time to oat up and trample 
into the earth everything green upon it. As five acres of good pasture is 
little enough to summer a span of horses when allowed to run, there is almost 
an incalculable saving in soiling them." 

150. Breeding for Longevity. — We have had a few instances of horses liv- 
ing to the age of thirty years, but they are so rare, that such an old horse is 
looked upon as a curiosity. Lewis B. Brown, of Westchester County, N. Y., 
has a team of four, the aggregate age of ■which is 108 years, the oldest being 
over 30 years, and all in such vigor of constitution that but few teams can 
hold their own with this upon the road. Tiie exhibition of this old team at 
the Springfield show, in 1860, attracted universal attention. This shows that 
such old horses are rare, and it proves that old horses are not worthless. It 
also induces the question, whether we can not breed with a special reference 
to longevity. If selections were made upon both sides, of stock which had 
ancestors noted for longevity, and this course continued through several 
generations, with mares and stallions which have arrived at mature age, still 
retaining a vigor like that exhibited in Mr. Brown's team, who can say that 
we should not obtain a breed noted for longevity, and that horses forty or 
fifty years old would then be no rarity ? This is a subject worth thinking 
about. 

151. Treatment of folts. — Wlien first foaled, if parturition is at maturity, 
the colt should have eight front teeth, four in each jaw ; but it sometimes 
happens that these are not all cut through, and the gums are inflamed and 
so tender that the colt can not suck well. This should always be looked to, 
and the gums cut with a sharp knife, and, if need be, the colt fed until it can 
suck freely. 

Colts as well as calves are sometimes aff'ected by lice ; these may be got rid 
of in various ways. Take white-oak bark, boil it in water, making a strong 



Sec. 8.] HORSES AND THEIR DISEASES. 109 

decoction ; wash the animals on the back and on the sides. In twenty-four 
hours the lice will be completely tanned. Tanner's oil is also first-rate. So 
is snuff or a decoction of tobacco ; and we have heard of Peruvian guano 
being used and answering the same purpose as snuff. 

152. Remedies for Some of the most Common Diseases of Horses.— There 
are a great many little simple complaints that can be cured without sending 
for a veterinary surgeon. We can afford room for only a few, because every 
farmer should take an agricultural paper, and such papers are stored with 
valuable remedies such as the following : 

153. To Cure ScratclieSt — When the horse comes in at night, his legs 
should be washed clean and rubbed as dry as may be ; then apply good 
vinegar, rubbing it well to the skin. Two applications a day are sufiicient. 
1 have always found it a sure preventive and a certain cure. If the legs 
have become cracked and sore, apply the vinegar freely and add a piece of 
copperas the size of a common liickory nut to a quart of vinegar. 

Another excellent remedy, M-hich we have used a great many times, is 
beef brine. If the dirt is carefully washed off witli warm soap-suds, and then 
tlie legs well bathed with the brine, it will require but two or three applica- 
tions to cure a very bad case of scratches. 

The Maine Farmer gives another remedy. It says : " Take fresh slaked 
lime, and dust the affected parts well with it twice a day. It will not cause 
the horse any uneasiness, and will be sure to effect a cure in a few days. 

151:. For lleaves in Horses. — ^Take smart-M-eed, steep it in boiling water till 
the strength is all out ; give one quart everyday for eight or ten days. Or mix - 
it with bran or shorts. Give him green or cut-up feed, wet up with water, 
during the operation, and it will cure. 

155. ChaGu^ irnder the Collar. — A gentleman who has tried the plan suc- 
cessfully for five years, communicates the annexed method of preventing 
horses from chafing under the collar. lie says he gets a piece of leather, and 
has what he terms a false collar made, which is simply cutting the leather 
in such a shape as to lie singly between the shoulders of the horse and the 
collar. This fends off all the friction, as the collar slips and moves on the 
leather, and not on the shoulders of the horse. Chafing is caused by fric- 
tion, hence, you sec, the thing is entirely feasible. Some jjersons put pads 
or sheep-skins imder the collar ; these, they say, do as much hurt as good, 
for they augment the heat. A single piece of leather, like that composing 
the outside of a collar, without any lining or stufling, is better than any- 
thing else. 

156. For Fistula. — Salt, one tablespoonful ; soft soap, one tablespoonful ; 
whisky, one tablespoonful ; turpentiiie, one tablespoonful. Mix in a tin 
cup ; place on the liorso's nose a twitch, to prevent his moving ; have your 
mixture placed on a little fire, and as soon as it boils up, pour immediately 
upon the diseased part ; repeat the operation every ten or twelve days, till ap- 
plied three or four times, if necessary. It will not take off the hair or leave 
any scar. 



110 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

This is not more effectual than the following much simpler remedy, which 
we have proved for both fistula and poll-evil. Take a lump of potash 
or saleratus, as big as you can crowd into the pipe of the fistula, and it 
causes it to discharge more freely for a day or two, and then it begins to 
heal. In one case of poll-evil, a large mare would not allow any one to 
touch her head to appl^^ the remedy, or in fact to be bridled. For this case 
we took about two ounces of saleratus and tied it in a cloth, in the form of a 
pad, inside the strapof a halter, where it crossed the top of the head, and by dint 
of perseverance succeeded at length in getting it on and firmly secured, when 
we bid her go and live or die, as she liked — we would do no more for her. 
A shower fell soon after, and the next time we saw our patient she was par- 
tially healed : the caustic had taken the hair off, and it had also affected the 
disease. A fortnight later wo caught her, and found she did not object to 
being handled. The disease was cured, and the mare was worth a hundred 
dollars. When turned out, she could not have been sold for a hundred 
cents, and the cure had not cost five cents. 

Here is another remedy which may be tried, if it is preferred to the other. 
The following is sent us as a valuable prescription for several of the ills that 
horse-flesh is heir to, such as fistula, poll-evil, ring-bone, big head, etc. : 
12 oz. of alcohol, 1 oz. of spirits of turpentine, 1 oz. of corrosive sublimate, 
1 oz. of camphor gum, 1 oz. of oil of spike, 1 oz. of castile soap, 1 oz. of aqua- 
fortis — mixed and dissolved, and applied with a swab for a day or two, and 
then intermixed, and apply again. Take care only to touch the part af- 
fected ; and, to prevent injury to the hair or hoof adjacent, rub it well with 
grease. 

157. White Lead, its Value on Sores.- — White lead in oil, as an external 
application or remedy, has no equal. In abrasions, or galls from the sad- 
dle or collar, or from any other cause, it will speedily aid the part in liealing. 
Applied to the leg of a horse — the outer coating of hair and skin of which 
was torn off — with a painter's brush, caused it to heal and leave no scar. It 
is good for scratches and all sores upon horses or other animals, and equally 
good for men. It forms an air-tight coating, and soothes pain. Every farmer 
should keep a pot and brush ready for use, and he should not fail to apply it 
to all abraded spots on tools, as well as stock. White lead is the carbonate 
of the metal, and, when pure, is very white. That having a grayish tint-is 
impure, being generally adulterated. For use as a paint, a lead color is 
produced by adding lampblack, and a drab or stone color, by adding burnt 
umber. 

15S. Liniment for Sweeney in Horses.— One oz. of oil of spike, 1 oz. of oil 
of amber, 1 oz. of Venice turpentine, and a small quantity of rock-oil. 

159. Blind Staggers. — This disease is more common in the Southern than 
it is in the Northern States. The Cotton Planter newspaper gives the fol- 
lowing remedy : " Take 1 gal. of green hickory wood aslies, 1 half pint of 
spirits of turpentine, 1 oz. of gum camphor, and a sufiiciency of lye to make 
a thin mush. Fill a horn with this mush, while boiling hot, and with a thin 



Seo. 8.] HORSES— IMPERFECT VISION. Ill 

cloth stretched over the end of the horn, apply it four times iipon or over 
the region of the brain, each time filling the horn with the boiling mnsli, 
which will blister the skin. In connection with this, it is necessary to burn 
rags wet with spirits of turpentine under the horse's nose until you produce 
a free discharge. You should also bleed freely from the neck, and give one 
pint of linsecd-oil as a purge. 

160. How to Detect Imperfect Vision or Blindness in Horses. — Ton may 
have good grounds for suspicion of imperfect vision when the horse moves 
his ears in a constant and rapid motion, directing them in quick succession 
to every quarter from whence the least sound proceeds. Also if his action is 
lofty and faltering, and he lifts up his feet and replaces them on the ground 
as if stopping over some obstacle, when there is actually nothing to impede 
his free progression, notwithstanding these symptoms would be sufficient to 
create suspicion, there are other causes by which similar symptoms would 
appear iu horses. If a horse with perfect eyes were led from a dark stable 
into the sunshine, the sudden contraction of the pupil of his eye Avould 
render it impossible, for a few moments, for him to see but very indistinctly ; 
hence symptoms of uncertainty in his movements, imtil the pupil becomes 
steady after the sudden contraction. The dilating and contracting of the 
pupil furnish means of ascertaining whether blindness exists in one eye or 
both, as this pupil varies in size according to the degree of light which is 
brought to bear upon it. In a dark stable the pupil is expanded, so that a 
greater portion of light falls upon the cornea ; but if the horse is led to the 
door of the stable, the pupil will contract so as to exclude more light than 
could be endured, and if suddenly exposed to the sun, the aperture will be 
all but closed; therefore carefully notice the eyes, whether they contract or 
expand equally by the increase and decrease of the light. If the hoi-se 
should be examined in the open air, notice whether both pupils are of ex- 
actly the same size. After this, carefully place the hand, so as not to alarm 
the horse, over each eye, to shade off the light, and hold it there for a short 
lime, noticing the extent to which the pupil dilates ; then pass the hand 
over the other eye, and ascertain whether it also dilates to the same extent, 
and if still it be uncertain, place both hands in the positions of shades over 
both the eyaa of the horse, and you will at once perceive whether they are 
perfect, and if not, which of the two is imperfect. 

Nothing tends more to injure the eyes of a horse than dark or badly venti- 
lated stables. Attention to the lighting, draining, and ventilation of horse 
stables is an imperative duty. There are thousands of stables in which the 
door is the only aperture for the ingress or egress of pure air, and even this 
is in most instances closed, both when the horse is at rest, or at work or ex- 
ercise; thus he has, while in the stable, to constantly bi'eathe vitiated air. 

161. Remedy for GaHs on Horses. — Use whisk3', saturated with alum, 
to wash the parts liable to chafe, which tends to harden the skin and pre- 
vents its rubbing off. For galls already formed, the following receipt for a 
salve is good ; so it is for human flesh-sores. 



112 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

" Take of honey, twelve oiinces ; yellow beeswax, four ounces ; compound 
galbanum plaster, six ounces ; sweet oil, lialf a pint. Put the honey into a 
jar by the fire, then melt the other ingredients and mix them together; 
spread very thin on linen, and apply twice every day." 

162. llorse-Shoelngi — It is wonderful how little the mass of smiths who 
shoe horses know of the anatomy of a horse's foot ; of its delicate organiza- 
tion, and susceptibility to injury by improper paring of the hoof, formation 
of the shoes, and attachment of the same ! Horses are peculiarly sensitive 
to lameness, and it is obvious that great care in the particulars mentioned 
should be observed, in order that a firm, positive, and comfortable tread 
should be given the feet, so as to make them capable of exerting the won- 
derful degree of muscular strength of which they are possessed without 
injury to the exquisitely constructed parts which are brought into jilay. In 
one of the numbers of the Dublin AgrimlturalBevieiov^e find a long article, 
written by William Miles, extracted from the Journal of the Eoyal Agri- 
cultural Society of London. "We heartily commend this able production to 
the perusal of those of our readers interested in this important subject. It 
commences as follows : 

" If I were asked to account for my horses' legs and feet being in better 
order than those of my neighbors, I should attribute it to the four following 
circumstances : First, that they are all shod with few nails, so [>laced in the 
shoe as to permit the foot to expand every time they move ; secondly, that 
they all live in boxes instead of stalls, and can move whenever they please ; 
thirdly, that they have two hours' daily walking exercise when they are not 
at work ; and fourthly, that I have not a head-stall or rack-chain in my 
stable. These four circumstances comprehend the whole mystery' of keeping 
horses' legs fine, and their feet in sound working condition up to a good old age. 

" All that is really required is, to take one anatomical and one i>liys- 
iological fact on trust, and believe that the horse's hoof is lined by a very 
sensitive membrane which must on no account ever be wounded, and that 
the hoof itself is elastic, and expands when the weight of the horse is thrown 
on the foot, and contracts when it is taken oft' again ; all tlie rest is purely 
mechanical, and merely calls for the exercise of a little thought and jjatience 
to understand the principle and apply it. 

" Tlie result of the numberless experiments I have made at various times 
on all sorts of horses doing every kind of work is, that there is but one prin- 
ciple to be observed in horse-shooing which will admit of no variation or 
compromise : the shoe must fit the foot, whatever the shape of the foot may 
happen to be, and it must be nailed to the hoof in such a manner as will 
permit the foot to expand to the weight of the horse ; this latter condition 
will be best complied with by placing three nails in the outer limb of the 
shoe, and two in the inner limb between the toe and the commencement of 
the inner quarter ; a larger number than five nails can never be required in 
any shoe of any size, or under any circumstances, excepting for the sole pur- 
pose of counteracting defective and clumsy fitting. 



Sko. 8.] HORSES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 113 



"No horse should have more than one foot bared at a time; however 
strong his feet may happen to be, he is sure to stand quieter on a shod foot 
than he can on a bare one, and it will prevent his breaking the crust. A 
horse with weak flat feet is in positive misery when forced to sustain his 
whole weight on a bare foot, while the opposite foot is held up. 

" A strong foot with an arched sole, when the roads are in good order, 
M'ill require to have the toe shortened, the quarters and heels lowered, and 
the sole pared, until it will yield in some slight degree to very liard pressure 
from the thumb ; but on no account should it ever be pared thin enough to 
yield to moderate pressure ; the angles formed by the crust and the bars at 
the heels must be cleared^out, and all the dead horn removed therefrom, and 
tlie bai:s should be lowered nearly to a level with the sole. 

" A weak flat foot, on the contrary, will bear no shortening of the toe, and 
very little paring or lowering anywhere ; the heels of such feet are sure to be 
too low already, and the sole too thin ; in fact, the less that is done to them the 
better beyond clearing out the dead horn from the angles at the heels, and 
making the crust bear evenly on the shoe ; but the hollow between the bars 
and the frog, or the frog itself, must never be touched by a knife in any foot, 
whether it be a weak one or a strong one ; and as these latter directions 
diflFer materially from the usual practice of smiths, I may, perhaps, be ex- 
pected to state my reasons for wishing to enforce them in opposition to what 
they no doubt consider a time-honored custom ; I mean the inveterate habit 
they all have of trimming the frog, and opening out the heels at every 
shoeing ; but I think I shall be able to show that 'it is a custom more hon- 
ored in the breach than in the observance.' 

" The shoe should be neither too light nor too naiTow in the web ; light 
shoes are apt to bend before they are half worn out, and narrow-webbed 
shoes expose the sole and frog to unnecessary injury from stones in the road. 
Every fore-shoe should be more or less seated on the foot-IRirtace, to jireveiit 
it pressing on and bruising the sole ; but a -perfectly flat surface should be 
preserved around the edge of the foot-surface of the shoe, from heel to lieel, 
for the crust to rest upon. The amount of seating to be employed must be 
determined by the description of foot to be shod ; for instance, a broad foot, 
with a flat sole and weak horn, will require a wide web, considerably seated, 
to prevent it coming in contact with the sole and bruising it ; but a narrow 
foot, with an arched sole and strong horn, will require less width of web 
and less seating, otherwise the dirt and grit of the road would become im- 
pacted between the shoe and the sole, and cause as much pressure and injury 
as the iron would have done." 

Many men who own and use horses seem to be indiff'erent as to' the man- 
ner in which they are shod, so much so that they take them to any one wlio 
can drive a nail, leavQ everything to him, and take it for granted that if the 
horse has got four good stout shoes on his feet that will stay on as long as 
they last, it is all right. This is a great mistake, and will often lead to the 
discomfort and ultimate ruin of the horse. 



J 



114 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

No horse that is badly shod can travel easilj^, safely, or well ; and many 
M'ho use horses that cut their legs or trip, suppose that the fault is in the 
horse, while in fact no one is in fault but the shoer. There are hardly two 
horses that require precisely the same shaped shoe, or that it be put on in 
precisely the same way ; hence to shoe every horse so as not to pinch, and 
consequently injure the feet, and at the same time so that he can perform 
his work easily and well, requires considerable experience and more than 
common skill and intelligence on the part of horse-shoers. 

One of the objects in applying the shoe is to preserve the natural con- 
cavity of the sole of the foot. A horse in his natural state, and, indeed, up 
to the period of his first introduction within the precincts of the " smithy," 
has generally n concave sole ; and wisely is it so ordained. Were it other- 
wise, the animal would be unable to secure foothold ; as it is, the inferior edge 
of the hoof — that is, the ground surface — projecting beyond the sole, may be 
compared to the point of a cat's claw or the nails of a man ; they grasp, as it 
were, bodies with which they come in contact, and thus secure a point of 
refiistance which aids in advancing limb or body over a smooth surface. 
Now, in order to preserve the natural mechanical functions of the horn and 
sole, the ground surface of the shoe must correspond to the ground surface 
of tlie foot ; that is to say, the ground surface of the shoe must be beveled 
cup fashion ; its outer edge being prominent, takes the place of the hoof; its 
inner surface being concave, corresponds to the natural concavity of the foot. 
It is a custom among some blacksmiths to reverse the above procedure, and 
place the concave surface ne.xt the foot, and often the ground surface appears 
to be more convex than concave. An iron shoe tacked on to a horse's foot 
is one of the unavoidable evils of domestication, yet, when properly applied, 
is not so great an evil as some persons might suppose. 

R. Jennings, veterinary surgeon, Philadelphia, gives his views as follows 
upon this subject : 

163. Contraction of the Feet of Horses— The Cause and Remedy.—" The 
tendency of a horse's feet, in a healthy condition, is to expand whenever 
the weight of the body is thrown upon them. Being a very complicated 
piece of mechanism, they are very easily disarranged, and, once out of order, 
are difficult of repair ; hence the necessity of preserving them in a sound 
condition. 

" Contraction is caused, 1st, by cutting away the bars of the feet, which 
are the main stays for the support of the quarters ; 2d, by (opening the 
heels, as the smith calls it) cutting away a portion of the frog, in conse- 
quence of which the moisture of the frog becomes absorbed, losing its elas- 
ticity and destroying its function, thus exposing the feet to injury by 
concussion ; 3d, by standing upon plank floors ; 4th, by improper shoeing. 

" An ordinary observer will, upon an examination of the common shoe, 
notice that it inclines from without inward at the heels, thus forming a con- 
cavity for the feet to rest in ; the consequence is a lateral resistance to the 
expansion of the hoofs when the weight of the animal is thrown upon them. 



Seo. 8.] HORSES AKD MULES. ' 115 

The effects of this resistance are to force the heels together, creating pressure 
upon the sensitive parts within the horny case; estahlishing fevei", \>y wliicli 
the moisture of the hoofs is rapidly absorbed, rendering the hoofs hard, 
brittle, and liable to crack, and frequently causing corns, navicular joint 
lameness, bony deposits to be thrown out from the lateral wings or processes 
of the coffin bones, rendering the animal permanently lame or unsound. 
These are but few of the bad effects arising from contraction — enough, liow- 
evei', to serve our purj^ose at present. 

" Remedy. — Preserve a level bearing by making t^ shoes perfectly flat 
on the quarters, so as not to interfere with the expansion of the feet. 
Should contraction already exist to considerable extent, bevel the shoes 
slightly outward at the heels, in order to facilitate expansion. Care should 
be used not to bevel too much, or bulging of the lower part of the hoofs at 
the quarters will be the result. The shoes should in all cases be forged, and 
not twisted, as is sometimes done to save trouble by the bungling smith. 
Proper applications, to soften the horny parts and promote elasticity, should 
also be used. Such prejiarations are put up in the form of hoof ointments." 

164. MuIeSi — Few of the farmers of this country are aware what a delit of 
gratitude they owe George Washington for the introduction of mules into 
general use for farm purposes. 

Previous to 1783 there were but very few, and those of such an inferior 
order as to jirejudice fiirmers against them as unfit to compete with horses in 
work upon the road or farm. Consequently there were no good jacks, and 
no disposition to increase the stock ; but Washington became convinced that 
tlie introduction of mules generally among Southern planters would prove 
to them a great blessing, as they are less liable to disease, and longer lived, 
and work upon shorter feed, and are much less liable to be injured by care- 
less servants than horses. 

As soon as it became known abroad that the illustrious Washington de- 
sired to stock his Mount Vernon estate with mules, the King of Spain sent 
him a jack and two jennies from the royal stables, and Lafayette sent another 
jack and jennies from the island of Malta. 

Tiie first was of a gray color, sixteen hands high, heavily made, and of a 
sluggish nature. He was named the Eoyal Gift. The other was called the 
Knight of Malta ; he was about as high, but lighter made, black color, and 
lithe and fiery, even to ferocity. 

The two different sets of animals gave him the most favorable opportunity 
of making improvements by cross-breeding, the result of which was a favor- 
ite jack which he called Compound, because he partook of the best points in 
both of the original jacks. Tlie General bred his blooded mares to these 
jacks, even taking those from his family coach for that purpose, and pro- 
duced such superb mules that the country was all agog to breed some of the 
same sort, and they soon became quite common. This was#ie origin of 
improved mules in the United States ; though over seventy years since, there 
is no doubt ihere are now some of the third and fourth generations of 



116 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. T. 



Kniglit of Malta and Royal Gift to be found in Virginia, and the great ben- 
efits arising from their introduction to the country are to be seen npon almost 
every cultivated acre in the Southern States. Notwithstanding liie enor- 
mous increase of late years, arising from a systematic course of breeding in 
the Northern States for the Southern market, mules were never more valua- 
ble than at present, or more ready of sale at high prices. 

105. Longevity of MuleSi — We have numerous reports of mules attaining 
the age of forty, fift^^ or sixty years, and Col. Middleton, of South Carolina, 
stated some years a^ that he had one at work on his plantation eighty years 
old ; and we have seen an account of a mule in Ireland certified to have been 
at work since 1707, making him over 150 years old. This is, of course, a 
very uncommon age, but we are satisfied that, with proper usage, mules 
would commonly attain to about forty years, being serviceable to the last, 
and this should be counted as one of their elements of value. 

166. The Largest Mule in the World.— If the following statement is cor- 
rectly given, it tells of the largest mule, probably, over produced. "We 
found it in the Commercial, of Cincinnati, in 1800. It says : . 

" The largest mule ever produced in the world is now in this city. It is a 
mare mule, nineteen and a half hands high, and weighs eighteen hxmdred 
and thirtij-tioo pounds. This extraordinary animal is the property of Charles 
Frost, of Wayne County, Ind., recently purchased near Lexington, Ky." 

167. Mules, Horses, Oxen. — We read in almost every agricultural paper, 
we hear in most agricultural addresses, and we often hear in conversation, 
that one or the other of these animals is the one, and the only one, that 
farmers should use, yet we have nev«r seen a farmer who could say, " I 
know." One who has always done liis farm-work with oxen is sure that 
they are the best in all respects ; while fifty miles away he would search a 
hundred farms to find as many yolce of oxen, and wliere he did find them he 
would probably be told they were only fit for drudgery — that liorses only 
are suitable i(^ faim-work, and their owners are ready with loads of reasons 
to substantiate their theory. But take another day's journey, and the theory 
is upset with mules — mules here, there, everywhere ; nothing but mules, 
and nothing fit for a farm but mules, because they are so strong and hardy 
they never tire, and live upon almost nothing for their daily rations, and are 
the very personification of life everlasting. 

Now, while the advocates of each class of animals disagree so widely, how 
are the seekers aftei- truth to satisfy themselves ? Do they look to us for an 
opinion ? We can give it ; here it is. All are best, and upon a large farm 
all would be found economical to keep for diflPerent classes of work ; and it 
is our opinion that no man who farms a hundred acres can afi'ord to do with- 
out oxen, mules, and at least one horse. If his oxen are well trained, they 
will travel as fast before the plow and wagon as mules ; but the latter are so 
much more Enduring in hot weather, at all sorts of hard work, that their 
services are then particularly valuable. They are better, too, to go off upon 
the road, or to carry produce to market, because they may be, though nat- 



Seo. 8.] HORSES AND MULES. 117 

urally about as slow as oxen, trained to travel liomeward without a load at 
a round trot. For working singly in the cultivation of crops, mules are far 
superior to horses, and of course can do a great deal of work tliat could not 
be done by oxen. We have seen mules that were fair substitutes for saddle- 
horses, having one good quality, that of sure-footedness. There is one ob- 
jection to mules on a farm where the stock is generally pastured : there is 
nothing sliort of a Mississippi fence that will hold them — that is, twelve rails 
liigh, and stake-and-ridered ; and we have heard planters declare that they 
had often known the brutes to climb over such a fence as that. In advising 
a Northern farmer to keep mules, we therefore advise him to make his cal- 
culation to keep them in a stable all the time the}' are out of harness. 

168. Breeding of Horses aad Mule'So — ^There are certain universal laws of 
breeding which can not be ignored, except at the sacrifice of all success. In 
Kentucky and Tennessee, a very large strain of mules have been obtained 
by using jacks of immense size. "We recollect seeing one at R. Cockrill's, 
near Nashville, over eighteen hands high. We have seen several mules of 
that hight, and numerous ones of sixteen and seventeen hands high. It is 
still a question whether such large mules are as economical as the smaller 
sizes, which cost less at first and cost less for sustenance ; and some persons 
contend that at ordinary labor the small mule will do as much and last 
longei'. 

In breeding either horses or mules, a writer upon the subject says : " If we 
would have sound stock, we must have constitutional soundness in both dam 
and sire. There are hundreds, ay, thousands, who will scour the country and 
compare the merits of a dozen horses — will give time and money to secure 
the services of a good stallion — and all with the expectation of procuring a 
fine colt from a miserable, puny, ill-shaped, broken-winded, spavined old 
mare. How often do we hear it said, ' Oh, she will do to raise a colt 
from ;' or — after hard service and cruel usage have left a mere wreck of 
what, away back in the farmer's memory, was once a beast of power, activ- 
ity, excellent temper, and noble bearing — 'we must now turn the old mare 
out to breed from.' The start is wrong, the foundation is defective — what 
wonder should the structure tumble to the earth ? 

" In the mare we need size and symmetry ; if there be blood, all the bet- 
ter — it will tell. Without the first two, liowever— even though all the 
blood that has flowed through thorough-breds, from the days of Godolphin 
to the present, were in her veins — she is utterly unfit for a breeder. Many 
animals possess some favorable peculiarity which owners wish to transmit, 
and though there may be a structural deficiency in some other part, the 
mare is brought to the breeding paddock in the hope that the desirable 
features will be prominent in the colt, even if it be at the expense of other 
points of strength and action. The breeder here commits an error. It 
would be better to let the mare go, for in the very large majority of cases 
the deficiencies will be transmitted while the excellences Avill not. 

" In choosing a mare for breeding purposes, she should be so formed in 



118 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

frame, as to be capable of carrying and well nourishing her offspring ; that 
is, she slionld be what is called " roomy." Tliere is a formation of the hips 
which is particularly unfit for breeding purposes, and yet which is some- 
times carefully selected, because it is considered elegant ; this is the level 
and straight hip, in which the tail is set on very high, and the end of the 
haunch bone is nearly on a level with the projection of the hip bone. 
Nearly the opposite form is the more desirable, where, on examining the 
pelvis, it will be seen that the haunch bone forms a considerable angle with 
the sacrum, and that there is, as a consequence, plenty of room, not only for 
carrying the foal, but for allowing it to pass into the world. Both of these 
points are important, the former evidently so, and the latter no less so on 
consideration ; because, if the foal is injured in the birth, either of necessity 
or from ignorance, it will often fail to recover its powers and will remain 
permanently injured. Tlie pelvis, then, should be wide and deep — that is to 
say, large and roomy, and there should also be a little viore than the average 
length from hip to the shoulder, so as to give plenty of bed for the foal, as 
well as a good depth of back ribs, which are necessary to give the strength 
to support this increased length. Beyond this roomy frame, necessary as 
the egg-shell of the foal, the mare only requires such a shape and make as 
is well adajited for tlie purpose she is intended for— that is to say, for pro- 
ducing colts of the style and form she is intended to j^roduce. We will add, 
that she must have four good legs under her, and those legs standing on a 
foundation of good, well-shaped, large feet, open heeled, and by no means 
flat-soled.' 

"'In health,' says the same writer, 'the brood mare should be as near 
perfection as the artificial state of the animal will allow ; at all events, it is 
the most important point of all, and in every case the niare should be very 
carefully examined with a view to discover what deviations from a natural 
state have been entailed upon her by her own labors, and what she has in- 
herited from her ancestors. All accidental defects, such as broken knees, 
dislocated hips, etc., may be passed over; the latter, however, only when 
the stock from which the mare is descended are famous for standing their 
work without this frailty of sinew and ligament. Spavins, ring-bones, large 
splents, side-bones, and, in fact, all bony enlargements, are constitutional 
defects, and will be almost sure to be perpetuated, more or less, according to 
the degree in which they exist in the particular case.' 

" Having said thus much upon the requisites on the side of the clam, let 
us see what shonld be sought for in a sire. It is maintained by all writers 
upon this subject, that hlood should be possessed by a stallion in an eminent 
degree ; that the essential on the part of the sire is the greatest amount of 
pure blood compatible with size, weight, and power according to the pur- 
poses for which we intend to breed. Our best veterinarians argue that the 
degree of strength in the bone, sinew, and frame of a blooded horse is, in 
proportion to extent, vastly superior to that contained by his coarser and 
more mammoth brother, the English cart-horse. The difference in the form 



Seo. 8.] HORSES AND MULES— BREEDING. 119 

and texture of the muscular system, and in the lesser tendency to form 
flabby, useless flesh, is also in favor of blood. In addition to all this, the 
general constitution of the animal is calculated to furnish him with gi'eater 
vitality, recuperative energy, and physical power — in proportion to size and 
weight — and, as a consequence, quicker movement, greater courage, and 
better powers of endurance. 

"Herbert, in his 'Hints to Horse-Keepers,' gives his views upon this 
branch of our subject so coiicisely and clearly, that we can not refrain from 
quoting a paragraph, as follows : ' To breed from a small horse with the hope 
of getting a large colt ; from a long-backed, leggy horse, with the hope of 
getting a short, compact, powerful one ; from a broken-winded, or blind, or 
flat-footed, or spavined, or ring-boned, or navicular-joint diseased horse, with 
the hope of getting a sound one ; from a vicious horse, a cowardly horse — 
what is technically called a dunghill — with the hope of getting a kind-tem- 
pered and brave one ; all or any of these would be the hight of folly. The 
blood sire (and the blood should always be on the sire's side) should be, for 
the farmer-breeder's purposes, of medium hight, say 15i hands high, short- 
backed, well ribbed up, short in the saddle-place, long below. He should 
have high withers, broad loins, broad chest, a straight rump, the converse of 
what is often seen in trotters, and known as tlie (joose-rump y a high and 
muscular, but not beefy crest ; a lean, bony, well-set-on head ; a clear, bright, 
smallish, well-placed eye ; broad nostrils and small ears. His fore legs 
should be as long and as muscular as possible above the knee, and his hind 
legs above the hock; and as lean, short, and bony as possible below those 
joints. The bones can not by any means be too flat, too clear of excres- 
cences, or too large. Tlie sinews should be clear, straight, firm, and hard to 
the touch. From such a horse, where the breeder can find one, and from a 
well-chosen mare (she may be a little larger, more bony, more roomy, and 
in every way coarser than the horse, to the advantage of the stock), sound, 
healthy, and well-limbed, he may be certain, accidents and contingences set 
aside, of raising an animal that will be creditable to him as a scientific stock- 
breeder, and profitable to him in a pecuniary sense." 

With these general remarks upon what we require in breeding, we think 
we may close the section upon horses. We hope what we have given in re- 
lation to breeding horses will be carefully studied and breeds compared, and 
that what we have said will be just sufficient to awaken an interest that will 
tend to the improvement of this most faithful beast in the service of man. 
If we have not got the right breed, let us inquire where is the deficiency, 
and amend it. Above all, let ns think what purpose we are breeding for, 
and not attempt to get an animal suitable for a lady's saddle from an English 
cart-horse or tlio Norman diligence. 

169. Horse-Gparing. — If a New Mexican, or even a full-blood North Caro- 
lina mountaineer, should appear in the city of New York with his horse 
harnessed, as we have have often seen, it would attract much attention, as 
the whole gearing might not have a particle of leather or iron in its compo- 



120 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

sitiou, the collar being made of braided coru-sliucks, the hames of natural 
crooked sticks, the traces of raw hide, fastened to the hames by a hole and 
a knot, and to the whiffletree by a loop around the end. Rude as this gear- 
ing is, it answers a good jJUi'pose, and does not gall or sweat the horse like 
the great English collars, or like those known in our boyhood as the " old 
Dutch collar," wliicli was so much like the breeching of the same harness 
that it was rather difficult to tell which belonged forward and wiiich behind. 

The old English collar, specimens of which may be seen occasionally in 
this country, was a most cumbersome piece of horse-gearing which a sensible 
man will not be likely to copy. It is made like our American collars, only 
very much heavier, and has attached to its upper end as an ornament two 
pieces of stiff sole leather as big as the skirts of a saddle, with a great deal 
of ornamental stitching around its edge. Some of these collars weigh 12 to 
15 lbs., and the hamcs arc furnished with two brass horns that stick up sev- 
eral inches above the flaj). 

The Scotch collars are also made with a great superfluity of leather, and 
are very heavy, though diftering in form from the English collars. 

The weight of a Scotch plow harness is given in Stephens' book of " The 
Farm" at 38 lbs. We have often seen a horse equally M'ell harnessed to a 
plow in this country when the whole gearing would not weigh half as much, 
nor cost half as much, as an English collar. These English collars are often 
ornamented with red worsted fringe and tassels, and give a six-horse team, 
wearing bells, a very formidable appearance. 

We recommend as an improvement upon our own light, easy, and, we 
think, handsome collars — handsome, because fitting for their purpose — that 
they should be made open at the bottom. We drove one pair of horses from 
Chicago to New Orleans, and from New Orleans to New York, making 
many detours, and in all driving some five thousand miles in one journey, 
with a pair of collai's open at the bottom ; and although out in all sorts of 
weather, never had a sore shoulder or even chafed off the hair. Neither did 
we use breeching in all that journey, yet we traveled over some very rough 
and mountainous roads. We are satisfied that a horse will hold back a light 
carriage with a good strong i)added girt as well as with breeching. Our plan 
of a harness is exactly the contrast of an English one. Theirs is, to use up 
all the leather and labor possible, and ours to use just as little as possible. 
We do not believe in blinders, check-reins, breeching, nor heavy collars. 
The harness should be made as light as it can be and be strong. Strength is 
an important particular. For a farm-wagon or plow harness we recommend 
short leather tugs and chains as preferable to long tugs or long chains. 

170. Working Three Horses Abreast. — In the north part of this country it 
is not very common to see three horses worked abreast. It is quite common 
in Louisiana, particularly in working horses to carts. It is much practiced 
in England, and perhaps would be more so here if farmers had proper gear- 
ing. We have seen it practiced sometimes by hitching the middle horse to 
the center of the swing-bar. This gives no chance of equalizing the draft 



Sec. 8.] HORSES AND HARNESS. 121 

between the three horses. The English have what are called compensating 
bars between the swing-bar (which we call the double-tree), and the three 
single-trees, so that each horse may be seen to pull equal to the others. 

Tliese bars should be made of iron, one and a half inches wide and three 
eighths of an inch thick. Two of the bars are each 27 inches long, and these 
are attached, as the single-tree usually is, to the ends of the swing-bar, by a 
fulcrum just one third of the length from the outer end. Then a center 
bar, 20 inches long, is attached by working joints to the ends of these out- 
side bars, and the single-tree of the center horse is attached to the center 
of this bar, and the single-trees of the outside horses are attached to the 
ends of the other bars. This equalizes the strain upon all the horses, for it 
is impossible for one to start ahead without imparting motion backward to 
both of the other horses. 

The irons of a single or double-tree should always be made so as to clasp 
the wood, which should never have a hole bored through it to pull by. 

171. Dimensions of Double aud Siagle-Trecs. — Perhaps every farmer knows 
how to gear a horse, and what are the proper dimensions of a set of double 
or single-trees. But there are many persons who take to farming in aftei'- 
life, and others who may have occasion to make this part of a set of horse- 
gearing, and these will be glad to have the following directions to refer to. 

The bar of a double-tree should be three feet nine inches long and three 
and a half inches wide at the center, and one and a quarter inches thick, and 
it should be made of the strongest kind of wood that can be procured, and 
straight grained and free from knots. The best wood we have for this pur- 
pose is second growth white ash, such as all of our best hoe and shovel 
handles are made of in the United States. 

A single-tree should be three feet three inches long, two and a half inches 
wide, and one and a quarter inches thick. The irons of double and single- 
trees may be all made of the same form and strength ; that is, a piece of the 
very best flat bar iron, one and three quarter inches wide and one fourth 
of an inch thick, is bent so as to clasp around the back part, and the ends 
come about two thirds of the width toward the front edge, with half-inch 
holes through the end and through the wood. In this hole a piece of half- 
inch iron is to be inserted by tapering the ends so that they will go through 
the hole from each way and clinch fast on the flat iron, leaving the bend 
forward so as to form a loop in which to put the hook of the single-tree, or 
the chain, or a loose ring, as may be required. Tliese irons can not come 
oS", even if they should get loose, and the wood is not likely to break, be- 
cause there is no strain upon it. The strain is all upon the irons, and when 
the loop wears out, a new one is easily insei'ted in its place. The center irons 
of the double or single-trees are put on after the same fashion, the loop of the 
round iron being back, instead of forward, and both the flat and round irons 
for the center may be a little stronger than the ends. 

This plan is far better than making the irons to drive on like a ring, fast- 
ening them by a few stub-nails driven in the end of the single-tree. Acci- 



122 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

dents often occur fi'om the irons of single-trees, put on like rings, getting 
loose and working off. Such things seem alwaj's to happen at the most un- 
propitious times. We knew one man well, who lost his life in consequence 
of just such an accident. lie was crossing one of the Western prairies upon 
a cold, stormy night, when the accident occurred, by which he was unable 
to proceed, and, as was supposed, while getting his horses loose, that he 
might ride to the nearest house, some miles distant, he became so chilled as 
to be unable to mount on horseback, and before morning his horses left him 
alone to perish — all in consequence of having bad gearing. 

We have ourselves had some very unpleasant experience in our prairie 
traveling, arising from broken swing-trees, and therefore warn you to make 
them very strong — no matter about the looks. Utility is everything. 

Flowing vnthfour horses, though not much practiced in this countrj', is 
sometimes necessary, and, for want of practice, but few know how to attach 
four horses to a plow so as to work in the easiest manner. 

The common way is to hitch the double-tree of the leading pair to a hook 
in the center of the double-tree of the rear pair. This gives a dead pull to 
the leaders without affecting the other pair. To obviate this, and give a 
compensating balance to both jjair, the following plan has been adopted : 
Attached to the hook of the plow-beam is an iron pulley, about six inches 
diameter. The chain from the first set of double-trees, instead of being 
hooked to the plow-beam, is rove through this pulley, and the end carried 
forward and hooked to the forward double-trees. The working of this is, 
that neither pair can give a dead pull independent of the other pair. If you 
touch up the hind pair so that they start suddenly forward, tlie pull does 
not give the plow a jerk, because the chain yields around the pulley and 
soon draws back upon the leaders, giving them a hint to press forAvard, and 
tlms keep the strain even. To prevent either pair from drawing too much 
of tlie chain through the pulley, you can insert an open ring into a link at a 
suitable distance on either side. 

There is no other plan that we have ever seen in operation, so simple as 
this is, to give a perfect equilibrium and balance the forces of each pair of 
horses. In fact, the whole four, by the aid of the swing-trees and pulley, are 
all kept in equilibrium. 

It will be well for the hind pair of horses to wear a common wagon neck- 
yoke, and pass the chain that extends to the double-trees of the forward 
horses through the ring, or if that is too high, through a loop attached to 
the ring. The chain is sometimes supported by a strap swinging between 
the rear horses, each end attached to a back band on to the hames. 



PLATE X. 

(Page 123.) 

This picture speaks for itself, and does credit to the artist. It is 
one that will interest more persons than any other. The descrip- 
tions of these fowls will be found in Section IX., ^ 180, 181, 182, 
together with several other kinds. Those here illustrated comprise 
most of the best improved varieties, and quite as many as any farmer 
will care to possess. By comparing the descriptions with the pic- 
tures, it will enable any one to make a suitable selection. The de- 
scription of poultry fails to give satisfaction without pictorial aid. 
It is here complete. We may well feel proud of this picture. 



Sec. 9.] 



POULTKT. 



123 




SECTION 1X.-P0ULTRY, 

r 

W^W ^^^^ ^^^ Poultry Keepers.— Those who expect to 

t^^lL- be successful in raising or managing poultry, or 

liope to make it a paying part of farm business, 

should observe a few simple rules which will 

save them from much disappointment and trouble. 

It is not advisable to keep large numbers of hens 

^ether, or go into the poultry business on a large scale. 

is found impracticable and unprofitable; besides, they 

not be kept in so healtliy a condition as where but 

are together. 

. It is impossible to keep hens to advantage without 
,'ing a properly arranged house for their accommoda- 
This is as necessary as that a farmer should have 
a stable for his cattle or a dwelling for his family. 

3. In connection with the house, a poultry-yard should be provided, which 
should contain a grass-plot, gravel, some quantities of slacked lime, and dry 
ashes. 

4. Tlie inside of the poultry-house should be whitewashed twice a year, or 
oftener, which will serve to keep it free from vermin, and the hens will be 
kej^t in better condition. 

5. Pure water, in sufficient quantities, must be provided several times a 
day, in winter and in summer. 

6. Feed should be given at regular periods. To fatten fowls, they must 
not be allowed to run at large. 

These rules are subject to variation under certain circumstances. A new 
settler in the woods woiild not consider them applicable. It woxdd be more 
profitable to let his poultry run at large. So it is upon all forms at some 
seasons, but there" are but few farmers who would not sometimes find it prof- 
itable to shut up all his poultry, the gallinaceous portion of it particularly. 
For this purpose a poultry-yard will be found always a great convenience, 
if not a great profit. It should be so constructed that its first cost will not 
be money unprofitably spent. Many persons have found it profitable to 
have a tolerably large iuclosure for poultry, and plant that with plum-trees. 
It is asserted that curculio insects never disturb plums upon such trees. It 
is our opinion that it would be found very profitable to have a portable 
poultry house and yard, which could be conveniently moved from place to 
place, keeping it upon one spot one year, and upon another the next. By 
this means some bad brier-patches would be subdued, and some poor spots 
cheaply enriched. 

If poultry are kept in a yard, the ground should be often dug up. If the 
yard is large enough, it may be plowed. It is a good way to have a lai-ge 



124 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [CnAP. I. 

yard in two parts, and plow and sow grain in one, and when it gets large 
enough for the hens to eat, turn them in and plow and sow the other. 

Hens that run at large are often very troublesome, sometimes doing 
"more mischief than their necks are worth." The following device is for 
such mischievous pests. 

173. Shoeing Heus. — " We observe a recent notice, in some paper, of the 
practice of making woolen shoes (or rather boots), to prevent hens from 
scratching. A flock of fifty fowls, like our owQ, would require considerable 
labor in the manufacture of a hundred woolen boots, which might be worn 
through in a short time and need renewing. It is much better, we think, to 
procure a breed that will not scratch. There is another point of import- 
ance — that is, to keep the animals well fed during the season Avhen scratch- 
ing is most feared." 

One man says : " I keep from thirty to fifty of the white Shanghae — a 
very qniet, well-behaved, and profitable fowl — and adopt the most econom- 
ical mode, namely, regular feeding with grain ; and although there is no 
barrier between their ordinary range and the kitchen garden, they do not 
scratch. yearly enough to do twenty-five cents' damage." 

174. Number of Hens to Keep, and Time to Sell.— A correspondent of the 
Illinois Prairie Farmer says: "We have kept as many as 150 fowls, and 
fed them three pecks of shelled corn daily. But our experience has been, 
that we could get more than half as many eggs from twenty-five fowls as 
wc could from one hundred. We have carried chicks the size of quails to 
market and found them ready sale at twenty-five cents each. We might 
have kept them four months longer, and found them dull sale at a dime 
apiece." 

176. Feeding liens itieat. — We liave been advised to feed plenty of meat to 
our hens, if we wanted them to lay steadily. Now there is a time to feed 
meat and a time not to feed it. When the temperature is low and the 
ground is frozen, feed meat, but when the weather is warm, or even mod- 
erate, if the chickens can scratch the ground and find worms and insects, 
they need no meat. The insects and worms furnish meat suflicient, and too 
much in many cases, causing them to lay eggs without any shell. They 
should then have plenty of lime or old mortar, gravel, etc. 

Young chickens generally do best in coops, raised some inches from the 
ground, until they are six or eight weeks old ; if they droop after this, the 
next hour of warm sunshine will bring them up again. A correspondent 
says, the last time he tried to raise them on the ground, he lost 59 out of 
60. He has often raised 60 or 70 at a time since without losing one, simply 
by cooping them away from the ground until six weeks old. 

A writer in the English Agricultural Gazette recommends that a piece of 
iron be kept constantly in the water to which fowls have access. Iron rust, 
he says, is an excellent tonic. A roll of brimstone is also recommended to 
be kept in the water. 

176. How to Keep Hens Shut up. — It is one of the most important matters 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 125 

about poultry keeping, particularly to small fanners and villagers, to know 
how to keep hens in continement. It is very convenient for many persons 
who could not allow them to run at large to annoy themselves and neigh- 
bors, to keep enough to supply the family with fresh eggs, and perhaps a 
few cliickens. 

As continement is an nnnatural condition for fowls, it is often an un- 
healthy condition. Tlie question is, can they be kept shut up in close quar- 
ters and keep healthy ? If large numbers are together, they are very ajit to 
get a disease which makes them lose their feathers. Sometimes they pull 
them off of one another. Great attention should be paid to cleanliness, 
where fowls are shut up. Lime for the hens to eat — lime scattered over the 
flooi' — lime used as whitewash, should never be neglected. The following 
rules are very good : 

1st. Do not keep more than ten hens confined in one small yard. They 
will be more profitable than fifty. If you wish to keep a large number, have 
several places for tliem. 

2d. Do not confine them in a damp or shaded place, but in a dry one, 
where they can have both shade and sunshine. The latter is very important. 

3d. As they can not remove from the filth that accumulates, it should be 
removed from them. Tliere is no permanent success in keeping fowls in 
confinement without the utmost neatness. Their droppings should be daily 
removed from the roosting-place, and the yard should be well littered witli 
fresh straw, tan, or other material, as often as is necessary. 

4th. The hen is omnivorous — that is, she eats almost ever^'thing ; insects, 
flesh, grain, and fruit are taken with avidity. All attempts, therefore, to 
confine hens to a single article of diet will fail. Give them a good supply 
of grain and butchers' scraps, boiled potatoes, sour milk, and the refuse of 
the kitchen, and dui'ing the summer months an occasional taste of fruit, and, 
in additiort, egg-shells and oyster-shells crushed ; or, if you can not get 
these, pound up the bones that always collect about yards. It is wonderful 
with what avidity fowls, especially when confined, will eat broken bones. 

5th. Plenty of clean water is always necessary. Stagnant or filthy water 
will not do. It alone is sufficient to c'huse disease. Running water is best, 
but clean, fresh water will answer. 

6th. Exercise is quite an important part of the plan. Turn them out an 
hour before sunset to pick up insects, gravel, and other substances, and it 
will quicken their circulation and add much to their poM'ers of resisting dis- 
ease. "We have heard a poultry keeper say, who followed these rules, that 
with him the balance-sheet gave a large profit. * 

Although the above remarks are aj^plicable principally to residents of 
towns or villages, yet we would like to add a word for the benefit of farmers. 
How few of them keep poultry at a profit ! Indeed, as generally kept about 
the farm, with free range of the barn, grain, and often portions of the house, 
they are of no profit, and very often are an almost intolerable nuisance. 

177. The Food of FowlSi — This is a very important question. A great 



126 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

many expedients have been resorted to in order to cheapen the food of fowls. 
Chandlers' greaves are largely used by parties in the vicinity of New Yoi'k 
to fatten poultry for market. These are good for an occasional feeding, but 
for exclusive food we have our doubts, and think otiiers will, after reading 
the following extract: 

ITS. Arc Fowls Wholesome which are Fed on Putrid Meat ?— Such is the 
quesiion considered by Dr. Duchesne in the January number of the Annales 
(TITyglene Puhlique. 

It is well known that man can not indulge in putrid meat with impunity, 
and numerous cases are on record where accidents have occurred from this 
kind of food. Little is known, however, of the effects produced by the flesh 
of animals otherwise in good health, but nourished with flesh in a state of 
putrefaction. Certain animals can undoubtedly be nourished on such putrid 
matters ; but it is important, in a hygienic point of view, to determine the 
modifications which the exclusive use of putrid viands may produce in the 
quality and the preservability of fowls destined for the market. 

On the occasion of a complaint agaiust a farmer in the neighborhood of 
Paris, Dr. Duchesne visited his establishment on a warm day in July, and 
toward the afternoon. The food of the poultry he found to consist of flesh 
in a state of putrid decomposition, which had been obtained from the 
slaughter-houses of Paris. The fat is first removed by cooking, and bran is 
added; and this mixture is given morning and evening to the fowls, who 
fight for it with avidity. A very fetid odor came from the barrels in which 
the food was contained, from the vessels where it was supplied to the fowls, 
and also from the ground round about tliem. The fowls, however, ajjpeared 
to be in perfect health. Dr. Duchesne supplied himself with three eggs laid 
that day, and also with a fowl and duck of a year old, which were killed 
before him. In three hours' time the poultry gave out a very strong odor, 
and the intestines were so offensive that they had to be removed to a dis- 
tance. Decomposition rapidly set in. The fowl, at the end of twenty hours 
after being cooked, had an impleasant, strong taste, and the duck, at the end 
of twenty-four hours, was in such a state that it could not be eaten. Next 
da}', when the flesh was cold, and ttie smell abated, portions of the duck 
were partaken of hy the servants. The eggs, too, were found, if kept a rea- 
sonable time, to become very unpalatable. In fine, it was shown that 
though fowls nourished in this way were apparently healthy, and could be 
eaten at a pinch without great inconvenience, yet that it was most probable 
that the continued use of such articles of diet would be attended with danger. 
The Council of Health at once interdicted the sale of fowls fed in this ob- 
jectionable manner. 

Dr. Duchesne continued his inquiries at the great knackery of Aubervil- 
liers, where pigs and fowls are fed in great numbers on flesh, raw and 
cooked, and where similar animals arc reared on a mixed food, consisting of 
flesh and grain. The results of his observations are embodied in the follow- 
ins conclusions: 



Sec. 9.] POULTRY. 127 

1. Fowls and pigs may be fed on sound flesh, raw and cooked ; on flesh, 
raw and cooked, of animals aflected with contagious diseases, as glanders, 
malignant pustule, hydrophobia, etc. ; and even on flesh, raw or cooked, in 
a very advanced state of putrefaction, without any alteration in their health. 

2. Chickens are reared with difliculty if their food be restricted to flesh, 
raw or cooked, even when sound ; and a larger number of them jjerish than 
■when fed on ordinary kinds of food. 

3. Tiie eggs of fowls thus nourished are as palatable as the eggs of fowls 
nourished in the coiumou way. The shell, however, is thinner and more 
easily broken. 

■ 4. The flesh of fowls and pigs nourished on flesh raw or cooked, is softer, 
more diflicult to preserve, and the fat is yellow and more diftiuent. 

5. The doctor has still doubts as to the absolute wholesomeness of fowls 
and pigs fed on animals dying of glanders, etc., and recommends that the 
use of the flesh of such animals should be prohibited for the rearing of fowls 
and pigs. 

6. The use of flesh in a state of putrefaction, for similar purjioses, should 
be absolutely prohibited as unwholesome. 

7. Fowls should not be fed too long or too abundantly on worms, cater- 
pillars, beetles, etc., as such food communicates a strong taste to the flesh. 

8. The continued use of flesh, otherwise healthy, and either raw or cooked, 
ultimately injures the growth of the fowls and the quality of their flesh. 

9. The best method of rearing undoubtedly is, to give flesh but once a 
day, and to finish with a meal of grain. 

10. For market use, the use of flesh should be stopped, and the fowls re- 
stricted for some time to the use of a vegetable diet. 

179. Choice of a Cock. — In breeding, the choice of a cock is a very import- 
ant matter. The following are some of the " points" insisted upon by 
poultry fanciers : 

It is accounted that he has every requisite qualitj', when he is of good 
size, caiTies his head high, has a quick and aniyiated look, a strong, shrill 
voice, the bill thick and short, the comb a fine red, and in a manner var- 
nished ; a membraneous wattle of a large size, and colored the same as the 
comb, the breast broad, the wings strong, the thighs very muscular, the legs 
thick, the claws with nails rather bent, and with a very keen point ; when 
he is free in his motions, crows often, and scratches the earth with vigor and 
is constantly in search of worms — not so much for himself as his mates — 
when he is spirited, ardent, and clever in caressing them, quick in defending 
them, attentive in soliciting them to eat, in keeping them together in the 
day, and assembling them at night. 

There are some cocks, which, by being too high mettled, are snappish and 
quarrelsome. The way to quiet the turbulent ones is plain : their foot must 
be put through a leather, in a round shape ; they become as quiet as men 
who are fettered at their hands, feet, and neck. 

180. The Varieties of Conunou Fowls.— As-to the variety to be chosen, that 



128 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



must be left to tlie fancy of those who are to raise the fowls. In a farmer's 
family, this will generally be the female portion of it, and the gudewife or 
children who take the fowls under their charge, should be consulted. At 
least the different varieties should be made known to them, by placing in 
their hands some good treatise upon poultry. Several volumes have been 
published, with portraits and full descriptions, and how to conduct the 
business of poultry raising on a large or small scale. "We can not give this 
information in full ; we will only name the several sorts which are to be 
found among poultry fanciers in this country, with short descriptions, and re- 
fer readers, for comparison of size and form, to the beautiful engraved illus- 
trations of varieties, found in standard English works on Domestic Poultry. 

181. The Shanghae and China Breed.— A few years ago a good many 
people in tliis country, afflicted with the " hen fever," went into ecstasies over 
the Shanghae, or China, breed of fowls, sorne of which are enormously large. 
Cocks are spoken of as being twenty -eight inches high. The wings are 
short, and placed liigh upon the body. The tail is short, with a thick clump 
of feathers over the root of the tail feathei-s. Tiie cocks have large combs 
and wattles ; the hens are seldom large. Tlie legs are feathered. The eggs 
are not lai-ge in proportion over the size of eggs of our old-style fowls ; the 
color is nankeen, and the ends rather blunt. 

Those who breed Shanghae fowls consider the flesh very good, and the 
full-grown bodies of cocks weigh eight or ten pounds, and pullets six or 
eiglit pounds. There are varieties of colors among the Shanghaes — some 
being pure white ; others, a reddish brown, etc. 

The variety known as Cochin-China fowls differ very much in quality, 
habits, and general appearance from the Slianghaes, to which they are closely 
related. Their eggs are nearly the same shape, size, and color. The main 
difference is in the somewhat deeper and fuller breast, and being generally 
smooth-legged. They also have the same hollow, harsh voice, when crow- 
ing, in their peculiar sonorous tone, long drawn out, and very unlike the 
shrill ringing clarion of om- old-style barn-door cock. 

The Malay, or Chittagong, is another name of one of the varieties of the 
China breed of fowls, which are supposed to be larger than the Cochins ; 
the size, bj' weight, accorded to some of them seems enormous. 

"We believe the variety called Malay fowls are considered identical with 
the variety called Chittagong. The full-grown Malay cock is said to weigh 
12 lbs., and the hens 8 to 10 lbs. Tiiey are of all shades of color, and have 
small, thick combs and small wattles, and no top-knot ; the legs not feath- 
ered. Their eggs are larger than those of the other large varieties. The 
crow of the Malay cock is loud and harsh, but terminates abruptly. 

182. OrnamPiital Varieties of Fowls. — As the China breed, which we have 
described, can not be said to be ornamental around a genteel farm-house or 
rural residence, we will name some which are so, and at the same time are, 
at least some of them, very valuable for all domestic purposes. The general 
appeai'ance of the various sorts ^may be judged from reading the short notes 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 129 

which we append. The most ornamental thing about a yard full of fowls 
is to have them all of one variety ; for instance, Dominiques, all looking so 
much alike that individuals would be hardly distinguishable. 

The Pheasant-Malay is the name given to a variety of inijjorted fowls, 
wliich are esteemed by some as quite desirable, particularly as ornamental 
stock. They are called good layers, good sitters, and good mothers. The 
cocks have black tails, and black on the neck and wings. Full-sized eggs 
weigh two ounces each. The newly liatched chicks are yellow, with a black 
mark down the back. Some of the hens are described as of a pheasant 
color, with long velvety black necks. 

Oudderland fowls is the name of another variety ; they are jet black in 
the plumage, without combs, and small wattles ; bodies short and plump ; 
legs long and feathered ; eggs large, white, oval-shaped, and rich. Tlie 
hens are not esteemed good layei-s nor sitters. This variety comes fi-ora the 
north of Holland. 

The Dorkings. — This, in our opinion, is one of, if not the, best varieties we 
have in this country for the cvery-day purposes of farmers. It is tiie sort 
mostly used for caponizing in England. There are white, gray, and brown 
Dorkings. The legs are white or flesli-colored, smooth, and terminate in 
Jive toes. They feed well, to a good size, and the flesh is considered partic- 
ularly delicate. The cock's comb is large and erect, and deej) serrated, free 
from top-knot ; wattles, large. They are noted for hardiness ; are prolific, 
and cliickcns easily raised. The eggs are large, pure white, very round, and 
nearly equal in size at the ends. Tlie chicks are brownish yellow, with a 
broad stripe down the middle of the back, and a nari'ower one on each side ; 
feet and legs yellow. 

Black Sjxinish is the name of a variety of very ornamental as well as 
useful fowls. The plumage is glossy black ; the combs of both cocks and 
hens large and red ; and their general appearance spirited and handsome. 
Tliey have a singular mark, which distinguishes the variety — it is a Avhite 
mark on each cheek, not of feathers, but a fleshy substance, M-hich in the 
cocks is very conspicuous. The hens are great layers, but not inclined to 
sit. The eggs are large and white, and so is their skin and flesh, which is 
tender and juicy. Tlie chicks are black, with a white spot on tlie breast, 
and are long in getting feathered ; so none but early spring chickens should 
be attempted, and these must be obtained by setting hens of another variety 
upon the Spanish eggs. 

Game Fowls. — There are several distinctly marked sorts of game fowls — 
black, white, gray, and brown, all having the same general characteristics, 
the most marked of M'hich is pugnaciousness. The general size is 3^ to 5i 
lbs. The eggs are smaller than the eggs of the most common fowls, uni- 
formly shaped, and cook ricli and delicate. In form tlie game fowl is tlu 
handsomest of the race. The liead is thin and long; eyes large and full; 
beak stout and crooked ; long neck ; body compact, short, and round in the 
breast ; thighs thick, stout, liandsome, taper-shaped ; legs long and thick 

n 



130 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

and colored like the beak ; feet thin, broad, strong, with very long claws. 
The cock walks with a proud, defiant courage, and appears always ready for 
a fight. It is a good variety to breed from for domestic purposes, if care is 
taken not to allow cocks of any other sort upon the premises, and not to 
allow cocks ever to be pitted against each other. 

The Mexicans appear to have a variety of game fowls quite distinct from 
the English varieties. It was first introduced into the United States in ISW, 
by General "Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina. The cocks and hens have 
but few marks to distinguish one from the other. The original stock are 
pheasant-colored, and in some of those bred iu South Carolina, black tail 
feathers, and a tendency to gray or light yellow plumage. This variety are 
great fighters ; they have strong, muscular frames, and are quick and firm 
in action. The cocks have large lustrous eyes and strong bills and upright 
combs. The hens are good layers and sitters, and good nurses. This is the 
breed of game-cocks patronized by General Santa Anna, who was the great- 
est cock-fighter in Mexico. 

The Java fowl is a very large variety, of black color, said to be found, 
though probably not pure, on Long Island, and around Philadelphia. They 
arc sometimes called Saddle-backs, on account of being so broad across the 
rump. 

The Jersey Blue is the name of a variety quite common in New Jersey, 
the excellence of which is so great, that anything particularly good is figura- 
tively sjjoken of as " one of the old blue hen's chickens." The color is light 
blue, sometimes approaching a dun ; legs generally dark, and sometimes 
lightly feathered. Cocks weigh 7 to 9 lbs. ; and hens, 6 to 8 lbs. 

The Poland fowls take their name, not from Poland, but from a resem- 
blance to the tuft of white feathers worn by Polish soldiers. They are 
glossj' black, except the top-knot, which resembles a full, white rose. Like 
the Black Spanish, the Polands arc great layers and bad sitters. The skin 
and fiesli are white, and good for the table. The cocks weigh 4 to 4i lbs., and 
hens, 3 to 3^ lbs. Their form is plumj), and legs not ver}' long, being well- 
proportioned and handsome-shaped, and they are particularly ornamental 
to a country seat. The eggs are of good size, and white, but thougli abun- 
dant, are not as rich as some others. 

Another variety of the so-called Poland fowls are white, with black top- 
knots ; and another sort are gold-spangled. These are exceedingly' orna- 
mental ; the crest being large, golden, and brown ; legs, light blue, and 
toes partially webbed. 

The Silver Polands are spangled with silver instead of gold, and the hens 
are the most ornamental. Even the chicks of this variety are pretty. 

The Poland variety of fowls are only fit for neat places, where they can 
run upon grassy yards or lawns. In dirty pens the crest becomes loaded 
with dirt, and blinds the poor birds. Where they can run at large around 
the house, even if the hens were not, as they are, such good layers, they 
might well be kept for ornament alone. 



Sec. 9.] POULTRY. 131 

The Spangled Hamhurg fowls are another ornamental variety, with top- 
knots and beautiful plumage, both gold and silver spangled. The weight 
of male birds is about 4^ or 5 lbs., and the hens, 3 or 3j lbs. The cock 
stands twenty inches high, and heu eighteen inches. 

The Bolton Gray is another ornamental variety, and also a very useful 
one, tlie hens being excellent layers. They are said to have come from 
Holland to Bolton, England. The color is remarkable ; the ground work 
pure white, delicately penciled with black over the body. Tlio neck is 
wliite, and heads surmounted with large, red, serrated combs. The weight 
of cocks may be 4 to 4i lbs., and hens, 3 to 3i lbs. They belong to the 
small-sized varieties, but are the most perfect patterns of neatness and sym- 
metrical beauty of the domestic fowl family. The chicks are white, except 
a davk streak on the head and back of the neck, which seems curious, as, 
when grown, the necks are white and bodies marked with black. The 
chicks are rather hard to raise. The eggs are small, tapering at one end, 
and pure white. 

The Silky folds are also classed among the ornamental, and compi-'.se sev- 
eral varieties, originating in India. Some have white plumage, with dark 
skin and bones. The combs of some are black, with black plumage and 
black bones ; and the feathers are so unlike feathers, the hens get tlie name 
of silky. They are not considered a valuable bird. 

The Frizzled fowls is another variety, but not one that we can recommend 
any one to cultivate. This sort may be known by the description given to 
us when we first saw any of the kind in our boyhood, and asked the reason 
of their singular appearance, and were told that the chickens got turned in 
the shell in an earthquake, which upset things generally and turned the 
chickens' feathers wrong end foremost. That is the appearance of the pure 
breed. Every feather looks as though it had been curled and turned wrong 
end foremost with a pair of such curling-tongs as the girls used to frizzle 
their hair with in olden time. To our mind, the Frizzles are ugly beasts, 
not worth raising on account of any good qualities, and only to be indulged 
in by those who can afford to keep curiosities. 

The Cuckoo fold is a variety found in some English farm-yards, and per- 
haps in this coimtry. It has a barred plumage, comewhat resembling the 
breast of a cuckoo. The general color is a slate blue, tinged with white ; the 
comb is small ; the iris of the eyes, bright orange ; feet and legs, light flesh 
color ; so that it will be seen tliat the breed is rather an ornamental one. 
The birds grow to a large size ; the eggs are very white, smooth, and about 
two ounces weight. 

The Blue Dun fowls originated in Dorsetshire, England, and are rather an 
ornamental variety, under size, slender made, with high, deeply serrated, 
single combs. Sometimes the Blue Dun cock is gold or scarlet spangled, 
and very pretty. The hens are good layers, and make good pets. The 
cocks are rather gamy. The hens are good mothers, and the chicks are real 
little curiosities. This variety is esteemed for the table. 



132 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

The Large-Crested fowl is another old English ornamental variety, the crest 
beino- larger than the Polands, and the fowls of various colors, some of them 
very brilliant white — more dazzling than the white Guinea fowl, which gives 
them and the homestead where they are kept a very lively apisearance. 
When dressed for market, their appearance is very clean and attractive. 
Tlioir general good qualities make them favorites upon many a farm in 
England. 

The Bantams are also I'ated among the ornamental fowls. Some of them 
are really so. The Sebrights have beautiful plumage of a delicate speckled 
dark and golden color. Tliere are also black, white, and nankeen colored 
bantams. Their model is perfect and plumage beautiful, and of only about 
a pound average weight for the hens, and one and a quarter to one and a 
half pounds for cocks. They are great pets with many persons in England, 
and are held at fabulous prices. The bantams are good layers, and good 
sittei's, and good mothers. Some of the cocks are very gamy. We de- 
cidedly approve of keeping bantams as' ornaments of the farm-yard. And 
we recommend that the feather-legged variety be avoideil, as they are not 
so neat in muddy weather in their appearance as the naked-legged sort. 
The color is a mere matter of taste. 

The Dominique fowl is not only an ornamental variety, but a very good 
one for every-day purposes on the farm. Tiie true color is a peculiar ar- 
i-angement of white and blue, that gives a sort of greenish tint to the 
plumage. The combs are double ; the wattles small ; the legs white or yel- 
low. The Dominiques are hardy ; above medium size ; very domestic ; and 
the hens are good layers, and most excellent sitters and mothers ; the eggs 
good size and quality, and the birds excellent for the table. 

There are many other sorts of ornamental fowls not entirely worthy of 
recommendation for domestication in this country — among wliich is the 
Bankiva cock, fi-om the East Indies, of the bantam order, but twice as large 
as the common bantams. 

The Forlced-Tall cock is another India variety, something like the Bankiva 
cock. This is a wild sort in Java. 

Sonerafs wild cocJc is also an Indian variety, which has been attempt- 
ed to be domesticated on account of its beautiful plumage, which is a deep 
gray, tinged with lighter gray on the edges, with deep green tails ; beak, 
legs, and feet yellow. 

183. Chicken foops.— " Anybody knows how to make a chicken coop." ISTo 
ho don't. Not one farmer in ten can make a decent chicken coop. Conse- 
quently, old barrels and boxes are siibstituted. They may be "good enough ;" 
they are not ornamental, and for ornamental poultry you should have orna- 
mental coops. To make a convenient, light coop, take half or three-eiglith- 
inch boards, six inches wide, and nail them upon posts exactly like siding 
on a house, if that is the way your house and farm buildings are sided, so as 
to have a uniformity. If buildings are boarded up and down with battens, 
make coops in the same way. Board three sides close, and the other side fix 



Sbo. 9.] POULTRY. 133 

with slats two incbes wide and two inelies apart, witli extra slats tliat can be 
sboved in between, being held in place by a bar in front at top, and one at 
bottom. One of the other slats should also be made movable, so it can 
be raised to allow the hen to go in and out. If the coop is double, which we 
prefer, make a movable slat for each room. The dimensions of a double 
coop may be two feet long, one and a half feet wide, one and a half feet 
high on the bach, and two feet in front, with a close partition in the middle. 
Make the roof of five pieces of boards — one at each end and one in the mid- 
dle, nailed fast, and two others hinged and buttoned down on the others, so 
as to make openings about six inches wide into the coops. One room is for 
the nest and one for the brood. If two hens are very docile, they may oc- 
cupy one Coop. Outside of the front slats nail a little trougli, one foot long, 
to serve both rooms for water, which will be comeatable outside and in. 
These are the dimensions of a coop of the smallest size, which will be so 
light that a child can move it from place to place. It should have a floor; 
and if rats are troublesome, it can be set up from the ground, particularly at 
night. Tlie dimensions in lengtli may be increased as much as desired. Set 
it face to the sun, and in case of storm, or in cold nights, close all the slats, 
leaving open a hole in each end, high up, about two inches square or round, 
" for ventilation. If you wish to raise your chickens without a mother, line 
one room of tlie coop with old carpet, and put a board, covered with woolly 
sheep-skin, about six or eight inches square, in one corner, just high enough 
for the chiqks to creep under, and look well to them for a few days, and they 
will do better than with a bad mother. As they grow large enough to go 
out of doors, let them in a small yard, in front of the coop, to scratch and 
bask in the sun. Tlie best fence for such a yard is wove-wire, one and a 
half or two feet high. With nice, warm, dry coops, early chickens can bo 
raised almost as sure as late ones, and where grown for sale, will generally 
sell for as much when half grown as late ones will full grown. 

Stoves ill Chide?!- Houses. — It has been found profitable, in raising early 
chickens, to use artificial warmth. A small, warm room, warmed in cold 
weather by a stove, so as to keep the temperature at about 55 degrees, 
will allow you to set your hens in January or February, and get chickens 
which will sell, when the size of quails (say 75 cents a pair), for as much as 
old fowls. These M-arm-house chickens must not be allowed to nm out in 
the cold or wet grass, but will be benefited by allowing them to run out in 
the sun. If we made a business of raising poultry for market, we would set 
hens in a stove-room all winter. A tun of coal, costing say six dollars, 
would warm a room all winter, large enough to raise two or three hundred 
chickens, which would sell in the city markets, certainly at twenty-five cents 
apiece, when tlie size of quails. 

184. Set Hens Early.— It is a great object to set hens as early as possible 
in spring, as early chickens will begin to lay in October, and give eggs in 
November and December. Be careful to give your early sittei's a warm, 
dry nest. After the hen has been sitting ten days, examine the eggs to see 



134 



DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



[Chap. I. 



if all are good, and tliro^v out the bad ones. To tell ■which are good, hold 
an egg np to a hole or crevice of a dark room, and look at it, and if all below 
the vacuum in the butt is dark-colored opaque, it is in a fiiir way to hatch. 
If it is light-colored and yellowish, so that the suidiglit can be seen through 
it, you may throw it out at once ; and if all are so, you can dismiss the old 
hen with your thanks for her good intentions. 

" Double eggs" rarely hatch, and wlien they do, are just as likely to pro- 
duce two distinct chickens as a Siamese one. 

Nests should be made shallow. If boxes are used, not over five inches 
deep. 

185. Periods of Incubation. — A common fowl hen sits 20 days ; a Guinea 
fowl hen, 25^ days ; a duck, 2C days ; a turkey hen, 27 days ; a goose, 29 
days ; a musk duck, 32 or 33 days ; a pea-hen, 27 to 29 days. 

To hatch healthy chicks in these periods, the birds must have good warm 
nests in a sheltered situation. Chickens have been hatched in nineteen 
daj's, and the period has been prolonged to twenty-seven days. 

186. Weights of Various Breeds of Fowls and other Poultry : 



Black Polish cock, three years old 

" hen, " " " 

' ' pullet 

Golden Polish cock 

' ' hen 

Another hen 

Golden Polish pullet 

Malay hen 

Creole (Silver Hamburgh) hen 

Black Nondescript hen 

Globe-crested Polish hen 

Silver Polish hen 

Game-cock 

" hen 

Young Blue Dun cock , 

Blue Dun hen 

Large Dun Hybrid hen 

Pheasant-Malay cocks, two years old, 
average each 

" cockerel, five months old 

' ' hen 

" pullet, seventeen months old 

" (crossed with Dorking hen), four 

years old 

Speckled Surrey hen, two years old 

Spanish hen 

Two Dorking cocks, each 

" hens 

Cock turkey, two years and a half old . . 
Hen ' ' one year and a half old ... . 



5 


3 


a 


4 


2 


6 


5 






Turkey cock, si.xteen months old. . . 
' ' hen, three or four years old 



Musk drake (molting) 

White China gander, six years old 

White China goose 

Common China goose, Cynoides, hix. 
years old 

Cochin-China cock, about sixteen months 
old, molting 

Coehin-China hen, " " " " . , 

Malay cock, about sixteen months old . 
" hen, " " " " . . 

Pheasant-Malay cock 

" " hen, molting 

Game-cockerel, about five months old . 

Golden Hamburgh cockerel, just anived 
from a long journey, about five 

months old 

" pullet, " " " 

Cochin-C'hina cockerel, six months old. 

Another, " " " . 

Silver Hamburgh cockerel, after travel- 
ing, about five moutlis old 

" pullet. " " " " 

Black Polish hen, molting 

Golden Hamburgh, " 

Andalusian cockerel, four months old . 
" pullet, " " " . . 

Black Spanish cockerel " " .. 

" pullet, " " " . . 

Silver Polish cockerel, four months and 
a half old 

Golden Poland pullet, about five months 
old 

White-crested Golden Poland pullet, " 



Lbs 


Oz. 


9 


12 


12 


13 


11 


13 


10 


10 





■ 5 


4 


fi 


G 


14 


4 


8 


5 


7 


3 


« 


4 


2 


3 


8 


2 


4 


4 


14 


4 


13J 


3 


1 


2 


8 


3 





2 


3 


3 


8 


2 


6* 


2 


11 


2 


11 


2 


m 


2 


8 



187. Capons and Poulardes.— These are terms applied to emasculated cocks 
and pullets. Every person who makes a business of poultry raising to 
supply a city market, should learn the art of making capons and poulardes, 
because they will always sell for nearly twice as much as other fowls. 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 135 

Tlie instruments used to perforin the operation are few and simple, and 
inexpensive, and tlie art easily learned. 

A set of first-class caponizing instruments is included in tlie following 
list : a scalpel, G2i cents ; silver retractor, $1 50 ; spring forceps, 87i cents ; 
spoon, with hook, 75 cents ; double silver caniila, $1 75 ; total, $5 50. 

A much cheaper set of instruments would answer all practical purposes. 

Tlie proper ago for caponizing chickens is from one to three months. The 
cock is confined upon a table by weights upon the wings and legs, with the 
right side up ; the feathers are tlien plucked off a spot on the right side near 
the hip joint, about an inch across, where the incision is to be made, by 
which the parts are exposed that are to be removed. The operation takes 
but a few minutes for a skillful operator. 

ISS. Pea-FowlSi — Of all the ornamental poultry ever kept on a place, the 
pea-fowls take the lead, and well they might, for they are the most useless, 
and a very expensive luxury. They will not bear confinement ; will not 
even roost in a house, but occupy the tops of the highest buildings or tall 
trees. And for mischief, from whicli they can not be restrained, they excel 
all the feathered tribe. They are cunning beyond belief. They will watch 
opportunities to visit the garden and steal fruit, and be out before they are 
suspected. Driving them out with all ^^ossible marks of ill-treatment has 
no effect upon them, as it does upon other poultry. The pea-fowls will bear 
a repetition of abuse every day, and every day return to their tliieving. So 
no one Avho has a garden and lawn in one inclosure should attempt to keep 
pea-fowl ; nor where there is any chance for them to get into mischief. 

A gardenless mansion may, and should have numbers of pea-fowls. A 
single pair makes but little show, while a flock makes a most dazzling, 
splendid appearance. Peahens are two or three years in coming to maturity. 
They then lay four to seven eggs, which require twenty-seven to twenty-nine 
days' incubation. Peahens always steal tlieir nests, and their eggs must 
never be touched, if you wish the hen to incubate them. They may be taken 
and incubated under a common fowl, or, better, under a turkey, and then the 
peahen may find another sly place and lay again. Tlie peacock has the 
reputation of being a bad father, and killing his own progeny. Therefore 
the hen hides from him as well as from men. 

IS!}. Turkeys. — Every farmer can and should keep turkeys, and as there 
are several varieties, he should get the best and keep no other. 

Turkeys are less mischievous than most other poultry, and in some cases 
they are of great assistance to the farmer in destroying insects. The tobacco 
planters keep turkeys purposely to assist them in ridding the plants of the 
destructive worms. 

The turkey is a much more recent introduction to the poultry-yard than 
the other varieties. It is said that the black sort was carried from its na- 
tive wilds of America to England, and that the American. stock has been 
all drawn from the woods, and that the different sorts have come from a 
Southern and Northern race. "We think, though, that it has come from 



136 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

mixing the black wild variety with a white or party-colored one imported 
from the other side of the Atlantic. We prefer the pure black breed, for it 
gives us the largest and hardiest birds, and we think, also, the handsomest. 
The pure while turkey, it is true, is quite ornamental, but it is not as hardy 
a sort as the black. As for yellow or party-colored turkeys, we would not 
have them on a place a moment longer than necessary to fatten, kill, and 
eat them. , 

The wild hen turkey is wild in the extreme, while the tame one is so do- 
mestic that you may rob her secret nest every day of the new-laid egg, yet 
she will return again and again until she has finished her season, and then 
commence her period of incubation upon the empty nest. Now, if you have 
a nest prepared under cover, with the eggs in it, you may bring home the 
hen and put lier gently upon her eggs, and she will manifest great satisfac- 
tion, and after carefully examining and placing them all right, will sit upon 
them as though the nest was all her own. Thirteen eggs are enough for an 
ordinary-sized turkey, and if she has a good nest she will cover that number, 
so as to give all a fair chance to hatch. It is not necessary to turn the eggs, 
as some persons do — the hen attends to tliat — nor look at thena until about 
the time tlie four weeks are up, when it will be well to remove the chicks as 
they come out, or else take out all the shells and rotten eggs, if there are 
any, to give the chicks room, for they generally are better off in a good nest 
than out of it. Shut the hen in a coop, where the chicks can bask in the 
sun, and not get in the wet grass. You need not feed much the first day ; a 
few bread crumbs will answer. Then give all they will eat of hard-boiled 
egg, chopped fine ; chopped meat, fat and lean ; curds, boiled rice or hom- 
iny, with cress, lettuce, and green onions. Don't stuff them with pepper- 
corns. The idea that that is necessary is all stuff. Liver, boiled and chopped 
up, is good food ; so is barley meal and suet. Melt the suet and pour over 
the meal and mix, and then crumb up when cold. Many green things may 
be chopped up and mixed with milk and water and meal. Don't try to cut 
up feed very fine. The young turkeys, you will find, can swallow big 
lumps. After ten days you may let the hen run, if the weather is fine. In 
bad weather they are apt to take cold, and cramp, and die. Care and high 
feeding are all that are needed to raise turkeys. 

"We knew a woman in Louisiana who raised fifteen hundred out of sixteen 
hundred hatched. She had an old negro woman and a boy to attend to the 
wants of the turkeys, and in wet, chilly weather the young broods were all 
gathered into a log-cabin, warmed by a generous wood fire. 

"VVe have also before us another example of successful turkey raising by a 
woman, that is worthy of attention by some other farmers' wives, who may 
go and do likewise. Lydia Eldridge, of Andover, Mass., writes her expe- 
rience in raising turkeys, under date of Dec. 25, 1858 : 

" Last spring my husband purchased a farm in this town, and I obtained 
one turkey, and she laid 2-± eggs, hatched them all out at one litter, and I 
raised them all. Yesterday we dressed the last of them. The united weight 



Sko. 9.] POULTRY. 137 

of the whole, when dressed, was 212i lbs. ; 108 lbs. were sold for a shilling 
a pound, New England currency, amounting in the aggregate to $33. The 
whole number at tliat price would have amounted to $35 41. Now I think 
that is doing quite well, and if anybody among your army of readers can do 
better than that, I think they deserve a premium ; but until that is done, I 
think I can claim the palm." 

And, in our oi^inion, she is fairly entitled to it. We hope, however, that 
some other woman will try to win it from her by fair competition in this ap- 
propriate field of woman's labor. 

And here is another of the same sort, which should tend to encoiirage 
other women to attempt the same plan to make a little " pin [feather] 
money." It is to encourage others that we collect and publish these 
facts. 

" J. E. Alton, of Quinsigamond, Mass., writes us that Mrs. M. Bennett, of 
Auburn, Mass., had a three-fourths wild turkey, of very large size, which 
laid 11 eggs, all of which she hatched and raised. At six mouths old tlie 
united weight of the eleven was 220 lbs. Some of the male birds weighed 
34 lbs., and the lighted hens 17 lbs. One male sold for $7, and the whole 
for $55." 

These, however, are fancy prices ; but at the steady market prices of 
dressed tiirkeys, which will average 10 cents a pound wholesale, in New 
York, and considerably more for choice birds, the raising and fatting of 
turkeys is a profitable branch of farming. 

It is true that young turkeys, from the time they are old enough to turn 
out to range for themselves, are voracious eaters, and would destroy some 
crops, and so would swine, if permitted to run at large. The farmer finds it 
profitable to keep a lot for swine, and so would he to devote a whole field to 
turkeys ; and if he will do that, where they can forage for themselves, they 
will need very little attention, and will not be likely to get into much mis- 
chief. If rightly managed, a flock of turkeys will do more good than harm 
on a farm, for they are great destroyers of insects. It will be found profit- 
able to plant cabbages, turnips, bagas, peas, oats, wheat, and clover pur- 
posely for the turkeys to feed upon. This can be managed on a small scale 
to advantage by using a movable fence. We have no doubt about the fact 
that a turkey farm would be as profitable as a sheep farm, or a milk farm, 
or a beef or porC-making farm. In all new sections of country, where mast 
is abundant, turkeys will fatten upon it entirely ; and in all sections where 
field feeding is practiced, there is no better stock to run in a corn-field than 
turkeys. Even where corn is worth a dollar a bushel, it has been found 
profitable to feed it to turkeys to fatten them for market. One considerable 
item in the account in all the old States would be the value of the manure 
made from such feeding. 

The most important fact in turkey raising is not to overstock yourself, for 
then your flock of turkeys will become pests to yourself and neighbors — a 
set of mai'auding, piratical thieves. 



138 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

A writer in the Germantown Tclcfiraph furnislies that journal with the fol- 
lowing statement : 

" Much has been published of late in our agricultural journals respecting 
the alimentary properties of cliarcoal. It has been repeatedly asserted that 
domestic fowls may be fattened on it without any other food, and that, too, 
in a shorter time than on the most nutritive grain. I made an experiment, 
and must say that the result surprised me, as I had always been rather 
skeptical. Four turkeys were confined in a pen, and fed on meal, boiled po- 
tatoes, and oats. Four others of the same breed were at the same time con- 
fined in another pen and fed with tlie same articles, but with one pint of 
finely pidverized charcoal mixed daily with their meal and potatoes. They 
also liad a plentiful supply of broken charcoal in their j^en. The eight were 
killed on the same daj^, and there was a difference of one and a half pounds 
each in favor of the fowls that had been supplied with charcoal, tliey being 
much the fattest, and their meat greatly superior in point of tenderness and 
flavor." 

R. n. Avery, of "Wampsville, Madison County, N. Y., is entitled to the 
first prize of honor for improvement in the breed of turkeys. From a cross 
of the American M'ild turkey, made fourteen years ago upon the best domes- 
ticated birds of pure black color that could be obtained, and by careful at- 
tention to breeding since that time, he has succeeded in producing a male 
bird of superlative beauty, of glossy black plumage, which, at two and a 
lialf years old, weighed 34 lbs. alive ; and a female bird, two years old, 
weighing 20 1 lbs. alive ; and a female bird, one year old, dressed ready for 
the spit, 15i lbs. weight ; and as the stock lias been continuously improving 
both in size, beauty of form, and plumage for years, it is impossible to 
determine any limit. He has lately procured a pair of pure wild birds from 
Canada for the purpose of infusing a new strain of wild blood into his stock 
whenever he sees a chance to improve. The ordinary weight of male tur- 
keys, two years old, as they are prepared for the market, will not exceed 15 
lbs., and a female of 8 lbs. is accounted a very good one. 

Just after the election of Mr. Buchanan, a cock turkey from Mr. Avery's 
farm, that weighed 35 lbs., was bought at $1 a pound, and sent to the Pres- 
ident to serve as one of the menibei'S of his (kitchen) cabinet ; and another 
of still larger size was presented to President Lincoln. 

Turkeys grow big in Illinois, according to a corresponclent who writes 
from Stebbinsville, who says that 28 to 36 lbs. is not an uncommon weight 
for a wild tui-key, and one old gobbler that he shot weighed 41 lbs., and spread 
a tail over nine feet around the circle. He thinks some of the brag " im- 
provers of the breed" had better send for some of the Illinois wild stock for 
a cross upon the biggest in all Yankeedom. 

B. F. Langworthy, of Alfred Center, objects to our directions to scald tur- 
keys. He says : 

" Scalded turkeys and chickens sell about two cents a poiind less in Bos- 
ton than those picked dry — do not look as well, and certainly will not keep 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 139 

as long, nor please the customer as much; while the advance price will 
amply pay for the difference of time in dressing." 

On the contrary, in New York, dry -picked poultry does not sell as well as 
that which is scalded. 

190. The Guinea-Fowl.— A union of two breeds of fowls is seen in some 
measure united in the Guinea-fowl. It appears to have some of the charac- 
teristics of tlie turkey and tlie pheasant. Its head is bare like the turkey ; 
its body and plumage, and general form and appearance, somewhat like the 
pheasant. The plumage of the most common sort in this country is of a 
bluish ground, delicately spotted with white. The wing feathers are nearly 
white. There are also fowls of this family entirely white. The greatest ob- 
jection to the Guinea-fowl is the almost continual noise they make, which to 
some is intolerable. It is about as musical as the sharj) squeak of a grind- 
stone or old cart. The noise is, however, tolerated for their good qualities, 
which are not a few. Their noise tends to keep oif hawks and other pests 
of the poultry-yard. They are very ornamental, and give a place a lively, 
pleasant appearance. Their flesh is pretty good for the table ; they are 
good layers, and their eggs are large, and rich, and good for cookery, but 
not so good as common liens' eggs for the table. 

The young chicks are hardy, and very pretty. Tliere is no prettier sight 
in connection with poultry than a fine Guinea-hen with her brood. The 
hen sits a month, and nine eggs are enough for her to cover. The eggs may 
be hatched under a common hen, but a good sitter must be selected, because 
the time is longer than her own. Hard-boiled eggs chopped line, bread 
crumbs, chopped meat or suet, are good food for young chicks. Some per- 
sons procure maggots on purpose to feed chicks. Any kind of small worms 
are devoured greedily by the young Guineas, which are real cormorants. 
They will eat a dozen times a-day, and a full supply of food is one of the 
great secrets of success in raising these as well as turkeys. 

There is no domestic hen that gives such a bountiful sujjply of eggs all the 
year round as a Guinea-hen ; consequently they are not good sitters, and 
other hens have to be used when it is desired to increase the stock rapidly. 

191. DuckSt — "Wherever suitable conveniences exist for keeping ducks, 
they are not only ornamental to the farm, but profitable. Some of the vari- 
eties are particularly ornamental — the little Wood duck the most so of all. 
The Pintail duck is a very neat-looking bird. The Aylesbury sort are pure 
white. The plumage of the drakes of some of the wild sorts which have 
been domesticated, is very beautiful. A few ornamental ducks might be 
kept upon almost every farm, and furnished with artificial water. We 
would never raise but a single brood or two a year, except we had natural 
water. A drake and pair of ducks, with their progeny, would cost but 
little, and the amount of good they would do is incalculable. They are 
great destroyers of slugs, snails, worms, and all larvfe ; and if you should 
see an old duck pitch into a nest of young mice, you would learn what good 
she can do in that way of ridding the farm of pests. 



140 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. ^ [Chap. I. 

Ducks' eggs are not esteemed for the table, but are in cookery. The birds 
when well fatted are alwaj's salable, or good for home consumption, and 
pay as well for the corn they eat as anything in the poultry-yard. 

In selecting a variety of ducks, the purposes for which they are to be bred 
must be considered. If for ornament, select the prettiest. If for scaven- 
gers, we would use the common gray duck and drake with green head. 

The best white duck is the Aylesbury. It has yellow legs and feet and 
flesh-colored bill. White ducks should never be kept except where water 
and grass are both abundant. In the water or on a lawn they are pretty. 
In a muddy yard they are not so. 

There is a great variety of colors, biit we recommend you to confine yours 
to a single color, whether white, black, gray, blue, or slate. Tiie feathers 
of ducks arc as good as geese feathers, and some housewives pluck them in 
the same way. 

The duck sits thirty days ;_ and the hen should be confined an equal length 
of time, where the ducklets can go out, and into natural or artificial water. 
You can not feed them too much, and thej^ are no way dainty. Wlien 
large enough, give them a wide range, bringing them home at night. The 
best food for grown ducks is Indian corn, and the best ducks for the table 
are domesticated wild ones, fatted on corn, or wild ones that have had a 
full range in corn-fields. Beech-mast also makes the flesli of wild ducks 
excellent. 

192. GecsCi — As geese are generally kept by farmers, they are neither 
profitable nor ornamental, but, on the contrary, an unmitigated nuisance, 
befouling grass and water, door-yards and roadsides, and always poking 
their heads throiigh holes into mischief. 

Geese never sliould be kept upon or about any farm, except in a lot 
appropriated to their particular use. A man who would turn out a flock of 
geese upon the public highway to pirate their living, we would not trust 
about our hen-roost of a dark night. 

If geese are kept on a large scale, where water is good, and pastured like 
any other stock, and flnally fatted for market, npon the same principle that 
pigs are fed and fatted, we will insure the largest profit from the geese, 
particularly if the best breeds are selected. 

The Chinese or Hong-Kong geese and the Bremen geese are much larger 
varieties than the breed common in this country. The Bremen geese have 
pure white plumage, with clean yellow legs and bills. They attain to 
great weight and age — twenty or thirty years, and as many pounds. The 
flesh of a young, fat Bremen goose is esteemed above all the domesticated 
tribe, and the feathers are salable at the very highest rates. 

This breed is very prolific, laying twelve or fifteen eggs a year, and the 
geese are good sitters and nurses. They are somewhat inclined to commence 
laying too early in the season. To prevent this, shut the whole flock in a 
dark room, about the twentieth of February, and feed and Avater once a day, 
and allow them an hour out once a week to wash and have a run. In a few 



PLATE XT. 



(Page 140.) 



Here is another picture, more beautiful, if possible, than No. X, 
It comprises some of the most ornamental, and some of the most 
substantially useful birds that help to adorn our landscape. Many 
who read this book will have no opportunity to see the graceful 
swans that adorn the ponds in Central Park, New York. Let them 
study these life-pictures. The peacock is more common, yet many 
will get their first idea of its appearance from this picture. The 
Hong-Kong goose is also rare, and so are some of the ducks, and in 
many places the Guinea fowls are unknown. The turkey is com- 
mon, still his likeness adds to the beauty of this scene. 



Sko. 9.] POULTEY. 141 

days after they are let out of jail, the geese will make nests and begin their 
work. 

The eggs should be removed carefully every day, and deposited in cotton 
in a dry, temperate room. Then when all your flock are ready to sit, which 
they will be about the same day, have capacious nests filled with chaffed 
straw, in which place twelve eggs for each goose. Where a good many 
geese ai'e kept, it will pay to have an attendant, who should be careful to 
allow only one sitter to leave the nest at one time. When one comes off, 
shut tlie doors of the other boxes till she returns. Tliis will prevent con- 
fusion of getting on the wrong nests. By attention, nearly all the goslings 
of a large flock may be brought out in one day. 

Goslings should be left in the nest twenty-four hours after they hatch, par- 
ticularly if the weather is rough ; and as they are tender animals, they should 
be carefully nursed for a month, allowing them a small pool of water to 
bathe in, and plenty of green grass. The whole censer family belong to the 
graziers. It is not necessary to feed goslings on much grain. 

The white China goose is as pure white as the Brenaen, and should not 
be mistaken for that — -tlie Bremen is preferable. 

The Brent and Sandwich Island goose are both very small varieties, well 
suited to situations on the salt water. 

The Berwick goose is said to be a great weed-eater. 

The Canadian or wild goose variety are quite ornamental ni>on a well- 
watered location. This breed are greater worm and insect eaters tlian any 
other variety of the rmscr family. The hens do not lay until two years old 
in their domesticated state. 

193. SwanSi — ^This variety of ornamental birds has been but little culti- 
vated in this country. The greatest collection is at the New York Central 
Park. This bird, of all others, puts the finishing stroke to the landscape 
inclosing a still lake ai* pond. 

There are wliite and black swans; both are magnificent, but the white 
ones are the most showy on the water, where they float by the hour as still 
as the water beneath them. Although domestic and tame, swans are apt to 
go astray— to prevent which the last joint of one wing is skillfully dissec'el. 
They are weed-feeders, but in places where they are generally kept they re- 
quire feeding. Their feed is most abundant in foul, shallow water, and they 
are often seen abroad at night in pursuit of food. Besides vegetables, they 
eat minute insects found in the water, and probably fish-spawn. 

Tlie hen birds are very curious about their nests, and will select them, if 
possible, in some low bushy islet or headland, and under favorable circum- 
stances will hatch eight or nine young cygnets — the name which young swans 
are known by. The male birds allow no intruders about the nests or young. 
A man would find a terrible antagonist if attacked by a swan while swimming. 

The cygnets, -when fat, are esteemed a great delicacy upon the table, 
stufted with the lean part of a round of beef, seasoned merely with cayenne 
pepper and salt, and served with rich gravy and currant jelly. 



142 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

19i. The Pleasures of Poultry Raisingi — Besides the profit of a well-con- 
ducted poultry business, there is an actual pleasure attending it over that 
of keeping any other kind of domestic animals. Although the aim appears 
always to be profit, we think if those who can keep poultry would look at it 
in anotlier point of view, they-would be better satisfied if it did not always 
■pay. One advocates having a lawn and a flower garden attached to his 
house, saying that it will give new life and beauty to all around, and 
exert a beautiful and ennobling influence upon every member of the house- 
hold, ami even visitors and passers-by will catch from it a sweet spirit of 
love and good-will ; but the question with the calculating and careful farmer 
is, Wdl it pay? So with every improvement iipon his house and around 
his farm ; if he does not see a prospect ahead of a return in hard money for 
his outlay of time and his work, the close-calculating man sets it down as 
being a thing that won't pay, and consequently abandons it entirely. 

It is just so in regard to poultry. Nothing is kept for ornament ; yet we 
have already shown that several varieties are not only ornamental, but prof- 
itable. But setting all other considerations aside, we would keep poultry 
just for the pleasure attending the sight of the birds, particularly the dear 
little chicks. Quoting from a sensible writer upon this subject, we adopt 
his words : 

" One of my neighbors says it will pay to keep just as many hens as will 
get their living around the barn through the winter ; but he thinks it will not 
pay to keep them if they have to be fed. I will own that I have a few notions 
in common with all poultry fanciers ; I look somewhat to the profit, but make 
it a point of secondary importance. Farmers, in general, who keep hens, are 
more troubled with them than with any other one thing upon their farms, 
considering the amount of work which they do. They are always scratch- 
ing in the garden, digging up corn, or committing other depredations which 
keep the farmer and his girls running to keep them out of mischief." 

Of course they are, because they must scratch for a living. If you don't 
want hens in mischief, feed them ; and at times when it is really necessary, 
shut them in a poultry -yard and feed them, and adopt this simple rule for 
feeding fowls, known to most housewives in the country who have charge 
of the poultry, but it may be useful to amateurs, and as it is very short, we 
print it. Here it is : Don't feed too much. That is all ; though we may 
add that food should never be given to fowls unless they are hungry enough 
to "run crazy" after it; and just as soon as they stop running crazy, you 
stop throwing feed, and never — no, never — leave feed lying by your fowls 
" for them to eat at leisure." This same rule does jiretty well for all other 
domestic animals— children included. 

If you don't feed your hens, and let them run in the garden, and they 
scratch, don't swear. It is natural for them to scratch, and altliough they do 
mischief, they also do good. Then, don't set the dog upon them ; it only 
makes matters worse. There is a cure for your trouble : build a yard in 
which to shut the hens when they are troublesome in the garden, and train 



Sec. 9.] POULTRY. " 143 

them so that they will follow 3-ou like a dog, and then just at night take 
them out on a walk and see what an immense number of hurtful insects 
they will destroy. Your hens are the most profitable stock you have if you 
treat them rightly. Don't swear at them ; keep your temper and build a 
poultry -yard, but don't keep it always closed. It is better for you, and the 
hens too, to let them run at large at all times when they are not liable to 
do mischief. 

We know of nothing around a country residence which gives the whole 
such a delightful and pleasant aspect as all kinds of poultry. IIow Down- 
ing loved them when he wrote : " "With proper conveniences for managino- 
them, they are among the most agreeable, profitable, and useful objects in 
country life. To children especially, fowls are objects of exceeding interest, 
and form an almost necessary part of the means of developing the moral and 
industrial energies of a country household." Oh, who would be without 
them ? What country resident would neglect to have a noble collection of 
hens, ducks, and turkeys — with right modes to keep and manage them — to 
give a lively aspect to the scenery of his home, and impart beauty to the 
whole place ? The merry cackle of the " old yellow hen" in the beautiful 
spring-time ; the love and kind protection manifested for her brood of young, 
and then to see them huddle together under her wing ! The shrill sound of 
the cock as he proclaims the dawn of morning ! Oh, who would not keep 
poultry, even if it didiit pay ? We would not keep 

Shanghacs. — These Chinese monstrosities, on the contrary, we recommend 
every one to get rid of as soon as possible. Tliey have had their day, and 
in spite of their crowing, Barnum's showing, and their owners' blowing, they 
are about blown out. It begins to be found out that 10 lbs. of meat can be 
produced upon two pairs of legs just as cheaply, and of much better quality, 
than upon one pair. No Shanghae, Cochin-China, Chittagong, or any other 
imported breed of fowls has ever been, or will ever be, more esteemed on 
all accounts than the old yellow-legged Dominique, a domestic, handsome, 
and good-sized fowl. 

A particular friend, candid and intelligent, said to us lately : " I have 
tried almost all varieties of hens, and have settled upon the Black Spanish, 
or crosses of them upon the old stock, such as I can pick up in market at 
fifty cents a pair. I have also tried the experiment of keeping hens in the 
city and the cost of eggs. I keep them in a house at the back of the yard, 
letting them out for exercise just before roosting time, feeding them on 
scraps from the kitchen, potatoes, moat, etc., and corn, and find my eggs 
cost just three cents a dozen on an average through the year." 

Another one, alluding to the fact of feeding poultry upon dead horses at a 
great poultry establishment near Paris, said : "Tlie less hens I keep, I think 
the better for me. I have fed dead horses and all sorts of food, but I can't 
make it profitable to myself, or neiglibors either." Of course not. The last 
•words tell the reason ; he lets them run at large, half fed. 

195. Hen-Roosts and Poultry Vermin.— The poles or ladders should be 



144 .• DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

such tliat they can be whitewashed thoroughly every June, and the whole 
hen-liouse should undergo the same operation. Poultry that are lousy 
should have wood-ashes to wallow in, and a few handfuls of flour of sulphur 
stirred in among them makes them much more efficient. Good ashes will 
efiect a cure, however. The fowls should have also dry earth or a dusty 
road, for it Avill be found that they will usually alternate from one to the 
other. Tiie best means for supplying lime to hens is to crack up fresh 
oyster-shells with a hammer or a sledge. Nests never should be made or 
allowed in the room where fowls roost. Keep it clean of all trash, straw, 
or nest-boxes. Have them in another apartment. 

• A poultry raiser asks us to tell him how to get rid of the great nui- 
sance of lice upon poultry. He says lie feeds well, and gives the hens the 
range of a grass lot, and has used turjientine sprinkled in the nests, and 
applied blue vitriol mixed with grease to their bodies, and anointed them 
with lamp oil, and yet they are infested. The breed is that called Black 
Spanish, but that, we think, has nothing to do with the* difficulty, which is 
so great that he is ready, if there is no remedy, to sacrifice his hens and buy 
his eggs and chickens. In a case like this, we should endeavor to purify 
the roost of everything that could give shelter to an insect, and perhaps 
abandon the old roost altogether, and take care that the hens had a wallow- 
ing-box, well supplied with dry wood-ashes, renewed by a little addition 
every day or two, and feed sulphur occasionally in the food, and have a 
constant supply of lime for the hens, and keep them fat ; and if all these 
would not preserve them free of lice, we would abandon the business. 

We have received several letters upon the important subject noticed under 
this liead, giving "infallible" remedies to rid poultry of lice. The following 
looks as if it might be a " dead shot :" 

" I have had the care of a poultry-yard for a number of years. During 
that time a continual war of extermination was waged, and many expedients 
were resorted to, but never did anything, in a single instance, prove a safe- 
guard until tobacco was tried. Tins weed, in my case, has never failed in 
answering all practical purposes ; and this fact goes far to show that il> was 
intended to act out higher and nobler ones than are commonly assigned to it. 
The fine-cut is the best kind, and in using it spread it thickly over the sur- 
face of the nests, scatter it upon the floor, and suspend large leaves about the 
different parts of the house. This, used in connection with your directions, 
will put the enemy to flight, and with it will disappear all the annoyances 
your subscriber complains of.*' 

Another letter says : " Sprinkle Scotch snuff plentifully on the fowls, so 
it will reach the skin, and I'll warrant that the vermin Avill be more scarce 
than even money in these ' tight times.' As you say, ' the roost must be 
kept clean ;' also lime must be sprinkled on it to destroy the eflfect of the 
ammonia arising from their manure." 

Another says : "All the remedies named are not equal to onions, chopped 
fine and mixed with their food every day for a week. This will exterminate 



Sec. 9.] POULTRY. 145 

them entirely from the hens ; and if the roosts and pen be washed with onion 
water, they will trouble your hens no more." 

Another writer says, hens that roost npon sassafras jjoles are never 
troubled with lice. 

Now all these facts are worth knowing, as the vermin some years are un- 
commonly numerous, and will eat more poultrj^ than the people will, unless 
we can head them off with some of the remedies named. 

196. Water your Door-¥ard Fowls. — Fill a bottle with water and place it 
bottom up through a hole in a board, so that its nose shall be inserted into a 
saucer, or any shallow, open vessel. As the fowls exhaust the water from 
the shallow vessel, the bottle will pay out new supplies. 

197. Mode of Killing Fowls. — A favorite mode of killing fowls with some 
persons is sticking an awl in the neck. They say that the blood adds to the 
good looks and value of all sorts of poultry. 

198. Corii-Fe«l Geese — Value of Corn. — The following detail of an experi- 
ment in feeding corn to geese, by Eufus Brown, of Chelsea, Orange County, 
Vt., is well worthy the attention of all farmers, and goes to prove that corn 
may be as proiitably fed to poultry as pigs. Mr. Brown writes : 

" In answer to your question, ' Does anybody know anything about any- 
thing V I answer. Yes. I know how much ten quarts of corn is worth. On 
the 22d of November I shut up a flock of goslings, which, allowing the 
usual shrinkage for dressing, would not have dressed over six pounds per 
head, and would have been called scalawags, and sold accordingly at six to 
seven cents per pound. Taking the maximum (seven cents), they would 
have brought 42 cents each, dressed, at the time mentioned. They were put 
in a warm, well-littered stable, allowing three to four square feet of room for 
each, and kept constantly furnished with corn in the kernel and plenty of 
water; this constituted their entire feed. They were thus kept till Dec. 9 ; 
they had then consumed 10 quarts each ; when, after allowing them one day 
of fasting, they were dressed according to the custom practiced from boyhood, 
and which I respectfully recommend to others, viz. : after life had become 
extinct they were carefully scalded by immersing head first in boiling water, 
and allowed to remain about one minute, and then taken out head first and 
allowed to drain, and then covered in a thick woolen blanket and allowed 
to remain about five minutes; then carefully picked clean; then the intes- 
tines were drawn, their legs tied together and laid upon their backs on 
boards in a cool place, with their necks turned under and laid close to- 
gether to keep the wings close to their sides. They were then considered 
choice, and sold readily to the dealer at 10^ cents per lb., and averaged 
10 lbs., amounting to $1 05 each. Deduct 42 cents, and this leaves 63 cents 
for the 10 quarts of corn, the market-price of which, at the time of feeding, 
was 75 cents a bushel. 

199. Prices of Poultry. — At the time of the great " poultry show" at Bar- 
num's Museum, in 1857, there was an auction sale, and the following prices 
were realized, and although fancy birds brought fancy prices upon the more 



146 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

common sort there was a dead loss upon the cost in England of about an 
average of 7 per cent. The following are decidedly among the fancies : 

1 pair of white swans, $100 ; 1 white female swan, $50 ; 1 black female 
swan, $60 ; 1 pair of black swans, $99 ; 1 pair of Japanese peacocks, $100 ; 
1 pair of Barnacle geese, $40 ; 3 hoop-bill ducks, $75 ; 1 pair of golden 
pheasants, $18 ; 4 pair of English pheasants, at $10, $11, and $15 per pair ; 
3 male golden pheasants, at $5, $8 50, and $12 50 each ; 3 male silver 
pheasants, at $10, $10 50, and $16 each; 1 pair of Call ducks, $15 ; 1 shel- 
drake duck, $10 ; 3 spoon-bill ducks, $15 ; 1 pair of pin-tail ducks, $19 ; 
1 pair of widgeon ducks, $12 ; 1 pair of widgeon ducks, $7 ; 3 widgeon 
ducks, $9. 

But the climax of fancy prices was reached in tlie sale of one pair of Man- 
darin ducks for $150. This was a beautiful pair of very rare birds, and we 
hope will remain rare — that is, that no more will ever be imported at that 
price. It was said that they cost 75 guineas in England. Mr. Barnum 
ofit'ered $35 advance upon the purchaser's bargain. They are about the size 
of our common wood duck, and of just about equal beauty. It is certainly 
somewhat extraordinary that, with money " tight" witli most people, any 
one can find loose change enough to buy ducks at $150 a pair. 

The sales of Shanghaes, and birds in tliat line, went off at what the owner 
called " sickly prices." The following indicate the prevailing rates : 

1 pair of gray Dorkings, $10 ; 3 gray Dorkings, $15 ; 6 Sebright bantams, 
in two lots, $5 each ; 2 Sebright bantams, hens, $2 each ; 3 Golden bantams, 
$1 67 each ; 3 English bantams, $1 25 each ; 3 English bantams, $2 37 
each ; 4 Bramahpootras, 1 cock and 3 hens, $2 50 each ; 1 Poland hen, 
$1 25 ; 1 Bolton Gray hen, $1 25 ; 1 pair of Golden Hamburghs, $2 25 ; 1 
pair of black Spanish fowls, $10 ; 1 pair of black Spanish fowls, $5 60 ; 2 
black Shanghae hens, $3. 

Turkeys. — 1 pair of beautiful white turkeys, $5. 

Geese. — 2 pair of Barnacle geese, $12 and $14 ; 2 pair of Egyptian geese, 
$10 and $16. 

200. Cousum})tioii of Poultry in New York. — To give some idea of the 
quantity of poultry consumed in New York, we give the following extracts 
from an article published about Christmas, 1857 : 

" On Dec. 23d the American Express Company had tliree car-loads to 
deliver from their depot in Duane Street, and about 11 tuns received from 
Albany by the steamer. On Dec. 24th their receipts are stated in round 
numbers at 40 tuns, making about 80 tuns received in two days by only one 
transportation line. 

" lliis Company's freight was nearly all from this State and Vermont, 
with a little from western Pennsylvania, and a very small portion from 
Ohio. A large quantity also came from the river counties by steamers and 
barges on the Hudson, as the mildness of the winter has enabled them to 
keep running. Western New York also sent in great quantities by the Erie 
Railroad, while every New Jersey railroad and numerous wagons brought 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 147 

vast quantities from that State, and some from Pennsylvania. A great deal 
also came from Long Island, and considerable from Connecticut. 

" The Messrs. Beatty, who make a business of feeding poultry, had on sale 
at once by a commission-house, two days before Christmas, four tuns, all pre- 
pared upon their own premises, and some of the turkeys were as handsome 
birds as we ever saw, and sold for $3 and $3 50 each." 

Mr. "White, of Chautauqua County, another great poultry feeder and packer, 
had as much more. It is reall}^ a blessing, both to producer and consumer, 
to have such men as those engaged in the business. Tlie fanner particu- 
larly reaps a decided advantage, because such skillful poulterers can and do 
give them more for their birds than they would get if killed b}' themselves 
and sent to market in the rough condition that much of the poultry comes 
into this market. For instance, we noticed, while one commission-house was 
Belling well-prepared geese at 13 cents, a lot of geese, side by side of these, 
were offered and refused at 65 cents, the fault being that they were not well 
fatted, and were picked dry and roughly packed. 

Another lot of well-fatted poultry, well packed, and received in good con- 
dition from Vermont, the owner was fully convinced would have netted him 
from one to two cents a pound more if he had followed the directions given 
in No. 201, for killing and preparing poultry for market. 

Relative to the effect of the weather upon the business of fatting poultry 
and some other facts, we are indebted to the Messrs. Beatty for the follow- 
ing. They say : 

'• Owing to the lateness of the season, turkeys did not grow sufficiently to 
fat well for the early market. It is unprofitable to feed these birds to fatten 
them until they get their growth ; and in such warm weather as we have 
had this season they do not fatten well, being inclined to wander. To fat 
turkeys well and cheaply we must have cold weather. It is owing to this, 
and having to feed a longer time, that we have not been as successful as last 
year ; and it was so warm when our Cliristmas lot was dressed, consisting 
of four tuns, that with all our appliances it required not only experienced 
skill, but great care to preserve the whole in good order till i-eady for ship- 
ment. The fault with that lot [alluding to one then unpacking] is, that the 
birds were packed before all the animal heat was out of them. This must 
be carefully guarded against in such weather as we have had this season. 

" It has been very difficult for farmers to raise turkeys the past summer 
on account of cold and wet, so that the stock in the country is probably not 
more than half as large as it M'as last year, and that is the only reason that 
the price, notwithstanding the money pressure, has kept up so well. We 
have fed this year 1,000 turkej's in one lot together, having had in all 1,300, 
and between 200 and 300 geese, with other poultry in proportion. We use, 
and recommend to others, to feed good, sound Indian corn, and with it a lib- 
eral supply of charcoal, which we consider indispensable. It promotes health 
and improves the quality of the flesh." 

Will all poultry-raisers remember this important fact, which alone is 



148 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. 1. 

worth more to them than all we shall ever receive for preparing this volume 
of valuable information ? 

201. Preparing Poultry for 3Iarkcti — "We have repeatedly published di- 
rections for prejDaring poultry for market, and we can not make a more 
valuable finish to this section upon poultry than by giving in brief such 
directions as all must rigidly follow, who send such farm produce to the 
great market of New York. The professional poultry feeders and packers 
need no instructions, but many farmers do. Many of them have already 
saved a handsome per-centage on the value of their poultry by giving it a 
proper preparation, and others may. 

As a preliminary rule, and make it unalterable, never kill a bird imless 
it is fat. Never cut off the head of a turkej' or goose, but hang them by the 
heels where they can not bruise themselves in the death-struggle, and stick 
them with a small knife and bleed them to deatli. Ducks and common 
fowls, if decapitated, should be held or tied and hung up to bleed to death. 
Never kill your birds until quite fat ; yon will lose in price, in reputation, 
and in weight. Never strangle them, so as to leave the blood in. The bo.-t 
plan is to tie all kinds of birds to a line drawn from post to post or tree to 
tree, and stick them just in the forward end of the neck, either with a broad- 
bladed awl or a penknife. It is undoubtedly the best mode of killing. If 
the head is cut oif, the skin recedes, and the neck-bone looks repulsive. To 
obtain the best prices, the birds must look good as well as be good. 

There is an exception, however, to the above recommendation about stick- 
ing, for some dealers prefer the birds witli heads on, and some do not. In 
some towns it is always customary to cut oif all the heads. "When this is to 
be done, draw the skin back from the head as far as possible, so that when 
you cut off the head, Avhich should be done close to it, there will be some 
loose skin to draw over the end of the neck bone, where it should be tied 
close. We doubt whether it is not worth while to pay freight upon heads. 
It is worth while to pay freight on the intestines, because the meat can not 
be kept sweet long after they are drawn and the air admitted inside of the 
body. Therefore, never draw a bird. 

It is a practice of some of the best poultrymen, while the birds are bleed- 
ing, to hold them firmly by one hand, and pluck the feathers with the other, 
as they come out easily while the fowls are warm. This treatment is only 
for turkeys and connnon fowls. They are then ready for scalding. Take 
hold of the legs, and plunge the body in (piick succession, two or three 
times, in boiling water. This should be done in a warm room, and the birds 
hung upon a line to pick clean, taking care not to tear the skin. Geese and 
ducks are plunged two or three times in boiling water, drawing them out by 
the head, and then wrapped in a woolen blanket to steam ten minutes. 
Take them on your lap to pick. Do not scald the legs, nor heat the bodies 
of birds against the sides of the kettle. After the birds are neatly picked, 
they are put through the plumping pi-ocess. This gives them a finish, and 
increases their value in market. 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 14:9 

The rule for " phiinping" is to dip the birds about two seconds into water 
nearly or quite boiling hot, and then at once into cold water about the same 
length of time. Some think the hot plunge sufficient without the cold. Tiie 
neatest poultry-dressers use both the hot and cold plunge. The poultry 
should be entirely cold, but not frozen before being packed. If poultry 
reaches market sound, without freezing, it will sell all the better. 

After j^lumping, hang or lay the birds where they will dry, and then 
remove tliem to the cooling-room, laying the bodies nicely arranged upon 
clean boards in a cold room till perfectly cool, but not frozen, and then pack 
in boxes, with clean rye straw, about 300 or 400 lbs. in a box, filled full ; 
mark the contents on a paper inside, and on the lid outside, and direct it to 
your commission-mercliant plainly, and send it by express, and one invoice 
by mail, and place another in one of the boxes, if there is more than one, 
and mark on that, ■invoice, and then it will be opened first, and the merchant 
knows whence it comes, and what the consignment consists of. It is also a 
good plan to mark the contents of each box outside, tlius : In box 

1^0. 1—12 turkeys, 144 lbs. ; 20 geese, 160 lbs. ; 50 spring chickens, 125 lbs. 

]Vo. 2—100 fowls, 300 lbs. ; 24 ducks, 96 lbs. 

This lot will pack in two square dry-goods boxes. If clean hand-threshed 
rye straw can not be had, wheat or oat straw will answer, if clean and free 
from dust. Place a layer of straw at the bottom of the box, then alternate 
layers of poultry and straw — taking care to stow snugly, backs upward, 
filling vacancies with straw, and filling the package so that the cover will 
draw down snugly upon the contents. Common dry -goods boxes, holding 
not over 300 lbs., are the best packages. 

Never kill your birds on a damp day, nor pack them, if you can avoid it, 
except in a clear, cold, dry atmosphere ; and try to avoid night-work, when 
you are tired and your helj) sleepy, and all of you careless. 

No matter how light your boxes are, they must look clean, or your poultry 
will not sell at first prices. In packing, press the wings close, and press 
the bird down hard on the breast, the legs extending back, and fill each 
course full, and then lay on straw and another course of birds. Nail tight, 
but don't let a nail project inward to tear the birds. 

Give your name and residence in full on the bill in the box and on the 
invoice by mail. Don't think because you know in what State you live, that 
everybody else will know it if you name the town. 

Never pack in barrels if you can get good dry-goods boxes, as the rolling 
of barrels injures tlie poultry, where it is likely to be much handled, unless 
very closely packed. Besides, it does not pack to as good advantage to the 
shape of the birds as it does in boxes. Small lots may be packed in "shoe 
or hat boxes,'" but they must be carefully hooped, and so should be all boxes. 
Don't use a rough, black board for a cover; you had better spend an hour 
to plane it. Don't acknowledge, by sending unplaned boards, that you 
don't own a plane. It is bad economy to use heavy packages, or have any 
waste room, because freight is charged by the pound, and for long distances 



150 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Cuap. I. 



the express charges may amouiit to four or five cents a pound, and all the 
weiglit of tlie box counts equally with the contents. 

It is a practice Avith some — and a very foolish practice it is — to stuff fowls 
just before they are killed, thinking to sell corn at the price of meat. Better 
give no food for twenty-four hours previous to killing. Food in the crop is 
liable to sour, and always injures the sale, for it looks to purchasers as though 
there was a design to cheat. 

You may pick turkeys and fowls dry if you will not tear the skin, and 
tlien scald them afterward by dipping them suddenly in and out of boiling 
water. Geese and ducks must always be scalded. Do not scald the legs too 
much, whether you pick first or afterward. Be careful of that. Yon must 
pick them clean, and the after-scalding makes them look plump and good. 
Well-packed boxes of well prepared birds will keep sweet a long time in 
cool weather, and may be transported by express from Ohio for three cents 
a pound ; from Chicago and most of Illinois for five cents ; from Iowa for 
six or six and a half cents, and arriving in good order, will be sold at good 
prices, and your money remitted to you, less 10 per cent. Now, following 
these directions, and getting these prices, if it is better for you Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan farmers to send j'our poultry East- 
ward for sale, you know how to do it ; and if it opens to you a new and im- 
proved market, it will be wortli more to you than tlie whole cost of this 
volume upon every box of poultry sold. In fact, these directions, given in 
part heretofore to the public, have been the means of saving great sums of 
money to the poultry producei's. 

After boxes are packed, if there is any chance of not getting them imme- 
diately into market, or if a cliange in prices makes it desirable to hold back, 
it will be a good plan to place them where the contents will freeze solid ; 
then they will stand a long spell of warm weather, such as makes badly- 
packed poultry slimy. If you could be sure of cold weather, so that the 
birds would remain frozen, very little straw would be i-equisite in packing; 
but as a general thing, a liberal allowance of straw will more than pay its 
cost of transportation in keeping the birds in good order. 

When packages are frozen before shipment, it will be well to advise con- 
signees of the fact, as we have known a thaw to come on gradually, until 
very warm, and have then seen packages opened in perfect order that were 
frozen up two or three months before. In fact, we knew one such that got 
mislaid and covered M-ith empty boxes in a cellar, that kept sweet till it was 
accidentally discovered in May. 

Water for scalding any kind of poultry should bo as near to the boiling 
point as possible, without actually boilina:; the bird being held by the legs, 
should be immersed and lifted up and down in the water three limes ; the 
motion helps the hot water to penetrate the plumage and take proper effect 
upon the skin. Continue to hold the bird by the legs with one hand wliile 
plucking the feathers with the other without a moment's delay after taking 
it out ; if skillfully handled in this way, the feathers and pin-feathers may all 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 151 

be removed without breaking the skin. A torn or broken skin greatly 
injures the appearance, and the price will be low in proportion. 

Do not send the birds with tail and wing i'eatliers in, xmless it may be 
occasionally in a very handsome turkey. 

Geese always sell best the week before Christmas, and they should always 
be stall-fed. Christmas jsrices are usually for well-fed geese, such as will 
warrant their increased production, since it is contended by persons whose 
opinion is entitled to great respect, that with proper care and skill, upon a 
farm well fitted for the business, a tun of geese can be made at the same 
cost as a tun of beef, leaving the feathers as an excess of profit. 

Now let all who read, remember that common-sense attention to these 
rules, in regard to preparing poultry, will often insure 25 per cent, higher 
prices than poultry of the same value originally will bring, if slovenly dressed 
and packed, and carelessly directed and stupidly forwarded, as often hap- 
pens. To bring the highest market-prices, poultry must be good and well 
handled. 

202. Preparing Game for Market. — Wild turkeys, wild ducks, and the 
smaller birds should be packed in the natural state. In cold weather they 
may be packed snuglj^, backs up, with or without clean straw, taking care 
to keep the piluraage as smooth as possible. If the weather becomes warm 
during the transit, straw between the layers acts beneficially as an absorbent 
of moisture. Birds should never be drawn, and if mutilated by gan-shot, 
the market value will be much reduced. 

Woodcock, quails, and other small birds are in cool weather sometimes 
each wrapped in paper, and packed in dry sawdust. In hot weather they 
may be packed without the paper in coarse sawdust and ice. They seldom 
arrive in good order if more than twenty-fours on the way in hot weather. 

In venison it is best to send only the hind part of the carcass, including, 
say, two or three ribs with the saddle. The skin should be stripped from 
the fore part and carefully wrapped about the saddle, thus keeping it clean 
and in good order. 

By the " game laws" of the State of New York, the killing of any wild 
deer, partridge, quail, woodcock, or snipe during the months of February, 
March, April, May, June, and July is prohibited under penalty of $25 for 
each offense. 

Common carriers or their agents may, in the discharge of their legitimate 
business, transport deer or game during the inhibited period without viola- 
tion of the law ; and commission merchants and dealers are protected if they 
can show, to the satisfaction of the court, that the game in question came 
from any other State, or foreign country, or that it was not killed during the 
inhibited period. 

The taking of speckled or brook trout is prohibited between the 15th day 
of September and the 15th day of February, under the same penalties and 
provisions as in the case of game; but the Cayuga, Seneca, Crooked, and 
Otsego lakes are excepted from this prohibition. 



152 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

203. Eggs — How to Produce them in Wiuteri — Pork scraps or greaves, fed 
iu moderate quautitj, are found to liave a marvelous eflfect in the j)roduc- 
tioii of winter eggs. Give hens also sand, and gravel, and lime, and see 
that they have water. Egg-shells should never be fed whole, but they may 
be maslied up fine and mixed with feed to good advantage. Some bens 
are much more productive of eggs than others. Eighty hens, belonging to 
Capt. Thos. A. Norton, of Yarmouth, Mass., have laid during one year 637 
dozen eggs. At the average price of eggs, that would be about $1 25 for 
each hen. 

20i. How to Detect the Sex in Domestic Fowls' Eggs. — A person who has 
paid attention to the subject declares that he can tell the sex of eggs in the 
following manner. He says : 

" I began examining; eo-o^s classin<r them according to the difference I 
found in the formation of each, marking each class, and putting them under 
hens as soon as opportunity offered ; when, in less than twelve mouths, I 
was fully convinced that I had discovered either a method or the method 
of foretelling the sex in the egg, which was proved by ocular demonstration 
in the chickens ])roduced. 

" At the large end of the egg there is a circular space or cavity containing 
air, Mdiich country folks call the ' crown' of the egg ; its proper name I know 
not. When you examine the egg, hold it, the large end uppermost, before 
a candle or gaslight, and in looking through it you will observe a dark cir- 
cular mark, something similar to the moon when partially eclipsed. This 
dark circular mark is the space filled with air or ' the crown' of the egg, and 
when in the center it indicates that the egg will produce a male. 

" My method of examining the egg is as follows : I make use of the thumb 
and forefinger of my left hand as two points, placing the small end of the 
egg on my thumb, my forefinger covering the large end of it, and as near 
the center of the end as possible. I tlien place the egg in this position 
steadily before a candle and gently turn it around ; if the crown be in the 
center it will be scarcel}^ visible, the forefinger nearly covering it. On the 
contrary, Tf the crown be on the side you will onl}^ see it on one side of the 
egg as you turn it around." There is a little contrivance, called the ooni- 
Bcope, to detect bad eggs. The egg is placed in a hole of a box, and the 
light reflects on a mirror inside and tells unerringly the true condition of 
the egg. A little practice enables any one to discover whether eggs are 
fresh or not. 

205. Vitality of Eggs Affected by Transportation. — It has been stated upon 
good authority that railroad transportation injures the vitality of eggs. That 
pack them as you will, if they are carried any considerable distance, say 100 
miles, the continued shaking will shake the life out of them. Traveling on 
the Harlem Eoad one day, we met an acquaintance carefully carrying a 
small basket in his hands. "We remarked that he handled his basket as 
carefully as though he was carrying eggs. "And so I am," he replied ; " I am 
taking them about a hundred miles to a friend, and will insure every one to 



Sec. 9.] POULTRY. 153 

hatch out a chicken, so far as transportation may afiect them. But I learned 
this by experience. I had a lot sent up tlic road only twenty -five miles, in 
the ordinary way, and did not get one chicken to fifty eggs, while out of 
another lot, carried in my hands in this way, not one missed." He said : " As 
a general rule, it may be set down for fact, that eggs that have been trans- 
ported by railroad will never bring forth chickens." This is important in- 
formation, and should be well remembered. So, too, let it be remembered 
that eggs intended for incubation can not be too carefully handled in taking 
them from the nests and keeping them about the house till the hen is ready 
to take them in charge. 

200. Selling Eggs by Weight. — We have frequently recommended that eggs 
should always be sold by weight, instead of by count. "We recommended it 
because we thought it more fair both for producer and consumer ; but really, 
with the present system of trade, we do not see much to encourage the change, 
and nothing to encourage the production of eggs of a large size while small 
ones sell at the same price as the largest, per dozen or hundred, and consumers 
are guilty of the great folly of making no distinction. Do they ever think of 
the difi'erence in weight? Do they know how many eggs there should be 
to the pound ? The largest-sized eggs of the common barn-door fowl weigh 
three ounces each, but the average is about .ten to the pound. "We inquired 
once of a retail groceryman, " Have you any fresh eggs ?" " Yes ; there is a 
lot of fine ones, just in, all of this State, in good order." " At what price ?" 
" Twelve cents a dozen." " May I pick them out at that ?" " Oh, yes, cer- 
tainly ; they are all alike, good." Of this we had no doubt as to the good ; 
but that they were otherwise alike, we intended to prove that he was mis- 
taken. So we picked out a dozen and laid them in the scales, with a 1| lb. 
weight opposite, thinking they were just the size that takes eight to the 
pound, for that is just what good, fair-sized hen's-eggs always will average. 
These were a little heavier, and we added two more, and balanced two 
pounds — seven eggs to the pound. Then we picked out of the same cask 
thirteen more, and these weighed just one pound, not quite 100 per cent, 
difference whether you buy large or small eggs. Now, if farmers and fools 
meet, is it right that the one should take advantage of the other in this way ? 
or is it right that one man should keep a brood of small hens, the keeping 
of which costs less than half that of larger ones, and get the same price for 
the eggs ? If honesty is the best policy in all of our dealings, then it is the 
best policy to sell eggs by the pound, and not by the dozen. 

207. To Preserve Eggs. — We can not vouch for the following. If it is as 
stated, it is much more simple and convenient than packing in lime, salt, 
etc. "Provide a small cupboard, safe, or tier of shelves; bore these shelves 
full of holes one and a quarter inches in diameter, and place the eggs in 
them, point downward. They will keep sound for several months. Other 
modes, such as packing in salt, etc., depend for their success simply on 
placing the points down ; the shelves are more convenient and accessible." 

208. Eggs Consumed in England. — In the statistics of British commerce, 



154 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

the home production is put down at 75,000 tuns annually, which are vaUied 
at $16,000,000. The importation of eggs for eight years, ending with 18-17, 
ranged from 96,000,000 in 1840, to 77,500,000 in 1817, and the importa- 
tions of the succeeding years are given in the following table : 



Number. 

1848 .^ 88,012,585 

1849 97,745,849 

1850 105,689,060 

1851 115,526,240 



Number. 

1852 108,281,233 

1853 123,450,678 

1854 121,966,226 

1855 100,005,200 



The first six months of 1856, 68,062,600. This was nearly 11,000,000 in 
excess of the number received in the first six months of 1855, l)ut not so 
large as in 1854. The imports of eggs in 1854 were, from 

Number. Number. 

Belgium 10,415,517 Spain 5,983,161 

France 104,126,918 Channel Islands 794,400 

Portugal 419,866 Other parts 226,424 

Up to the 8th of August, 1854, eggs were entered by number, but since 
that they have been entered by cubic feet, internal measurement. In order 
to reduce the whole to a uniform standard, 200 eggs are estimated to be 
packed in one cubic foot. The duty charged is 8d. per cubic foot of eggs 
from foreign countries, and hajf that duty from British possessions. In 
the metropolis the egg trade is a very important branch of commerce, giving 
employment to sixty egg merchants and salesmen on a large scale, exclusive 
of tlie number of shoj^keepers who sell eggs. These salesmen distribute the 
boxes of eggs over the various consuming localities in light carts. 

The principal importation is from France and Belgium. Quantities of 
Portuguese eggs are occasionally imported into England by the Peninsular 
Mail steamers. The eggs of the Spanish fowls being very large, are much 
esteemed, and valued at Id. to l^d. each. Spain imports a certain quantity 
from the French province of Oran, in Algeria. The eggs of the Bedouiu 
fowls are sold in the European markets at 5d. to 6d. the dozen. 

The supplies of eggs sent from Ireland to Liverpool, and thence into the 
manufacturing districts, are enormous, frequently exceeding 1,000,000 a 
day. They are packed with straw in crates, boxes, or hampers. The crates 
contain from 6,000 to 8,000 eggs, the boxes about 3,500. Sometimes large 
boxes contain 13,000 or more eggs. 

Ill 1852, 9,260 tuns of Irish eggs were imported into Liverpool, and it is 
estimated that that is not more than one fifth of the product of that island. 

209. Eggs in FrancCo — M. Legrand, a French statistical writer, estimated 
the consumption of eggs in 1835 in Paris at 138 per head of all the inhab- 
itants, and in the provinces at double that ratio. " The consumption of 
eggs for the whole kingdom," he observes, "is estimated at 7,231,160,000; 
add to this number those exported and those necessary for reproduction, and 
it will result that 7,380,925,000 were laid in France during the year 1835." 

Since that time the production has largely increased. M. Armand IIus- 
son, in his interesting book on the " Consommation" of Paris, just pub- 



Number. Av, pr. per 1,000. 

1851 129,732,299 42f. 69 centimes. 

1S.52 160,000,000 41f. 35 centimes. 

1S63 175,000,000 



Seo. 9.] POULTRY. 155 

lished, returns the number of eggs consumed in the French metropolis at 
175,000,000, or 175 to each head of the population, worth about $1 35. 
The value of the eggs consumed in Paris one year would be also about 
£300,000 ; but probably three quarters of a niilliou sterling would be a 
nearer estimate of the poultry and eggs consumed annually in Paris. 

The consumption and prices may be judged of from the following figures: 

Number. Av.pr. per 1,000. 

1847 120,940,724 57 francs. 

1848 106,747,222 48f. 40 centimes. 

1849 113,587,732 46f. 70 centimes. 

1850 124,597,150 43f. 93 centimes. 

A number of GalignanPs Messenrjer says that, in 1815, the number of 
eggs exported from France was 1,700,000 ; in 1816 it rose to 8,000,000. 
Six years later, in 1822, the number was 55,000,000 ; and 99,500,000 in 
1824. In 1830 the number declined to 55,000,000 ; then gradually increased 
until 1845, when it was 88,200,000, for which an export duty of 114,000 
francs was paid. ]S"early all these eggs go to England. The yearly consump- 
tion of eggs in Paris is estimated at 165,000,000, and the total consumption 
of all France at 9,000,000,000 ; so that, reckoning eggs at a sou, this single 
article represents 465,000,000 francs. 

210. The Egg Trade in this Country. — Steamboats and railways have done 
much to increase and improve the trade in poultry and eggs, in butter and 
milk, as well as in carcass meat and fish of all kinds, for the supply of large 
cities and dense populations in Europe and America, situate far from the 
chief seats of production or fishing. The poultry dealers of New York 
made their appearance on the shores of the great American lakes within a 
few days after the regular trains were in motion on the Erie Kailroad. 
Poultry and eggs were swept away by them at an advance of 25 to 30 per 
cent, on their ordinary value, and a decided stimulus has been given to the 
production of poultry and eggs. 

Tlie British American provinces are now supplying tlie United States 
towns with eggs, which are imported duty free under the Reciprocity Treaty. 
1,260 dozen eggs from Nova Scotia were entered very recently at the Cus- 
tom-house, Boston, in one day. In the season of 1852, about 8,000 barrels 
of eggs, containing 84 dozen per barrel, were shipped from the port of Mon- 
treal to the United States, and sold at about 16c. tlie dozen. 

One merchant in Marion County, Ohio, has shipped in one season 124,950 
dozen of eggs, in 1,785 barrels, costing, at 7 cents a dozen, $8,746 50. 

211. Packing Eggs for Market. — There is probably in no one article of the 
same relative value so much depreciation and loss from injudicious manage- 
ment and unskillful packing as in eggs. This is best illustrated in the 
Western trade, especially during the warm season, when the average price 
of Western eggs rules, say, three to five cents per dozen below tliose from this 
State ; but at the same time we have some Western marks that bring nearly 
or quite as much as the best State, showing conclusively that it is entirely 
practicable to forward them in prime order from the far West. If the fol- 



156 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [Chap. I. 

lowing directions are intelligently carried out, there will be very little doubt 
of success. 

Be sure (esjjecially in the summer season) that your eggs are not only 
sound, but recently laid. Eggs may be "candled" or examined by the 
" ooniscope," and repacked at the AVest ; but if they are stale, though still 
apparently sound, they will be sure to reach this market in bad order, or 
will so rapidly change, on being opened, that dealers will be sure to lose 
money on them. The motion of the cars over such long distances so mud- 
dles all eggs, not entirely fresh, that they appear cloudy and stale, and will 
soon spoil, if indeed they are not already unsalable. 

Use very strong, stift" barrels, put a little soft straw or hay evenly over 
the bottom with a stiff paper on the top of the sti-aw, then oats or cut straw, 
say, two to three Inches, then a layer of eggs, laid snugly together upon the 
sides, evenly imbedded in the oats, with the ends toward but about one inch 
from the staves. Cover the layer with oats and shake down gently but thor- 
oughly, leaving, say, one inch of oats upon the layer of eggs ; thus continue 
shaking down thoroughly with each layer until the barrel is full. Place 
about three inches of oats over the last layer, then a stiff paper and a 
little soft hay or straw next the head, filling so high that the head must be 
pressed to its place by a lever or other mechanical power, that the contents 
may be held so firmly that tliey can never shift or loosen in the barrels. In 
the winter, to guard against frost, use more packing, leaving the eggs farther 
from the sides of the barrels. Use clean, bright oats; they are salable at 
all seasons, though of late merchants seem to prefer cut straw. Mark plainly 
the number of dozen and the qnautity of oats in each barrel. Be very par- 
ticular to have the count riglit. A good reputation for accuracy is very 
valuable. 

One person says: "I use a board some six or eight inches square, with a 
loop or staple in the center for pressing each layer of oats firmly down. 
There will be something gained by lifting and dropping the barrel square on 
the end, but not by shaking, as it disturbs the layers. When it gets too 
heavy to lift, use a board three fourths as large as the head, and get on it, 
increasing your weight with a spring, and on the head driving it in. The 
secret lies all in packing the oats. Oats are better worth sending to market 
than hay, and just as safe. I have sent ten barrels at a time without losing 
a single egg. You must pack tight. Remember that." 



PLATE XTT. 

(Page 157) 

This picture is intended to be bolli suggestive and instructive. 
First, it suggests to any one who may chance to open the book at 
tliis page, the study of bee-culture, and tlie propriety of adding this 
kind of farm-stock to tlie larger animals already owned. It is placed 
here for that purpose. It is to attract attention to the subject, and 
induce readers to turn over a few pages and read just enough to 
whet the appetite for more knowledge. It is instructive, as it 
shows the different form and size of the three classes of bees, so 
that any one, after studying this picture, need make no mistake. 
It shows how a swarm issues from a hive and settles upon a limb 
of a neighljoring tree, and how fearlessly the bee-keeper ajoproaches 
the swarm and puts it in the hive, which he will cover up and carry 
to its place on the stand. The author has frequently climbed to the 
top of a tree as high as this appears, and sawed off the limb upon 
which the swarm had alighted, and brought it down a long ladder 
to the hive, with no protection to face or hands. This picture, 
therefore, is intended to induce you to keep bees, and as a hint that 
you can easily learn all the art of bee-keeping. 




TasB AiPiMnr. 'tetiB jB}G«''-K'(<iaiP-iBm at bus ^Toiix. 




CHAPTER II. 
SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 

SECTION X.-BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 

TJR oj^ening chapter was devoted to a general sur- 
vey of farm-stock. This will be devoted to oLserv- 
ations upon bees, birds, bugs, insects, and worms ; 
gs, cats, rabbits, rats, mice, moles ; camels as beasts 
burden ; goats of Cashmere, their value as farm- 
stock ; fish-breeding, for domestic use or market ; ahi- 
yielding fur, and alpacas, and other small stock of the 

the leading article of this chapter we shall notice what 
very appropriately be ranked as profitable stock upon 
a farm, for the product of the hive often aifords a consid- 
erable income, and it is nearly all clear profit. Birds, 
although they do not produce a direct income, are among 
the greatest helps to that end, for they are great destroyers 
of those pests, the bugs, insects, and worms, which we shall also introduce 
into this chapter. Dogs, as an adjunct of the farm, and when only kept in 
very limited numbers, are not, perliaps, unprofitable stock ; but as they at 
present exist, they are pests of the very worst kinds. Cats are a necessity, 
for without them we should be over-run with rats and mice, and so we give 
each a small space in this chapter. Eabbits, too, tliough small, must have a 
place ; and camels, though large enough to fill a chapter, like the rabbit, 
must be contented with a paragraph. And the Cashmere goat, the only one 
of any value to farmers, is as yet so little diffused among them, that we can 
only aftbrd space to give it a passing notice ; and the alpaca, an ecpially im- 
portant domestic animal, we must treat in the sauae short-hand way. 

Fish-breeding is of vast importance to every farmer who has the facility 
for making a fish-pond, and therefore we have added it to this second chapter 
of animals, domestic or wild, upon the farm. And finally, we add fur ani- 
mals, merely to call the attention of those who own suitable locations, to the 
fact that it is possible that such animals may be bred for their skins, to say 
nothing of the value of their flesh. 

So much by way of introduction. Now let us take up our subjects, item 
by item, each under its appropriate head. 

212. Bees. — History of their Introduction. — It is not quite certain whether 
the honey-bee is indigenous to America or not. Our opinion is that it is. 



158 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

because several varieties now exist upon tlie continent, and certainly those 
in Central America appear to be natives, so far as it is possible to trace their 
history. It is possible that the early immigrants, not finding bees in the 
districts first occupied by them, either in New England or Virginia, did 
import them, though this supposition appears doubtful when we consider 
thu length of v'oyages in that age of ocean navigation. And it is still further 
against the theory of importation, to know that as early as 164S — forty years 
only after Captain John Smith's advent — George Pelton, of Virginia, was in 
possession of a good stock of honey-bees ; and they were noticed by Beverly 
as a common thing among the Virginia planters previous to 1720. 

In 1755, beeswax was an article of export from Savannah, Georgia. It is 
impossible to state the quantity, because it is combined with myrtle-berry 
wax, and both are set down at 969 lbs. Five years later the quantity of both 
is given at 3,910 lbs., and in 1770 at 4,058 lbs. 

In 176T, the export tables show 35 barrels of beeswax, sent from the port 
of Philadelphia ; and only four years later the quantity is given as 29,261 lbs. 

The history of Cuba credits Florida with bees imported from there in 1764. 

The above facts prove that if there were no honey-bees in this part of the 
continent when our forefathers came to it, their importations were very suc- 
cessful, and the original stock was widely disseminated, and multiplied with 
great rapidity, for the census of 1850 gives the annual product of honey and 
wax at 1'4,853,790 lbs ; and that at a time when the bee-moth epidemic had 
greatly lessened the stock in the country, and consequently the production 
was not as great as it had been. 

It is a fact, too, that the immigrants of the Northwestern Territory found 
wild bees scattered all through the forests of what is now Ohio, Indiana, and 
Illinois. 

As an offset to this, it is a fact that the first American settlers of California 
found no honey-bees in that State, notwithstanding the fact of its early occu- 
pancy by the Spanish ; and the first bees ever seen in that State have been 
carried there from New York, by sea, since 1850, and already the stock of 
bees has multiplied to an extent which would populate the State to as great or 
greater extent than the Atlantic States have been with both wild and domes- 
tic stocks, in a far less time than has elapsed since the landing at Jamestown 
or Plymouth rock, of those who may have introduced the bee from Eui-ope. 

Bee-culture in California has already assumed such an importance that 
associations of apiarists have been formed there, and the exhibition of bees is 
quite a feature at the State fair. Bees have become so numerous in the 
neighborhood of Sacramento, that they have been charged with extensive 
depredations upon the vineyards, by sucking the sweets out of the ripe 
grapes. Mr. Harbison, a large bee-keeper, who went from Pennsylvania 
with a large shipment of them, two or three years ago, however, denies the 
charge of bees injuring the fruit, and asserts that he has proved by actual 
experiment that they will only attack the grapes after the skin has burst by 
the pressure of the interior growth. Still, tiiere are many persons who are 



Sko. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 159 

deeply interested in grape-growing in that State, who think this business 
and bee-keeping never can flourish together. It is a matter that will prob- 
ably be investigated, since it involves two so great interests, particularly in 
California, where both branches flourish in so remarkable a degree of health- 
iness. Certainly, in no part of the United States has bee-keeping given such 
a promise of success. 

Bees, although they appear to thrive best, or at least with but little care, 
in warm latitudes, are not confined to those regions. An article now before 
us gives ail account of the successful introduction of bees into Aroostook 
County, Maine, where the thermometer sometimes freezes, and afterward 
the discovery of a wild swarm in a hollow tree, which was removed to a 
hive and wintered in a dark, dry cellar, where they consumed very little 
honey. Tiiis is a very good way to winter bees in all cold regions ; for one 
of the greatest difficulties attending bee-culture in the most northern local- 
ities where they are found, is winter killing, not by freezing up in the hive, 
though that sometimes occurs, but by the bees being aroused from tiicir 
torpid state by a few sunny days, till they come out of the hive and are 
overcome by cold before they can return again, and thus perish. We have 
sometimes lost great quantities in this way, no farther north than hit. 41^. 

Notwithstanding bees appear to possess a considerable degree of reason, 
and the power of ratiocination (a power that many men do not possess), 
they are, like men and Avomen, very apt to be caught by outside appear- 
ances, and venture forth from their warm homes upon sunny wings, to meet 
the chilling blast of the outside world, and perish. 

Certainl}', many acts of the honey-bee seem to be results of a reasoning 
faculty ; or is it that undefined something tliat mankind call instinct ? It 
is indeed wonderful that so tiny an insect should possess a faculty scarcely 
possessed by man, of constructing its domicile, or rather store-house, so as 
not to waste an iota of material or space ; for that is a fact, in relation to 
the honey-bee's comb. And all their interior household arrangements, the 
order of their work, family government, and perfect order and harmony, are 
such as should make mankind blush at their own inefficiency. Many of 
them should blush to think such an insect is so much more industrious and 
frugal than themselves, and so much more careful to lay up winter stores. 

One of the marks of reason, judgment, or instinct in the bee is manifested 
in their never leaving the hive, although ready to swarm, in a stormy day, 
nor when a storm or very high wind is approaching, which would be likely 
to blow away one portion of the swarm from the other. 

"When the swarm does come forth it seems to be all by a given signal, and 
the movement is sudden and simultaneous, guided by the call of their queen. 
If by any accident or mistake the queen gets separated, or fails to cluster 
with the swarm, it is idle to try to hive them. They will not take a new 
abode without a queen. Is it reason that teaches them that they must re- 
turn to the old hive, M'here they can make a new queen out of the young 
larvae in the cells of the old brood-comb ? 



160 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

213. Bee-HiveSi — The best hive is one with movable supports for each 
sheet of comb. Although hives of this kind may have been patented, the 
patent is not good for anything, nor should it bar any one from the use of 
sucli a hive, because the invention is not new. Bevan, an English writer 
upon bees, described such a hive many years ago, as in use by him, and 
recommended it to others. More tlian twenty years ago, I described a hive 
for movable frames to sustain the separate sheets of comb, in the Alhany 
Cultivator, and although the plan might have been patentable, it was dis- 
tinctly stated that it was not, nor would be j^atented, and any one who liked 
it was recommended to use it. The form of the hive there recommended 
was to hang the frames by hook-and-eye hinges to the back of the hive, so 
that all would swing like the leaves of a book standing on its end. The 
front, or cover to the edge of the leaves, being opened, by turning it around 
to the left hand, leaf after leaf could be swung around to the right, and a 
sheet of comb cut out of any one, or the frame could be lifted off its hinges 
and taken away, and a new one put in its place. We thought the plan a 
more convenient one than lifting the frames out at the top of tlie hive. 

There is an objection to all movable frame hives, that they furnish har- 
boring-places for moths. They also, on the other hand, aflbrd facilities for 
searching after them, and removing any infested comb. 

Bees are like any other wild insect or animal that has been domesticated. 
By good treatment they can be made very domestic, so that their keeper can 
liandlc them about as easily as any other pets. 

The next best form of hive is a square box, madg of planed boards one- 
and-a-ha.i or full one-and-a-quarter incli stuff, well seasoned, and tongned, 
and grooved, and firmly nailed together, so as to be water-tight, and nearly 
air-tight, and well painted. A box fifteen inches deep, and twelve inches 
across each way, contains 2, ICO cubic inclies — ten in excess of a bushel. 
Tills is a good size and form for a hive. It will add much to the conveni- 
ence of the liive to insert a jiane of glass in the side opposite to the oj^en- 
ings where the bees enter, which should be six three-eighth-inch holes, an 
inch above the bottom. The glass should have a tight-fitting shutter ; and 
the bottom shoidd be screwed on, or hinged and fastened with a hook so 
that it could be opened. If it is screwed on, make an opening two inches 
across in the center of the bottom board, with a close-fitting shutter that you 
can take out occasionally to allow the bees to sweep out their room. Open 
this only in the morning, and close it before niglit. There will tlien be no 
entrance for the moth except through the bee holes, and these the sentinels 
will guard. Bore four inch holes in the top, and fit corks in tliom. Plave 
a cap fitted on top to cover four boxes, five or six inches square, made with 
one glass side. When the lower part is filled, wiiich you can tell by observ- 
ation at the glass in the back, or by weighing, tlien open the top holes, and 
put on the boxes, open side down, and shut the cap over them, and the bees 
will soon find that they have extra store-room, and go to work and fill it 
with new comb, and fresh honey, free of bce-brend or brood-comb. As soon 



Sec. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODDCTIOX OF IIOXEY. 161 

as a box is full, take it off, and put an empty one in its place. A stock of fifty- 
swarms in the spring will produce two thousand pounds of surplus honey, 
and increase to a hundred swarms in the autumn. Counting all labor be- 
stowed in the care of a stock of bees, and all expense of hives, etc., and the 
cost of honey is estimated at only three to six cents a pound ; var^'ing with 
locations, and favorable or unfavorable seasons. But if it always costs ten 
cents a jiound, the bee-keeper would find sale for it at a profit. 

214. Straw HivcSi — There are a few bee-keepers who still adhere to the 
opinion that sti-aw hives are the best, that can be used. We can not think 
so. Their greatest advantage is, that they maintain a more even tempera- 
ture than board hives, and are inexpensive. They can be manufactured by 
the winter fireside, and packed away for future use in a small space, one 
within another. "When wanted for use, a couple of cross-sticks must be put 
in to support the comb, as the hive is in the shape of an inverted bowl, and 
not as good to support comb as a straight-sided box. It is a good plan, 
however, to use the supports in all hives. They should be so arranged that 
they can be easily taken out, as it would greatly facilitate the removal of 
comb. If straw hives are used, they should be made to hold a bushel, of 
clean rye straw, tied very tightlj'- together, so as to make the walls full an 
inch and a half thick, and smooth outside and in. Never use them after tliey 
get old, and never place them where they will get wet. If kept dry, the 
bees winter in straw hives better than board ones. 

It has been recommended to make cases for board hives, to set over them 
in winter as protection from the changes in the weather. If this is done, the 
cases should be taken off as soon as possible in the spring to prevent moths 
making harbors in them. 

215. Patent Hives. — "We have never seen a patent for a bee-hive, nor " bee- 
palace," that we would give a dime for. They are no better than any handy 
man with tools can make himself. As to " bee-palaces," where bees are to 
live in community, the thing is preposterous. It is founded upon wrong 
principles. 

Bee-houses, where collections of swarms in separate hives are' to be kept, 
we have tried as well as the community system, and repudiate both. 

Movable comb-hives may be made without buying a patent, by making a 
chest of the capacity to hold a bushel, besides tlie frames, or say 15 inches 
square inside, and make 10 frames of strips of boards an inch and a half 
wide, nailed together flatwise at the ends so as to form sashes that will set 
in the box and just fill it. Bore holes for the entrance of the bees, through 
the sides of the box and frames. The lid of the chest shuts tight, and may 
be locked. When you want to draw a frame, insert a common wood-screw 
or two to pull it out by. You can tell as soon as you lift it a little, whether 
it is full or not, and, if not, try another. 

We have tried several patent hives, and if choosing between any one of 
them and a " bee gum," would take the latter for all practical purposes ; 
not that we would recommend farmers always to use hollow logs, though 



162 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

we certainly have seen some most successful bee-keeping where the swarms 
were kept oi\\y in that rough way. 

216. Where to Keep HiveSi — The location and mode of support are im- 
portant matters in placing bee hives. And here again, the most " rough 
and ready" way has always appeared to be the best. "We have frequently 
seen the hives standing about here and there, without any regard to order ; 
some directly on the ground, and some on a flat stone or board ; notwith- 
standing sucli apparent disregard to all cai-e, the bees were doing better than 
others where every attention was paid to them. We do not advocate quite 
so much negligence, but we do believe the best situation for hives is in an 
open field, set a rod or two apart, or, rather, suspended to stakes. An 
orchard, where the trees are somewhat scattering, and tlie grass short, or kept 
short by mowing or pasturage of some geese, turkeys, or sheep, is a good 
place for bee-hives, one under each tree. A hive may be fastened to a tree 
or post by two hooks and staples, care being taken to fix it so it will be firm, 
and not liable to be shaken by wind. It may also be fixed upon two stakes 
set in the ground just wide enough apart for the hive to slip in between 
tiiem and rest upon a block nailed upon each side of the hive, notched on 
the lower edge so as to clasp the top of the stake to prevent slipping side- 
wise. Hives placed about in the open ground should have a board laid 
over the top, wide enough to give some shade to the hive. Lay this board 
on four pebbles, or four nails driven in to keep it half an inch or an inch 
from the top. This shade-board may be held in its place by a screw or nail, 
or a stone. The hive need not be placed more than six inches from the 
ground. A little strip, an inch wide, should be nailed on level with the 
entrance holes, for the bees to alight upon. 

If hives are placed under a shady tree, they will need no other protection. 
If placed close together, a rough shed may be built over a row of hives, so 
placed that it will shade them from nine till four o'clock in the day. A hive 
should be painted white, because that color does not absorb the rays of heat 
as much as a dark color. Sometimes a hive becomes heated so as to soften 
the cement,"and let the comb fall to the bottom. 

217. Swarming. — The location of bee-hives should be convenient to low 
bushes, such as lilacs, altheas, or small peach or plum trees, for them to 
light upon when swarming. We have heard of clustering bees upon a large 
woolen stocking, stretched over the end of a pole, and held up in the midst 
of the swarm as they collected after leaving the hive. When all have been 
gathered in the cluster, it is gently laid upon the table and the pole with- 
drawn, and a hive set over the bees. After they go up into the hive, the 
stocking is taken awa}'. 

Swarming is just as natural for bees as calving for cows. It increases 
the stock. The process can not be interfered with advantageously, either to 
retard or increase the operation. 

The owner of bees should make them as well acquainted with his person 
as his horse or dog is, and then he can handle them as easily. 



Seo. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 163 

It is true there are some persons witli whom the bees never will become 
friendly, or allow of any familiarity. Such persons slioiild never try to 
handle bees. Others (the writer is one) can handle them with impunity. 
I have often had them light upon ray face, and head, and hands, and remain 
as long as tliey liked, and then go away again. 

When a swarm comes out, go immediately right into the midst of it, and 
do not be alarmed if it should cluster upon your hat. Such things have been, 
and no harm come of it. You must show no excitement ; be moderate and 
calm in your movements, as if surrounded by a flock of wild birds which 
you M'ere afraid of scaring away. An excitable man wilt be very apt to 
alarm the bees, and an angry one will be sure to make them angry and 
drive him from the field. 

It sometimes hajjpens that bees leave the hive pre-determined to fly away. 
In such cases it is difiicult to stop them. If it is a dusty time, and tliey are 
gathering for flight so low that joi\ can throAV handful after handful of dust 
among them, you may succeed in confusing them until the^' will alight. 
Swarms have been stopped on the wing by firing a musket directlj^ forward 
of them, so that both noise and smoke would confuse them. It is idle to 
fire after them, and shot sent into the swarm may kill tiie queen ; when the 
bees must be returned to the hive, or put into one with a piece of brood-comb. 

Some people make a great noise, beating drums, tin kettles, barrels, or 
blowing horns, when a swarm comes out. The philosophy of this is, that 
the noise may drown the voice of the queen, and thus confuse the bees, 
when they may alight ; but, as a general thing, noise will have no more 
efi'ect toward stopping runaway bees than runaway horses. 

The very best thing that we can recommend to a new bee-keeper is : Be 
gentle, and keep yourself on familiar terms with your bees. Make them 
familiar with your presence and personal appearance, and always go among 
them, as near as possible, in the same garb ; and never in a filthy garb, 
right from the manure-yard, perhaps ; and never in your shirt-sleeves, reek- 
ing with perspiration. There is nothing more offensive to bees ; for they 
are as neat as they are industrious, and never sweat anything out of their 
little bodies but clean white wax, of which they build their cells. 

Thoroughly domesticated bees seldom ofifer to fly away when they swarm, 
if you have conveniences for them to cluster ; and such bees are always 
easily handled, so that they can be hived without difficulty, even by the 
ffudewJfe or children, if the gudeman is awa\ 

If you are afraid of stings, put on gloves and tie your sleeves down ; tuck 
your pants in your boot-tops ; put on a broad-brimmed hat, with a piece of 
mosquito-netting over it, tucked in close around j^our neck, and thus pro- 
tected, the most timid may go among his own, or strange bees, which always 
are the most dangerous. 

If you happen to go near bees, and one comes at you, do not fight, run, 
nor scream. Walk away gently, and aim to get behind a bush, tree, fence, 
or building. 



164 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

Place your hive in the place where it is to stand, as soon as possible after 
the swarm is in ; because the workers commence comb-building immediately, 
and moving disturbs them, and if only a day or two at work, moving may 
break down the comb. 

218. What a Swarm Consists of. — A swarm of bees in working order con- 
sists of one queen, two or three hundred drones, and from ten to fifty 
thousand workers. The queen would more properly be called a mother, as 
she is so, in fact, of all the colony. The drones are the males ; they never 
work nor fight — they are stingless. The workers are imperfectly developed 
females. According to T. B. Miner, author of a bee manual, the swarm in 
the spring consists of the queen and about two or three tliousand workers, 
and these increase as soon as food can be provided in spring, enough to make 
a new swarm, which goes off, led by the old queen, while a new one is pro- 
vided for the old colony, which also goes off" sometimes, with another swarm ; 
and occasionally a third one is sent off", and finally, the swarm remaining con- 
sists of about 20,000 bees, and all but two or three thousand die off" before 
spring ; the life of a bee being calculated at only about nine months. 

A queen-bee is so distinguished from other bees by her shape, size, and 
color, that when you have once learned how, you can always distinguish 
her. So you can by the noise she makes. A queen is larger than a worker, 
but not as large around as a drone, though longer ; and the rings of her 
abdomen are less fully developed, and consequently not so plainly distin- 
guishable. In short, a queen is more wasp-like in her form than a drone; 
and is of a darker color, particularly upon the back jDart of the abdomen; 
while on its under side it is of a yellowish hue. Tlie wings of the queen, in 
proportion to her body, as compared to either of the others, are wider, 
stouter, and shorter. She is seldom on the wing ; only at swarming time, 
and when she cohabits with the males. It is supposed that she is always 
impregnated during her flight, and that impregnation in the fall, before the 
drones are destroyed, serves for the eggs she will lay in the spring. Those 
who have made observations upon tlieni, declare that a queen-bee is capable 
of laying hundreds, perhaps thousands, of egscs a day. 

Drones are idle fellows ; their only service being attendance upon the 
queen. Their life is a very short one ; generally from April to August ; say 
four months. None are allowed to live over winter. You must not mis- 
take the slaughter of the drones for war with other bees, which sometimes 
occurs. 

The workers are always busy whenever it is possible for them to carry on 
their labors. Tliey often begin the very hour they enter a new hive to 
build comb, and the second day the honey and pollen gatherers begin to 
bring in their stores. To work to advantage they must have a good house. 
Sometimes when a swarm goes into a hollow tree, the labor is immense, to 
clear out and fit the room for use. So it is when put into a mean, dirty hive. 
It requires a great deal of labor sometimes for the bees to stop up the cracks 
of an old hive with bee-glue — a substance gathered in the forest, and not 



Sec. 10.] BEES, AND TEE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 165 

made by the bees. It is harder and stifl'er M-hen dry than wax, and entirely 
unlike it. 

219. Weight of a Swarm. — It is estimated that a full swarm of bees should 
weigh 11 to 12 lbs. Hence all excess over that is honey and comb, so that 
the quantity can be ascertained by weighing the hive, if the weight of that 
is known, as it always should be, and marked upon it when new. 

Hives should always be constructed with some conveniences for weighing, 
such as a staple in the top, if that is a fixed one, or one in each side, and 
then have a movable bail to book in, to attach to the hook of the weighing 
balance. 

220. Bee-Pasture aud Bee-Feeding. — It has been a question for a long time, 
whether a country could be overstocked with bees so that their pasturage 
would be short. In a conversation with Mr. Qtiinby, one of the greatest 
apiarists in the country, we learned his opinion was that it was next to 
impossible to overstock any section with bees. We find from the " Bee 
Journal," published in German}', that the same opinion prevails there. Mr. 
Dzierzon, president of a convention of apiarists at Munich, says : 

" I have numerous accounts of apiaries, in close proximity, of from 200 to 
300 hives each. Ehrenfels had 1,000 in three separate establishments, but 
so close that he could visit all in half an hour's ride. In Russia and Hun- 
gary, apiaries numbering from 2,000 to 5,000 are not nnfreqnent ; and we 
know that as many as 4,000 colonies are often congregated together on the 
heaths of Germanj'. Hence I think that we need not fear that an}' district 
of this country, so distinguished for abundant natural vegetation and divers- 
ified culture, will very speedily become overstocked, particularly after the 
importance of having stocks populous early in the spring comes to be under- 
stood and appreciated. Mr. Kaden, one of the oldest contributors to the 
' Bee Journal,' says that a district of country can not be overstocked with 
bees, and that however numerous the colonies, all can procure sufljcient sus 
tenance, if the surrounding country contain honey-yielding plants in the 
usual degree ; Avhere utter barrenness prevails, the case is different, of courcO, 
as well as rare. 

" According to statistical tables, there are 600,000 colonies in the pr.ivince 
of Lunenburg, or 141 to the square mile. The number of square miles in 
this country stocked even to this extent are, I suspect, 'few and far be- 
tween.' 

" A German writer alleges that the bees of Lunenburg pay all their taxes, 
and leave a surplus besides. The importance attached to bee-culture accounts 
in part for the fact, that the people of this district (so barren that it has been 
called the ' Arabia of Germany') are almost without an exception in easy 
circumstances. 

" In the province of Attica, Greece, containing 45 square miles, 20,000 
colonies are kept, or one colony to each inhabitant, producing annually 30 
lbs. of honey and two of wax each. East Friesland (Holland), containing 
1,200 square miles, has an average of 2,000 polonies to the square mile. In 



166 SMALL AKIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

1857, tlie yield of lioney and wax, in the Empire of Austria, was estimated 
to be worth over seven millions of dollars ! !" 

Could not still more favorable results be obtained in this country, under 
a rational system of management availing itself of the aid of science, art, and 
skill ? The island of Corsica produces about SOO lbs. of honey to the square 
mile, per annum. 

There is no probability that any section of this country will reach such a 
state of productiveness in this generation. Yet we hope all who read these 
extracts will think what an immense loss is sustained annually by our neg- 
lect to cTuploy hafvesfcrs to gather the great crop of sweets that might be 
saved if our bee population were large enough to gather it all. 

Upon the subject of bee-jjasfurage, and those plants from which bees draw 
their stores of honey, we find some useful hints in Harbison's work ou Bees 
and Bee-keeping. Tie says : 

" The best kinds of early pasturage are the alders, hazel, and willows, some 
of which yield honey and others pollen ; most species of flowers yield both. 
My observations lead me to believe that tlie male flower yields pollen, and 
the female honey ; I have frequently seen bees gathering both honey and 
pollen from the same kind of flowers at the same time. It can be tested by 
examining both the honey-sack and the baskets on the thigh. These trees 
are the first to aflbrd the bees provision in the spring ; where these abound, 
the bees advance earlier than elsewhere. Tlie soft maple {aoer ruhrum) 
yields a considei-able quantity of honey very early, if the weather is fine ; 
the golden or yellow willow also yields supplies quite early ; peach, cherry, 
and pear trees put forth early ; gooseberries, currants, strawberries, etc., all 
afford rich supplies. To close this list of early flowers, the dandelion and 
apple come forth in rich profusion, all of which are of the utmost importance 
for the prosperity of the bees during the season. If this early pasturage 
fails, or i^the weather should be so unfavorable as to prevent the bees from 
gathering a supply of provisions, they will fail to rear a sufficient quantity 
of brood to swarm early or to harvest the clover honey to advantage. 

" It is but seldom, if ever, that a sufficient quantity of honey is gathered 
from these early flowers to cause the bees to store it in surplus boxes, yet 
enough is frequently obtained to fill up a large portion of the combs from 
which the honey has been consumed during the winter, and serves to supply 
their immediate wants until clover blooms. 

" The next pasturage comes from turnips, cabbage, and the hard maple 
{acer saccharinum), which yield a considerable quantity of honey, but later 
than the soft maple. Turnips produce a very copious supply of both honey 
and pollen, and if left standing in the ground over winter, they bloom just 
at a time to fill the interval between the fruit-tree flowers and the clover. 
This is also the case with the cabbage family, all of which yield large quan- 
tities of honey. A field of either turnips or cabbage at this early season is 
of greater value to the bees than the same quantity of either clover or buck- 
wheat. 



Sec. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 167 

" I would here impress upon the minds of all bee-keepers the importance 
of cultivating a field in turnips each year. In the fell gather in all the large, 
fine ones, either for marketing or for feeding sheep and cattle during the 
winter, for which they are very valuable, and %vill well repay the expense of 
raising them ; enough small ones will be left standing in the ground over 
winter to make a rich field of jjasturage for the bees in the spring, leaving 
the ground in fine condition for a crop of buckwheat, or to sow down in wheat 
in autumn, or to again put down in turnips. 

" The various kinds of blackberries, and the wild or bird cherry {ce?-asns 
serotina), yield honey, and serve to supply to some extent the interval above 
referred to. We have also a species of kale, or wild turnip, which if sowed 
very early in the spring will commence to bloom toward the latter part of 
May, and is very valuable. 

" Raspberries of all kinds yield an immense amount of honey, and con- 
tinue blooming, giving a succession of fresh flowers, for about three weeks. 
But few if any flowers produce such quantities of honey as the raspberry, in 
proportion to the number of flowers. 

" Catnip, mother-wort, hoarhound, honey-suckles, and various other kinds 
of flowers, put forth about the same time ; each would be of great value, if 
in sufficient quantities. 

" Then come other early summer flowers. At the head of this list pre-em- 
inently stands Avhite clover {trifolium rejyens), which is found along the road- 
sides, in meadows, grain-fields, gardens, pasture-fields, in fact, it may he seen 
everywhere. The seeds, which are very abundant and very small, are 
driven in every direction by the winds ; this has been overlooked by previous 
writers. The heads, which contain the seed, are quite small and very light ; 
the stalks stand erect until winter sets in and the ground is frozen, by M'bich 
time the stalk of it has become brittle, and every wind breaks off and rolls 
along the ground a portion of these little seed-pods, until they meet some 
obstruction ; here they will germinate. Thus they are scattered in every 
direction. I have frequently seen them driven furiously on the crust of u 
shallow snow, through which the heads would project. The value of this 
clover is entirely underrated as a pasture for cattle or horses, as well as bees ; 
it is always selected by stock in preference to the red clover. The honey 
gathered from it is of the highest excellence, both in beauty and flavor ; and 
I believe in good seasons, all the bees, in any neighborhood where it 
abounds, could not gather the fourth part, so great is the quantity produced. 

"The tulip-tree (liriodendron), or poplar, as it is called by some, by others 
white wood, is a great producer of honey. Nothing of the tree kind that I 
have ever seen exceeds it ; the flowers expand in succession, are of a bell- 
like shape, mouth upward. In dry, warm weather I have seen a teaspoonful 
of pure honey or saccharine matter in a single cup or flower. Bees work 
upon it with the same vigor they manifest when carrying honey from some 
other hive, or when it is fed to them. 

"The yellow and black locust trees yield large quantities of honey. 



168 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

" The linden, or bass-wood {tilia Americana), produces honey to a large 
amount. All of these varieties of trees should be extensively cultivated, 
both as shade and ornamental trees, as well as for their timber and the vast 
quantities of honey they yield. Sumach also produces honey bountifully ; 
the difficulty, however, is, that there are but few places where these are 
found in sufficient quantities to be of importance. I trust they will be 
extensively cultivated. 

'• The common black mustard is one of the most valuable plants to culti- 
vate as a pasture for bees ; it is easily raised, by simply sowing it on ground 
when well plowed and pulverized by harrowing smooth, and then brushing 
it in with a light brush or very light harrow. It should be sown early in 
the spring, on good ground. 

" Those interested in bee-keeping should give the cultivation of mustard 
some attention. As a bee-pasture it has few superiors, yielding both pollen 
and honey in great abundance ; it begins to open its flowers when quite 
young and continues as the bush expands, until it becomes very large-; each 
day brings forth new blossoms. A field of mustard in full bloom is a most 
magnificent sight ; it is like a vast pile of golden flowers ; the plants are 
comjjletely enveloped with flowers, from the ground up as high as a man's 
head. There is no other plant that I ever noticed that produces so mauy 
flowers to any given quantity of ground, nor yields so much honey. 

" In almost any of the Atlantic States it serves to fill the interval that occurs 
between the closing of the white clover and the opening of the buckwheat 
flowers, a period of about four weeks, wliicii is the very best part of the year 
for gathering honey, as the weather is generally warm and calm ; hence the 
propriety of raising this crop to employ the bees profitably. 

" The honey produced from it resembles that yielded from the linden, both 
j in color and taste. 

" Mignonette, a modest, unpresuming little flower, found in all well- 
assorted collections, is one of the greatest value as a bee-pasture, if grown in 
sufficient quantities to be an object. It is low growing and spreading in its 
habits, similar to white clover, and yields both honey and pollen ; it will 
bloom continually, from the middle of June until killed by frosts in the fall. 
It is easily raised in large quantities if the ground is clear of weed seed, 
plowed, and well pulverized by harrowing before sowing. Sow thinly and 
brush it in with a light brush ; all that is required after this is to jjull out 
any large-growing weeds that may chance to make their appearance before 
the mignonette spreads over the ground ; where it takes possession of the 
ground, it needs no further care. A bed of these flowers will perfume the air 
for quite a distance around, so rich is it. Bees will work on it from daylight 
until dark ; two or three may be seen at once on a single head or flower. 

" The cephalanthus Canadensis, or butter-bush, which grows in swamps, 
and low, wet, marshy grounds in almost every part of the United States, 
preserving the same appearance wherever found, produces honey of the 
highest excellence. The honey gathered from this shrub is of a very light 



Seo. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY. 169 

straw color, of a thick, heavy body, and very excellent flavor. Bees thrive 
and store honey very rapidly when they have access to large quantities of 
these flowers. The time of blooming varies with difierent localities, but it 
generally begins to put forth flowers about the first of July, and continues 
for three or four weeks. 

" In all places where buckwheat is raised, it becomes an important acces- 
sion to bee-pasturage. A field of buckwheat yields an incredible quantity 
of honey, which perfumes the air for a considerable distance around. "When 
the weather is favorable, the bees store honey from it very rapidly, faster at 
times than they can build combs to receive it. I have seen them fill pieces 
of old combs laid close to the entrance of the hive, with honey, and have 
known colonies to fill four boxes of honey, or about 50 lbs., during the con- 
tinuance of buckwheat. This is by no means an uncommon occurrence, and 
goes to show that this honey harvest is one of great importance to the bee- 
keeper. Buckwheat may be sown about a month earlier than usual, to fur- 
nish pasturage to come in about the close of clover, to great advantage." 

In relation to artificial feeding there are many opinions. There is prob- 
ably no better food for bees than brown sugar, moistened with honey, such 
as can be bought at a low price by the barrel or gallon in any town. Add 
just enough honey to the sugar to make it into a dough by kneading. Put 
this feed in a shallow tray, with a few straws on top, and let the bees take 
their own way and time with it. It is well to give a little salt to bees, if 
they can not get it conveniently. The best way is to place a lump of rock- 
salt near the hives, and there let it remain year after year. 

A practical bee-keeper says : " If the season has been nnpropitions, the 
hives should be carefully looked after. If any contain less than 20 lbs. of 
honey, the swarm will need to be fed either with honey alone or mixed with 
sugar diluted to the consistence of honey, poured on to pieces of empty 
comb, and placed in the hive in such a manner that bees from other hives 
will not find it. Perhaps the best method is to introduce the feed into the 
boxes directly over the bees ; but should it be a common box hive, it may 
be placed on the top of the hive, where there is a communication through 
the top, and placing a cap over the whole ; and then gently rapping on the 
top of the hive, the bees will press up through and find the feed. The feed- 
ing should be done during warm weather." 

221. New Food for Bees. — The fact has been discovered in France, that 
bees will feed upon the oil-cake (soaked in water) that is made in the manu- 
facture of oil from the Sesamiiin Orienfale, known here as the bene plant, so 
that they can be much easier wintered ; and it is said the increase of stocks 
is wonderful in comparison with those not thus fed. 

The Flore des Seizes, from which we borrow this, assures us that the results 
have been astonishing, not only in a large increase of honey-comb, but in 
enabling the bees to multiply beyond all belief; nearly ten times the quantity 
being bred in consequence of the facility afl'orded of obtaining abundant 
and, as it would seem, excellent nourishment from this unexpected source. 



170 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

The experiment could be tried in this country by apiarians planting the 
bene seed, and bruising and soaking the seed of the crop, and feeding it to 
the swarms after the natural food fails. 

One of the greatest troubles in bee-keeping appears to be the want of suit- 
able food early in the spring to enable the swarm to prepare for a new col- 
ony that may go out early enough in the season to lay up, not only their 
own stores for winter, but a surplus for their owner. Many swarms that 
have an abundance of honey for their own use and to spare in the spring, 
are inactive for weeks after the spring has become warm enough for them to 
work, because they have nothing to work upon. The first business is not to 
gather honey, but pollen, to make bread for the young bees. So, although 
the weather is warm enough, and the bees lively enough, until the buds 
aiTord pollen, they have nothing to work upon to enable them to be in season 
with the new brood, to produce early swarms. This is a serious drawback 
in late seasons, and in situations where pollen-producing plants arc not 
plenty. 

Mr. E. T. Stnrtevant, of Cleveland, Ohio, claims that he has discovered a 
remedy for this difficulty, and that he can bring forward his bees some two 
months earlier, and get good swarms the first of May. His plan is to feed 
his bees with unbolted rye-meal, strewn upon boards convenient to the hive, 
the bees pitching into it at once and working diligently, and in such an earn- 
est way as fairly to scramble over one another. It is a hint worthy the 
attention of all beekeepers. 

A few years ago, a bee-keeper in "Wurtemherg discovered that bees ex- 
tracted food from carrots which had been rasped and cooked for stock, and 
thereupon he boiled some to a jelly and placed it near the hives, at a time 
when the fields aflbrded no food, and he found tliat they worked upon it as 
though the saccharum it contained was particularly agreeable. 

We suggest an experiment with carrots cooked in this way, by bee-keepers" 
in this country. We would also try parsneps ; and, where they are grown 
abundantly, sweet potatoes. And since wo know that bees are so fond of 
sweet apples in summer, why not keep them to feed swarms when needing 
artificial feeding in winter. It may add as much to the health of bees to 
feed green food, as it does to health of other farm-stock. Let the experiment 
be tried. 

222. Ventilation of llives> — A great deal has been said about the necessity, 
on account of ventilation, of making hives open at the bottom. In reply to 
this, let men think that bees in a wild state prosper well in the hollow of a 
tree where there is but one small hole for entrance of the bees or ventilation, 
and that open-end hives, standing on a bench, are often cemented fast to it, 
and sometimes holes left, for ventilation, are sealed up as closely as though 
air was poison to the inmates of the hive. 

If you wish to ventilate, bore a two-inch hole into the upper part of the 
large box, and cover it on the inside of the box and on the outside of the case 
with wire gauze, fine enough to keep oiit ants and other insects, for a venti- 



Seo. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PKODUCTIOISr OF HONEY. 



171 



lator. Bore inch holes through into both of the upper boxes, and cover in 
tlie same way. 

Mr. Quinby says that he regards f roper ventilation as very important, 
and yet projx'r ventilation is very imperfectly understood. He also says : 
" Any way to get rid of the moisture." The presumption is, that he would 
not freeze the bees at the outset as one of the ways, for that would surely 
prevent moisture ; and if the modus operandi of some who give directions 
how to ventilate should be put in practice in very cold situations, the bees 
are just as surely frozen. 

Moisture accumulating on the inside walls of the hive has caused the de- 
struction of more strong colonies of bees than any one other casualty, except 
the fatal way of some bee-keepers to get rid of the moisture by opeiiino- wide 
the apertures in the top and also in the bottom of the hive, and thus causing 
a current of external air to pass up through the interior — precisely the 
method to cool a hive in hot weather — and also thus rendering the bees more 
exposed and liable to bo frozen than they would be situated on the exterior 
of the hive. Proper ventilation is simply to give free vent for the air at the 
top of the hive, and not admitting any or but very little air through the 
bottom. Under all circumstances it is requisite to regulate the openings in 
the bottom with those in the top, which amounts to about the same thing 
without the drawbacks of inverting the hive. 

There is a new form of beti-hives, used by J. L. Scribner, of Montpelier, 
Vt., a successful producer of honey, so much so that he carries off all prizes 
at the county fair. 

This hive, being made of straw, serves admirably for ventilation. It is 
made of a frame of square sticks, say one inch diameter, and in capacity 12 by 
13 inches, and 13 inches in hight, with a flat board roof projecting two inches 
each way. The frame is nailed together ; the lower girts are placed \ inch 
above the bottom of the posts. The frame is covered with straw sewed 
together, just as it is in straw hives, with a hoop at the bottom, made of 
strips of boards one inch thick and two inches wide nailed together. In this 
hoop a notch 2i inches long, \ inch deep, is cut for the bees. Plane all the 
wood, and use none but clean i-ye straw. On the roof, over suitable holes, 
the boxes for storing honey are placed. It is thus described by Mr. Scribner: 

"The advantages of this hive over all others that I have used arc very 
material in my view. It is generally conceded that straw hives are the best 
to winter bees in ; not altogether because they are so much warmer, but 
because they will ' 'keep dry^ and the frost does not accumulate as in board 
hives. Every experienced apiarian knows that in wooden hives there is a 
continual dampness, arising in part from the breath and effluvia of the bees. 
Not so in straw hives. Straw being of a dry and absorbing nature, the 
moisture is taken up. Now, I have learned that straw hives are as much 
better in summer as in winter, especially in the season of breeding, when we 
are subject to frequent and sudden changes of the weather, such as damp, 
chilly nights and hot days. The temperature of a straw hive is more even : 



172 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IT- 

it does not heat excessively in hot weather nor cool suddenly, as do board 
hives. The natural warmth of the bees is retained, whieli is particularly 
conducive to their health and prosperity. Hence there should be no unnec- 
essary ventilation by leaving an ' open space,' as has been recommended by 
some, ' all around the bottom of the hive.' Especially in damp, chilly 
weather, bees will breed faster and gather more honey in straw hives than 
in board hives, according to my experience. One reason for their gathering 
more honey, probably, is because the young brood comes to maturity faster, 
consequently there are more ' laborers in tlie field' in the earl}- honey sea- 
son. This hive combines all the real advantages of every patent hive that 
has come to my knowledge, while it obviates all the objections and retains all 
the good qualities of ' the old-fashioned straw hives.' 

" The less a farmer bothers himself with patent hives and bee-palaces, and 
the less he tries to counteract nature, the better he will be off. I am heartily 
sick of 'patent bee-hive=,' and it is time to abandon them." 

223. Taking Honey, and How to Keep the Bees from Stinging.— When bees 
are alarmed for the safety of their stores, they immediately rush to the cells 
and fill their sacks with honey, apparently to provide against any contingency 
that might arise. When in this condition, they arc perfectly harmless, never 
volunteer an attack ; consequently, to tame bees, or render them docile and 
easily driven or handled, simjjly take advantage of this peculiar instinct. To 
conline them closely to their hive, rap repeatedly on its sides for a few min- 
utes; this alarms them, and they will gorge themselves with honey, when 
they can be handled and controlled at pleasure. But we have adopted the 
following plan, which we find best adapted to our use, and recommend it to 
others, with the assurance that it will give satisfiiction : Take clean cotton or 
linen rags, such as are used in the manufacture of paper ; make a nice roll of 
these, about an inch in diameter, and from six to twelve inches long; wrap 
this pretty tight, either with narrow strips or shreds torn from cloth, or, what 
is more convenient, nse wrapping yarn of some kind ; prepare a number of 
such rolls, and keep on hand in some box, or any dry place, near the apiafj^, 
together with some matches. When you wish to ojjen a hive or perform any 
operation, set fire to one end of a roll of rags; it makes quite a smoke, with- 
out any blaze. Upon opening the hive, blow the smoke vigorously among 
the bees for a minute or two, whicli terrifies tiicni, without doing any perma- 
nent injury ; they immediately rush to the cells and fill their sacks with 
honey, when you can proceed to lift out one comb after another, and perform 
any operation with perfect impunity, without any fear of being stung, unless 
by those from other hives near at hand. Should there be some, however, 
that would show signs of battle, blow a little more smoke upon them, and 
repeat it from time to time nntil the close of the operation. Toward the 
close of the honey season, when they ai-e rich and increased in stores, they 
are harder to control than at any other season of the year ; when this occurs, 
put a small portion of tobacco or a few grains of sulphur in your roll of 
rags; this renders the smoke more pungent, and will easily subdue the 



Sec. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION OF HONEY 173 

bees. Dried puff-ball makes a sinoke that subdues bees without injury to 
them. 

22-1. Bee Moths, and How to Protect Bees from Them.— Numerous patents have 
been taken out to sell bee-keepers, to keep the moths out of the hives. All of 
these contrivances fail in their object, or else have objections to them which 
have prevented their genei-al introduction. One now before us consists of a 
set of swinging doors, just such as we have often seen at cat-holes, hung at 
the to23 so as to fall into place as soon as pussy gets through. For the bees, 
a small tin, about the size of a dime, is hung in the entrance hole, M-hich the 
bee can push open, but tlie moth can not — that is, so says the patentee. 

Where open-end hives stand upon a bench, we have seen motlis prevented 
fi-om injuring the swarm by raising the hive, during the moth season, about 
lialf an inch from the bench. The theory of this plan is, that the moth in- 
serts her eggs between the bottom of the hive and bench, wher* they hatch, 
and the bees can not get at the worms ; but if it is raised up, there is no op- 
portunity for the moth to deposit her eggs where they will be safe. 

A cheap, good moth-trap is made in the following manner: Take a piece 
of thin pine board, or a shingle, a few inches square, and witli your pocket- 
knife cut three-cornered grooves on one side, and lay it, grooved side down, 
on the bench under the hive. Tlie moths will find a secure place from tlie 
bees, and deposit their eggs, which you will find, or the worms, and destroy, 
by looking at your traps every few days. 

Mr. Quinby recommends the following mixture as a moth-trap : Sugar or 
molasses and a little vinegar and water, making the "contrast" agreeable — 
the sweet and the sour. Put this in shallow dishes, saucers, or tin baking 
dishes, and set them among the bees at evening. Next morning, moths of 
all kinds will be found in the liquid, and may then be strained out and de- 
stroyed, and the mixture used the following evening. 

225. lutroductioa of Bees into faHfornia.— The honey-bee is not a native of 
California. The credit of introducing them is due to a man by the name of 
Shelton, who, after doing much for the interest of agricultural improvements 
iu that State, lost his life, while still a very young man, by the explosion of 
a steamboat boiler on the S.acramento Hiver. lie imported, in March, 1853, 
the first bees into Califoi-nia. He left New York with twelve stands, or 
hives, and arrived Avith but one ; from this one about one hundred and fifty 
swarms were credited in ISoS, and, of course, have largely niultiiilied since 
that time. There have also been very large exportations made by steamer 
from New York. The Messrs. Harbison, of Pennsylvania, have been very 
successful in shipping and selling swarms, and have also established an ex- 
tensive apiary at Sacramento. The common price of some of the first stocks 
sent to or produced in California has been fifty to one hundred dollars a hive. 
The Harbisons made their first shipment, we believe, in 1858-9. 

It has been thought singular that our people found no bees in California, 
when they M'ere so abundant in Mexico and Central America. Since the 
introduction of bees from New York, a California paper states that several 



174 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

attempts to import bees from Mexico have failed. Captain Macondray had 
one or more Mexican swarms, but they soon dwindled away. In 1S59, Mrs. 
Sutter, daughter-in-law to General Sutter, had forty-four hives packed on the 
hacks of Indians to Acapulco, and brought on the steamer to San Francisco; 
two or three weeks after their arrival, there remained but two hives contain- 
ing bees; they were taken to San Jose, but in a sliort time they also died. 

It also says, and so does every one we have conversed with on the subject, 
that California is admirably adapted to the honey-bee, as the experience of five 
years fully demonstrates. In San Jose Valley, Sacramento Valley, Sliasta, 
Bidwell's, Stockton, Columbia, and Napa they multiply rajjidly and store 
abundance of lioney. The willow affords the first material for pollen. The 
bees commence gathering it by the 1st of January; about the loth of Janu- 
ary it is in bloom, and affords considerable honey, though slightly bitter. 
The bees gather pollen and honey from the willow till March. The wild 
mustard aftbrds an inexhaustible supply of honey from the 1st of April to 
the middle of June. Later iu the season, honey is obtained from buckwheat 
and hone^'-dew. 

Honey made from mustard blossom, from which most of the honey is 
gathered in San Jose Valley, is excellent, and has sold in San Francisco at 
from $1 25 to $1 50 per pound. New swarms issue as eai'ly as the 15th of 
April, and the swarming season continues to the 16th of June. 

220. Sf iugless BeeSi — There is a good deal said of late about going to Brazil 
after "stlngless bees." What is the utility? We have a better sort here, 
and their stings are in no manner objectionable. In fact, they are advan- 
tageous to the apiarian. They guard the store from thieves of all sorts, and 
they are nnich better honey-makers than the South American variety, which 
has no sting, all of Avhich are of a much smaller size than our common 
honey-bee, and some of them make honey that is sour, and others give it a 
bitter flavor. This may be owing to the flowers it is extracted from, as we 
have known bees here to make uneatable honey. 

Wells, in his explorations of Honduras, gives the names of fourteen varie- 
ties of honey-bees. Honey is very abundant and low priced. He was 
charged but ten cents a quart for it. He says: "The bees are diminutive, 
and mostly stingless. Swarms of them may be seen every day, when travel- 
ing in the open country, hovering around some decayed tree, and but little 
trouble is necessary to bear the whole establishment to the nearest hacienda. 
One of the pi-oprietors said he had sold enough, since owning the estate, 1o 
buy all the drilling, mantos, and articles of that description, required at the 
hacienda." 

The most cui-ious thing about most of these bees is that they do not store 
honey like our bees, in combs of hexagonal cells, but in little sacs, two inches 
long, arranged in rows along the sides of the hive. The cells for the young 
are placed in the center. 

227. Italian BecSi — During the year 1860, a good deal has been said about 
the advantage to be derived from the introduction of Italian bees into the 



Sec. 10.] BEES, AND THE PROFITABLE PRODUCTION" OF HONEY. 175 

United States, and importations have been made for that purpose. The plan 
is to breed queens, which, after being impregnated, are introduced into com- 
mon hives, after removing tlie okl queen. 

A writer in the Country Gentleman newspaper gives the following as the 
history of the introduction of Italian bees into tliis country. lie says: 

"Mr. P. J. Mahan, of Philadelphia, is mentioned 'as being the first to 
land this new variety on our shores.' As a matter of history, I would state 
that this is not so. For several years past the attempt has been made yearly 
by Mr. Richard Colvin, of Baltimore, Samuel Wagoner, of York, Pa., and 
Rev. L. L. Langstroth. These attempts Avere unsuccessful, owing to bad 
packing and mismanagement in transportation, until the autumn of 1859, 
when Mr. Colvin received some Italian stocks, and hoped to have queens 
from them for sale the past season, but these stocks, unfortunately, did not 
survive the winter. Ne.xt in order of date is Mr. Malian's importation from 
Germany, which was successful on account of his personal supervision. 
Sliortly after Mr. Mahan's importation, Mr. S. B. Parsons, of Flushing, Long 
Island, succeeded in getting a few swarms alive from Italy. From them he 
has succeeded, aided by several skillful apiarians, in raising a large number 
of queens, which have been sent to nearly every State in the Union, includ- 
ing California, under the supervision of Mr. Bigelow, a successful apiarian. 

"The last successful importation was by Messrs. Colvin and "Wagoner. 
All the above named are exerting themselves to multiply their stocks of 
Italian bees, and they will doubtless have a demand for all the queens and 
stocks they can supply next season, as the interest in this new bee is deserv- 
edly increasing. The question will naturally arise. Of whom shall I pur- 
chase ? Are these importations equally reliable, and if so, have all taken 
the same pains and been equally successful in keeping the breed pure ? I 
would here remark that some situations are more favorable for maintaining 
purity than others. The Italian bees now in this country are from three 
different sources, and every one should decide for himself to which stock he 
should give the preference, and if the most reliable man and the most i-eli- 
able bee can be found working together. 

"Two of the importations are from Germany, and one from Italy. Of tJie 
importation from Italy there can be no reason to question ils purity. The 
two importations from Germany are from different breeders. One of the 
importations from Germany I have the fullest confidence in from personal 
inspection ; and if the other be equally good, we are in a fair position to 
have the country well supplied with pure stock in a few years, provided 
sufficient interest is taken to maintain purity." 

228. Reasons for Keeping Bees. — In this section we have only aimed to say 
just enough to encourage every reader to keep bees, who has anything like 
fair facilities for them to obtain a supply of honey from gardens and fields, 
which they will do if within a mile, and some bee-keepers say if within two 
miles. But it is not profitable to allow bees to go so far, when the bee-keeper 
has land upon which he can grow bee-food just- as well as he can grow food 



116 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[Chap. II. 



for any other fjirm-stoct. The fact that bees obtain a great deal of food 
from fruit-trees should encourage farmers to cultivate both together. And 
if lie plants along the roadside long rows of willows, maples, lindens, pop- 
lars, he will not only have the advantage of them for shade and ornament, 
but his bees, if he has them — and if not, let him be encouraged to get them — 
will find a great field up in the branches, that they can use as pasture. 

The strongest reason that can be given for keeping bees is this simple fact: 
They afford more clear profit than any other stock ever kejjt on the farm, 
and, generally speaking, the more labor is bestowed upon them in providing 
good hives and pasture, the better they pay. 



SECTION XL-BIRDS. 

eason and Re!ii?ioii in Preserving Birds. — "We don't 
know how much we have written, said, and sung 
to induce farmers not to destroy the birds, nor 
allow them to be destroyed, because we look upon 
them as part and parcel of the farm-stock, and of 
more importance to the farmer than some animals lie 
keeps, at much more expense than his stock of birds. 
We say his stock, because we consider the birds on the 
trees just as much the property of him who owns the 
trees as the trees themselves ; and he who would steal 
one would steal the other. A man who would come upon 
my farm and shoot my birds, witliout my permission, is 
not one of the noblest works of God. No man who takes 
reason for a guide, who owns a farm in any of the old 
States, can consent to have his birds destroyed. lie certainly M'ill not de- 
stroy them himself, after he has taken time to think upon the suliject. It is 
our object to induce him to think, and the best place to do so is to go out 
among them in a bright spring morning, and hear their music. 

Go out among the trees in the orchard or through the grove, or look into 
the hedge-rows or peep under the old bridge down the lane, or go to the 
barn ; go anywhere, everywhere, where you will, and at this season — that is, 
lovely May season — you will find the birds — busy, merry, singing birds ; 
hard at work they are, too, building their houses — cradles, rather — and all the 
time keeping up a concert of sweet music. Various too are their tastes in 
selecting their sites for their nesting-places, some hiding away from man, 
some coming up to his very door, or, like the martin and swallow, under his 
roof and protection. Kobin-red-breast almost invariably comes into the 
orchard, sometimes on the trees, sometimes on the fence, sometimes, where 
kindly treated, under the shed by the barn or house. 




Seo. 11.] BIRDS. 177 

The woodpecker — the same one that was tapping " the hollow beech-tree" 
— makes holes in the old apple-trees, into which for years afterward the 
pretty bluebird creeps and rears its annual brood. 

The blackbird, the most numerous of the family of small birds, mostly 
nests in the swamp ; except one variety, imitating the crow, that goes into 
the highest trees, such as the spruce, with a dark, thick top, where boys nor 
small shot can not come. 

In the meadow we find the sly nest of the quail and lark and several 
small birds ; and in the thickest bushes, the home of the brown thrush. He 
is a natural musician, a sweet bird full of glee and cheerfulness ; but the 
merriest and most amusing of the whole family is the noisy little bobolink. 

We look upon birds as among the essentials of a landscape, and would as 
soon think of chopping down the orchard, shooting the turkeys, and wring- 
ing the necks off of the barn-yard fowls, or making mutton of the sheep or 
giving the lambs to the dogs, as to think of destroying the birds or ilriving 
them from the premises. • 

" Going a gunning," with the murderous intent to kill such birds, oiight to 
consign a man to the infiimy that we are apt to attach to a savage or a brute 
who wantonly kills the finest of God's creation. 

Without birds, a country is desolate; with them, it is always cheerful. 
Their songs would enliven the heart of a stone, or make a miser for the 
moment forget his money. 

The association of children with birds, when taught to love them and not 
destroy their nests, has as direct and certain a tendency to improve their 
natures as the church or family fireside. Teach a child that birds are among 
the good gifts of God to mart, and it is hardly possible that the child will 
grow up to manhood without being possessed of some of the attributes of the 
sweet songsters of the grove. 

And j'et there are parents who allow their children to wage incessant war 
upon the birds, never thinking of the injury the}- are doing their young 
minds, or how many destructive enemies they are entailing upon the crops in 
the shape of countless caterpillars, grubs, and worms. 

We do not know of a higher Christian duty for a minister to engage in 
than an effort to preserve the birds in his parish. 

We would impress upon the mind of every child that the command, " thou 
shalt not kill," meant these dear little birds as well as things of a higher 
degree. Thou shalt not wantonly kill a single thing of all creation that is 
not necessary for man's sustenance, or that is not detrimental to his interest. 

Children should be taught not only to love the music of birds, but to look 
upon them as models of beauty and aftection to their mates and to their 
young. Instead of driving them away from the house, encourage them to 
come and pereh upon the window-sill and build their nests under the eaves. 

Do not tell us they destroy the small fruit. Plant enough for birds and 
men. If ihey do eat fruit, they also eat worms, and you can well aff'ord to 
give then) a few cherries and ciiri-ants for what they have done for vou. 



178 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

Around the city there is a difficulty in preserving the birds, because all 
the groves are infested with an abominable nuisance in the shape of big boys 
and prowling loafers " out for a day's shooting." 

They ought to be out for a day's shooting, and that should be at their own 
idle carcasses, with fine salt and pepper-corns, and every owner of land 
should be allowed by law thus to salt and pepper any of these idle vagabonds 
who come upon his grounds without leave to doom the birds to destruction. 

Farmers ! let your motto be— and impress it upon all your family — Never 
kill a bird ! 

In the early settlement of this country', there was such an abundance of 
birds that the people who were striving to raise grain enough for the support 
of their families, looked upon them as their enemies, because they were nat- 
urally disposed to come in for a share of the crop, and some of them, such 
as the crow and the large blackbird, sometimes depredated upon the seed, 
by which the crop was effectually cut off. 

So a war of extermination was declared without discrimination against all 
birds, and it was carried to such a bitter end that the children of the first 
settlers grew up with a fi.xed opinion that they were doing a Christian duty 
whenever an opportunity offered, in destroying birds and birds' nests, and 
they entailed the same disposition upon their children and their children's 
children ; and so the poor birds have been almost exterminated from the face 
of the earth with scarcely a thought wliy or wherefore, except that they were 
birds, and birds must be destroyed — " father says so." Upon that ipse dixit 
some of the best friends of the farmer, instead of his worst enemies, have 
been almost annihilated, while others have come to regard him as a being 
to be so avoided that they make their abodes in deep forests, and hide their 
nests and young from man as carefully as nuxn would hide his young from 
a tiger. 

Experience teacheth wisdom ; and after two hundred years of teaching, 
the American farmer is just beginning to learn that birds are his best friends. 
He shot them upon his plum and cherry trees because they took a sliare of 
the fruit, and then came the insects that the birds used to prey upon, and the 
days of plum-growing were over. So of many other insects, real pests of the 
farmer, everywhere multiplying as the birds decrease. 

Not one of the species upon which man has made such unceasing war, but 
has its use. Even the owl, although it will eat chickens, is a great mouse- 
destroyer ; and the hated hawk is sometimes shot witii a snake in its bill. 
Crows should be treated with as much care about a farm as domestic fowls. 
Do they pull up your sprouting corn seed ? Feed them and tliey will not. 
Sow corn broadcast through tiie field and they will not touch that which 
you have planted. Birds of all desci-iptions should be taught that man is a 
friend and not an enemy, and they will return the friendship. 

Some lover of birds — and he who is not such is " fit for treasons, strata- 
gems, and spoils"— may demur to our assertion, that they are less influenced 
by gratitude than their four-footed fellows. If our assertion is incorrect, we 



Seo. 11.] BIRDS. 179 

shall be liappy to be set right, but we believe that facts are agaiii>' tiio birds ; 
yet if this be so, the circumstance is not to their discredit. Tiiej are the 
humorists, the musicians, the conversationists of the animal world ; so fully 
occupied in talking, singing, joking, eating, and rearing their tamilies, that 
they have little time to devote to those immense beings, pantaiooned or 
hooi^ed, whom they undoubtedly regard from their airy bights with a sort 
of contempt, as they behold them slowly plodding along, confined to the dull 
earth and unable to take a flight even equal to that of one of their newly- 
fledged otfspring ; and if they condescend to pick up a few crumbs scattered 
by some gentle hand, they feel as little of the emotion of gratitude to their 
benefactor, as the squirrel to the chestnut-tree whicli rains upon him his , 
winter's supply. A certain degree of brain development is necessary for the 
existence of this emotion, and birds, in this respect, are inferior to most of 
the quadrupeds with which we ai"e familiar. 

Birds do not seem to be as susceptible as quadrupeds to kind treatment, 
and those species which have been domesticated appear to have lost what- 
ever " smartness" they may originally have possessed. The whole tribe of 
domestic fowls — cocks, hens, ducks, geese, guinea-fowls, turkeys, pea-fowls — 
are unmitigatedly stupid — acute in nothing but picking up corn and devas- 
tating gardens. 

Tlie eroio is one of the birds that unthinking men destroy, because they 
pull up a little corn in the spring. Will you think what else he does ? 

He consumes in the year vast quantities of grubs, worms, and noxious 
vermin ; he is a valuable scavenger, and clears the land of otfensive masses 
of deceased animal substances ; he hunts the grain fields, and pulls out and 
devours the underground caterjiillars, whenever he perceives the signs of 
their operations, as evinced by the wilted stalks ; he destroys mice, young 
rats, lizards, and small snakes ; lastly, he is a volunteer sentinel about the 
farm, and drives the hawk from its inclosure, thus preventing greater mis- 
chief than that of which he himself is guilty. It is chiefly during seed-time 
and harvest that the depredations of the crow are committed ; during the 
remainder of the year we witness only his services, which are so appreciated 
by those who have written of birds, that I can not name an ornithologist 
who does not plead in his behalf. 

Frighten the crows, but do not kill them, except one to use to keep his 
fellows off your corn. Pick off part of his feathers and scatter them on some 
spot in the field easily seen, and near by lay tlio carcass of the dead crow 
and you will see his late companion sailing over the field and looking down 
upon what has been done, but very careful not to light where he too might 
fall a victim. If you can not kill a crow, you may make a very good show 
of a dead one with a black hen. Crows are too valuable as vermin-destroy- 
ers on a form to be wantonly destroyed because they pull up a little corn. 

A writer at Eaton, N. Y., sends us the following item in favor of the per- 
secuted crow, which makes him out not quite so black as he looks — that is, 
when seen by the eyes of some of his enemies. He says : 



ISO SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

" For the interest of the farming portion of tliis country, I communicate 
the following : Mr. Alpha Brown, an enterprising fanner of this town, 
informed me that, having acted this year upon the somewhat late suggestion 
of yours, of sowing corn broadcast over the planted ground, he experienced 
a new result. Upon four acres, where heretofore liis crop had been greatly 
injured by the devastations of the "white grub" and "gray corn-worm," he 
sowed broadcast, after planting, a half bushel of corn. This, of course, 
attracted the nrows, which, coming to the ground in the cooler part of the 
afternoon and morning, found the worms on their usual visit to the surface, 
and, preferring the latter to the corn, devoured them instead. The result is, 
that out of the whole field he has not lost to exceed five hills." 

230. The Reverse of (he Crow Qiicstiou. — Having given our opinion in fixvor 
of the crow, in the preceding paragraph, "wo feel that it is due to a fair in- 
vestigation of the question not to make it an arbitrary opinion, and rest 
there, but to give the opinions of others also. It is facts, not theories, that 
■we wish to give farmers. 

One who signs himself a " Farmer's Boy," writes from liidgefield. Conn., 
about crows, as follows : 

" Having lately read your article upon the subject of crows and others 
of the feathered tribe, I can not hold still my rusty old steel any longer. I 
agree with you very well until you advocate the protection of crows ; thei"e I 
think you miss your mark. There is but one thing you name that is in their 
favor — the digging of grubs. They are the enemies of all our small birds, 
which you advocate preserving. They commence with the eggs, and con- 
tinue their depredations until the young are nearly grown. They arc never 
found destroying insects of any kind that could not be of more use than the 
crow, and even the grub can be made a source of income to the farmer. An 
intelligent farmer told me, some years ago, he made 1,000 pounds of i:)ork by 
letting his hogs feed on them in his meadows, which damaged his grass but 
little the first year, and thought it better the second by having the surface 
stirred. You speak of their devouring carrion. Now, in my opinion, no 
farmer that is a good economist will allow any dead animal to lie and rot in 
the sun to make food for the crows. I consider the carcass of a horse, a cow, 
or an ox worth from three to five dollars to any farmer. If so, it is quite 
too dear food for crows. Some say crows catch grasshoppers and crickets. 
I prefer a nice brood of turkeys, that will not look bad on the table when 
they have performed their work on the farm. 

" You see I am a friend to almost everything bnt a crow. If there is any- 
thing made in vain, it is the crow. They destroy our little warblers ; they 
catch our chickens, ducks, turkeys, and goslings; they dig our potatoes, pull 
our corn and beans, from the time they ajipear above ground until they grow 
out of their way. Then, as soon as the grain is formed on the ear; they 
commence their work again. Now, if such a pest as this is to be protected, 
it must be by some one who has a heart softer than I have ; a creature that 
but one thing can be said in its favor, and the rest must go against it. I 



Seo. 11.] BIRDS. 181 

have not the least doubt but our town was taxed $500 hist year to feed 
crows." 

Upon this we simply remark : If " Farmer's Boy" has a breed of crows 
about him that really catch turkeys, goslings, etc., and dig potatoes, he is 
welcome to be tlieir enemy. Our crows are of another sort. But is our 
"boy" sure that he "can tell a hawk from a hernshaw?" Because the 
raven, though one of the cnrvus family, is not a crow, as we understand the 
word ; and it is just possible that the bird that catches turkeys and other 
birds is a raven. 

We have another opinion, coming from a citizen of Montgomery County, 
Penn. He says : 

" Leaving T/our crows under your protection, to enjoy their excellent repu- 
tations, we desire to say a word on the character of ours. That we have 
real, veritable crows that catch young chickens, is a 'fixed fact,' well estab- 
lished. The present season, notwithstanding our care, we lost by them, I 
suppose, from ten to fifteen, and avoided the loss of others only by the use 
of gunpowder. Our experience on this subject, I may add, is that of many 
others. This thing, then, our ' breed' of crows do, and also carry off spoiled 
eggs that may be thrown away, birds' eggs, etc. In reference to ducks and 
goslings, I am unable to speak, but have no reason to believe that they are 
distasteful, or that they do not catch them. 

"They love, it appears, a variety. A near and reliable neighbor informs 
me tliat quite recently he saw one of our tribe in hot pursuit of a rabbit, 
which, after sundry dodgings, secreted itself under the fence. So you see 
New York crows difler from ours, and, I incline to think, from most other 
crows." 

Here is another opinion. Tiiis comes from Theron Wales, Windham, 
Portage County, Ohio. He says, in relation to our remarks upon the state- 
ment of " Farmer's Boy :" 

"I conclude you received it as doubtful. I can add testimony in part to 
the same effect. I have seen the crow aligiit into the nest of the robin and 
carry away the yoiing birds to feed their own young. They are pa-sionately 
fond of the eggs of other birds, and I have caught tliem in traps with egg- 
shells. Hunters of the wild turkey can testify to the hatred between the 
crow and the gobblers. From the frequent presence of the crow over the 
gobbling turkey, it appears they watch for their nests. At least every cry 
of the crow is answered defiantly by the turkey, and tlins I have often been 
led to approach the turkey and slioot him. Wiiile we were living upon tlie 
Berkshire Hills, in Massachusetts, it was not unfrequent that our neighbors' 
and our own young lambs had their eyes picked out by the early returning 
crows in the spring. But I do not say these things for the sake of engaging 
in an exterminating war upon them. All things were created for some wise 
purpose. Every creature lias in nature its enemy and destroyer, and every 
attempt on the part of man to give iireponderance to one ])art of the wild 
creation over another, will fail. Civilization will of necessity drive away 



182 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

the beaver, otter, deer, and a host of forest birds, and their places will be 
rapidly supplied by the wren, the robin, the bluebird, the honey-bee, etc. 

"The raven is more carnivorous than the crow. I once saw one alight 
into a kingbird's nest and carry away the young, in spite of the cries and 
efforts of the old ones." 

The crowning charge against the crows comes from Freeport, Me., in a 
letter written by E. Pratt, Jr., who says : 

"Now what '■your croM's' are, or what they eat, or how they get their liv- 
ing, I know not ; but the crows in Maine both dig and eat potatoes, incredu- 
lous as it may appear. 

" In some seasons I have known many acres, planted on light soils, in 
exposed situations, devastated by these miscreants, and that in my own 
neighborhood. 

"Their manner is, when the plant first breaks gronnd, to dig and pull it 
up with the tubers attached, thougli it appears by the partially eaten ones 
left here and there on the field, that they do not eat them with much 
avidity. 

" I know that popnlar writers think the crow a great blessing to farmers, 
but I am yet to be convinced of this, and can only wish that those who think 
their comjjany so desirable should have the benefit of my share." 

There is but little doubt in our mind that most of these bad birds were 
ravens, and not crows, particularly as Mr. Wales acknowledges the presence 
of the raven, and says that lie is a carnivorous bird. 

Now, having said our say, and allowed others to say theirs, about crows, 
we will drop down to wrens, by way of contrast. 

231. Wrens. — We waked one morning — one of those May mornings — 
when our domicile was a city one, with delightful sounds coming in at the 
window. They were the notes of sweet singing birds. What lovely music ! 
It was the first of the season that had come to our ears, and it struck a chord 
that called to mind scenes of youth, long, long ago. We hastened to the 
window and looked out. " Ha ! ha ! my old friends," we cried, " and so you 
have come back again." It was tlie wrens, the same ones undoubtedly that 
we built a nesting-place for last year. There was one pair then, now two 
pair — the progeny, we suppose, of those that sung for ns last year. " And 
so," we said, " you have both come for a nesting-place, have you ? Well, 
there is the old one — but you must have another. An increasing family 
needs more room. You shall have it." Notwithstanding the morning was 
a rainy one, we feared our pets might feel neglected, and so down we went 
to provide for their necessities. How amply were we repaid the little labor! 
for all the time we were engaged, they were hopping about the peach limbs, 
picking off tlie insects, and singing all the while most merrily. Who would 
not cultivate such society as this? Who would not like to have their trees 
protected from insects that destroy foliage and fruit? Every one, surely. 
Then protect the wrens. Build nesting-places for them, and they will come 
every spring and send their sweet notes into your open window, some pleas- 



Sec. 11.] BIRDS. 183 

ant May morning, to waken you to see the beauty of sunrise, or lull you 
into dreams of the old ftirm-house, orchards, and singing birds. 

A paper from Prof. Nash says he has domesticated the common wren in 
this city, by building them a suitable house, very much to the amusement 
and pleasure of the family. One pair hatched and reared ten young ones in 
one season, and tliey acted as jjerfect scavengers of bugs and worms in the 
neighborhood. Mr. Nash says two hundred wren-houses were built last year 
about Union Square, which were not only occupied by wrens, but several 
other kinds of birds, and these served to keep the park and neighborhood 
almost free of insects. 

A writer in Hoveys Magazine recommended tlie use of wrens to drive 
other birds away from the cherry-trees. He says : 

" I have seen the experiment of placing a wren-box on a cherry-tree, tried 
in several instances with apparent success. The best thing for this purpose 
is an olive jar. A hole should previously be drilled into the side of the jar, 
which should be fixed upon the tree, by thrusting the stump of an amputated 
branch, the more upright the better, into the mouth of the inverted jar, of 
just sufficient size to admit a wren, but too small to allow a bluebird to en- 
ter ; since, if it were otherwise, the latter would be sure to get j^ossession of 
it. The wren being a very jealous and pugnacious bird, is diligent in driv- 
ing all birds from the tree in which his nest is built, and does not hesitate 
to attack birds as large as the robin. It is doubtful, however, whether the 
wren would persevere in his attacks, when the robins had become very numer- 
ous, but the expedient might be used with some advantage in all cases." 

232. Protecting Trees from Bir<Is< — Some persons advise throwing a net 
over the trees, during tlie few days while the fruit is becoming mature. This 
may be done in some cases, if tliei-e are but few trees to be protected, and 
the owner can afford to undertake a job that must be both troublesome and 
expensive. Such an expedient Avould be hardly advisable except in extra- 
ordinary cases. Some fix a little windmill in the tree ; but as the wheel is 
constantly turning, the birds soon become accustomed to it, and cease to 
regard it with suspicion. If anything of this kind is to be used, it shoukl be 
kept motionless, until the birds fly into the tree, and then put suddenly into 
action by some person who is watching it. Something like a watchman's 
rattle elevated on a pole, and fastened firmly to each of the trees, witli a cord 
to be pulled when the machine is to be set in motion, might answer a good 
purpose. A boy might be hired in this case to watch the trees, and to pull 
upon the cords as the birds arrived. Cherries require so short a time to 
ripen, that no tree would need to be watched more than one week. 

As birds always give the greatest offense, by their depredations upon fruit, 
to those who own but few trees, our argument is, that the best protection is 
to plant trees enough to serve you and the birds too, with all that all of you 
can eat. You would then not only have the satisfaction of having what 
cherries you wanted, but the pleasure of seeing the birds. From experience 
every season, we are satisfied that the robins save us more cherries than 



184: SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

they eat. Our trees were infested with tlie same kind of yellowish bugs that 
ate the roses, and are commonly called rose-bugs. We have seen half a 
dozen of them eating upon a single cherry, attacking them before they were 
ripe, and before the birds did. When at length the robins came in goodly 
numbers, the bugs decreased, and if the robins ate cherries, they also ate 
bugs, and we believe more than they did cherries. At any rate we had 
more cherries than the birds and all the family could dispose of, and some 
for our friends. So we did not begrudge the dear little birds their share. 

As there are some who can not aftbrd to share their cherries with the 
birds, and others who are unwilling, we give a way of keeping them off, 
which we find in the Gardener^s Chronicle, London. 

" The following is a plan I once saw succeed very well for some time, but 
the birds at last got familiar with it ; still I think it might answer for two 
months or so. An old gardener being greatly troubled with birds, applied 
to his master for nets to cover liis fruit with ; but no, they would be too 
expensive. He therefore got a hawk stuffed in what he called a hovering 
position, put it on the end of a long wire, attached the wire to the top of a 
tree, and thus had the hawk suspended in the air as if it had been alive. He 
had, however, another hawk which really was alive put into a cage, and had 
the cage put into the same tree where the dead hawk was. The gentleman 
in the cage was l)y no means mute, and I may add that I scarcely ever after- 
ward saw birds in that garden, except perhaps a few sparrows." 

Another plan that has succeeded very well at times is to suspend small 
looking-glasses, or bits of a broken mirror, to the limbs of the tree. Where 
the sun shines, and the wind blows a little, this device answers a good pur- 
pose. It is of no use at other times, except that having previously frightened 
the birds, and prevented them from getting a haunt in the tree, they will not 
be so likely to come when the mirror is still. 

233. The Food of Birds.— A few facts to show what the food of birds really 
is, will do something, we hope, to dispel the prejudice which has made man 
their bitter enemy. 

Wilson, the great ornithologist, computes that a red-winged blackbird 
destroys, on an average, 50 grubs a day through the summer. Many other 
birds are equally useful to the farmer. No gold would buy the services per- 
formed by the birds. One often may be seen following the plowman hour 
after hour. 

Then look at the eternal labor of the birds in fall, winter, and spring, pick- 
ing up the seeds of weeds, and upon these they live until grain ripens, before 
it is possible fjr them to harm the farmer. 

We therefore iirge farmers to spare the birds. They pay more rent than 
the worth of all they eat. Robins have been thoroughly proved to be insect- 
eaters, and great destroyers of noxious pests to the farmers, by a committee 
of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 

This Society has done a deed worthy of commendation by all the lovers of 
birds. A resolution was moved to get the Society to ask the Legislature to 



Sbo. 11.] BIRDS. 185 

repeal the law for protectioa of robins, upon the ground that these birds 
were noxious to the farmer ; it being contended tluit their food being veg- 
etable, they were great destroyers of valuable fruits. Upon this, Prof. 
Jenks (Prof, of Zoology) suggested that the Society should first learn the 
habits of the robin, and a committee, consisting of Prof. Jenks, C. M. Hovey, 
and E. S. Rand, Jr., were appointed, and have reported the following facts : 
" Plan Adopted for the Investigation. — 1. To obtain birds at daybreak, mid- 
day, and sunset. 2. To obtain birds from both the village and the country. 
3. To preserve in alcohol the contents of each gizzard. 

Results in Procuring Specimens. — Beginning with the first week in March, 
1858, specimens have been examined at least iveeklg, and most of the time 
daili/, to December, and during the winter months, at least semi-monthly to 
the date of the report, in the spring. 

Results of Investigation. — 1. Early in March, numbers of this bird made 
their appearance in tliis vicinity (Boston) ; but, until the second week in 
April, only the male birds. 

2. The gizzards of those kQled in the morning were, as a rule, either 
entirely empty, or but partially distended with i'ood, ivell macerated ; Avhile 
those killed in the latter part of the day were as uniformly filled with food 
freshly taken. 

3. From the almost daily examination of their gizzards from the early part 
of March to the first of May, not a particle of vegetable matter was found in 
the gizzard of a single bird. On the contrary, insects in great variety, both 
as to number and kind, as well as in every variety of condition as to growth 
and development, were the sole food. 

But nine tenths of the aggregate mass of food thus collected during this 
period consisted of one kind of larvas, which, through the aid of Baron Osten- 
sacken, secretary of the Russian legation at "Washington, I was enabled to 
identify as the Bihio aXbipennis (Sag), and whose historj^ and habits, by the 
aid of Dr. Asa Fitch, entomologist of the New York State Agricultural 
Society, I was enabled to make out quite satisfactorily. 

From one to two hundred of these larvte were frequently taken from a 
single gizzard, all in a fresh, unmaceratcd condition ; and usually, when these 
larvo3 were found, they were the only food in the stomach. 

To quote from a communication received from Dr. Fitch, he says : ' My 
attention was first directed to this fly some twelve years ago, when I was 
occupied in investigating the wheat midge. T observed it to be so very 
common in fields of growing wheat that I suspected it of living at the expense 
of that grain ci'op ; but on looking around I found it was equally as common 
everywhere else — resting upon the grass, leaves, and flowers in my yard and 
garden, as well as in meadows, pastures, and forests. « * * * * Jt 
comes abroad about the 20th of May, and continues about a fortnight. You 
will readily recognize it by its commonness, and its white transparent wings ; 
its body being black, clothed with soft, white hairs. It is very sluggish, 
moving around but little, and is easily picked up by the fingers. * * * 



186 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

On page IGi of the London Gardener's Chronicle of the year lS4i, is a val- 
uable article of Euricola, (J. O. Westwood), giving a full history of the 
Blhio Marci^ the European analogue of the one in question. 'It appears 
tliese insects (unlike most others of the family Tipulida; to which they per- 
tahi) are most pernicious, the larviB feeding upon the roots of plants, some- 
times to such an extent as to cause them to wither and die. Kuricola states 
that the larvae of the Merci, and other allied species of Bibio, are frequently 
sent to liiiu by gardeners, who find them to be miscliievous in their straw- 
berry beds, vine borders, flower pots, and other situations where the soil 
remains undisturbed during the autumn and spring.' And another writer, 
Bonche, says 'that his bed of ranunculuses was completely demolished, for 
several successive years, by tliese worms eating the roots.' From tlieae facts 
every one will perceive that the robin, consuming, as 3'ou found it to do, 
from one to two hundred of these Blbio larvse daily, during the month? of 
March and April, has probably been ridding our gardens of these verniin 
every j'car hitherto ; thus rendering us an important service, of which we 
have been wholly unaware. * * * The larvse are gregarious ; living 
together in swarms, and perforating the ground so that it resembles a honey- 
comb. 

' This is probably caused by the parent fly depositing her whole stock of 
eggs in one spot, she being too lazy and slothful to wander about and dis- 
tribute them in diflerent places. Hence the robin, on finding one of these 
worms, knows that there is a host of others at the same place, and thus re- 
pairs to that spot, day after day, and gluts himself witli them till the whole 
colony is exterminated.' 

To this extract I may be allowed to add, that my own observations, during 
the past year, confirm the conclusions of Dr. Fitcli respecting this larva in 
every particular, having found its colonies in November, and observed the 
fly in early summer. I may also here introduce an extract from a commu- 
nication of a lady friend, under date of Oct. 7, 1858. She says : " On speak- 
ing of your remarks concerning the food of the I'obin, at the Teachers' Asso- 
ciation at Bridgewater, in June last, to my fatlier, he told me of a little 
circumstance which I thought just proved your statement. It was formerly 
the custom to have a shooting match on election day in May. On such an 
occasion in North Bridgewater, about the year 1820, a great many birds 
were killed, so many that a man bought them by the cart-load for tlie pur- 
pose of enriching liis land. In consequence, there was a great scarcity of 
birds in that vicinity, and a great amount of grass land seemed to be injured, 
but from what cause no one knew. The grass withered and turned dark- 
colored, as though it had been burnt, commencing in small tufts and spread- 
ing in large circles." It would seem that the insect under consideration 
would, growing undisturbed, produce precisely this result. 

4. During the month of May, the Bibio larva3 entirely disappeared from 
the gizzards, but up to the 21st of June, was replaced by a variety of insects 
or worms only, including spiders, caterpillars, and beetles of the family 



Sko. 11.] BIRDS. 187 

Elateridce, the parents of the well-known wire-worms, so destructive to corn 
and various other seeds when committed to the ground. 

The earth-worm I found to be a favorite food for tlie young bird, bnt 
sparingly enployed by the adult for its own use. 

5. From tlie date of June 21, I began to find strawberries, cherries, and 
j)nl2:)y fruit generally, but in a majority of the examinations intermingled 
with insects, which led me to conclude that they were not fond of an exclu- 
sively vege'able diet, but rather adopted it as a dessert, and from the ease 
of procuring it, particularly during the enervating season of molting. At 
this season of the year, I discovered a marked difference in the food of the 
birds killed near or in tlie village, and those killed in the country at a dis- 
tance from gardens and fruit-trees, the latter having less stone fruit and more 
insects in their gizzards, which led me to conclude that the robin is not an 
extensive forager. 

6. The mixed diet of the robin seems to continue from the ripening of the 
strawberries and cherries to October, the vegetable portion consisting, during 
August and September, in great part of elderberries {Samhucus canadensis) 
and pokeberries {Phytolacca clecandrct). 

7. During the month of October the vegetable diet is wholly discarded, 
and its place supplied by grasshoppers and ortliopterous insects generally. 

S. Early in November — the robin migrates southward — the few remaining 
eking out a miserable existence, during the winter months, on bayberries 
{Myrica ccrifera), privet berries {Ligudnim vuhjarc), and juniper berries 
{Juni/pei'us communis). " 

Here is something further upon the food of robins : In the report of the 
proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History in September, 1858, 
we find an instructive paper from Prof. Treadwell, of Cambridge, giving a 
detailed account of the feeding and growth of two American robins {Tardus 
migratoriu^, Linn.), during a period of 32 days, commencing from the 5th of 
June. 

" When caught, the two were quite young, their tail feathers being less 
than an inch long, and the weight of each about 25 pennyweights — less than 
half the weight of the full-grown bird. Both were plump and vigorous, and 
had evidently been A^ery recently turned out of the nest. He began feeding 
them with earth-worms, giving three to each bird that night ; the second 
day, he gave them ten worms each, which they ate ravenously ; thinking 
this beyond what their parents could naturally sujiply them with, he limited 
them to this allowance. On the third day, he gave them eight worms each 
in the forenoon ; but in the afternoon, he found one becoming feeble, and it 
soon lost its strength, refused food, and died. On opening it, he found the 
crop, gizzard, and intestines entirely empty, and concluded, therefore, that it 
had died from want of sufficient food, the effect of hunger being perhaps 
increased by cold, as the thermometer was about 60^. -The other bird, still 
vigorous, he put in a warmer place and increased its food, giving it the third 
day 15 worms, on the fourth day 2i, on the fifth 25, on the sixth 30, and on 



188 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

the seventh 31 worms. They seemed insufficient, and the bird appeared to 
be losing plumpness and weight. He began then to weigh both the bird 
and its food, and the results were given in a tabular form. On the fifteenth 
day, he tried a small quantity of raw meat, and finding it readily eaten, in- 
creased it gradually, to the exclnsiou of worms ; with it the bird ate a large 
quantity of earth and gravel, and drank freely after eating. By the table, 
it appears that though the food was increased to 40 M-orms, weighing 20 dwt. 
on the eleventh day the weight rather fell oif ; and it was not until the 
fourteenth day, when he ate 68 worms, or 34 dwt., that he began to increase. 
On this day the weight of the bird was 24 dwt. ; he therefore ate 41 percent, 
more than his own weight in twelve hours, weighing after it 29 dwt., or 15 
per cent, less than the food he had eaten in that time. The lenglh of these 
woi-ms, if laid end to end, would be about fourteen feet, or ten times the 
length of the intestines. To meet the objection that rhe earth-worm contains 
but a small amount of nutritious matter, on the twenty-seventh day he was 
fed exclusively on clear beef, in quantity 23 dwt. ; at night, the bird weighed 
52 dwt. — but little more than twice the amount of flesh consumed during the 
day, not taking into account the water and earth swallowed." 

A man eating in the same proportion would consume 70 lbs. of flesh and 
five gallons of water. Four young robins would require, according to the 
consumption of this bird, 250 worms, or their equivalent in insects or other 
food, daily. After the thirty-second day the bird was fed for eighteen days 
on an average of 15 dwt. of meat, two or three earth-worms, and a small 
quantity of bread each day ; the whole being equal to 18 dwt. of beef, or 
36 dwt. of earth-worms ; and it has continued to eat this amount to the 
present time. The food was never passed undigested ; the excretions were 
made up of gravel and dirt, and a small quantity of white semi-solid urine. 

Every admirer of trees may derive from these facts a lesson, showing the 
immense power of birds to destroy the insects by which our trees, especially 
our apples, elms, and lindens, are every few years stripped of their foliage, 
and often many of them killed. The food of the robin, while with us, con- 
sists principally of earth-worms, various insects, their larvse and eggs, and 
a few cherries ; of worms and cherries they can procure but few, and those 
during but a short period, and they are obliged therefore to subsist princi- 
pally upon the great destroyers of leaves, canker-worms, and some other 
kinds of caterpillars and bugs. If each robin, old and young, requires for 
its support an amount of these equal to the weight consumed by this bird, it 
is easy to see what a prodigious havoc a few hundreds of these must make 
upon the insects of an orchard or a park. Is it not, then, to our advantage, 
to purchase the service of the robins at the price of a few cherries ? 

Speaking upon this paper, the editor of the Newark (N. J.) Advertiser 
says : 

" There is so little knowledge of the habits of birds, and their ways and 
means of gaining a living in the world, that anything which promises to 
produce better acquaintance with them ought to be generally made known. 



Skc. 11.] BIRDS. 189 

" It will be seen by this account, that quite a yt>ung robin died from 
starvation, because it was allowed but eight or ten earth-worms a day. The 
survivor was afterward freated more generously, and hisfare was increased 
from day to day, till he iiad lor his diuner 68 worms, or 34 dwt., though the 
robin himself weighed only 24 dwt., thus cousumiug in twelve hours 41 per 
cent, more than liis own weight. 

"■ After the bird was fully grown, lie continued to eat one third of his own 
weight in clear flesh daily ! A man with such voracity (inferior, however, 
we have seen to that of the young bird while growing) would have some 
difficidty in finding board in any of our cities. But nature is not obliged to 
go to market to sustain her children with comfortable food. This same 
robin, if permitted to be free to satiate his prodigious appetite, not chiefly 
on cherries or other fruits valued by man, but upon man's enemies, would 
range himself on the side of man, and slaughter the numberless insects of 
every variety which are destructive to his crops. Here we have reason to 
be grateful for the prodigious appetite of the robin, and thank him for his 
extraordinary gormandism. This guest at the table of nature is addressed 
in very diflerent language from guests generally. She says to him. Will you 
take something further ? pray don't spare, but help yourself to the spider, the 
canker-worm, the measurer, the caterpillar, grub, slug, and bug, and help 
yourself also to a score or two of curculio's eggs. Thus, ' more the merrier' 
is the sentiment of nature's feast. How the insect tribe, and all the wicked 
fry who infest our fruits and cereal crops, fall before the all-devouring robin ! 
Even the ugly bug tliat is said to infest and feed upon the tubers and tops 
of the potatoes, producing theijeby tlie blight or rot, might be exterminated, 
if the robin and other birds were not destroyed or frightened away by boys, 
or men as stupid or mischievous as boys. 

" For what had been remarked of the voracity of the robin, is probably 
true with respect to other birds. Men have but recently come to the knowl- 
edge that they are the most efiectual protectors they can have of tbeir fruits 
and crops ; but nobody till now has been aware of the full extent of the 
obligation they are under to even a few birds in consequence of their being 
such enormous eaters. If their board costs them anything, they never could 
be able to stand it. But it does not — -only now and then a life or two among 
them, taken l)y some rascal or vagabond, who should be tlieir true benefac- 
tors, for they are busy in the service of man.'' 

This bird, tiio robin, is probably known to nearly every one wlio will 
read this volume ; but we will add the following shprt description : 

The robin measures nine inches and a half in length. His bill, which is 
about an inch long, is strong, yellow, and dusky near tlie tip ; the head, back 
of the neck, and tail are black ; the back and rump, asli color ; the throat 
and upper part of the breast are black, the former streaked with white ; the 
whole of the rest of the breast down as far as the thighs is of a dark orange ; 
belly and vent, white ; legs, dark brown ; claws, black and strong. 

It builds a large nest, often on an apple-tree, which it plasters on the 



190 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. XL 

inside fwitli nnid, and iines with hay or fine grass. The eggs are from four 
to six, bhiish green, imsjjotted. They feed o^i worms, insects, fruit, and 
berries, especially those of the sour gum-tree {JVi/ssa sylvatlca). When 
fat, tlie robin is in considerable esteem for the table. 

These birds are among our earliest songsters. Even in March, while the 
snow yet mantles the fields and woodlands, he will mount a post or leafless 
tree, and make an attempt at a song. 

They are ornamental to every farm, and should be encouraged to build 
their nests in every garden. 

23J:. Birds Destroying Cirasshoppers aud Worms. — Last year, in the neigh- 
borhood of Philadelphia, there was a swarming pest of grasshoppers. By- 
and-by, when every one was at his wits' end to know what to do to get rid 
of this scourge, there was a sudden appearance of immense flocks of plover, 
which spread themselves over the fields, and devoured with avidity the 
grasshoppers. Some of them have been shot to test the matter, and their 
crops have been found full of gi-asshoppers. The ravages of the latter soon 
cease wherever the flocks of plover appear, as the great number and voracity 
of the birds render them more than a match for the insects. Up to this 
visit of plover, the only relief from this calamity was the eagerness with which 
the fowls devoured the grasshoppers. Turkeys, the most eflicient adversaries 
of these insects — because the largest and most active— have thriven wonder- 
fully upon them. So have the ducks, geese, and chickens. If fiirmers pre- 
fer to be annually eaten up by insects, they will continue their insane war- 
fare upon birds. On the contrar}', let them be protected, and encouraged to 
build their nests in the very windows of our c|wellings, and see what myriads 
of pests they will destroy ! 

In one of the years that I lived on the "Western prairies, there was an 
irruption of greedy devourers of farm crops, known as the army worm, 
coming from no one knows where, nor when to look for its march. It is 
easy to trace it, however, after it has marched over a country, for it con- 
sumes every leaf of grass and grain, wherever the army spreads itself 
j I Farmers someiimes plow a deep furrow around a field as the army 
approaches, and this furrow will soon fill up with worms, which arc crushed 
by a log drawn over them ; repeating the operation every day. This is 
troublesome, and not always efi'ective. In the year alluded to, the army 
approached just at the time it would be destructive to the wheat crop, and 
the owners of the most exposed farms were in sore trouble at the prospect 
before them. For two days they looked on in dread. " One more day," they 
said, " and we shall be swept." One more day came, and with it one of man's 
best friends, the worm-eating birds. Looking out southward where the 
worms were at work on the prairie grass, a black cloud was seen hovering 
close to the ground. It was a cloud of blackbirds, coming up from their 
great nesting-place in the Kankakee marshes, to feed on the worms. They 
saved the wheat crop. It is true that this variety of birds, when they come 
in great flocks into the grain-fields, are pests, but not half as bad as worms 



i I 



Seo. 11.] BIRDS. 191 

and bugs would be if not destroyed. Besides, birds can be watched and 
driven away from fields, where no efforts of man would serve to drive away 
an army of worms, marching to destroy, nor prevent his farm from being 
devastated by such a flight of grasshoppers as swept every green thing from 
a portion of Minnesota a few years ago. Birds, then, in countless numbers, 
will be found to be man's best friends. 

235. The Sap-Suckers. — The name of " sap-sucker" has been given to a 
very useful class of birds, under the erroneous impression that they sucked 
the sap from the fruit-trees, where they are often seen, hour after hour, 
clinging to the bole of an apple-tree, patiently drilling, drilling, drilling 
their little bills through the bark, leaving it, sometimes, as full of holes as a 
honey-comb. It is a slander upon these beautiful, busy little birds to sui> 
pose their object is to suck out the sap, and thus destroy the trees. To say 
that the " sap-sucker" girdles apple trees and destroys them, or taps the 
Austrian and Scotch pines so as to cause them to bleed to death, we must 
have stronger proof than slipshod statements. 

In argument against the birds, it has been stated that they have been shot 
wliile in the very act of 

"Tapping the hollow beech-tree," 

and their craws examined without finding a worm, and nothing but pieces 
of bark, thus proving their object to be eating- the bark, if not sucking the 
sap, and tli'at they were therefore very injurious to trees. These microscopic 
examinations only prove what we have long believed, that the bird can not 
always tell where the worm is that he wants, and so has to bore until lie 
finds him. It is not likely that he goes far* amiss, and probably hits him 
oftener witli tiie first hole than he fails. It is thought by many persons that 
that troublesome little destroyer of fruit, the cureulio, deposits its eggs in 
tlie bark of trees, and that that is what the sap-sucker is after. It is certain 
that when sap-suckers abounded in our orchards, there was no complaint of 
cureulio." In our opinion, a perfectly healthy tree, free from insects, is never 
attacked by any of the nut-hatch family— vulgarly called " sap-suckers." 
"We believe that, on the contrary, they are of essential service to man ; and 
that it was one of the admirable provisions of nature, where everything 
works on an even balance, until one scale is overloaded by man, tliat the 
nut hatcli should stand sentinel over the fruit-trees, and keep the pestiferous 
insects from getting the balance of power. 

236. Do Birds Eat Bees ? — It has long been a mooted question whether the 
birds known as " kingbirds" (the Jihtscicajxc tyrcmmis) destroy bees ? 
This bird has obtained liis name from a spirit of boldness in attacking and 
driving away birds of much larger size and power, enough to kill him at a 
single stroke. He has obtained the name of a destroyer of honey-bees, and 
war to the death has been declared against him, on the evidence of liis bad 
name, and, as we think, without anything like a fair trial. 

A few years ago we elicited a great deal of testimony upon this question. 
One witness, Mr. Nathaniel M. Tobey, of Tompkins County, says he is an 



192 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

ojd fanner, has kept bees ten years, and always encouraged birds to make 
their homes upon his premises. One season, observing two kingbirds about 
liis hives, he was curious to know what they were after, and ascertained to 
his satisfaction that they caught bees on their return to the hive, not to eat 
them bodily, but to disembowel them and despoil them of tlie " honey-sack." 

He attributed the non-swarming of the bees to this pair of kingbirds, but 
says his bees have never been molested since. 

That the kingbirds caught Mr. Tobey's bees wc have no doubt, since he 
says he saw the disemboweled carcasses under the trees where they alighted, 
but that one single one of them was a worker we do doubt, and that a single 
pair of kingbirds were the cause of the non-swarming of several hives of 
bees, we have no doubt upon the subject — we know it was not the case — it 
would be a preposterous absurdity to believe such a wild tale. We do not 
believe that all the kingbirds in the world ever destroyed a hive of working- 
bees, and a man who M'ill kill the innocent birds without better proof of 
their guilt, than all that we have heard, is at heart a — bird murderer. 

Other persons declared that they had often seen kingbirds catch bees, on 
the wing, near the hive. This we do not doubt, because others have seen 
the same thing, and have killed and dissected them and found bees in tlieir 
craws. But in every case M'here they were examined by persons competent 
to decide, tliey have declared that none but drones were ever found. Upon 
this point the instinct or observation of the bird is perfect ; anfl this may 
have been one of nature's provisions, that these birds should be assistants 
of the workers, and not their destroyers. Certainly, until we have some 
better evidence against the birds, we shall advocate their protection. Surely, 
if thc}"^ eat bees, they also cat other flics, and if permitted to live and multi- 
ply around our dwellings, might keep us free of a great many pestiferous 
insects. If a bird can eat a stinging-bee Avith impunity, it can also eat a 
wasp or hornet, and so destroy that family. 

237. Swallows, Swifts, and Marlins.— In our boyhood, swallows were looked 
upon as pests of the farm, or rather the barn, and war was often waged upon 
them by the boys, with the countenance of those who s'.iould liavc been well 
enough informed to teach them better. Wc hope the day is past when any 
one would wantonly destroy tliese beautiful birds. 

Ilinmdo is the generic term applied to the class of birds comprised in the 
several species of barn swallows, bank swallows, chimney swallows, and a 
large, strong sort known as swifts, and the common martin, for wliich many 
New England people are careful to provide boxes, which are often attached 
to the dwellings. Their first appearance in spring is hailed with delight, 
and the time of their coming often noted, so as to compare one year with 
another. Although " one swallow does not make it spring," people have 
learned to think that many never come until spring is fixirly opened. 
' The Hlrunilo family are all birds of passage. They go far south to win- 
ter, and return with great regularity to their old haunts, to build their nests, 
rear their young, and catch flies, till autumn approaches, and then they are 



Seo. 11.] BIRDS. 193 

off. They cross the parallel of 40°, on their northern journey, abont the 
first of May. 

The barn is often tenantless at night, and alive with the twitter of swal- 
lows the next morning. To talk about their hybernating in the mud, or in 
hollow trees, is simply ridiculous. You might just as well expect wild geese 
.to go down into the nnid to winter, as for the swallows to do so. 

The following description of some of the rare varieties of the Ilirundo we 
found in the Countnj Gentleman newspaper, and thought it interesting: 

"The Cliff, or Republican Swallow, Ilirundo lunifrous, or Il.fulva, is a 
well-known swallow among farmers. Its crown and back are of steel blue, 
belly white, length five inches, plus, and the stretch of the wings twelve 
inches, plus. They formerly occupied the clifi's of the Rocky Mountains and 
the fur countries. One of the first records of their appearance in the States 
was. at Henderson, and Newport, Ky., on the banks of the Ohio, in 1815. 
In 1817 they M-ere observed at Whitehall, N. Y., near Lake Champlain. 
These birds are of social habits, building their nests in clusters, or near each 
other. Vieillot observed one at sea, off Nova Scotia, long before this. They 
have long been known in that jjrovince. In 1818, it is stated that they began 
to build at Crawford's, near the base of the White Mountains. General 
Dearborn saw their nest at Winthrop, Me., in 1830 ; also in Gardiner. 
The writer first saw them in Worcester County, Mass., about 1838. Their 
nests are arranged frequently along under the eaves of a barn, in the form 
of a projecting retort, constructed of pellets of earth, with an internal lining 
of dried grass, in which are laid four eggs. Their note is not a twitter, but, 
according to Audubon, resembles in sound tlie rubbing of a moistened cork 
in the neck of a glass bottle. Within a quarter of a century they have be- | 
come the favorites of many New England farmers. 

" The Violet-green Swallow, Ilirundo thalassina, tail acutely emarginate; 
back a soft, velvety green, shaded with purplish violet; length five inches, 
and the stretch of the wings twelve inches; is common in the Rocky Mount- ' 
ain region. They are tlie associates of the cliff swallow, just described, I 
their note being more like that of the barn swallow. Their nests resemble 
those of the clifl' swallow, wanting, however, the pendulous neck. They ! . 
sometimes occupy the deserted nests of their associate species. They are not j j 
common east of the Mississippi River. j < 

" The White-bellied Swallow, Ilirundo hicolor, is of a glossy, metallic green i ! 
above, and white below ; hence its common name. Its length is six inches, ; 
and the stretch of the wings is twelve and a half inches. It is not as com- j , 
mon as the barn swallow, and is allied somewhat to the purple martin. 
Their note is a shrill, lively, warbling twitter. They are usually the first ■ 
swallows that appear in the spring. They breed in some deserted house or j \ 
hollow tree. Tlicy use no mud in building their nests, which are lined M-ith 
feathers. 

"The Rough-winged Swallow, Ilirundo sennpmnis of Audubon, and Cotylc 
serripennis of Bonaparte ; color above a light, sooty brown, and beneath j ; 



194 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

a whitisli gray ; lengtli five and a half inches, and the stretch of the wings 
twelve inches. 

" The Chimney Swift or Swallow, Hlrundo pelas(jfia of Linnsens, and Chce- 
turapelasgia of Ste-phens; color a sooty brown ; length five inches; the stretch 
of wino-s twelve inches; the tail is short and mucronate. They build their 
nests frequently in chimneys, sometimes in hollow trees. They are small and 
shallow, and are attached to the side of the chimney or tree by an adhesive 
gum or mucilage secreted in the stomach of the architect. They feed their 
young through the greater part of the night, as the writer has frequently ob- 
served. The noise they make in passing down and up the chimney resembles 
distant thunder. 

" Vaux's Chimney Swift, or the Oregon Swift, resembles the one described 
above ; length three and a half to four and a half inches ; stretch of the 
wings ten inches, plus. This species is not rare on the Western coast. 

"The swallow tribe are remarkable for their social habits, living generally 
in colonies, constructing their nests together ; and when the season for mi- 
gration arrives, they leave in large flocks. They usually rear two broods or 
more per pair during the summer. They frequent watery places or swampy 
lands, ponds, etc., in pursuit of winged insects, which they take on the wing. 
In fair weather they usually fly high in the air. As the air becomes less 
dense, the insects fly nearer the earth, and the swallows skim near the sur- 
face of the earth or water, M-hicli prognosticates rain at hand. The number 
of flies, gnats, etc., annually consumed by swallows exceeds all calculation. 
Ilenoe the truth of the observation of a farmer, whose barn-eaves had be- 
neath them one connected line of cliff swallows' nests : ' I am very glad to 
have these birds here, for my cows and milkers are much less troubled with 
gnats and flies than before these swallows came in such numbers.' 

"Some farmers try, unwisely, to exclude swallows from their premises, 
because, say they, ' these birds make dirty work.' Granted, but it is far less 
troublesome and annoying than the insects of the kinds named, which greatly 
multiply in the absence of the swallows, swifts, and martins." 

Barn swallows and martins are too widely known to make a description 
of them interesting in this place. Children, however, should always have 
an opportunity of seeing their portraits and reading their history in Audu- 
bon or Wilson, as well as that of every other bird, and, by learning their 
habits, judge which is and which is not beneficial to the farmer. Swallows 
and martins would certainly not then be doomed to destruction. D. W. War- 
ner, of Sharon Springs, N. Y., says : 

"My father repeatedly attempted wheat-growing, but as often failed, the 
weevil taking the whole crop, until a large colony of martins established 
themselves under the eaves of the barn, since which time he has raised good 
crops of spring wheat. The wheat has been grown within one hundred rods 
of the barn. Query — Had the -martins anything to do in preventing the 
appearance of the weevil ?" 

238. Skylarks and Imported Birds. — Several attempts have been made to 



Sec. 11.] BIRDS. 195 

iutroduce skylarks into this country. In February, 1853, John Gorgas, of 
Wihnington, DeL, received a lot of twenty, which were kept confined until 
the 19th of March, when they were set at liberty. Another lot of twenty- 
two arrived April 18th, and were set at liberty the next day. This was 
only twenty-two days from the time they were trapped in England. These 
birds propagated in the neighborhood that season, and strong hopes were 
entertained that the English skylark had been introdnced permanently 
into this country ; but these hopes have not been realized. A letter 
from Mr. Gorgas, in the summer of ISGO, indicates that the birds have all 
disappeared. 

There was also another lot of skylarks imported, and liberated in Green- 
wood Cemetery, on Long Island, in the spring of 1853, and still another lot 
wei-e set free in "Washington city, at a later period ; bnt, so far as wo can 
learn, all of these birds have disappeared. Tliis is greatly to be regretted ; 
for besides the interest of their enrions flight and song, they are great insect 
destroyers. Their home is in the grass and grain fields, and their food in 
summer is entirely composed of insects and worms that are pests to the 
farmer. In Europe they inhabit a wide range of latitude, feeding in winter 
npon seeds of grass and weeds, and, if located too far north, making a short 
migration to a milder clime. It can not be owing to the cold that they do 
not succeed here ; but it is not improbable that the cold has prompted them 
to move southward, and they have not felt disposed to return. We still hope 
the skylark will have its home with us, as common as in England, where it 
is so noted as a song-bird. Its flight skyward is also very curious. It as- 
cends perpendicularly, as though it screwed itself through the air, until 
quite out of sight, and after a little descends in the same way. The skylark 
in Europe is a fine table luxury, notwithstanding they afford but half an 
ounce each of meat to the epicure. Vast numbers of just as diminutive 
birds are sacrificed upon the epicurean tables of all our large cities in the 
United States. 

To those who may take an interest in the importation of birds, the follow- 
ing account Avill be useful, as given by Mr. W. Brodie, of his successful 
transportation of English pheasants, gold pheasants, and partridges from 
England to New Zealand. He says : 

" I left the St. Katherine's Dock with thirty-six pheasants and partridges 
on board, and after a long and most disagreeable voyage of 261 days, landed 
in Auckland, New Zealand, with the same number as I had left England 
with. It is a pastime to cabin passengers going a long voyage to have some 
occupation to break the monotony of shipboard imprisonment. I therefore 
looked after my own birds, cleaned them out every morning, gave them 
fresh red gravel (coarse) every other day, supplied them bountifully with 
fresh water (not water caught on deck after a heavy rain, as there is a cer- 
tain quantity of tar in it), never allowed them a fresh-water bath, fed them 
with buckwheat, wheat, canary-seed, and hemp-seed alternately, week and 
week about, kept them in wicker cages made on purpose, three feet long. 



196 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

two feet wide, and one foot high, and padded the toj) inside tlie lids of the 
ca^es, to protect their heads. 

" These birds were kept on deck the whole of the voyage, with a painted 
canvas cover to protect them from the salt water in bad weather. Hence 
my success. The increase of my birds has amounted to tens of thousands. 
In the northern part of New Zealand they breed twice a year, and they have 
stocked the province of Auckland, 200 miles distant from the point where 
they were first sent adrift, which was upon one of my estates, near the North 
Cape of New Zealand. In the early part of 1859 I sent out 400 house and 
hedge sparrows and yellow-hammers to Auckland ; and I hope in September 
to send out 400 singing birds to the same port gratuitously. Birds should 
not be sent out between March and September ; those sent in April or May 
are sure to pine away and die, it being their pairing season." 

By pursuing the course adopted by Mr. Brodie, we might liave some of 
the most rare birds of California brought to the Atlantic States, with un- 
doubted profit to the importer. 

239. Laws for the Protectiou of Birds.— The State of New York has had 
what is called a " game law" for a good many years ; but it was a law for 
the protection of a class of men and boys Avho, without any claim to tlie 
title, called themselves "sportsmen" — such sportsmen as would shoot a 
robin-red-breast on her nest, or an imported skylark in the midst of his song. 
The law was only incidentally beneficial to farmers, so far as it protected 
game birds, t!ie most of M'hich are great insect-caters. There is not a farmer 
in all the old States that, can afford to have a quail killed upon his farm, if 
he was paid a dollar a head. This species of wild bird would be semi 
domesticated, if man would allow it to be so. "VVe have seen them so gentle 
that they often came around the barn for food in winter, and only walked 
slowly away at the approach of man. At such a time we would not ftill one 
for ten times its value as food. All the past sunmier we had the delight of 
knowing that a pair of these beautiful birds were safely rearing their young 
only a few rods from our home. Often, as we M'alked about the little farm, 
they were seen dodging along some path, or between the corn-rows, or into 
the shelter of the grass or shrubbery. Then, with what sweet satisfaction 
we listened to " Bob "White," sitting upon the wall, telling us almost uner- 
ringly of the approach of " more wet !" 

An Illinois farmer declares that a flock of quails made him a crop of corn, 
having voluntarily taken upon themselves to rid the field of cut-worms. "I 
never," says he, " can again consent to the destruction of these valuable 
birds. I used to shoot and trap them, but I was ignorant of their value on 
the farm. 

A neighbor of ours, a true sportsman, said to us, the other day: "I have 
done shooting quails. I used to think it real sport to wing these beautiful 
birds; and the temptation to do so was enhanced by the delicious food they 
afiford. I really think that I never shall shoot another quail in my life." 

In answer to our " Why ?" he said : 



Skc. 11.] BIRDS. 197 

" I had never studied their liistorj, and the nature of their habits, and 
character of their food, until this season. I was incited to do this from 
meeting with a pair of the birds every time I walked over a certain portion 
of the farm. They were almost as gentle as the fowls in the door-yard, and 
frequently I noticed them so busily engaged picking up worms in the corn- 
field, that it led me into a train of thought and study that has taught nie 
not to kill quails. A few days ago I saw my pets — for such I had come to 
regard them — with sixteen young ones, each nearly as large as its parent. 
If I could guard that flock from the depredation of idle boys, no money 
would buy them. Why, what useful as well as interesting birds they are ! 
"We want stringent laws, well enforced, to protect quails.'' 

Yes, but, most of all, we %vant information for farmers of their value. 

The following arc the penalties of the ISTew York Game Law, jjassed April 
14, 1860: 

It is $'2.5 fine to kill a deer in the first seven months of the year. 

It is $2 fine to kill a woodcock between Januarj' 1 and July 4 ; or a par- 
tridge (ruffled grouse) between January 15 and September 1 ; or a quail be- 
tween January 1 and October 15; or any wild duck between February 1 
and August 1. 

It is $10 fine to kill a prairie fowl, or pinnated grouse, at any time within 
five years. 

It is $10 fine to trap or snare quail or grouse. 

It is 50 cents fine to kill, trap, or snare a nightingale, night-hawk, blue- 
bird, yellow-bird, oriole, finch, thrush, lark, sparrow, wren, martin, swallow, 
woodpecker, or any other harmless bird, at any time ; and bobolinks and 
robins only between February 1 and October 1. 

It is $5 fine to catch brook or lake trout, or muscalonge, between Sejjtem- 
ber 1 and March 1 ; and it is $2 fine to catch them in any way but by a hook 
and line. 

It is $5 fine for any person to enter the premises of another with fire-arms, 
or other hunting or fishing implements, with the intent of using them ; and 
if he enters upon a cultivated field, orchard, or garden, or where crops are 
growing, in pursuit of game, without the consent of tlie owner, he is finable 
$10 for each ofi'ense. 

Such is the law now in force in this State. Let all who are interested see 
that it is made effectual. The ditficulty in the way of its enforcement is a 
very lax state of morals among the people, many of wliom consider birds 
free plunder; and they have so long enjoyed the privilege of rambling over 
everybody's land, as freely as though they owned it, that it is hard to con- 
vince them that they do not. The contrary can never be taught in courts, 
nor by fines and prisons; it must be taught in our common schools and 
around the farmer's fireside. 

New Jersey has a good law upon her statute book for the pi-otection of 
small birds. It is difficult of enforcement, because the mass of people have 
been educated to look upon all birds as noxious, or else worthy of destruc- 



198 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

tion for food, and of no other value. They do uot even look upon poultry 
in any other light. Yet the truth is, poultry is worth ten times as nuich to 
the farmer for the work of destruction it does iipon his pests, as it is for the 
food it aflTords him. It is just so with game birds ; and if the owners of land 
well situated for game preserves were able to preserve the birds, the culti- 
vated portions might be benefited, aud the owners could make the keeping 
of wild birds as profitable as tame ones. 

From time to time laws have been devised and statutes enacted for the 
preservation of game ; but nntil recently such legislation has been originated 
by the wealthy men of cities, the men of the educated and leisure classes of the 
community, the consumei's and killers, not the feeders and possessors, of the 
game or the owners of the acres. This has generally given to these statutes 
the appearance, though in no degree the reality, of partaking of the odious 
character of class legislation ; of being enacted for the benefit of the rich 
against the poor, the proud against the humble, the men of leisure against 
the men of labor. The farmers, who knew little and cared less for the game 
which ran wild in their woods, fluttered in their tangled swamps, or screamed 
over their boggy morasses, did not conceive how it could have any real value 
in the eyes of any rational being ; regarded all legislation forbidding its 
slaughter, except at stated periods, as a device cunningly framed for depriv- 
ing them of their own natural and indefeasible rights, and for giving amuse- 
ment and gratification to finely-dressed, flashy strangers from the towns, 
who came periodically into country places to break down fences, trample 
nnder foot growing crops, and kill the game reared on the farmer's land, 
which was, in its very nature, and from the mode of killing it, useless to the 
farmer himself. In a word, they looked upon the Game Laws as an offensive, 
aristocratic, imrepublican, European invention ; a sort of scheme for making 
the rich richer, aud the poor poorer — an idea sedulously encouraged by all 
the brawling foreigners and pot-house village loafers, who, too lazy to work, 
found their own profit in poaching a few starveling parent birds on the 
lies' s, or half-grown fledgeling young fry on other men's lands, which they 
iiiiglit trafiic or truck away to railway conductors and stage-coach drivers, 
for transmission to the eating-houses of the cities. 

Gradually, however, they — -the farmers, we mean — have come to open 
their eyes on this question. The fearful increase of insect life, the prodigious 
deterioration of the crops of all kinds, tiic threatened utter extinction of 
some of the most valuable American staples in the very localities of which 
they were formerly the pride and boast — as, for instance, the wheat crop of 
the famous Genesee Valley, where it is already questionable, from the yearly 
aggravated ravages of the Hessian-fly and the weevil, whether it is any 
longer profitable, or perhaps prudent, to sow wheat — have forced them to 
perceive that this growth and superabundance, daily and hourly aggravated 
and exaggerated, of insect pests is to be attributed wholly to the imprece- 
dented destruction of small birds. At the same time, the vast and hourly- 
increasing demand for game in the large cities, the immense freights and 



Sec. 11.] BIRDS. 199 

cargoes of wild animals sent clown j-early, so soon as cold weather allows its 
sate transportation by express companies and railroad cars — immense, yet 
still inadequate to meet the call of the markets, although the illimitable 
West is fast suffering deplctPon, and is in some States legislating against ex- 
portation — have quickened the perception of agriculturists to the fact, that 
if game bo worth as much money in the market as poultry, or more, and can 
be raised at no cost and less than no trouble, it is better to have the woods, 
which they necessarily keep up as timber lots, the hillsides, which are too 
craggy and sterile of soil to rear anything but brambles and ferns, and the 
morasses, which it would be too costly to drain, swarming with profitable 
wild animals, than waste and unprofitable ; and to the other fact, that if 
money is to be made by killing game on their lands, it is as well at least, if 
not better, to make it themselves, and to go on making it, year after year, 
by maintaining a sufficient breeding stock, as to suffer it to be made out of 
'their pockets by every landless, shiftless vagabond who chooses to stampede 
every head of game out of every farm, and who has no earthly reason or 
inducements why he should not kill as speedily as possible the goose which 
lays the golden eggs — seeing that the goose, if slain by himself, is clearly 
his, while the eggs, infuturo, may fall to the lot of any other Tom, Dick, or 
Harry of his own reputable or disreputable order. 

The farmers and land-owners being thus convinced of the loss directly 
attributable to the killing of small birds at all, at any season, and of the great 
gain certainly attainable by the protection of the game during the breeding 
seasons, have of late, in many States and counties of States, procured statutes 
to be passed for the j)reservation, absolutely and at all times, of certain 
innoxious and useful small birds. But all these statutes have defects, besides 
the one alluded to — the lack of proper instruction to the children. 

It is a defect in our State law that no penalty is provided sufficient to 
prevent hunting all the public highways, or other public grounds, and the 
penalty for entering your premises is quite inadequate to their protection, 
because you can not afford to pi-ocure testimony, and liire attorneys to pros- 
ecute a fellow who will verify the adage of " sue a beggar and catch a louse." 

The statutes in question are not asked or enacted for the defense of private 
rights of private individuals, though they may defend them incidentally, 
but for that of the community at large, to which the safety of crops and the 
greatest possible supply of food of all kinds in the market, at the lowest pos- 
sible rates, are incontestably benefits. Therefore the community has not 
only a right, but it is its especial duty to enforce the same protection and 
preservation of the same animals on its own possessions — -that is to say, on 
the highways, wastes, commons, and all other unoccupied lands or waters of 
which the public are the guardians and occupants — as it commands on the 
private lands of individuals from trespassers. 

So convinced are the scientific agriculturists of France of the importance 
of raising all those species of wild animals which are natural, indigenous, 
or capable of being acclimated and naturalized to the waste lands, of which 



200 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

there are many hundreds of thousands of acres, utterly unsuited to any other 
sort of culture or stocking, that there is an important department in the 
National Agricultural Society of that great and enlightened nation, the sole 
duty of wliicli is to superintend the reproduction on the waste lands and 
waters of France of the native species of game which have gradually become 
extinct ; to promote the introduction on the same lands of such foreign wild 
animals, valuable for food, as may appear to be suited, by their habits and 
the character of the climates to which they originally belonged, for naturaliza- 
tion in Finance ; and, lastly, to encourage and enforce, by means of premiums 
for success and stringent protective legislation, the maintenance of such 
stocks of game, both quadruped and winged, as shall realize to the propri- 
etors and to the state an abundant return of nutritious and cheap food from 
lands untillable, unfitted for pasturage, and in fact worthless for any purjJose 
but that of raising game. 

At the same time we, in America, are suffering our infinitely larger ' 
number of unreclaimed — if not irreclaimable — acres, which formerly swarmed 
with animal life, and aftbrded supplies, a few years ago supposed to be 
inexhaustible, of the choicest varieties of game, to be stripped of the last fin, 
the last hoof or pad, the last feather of the wild tribes, unequaled elsewhere, 
both in quality and quantity, which at the time of its discovery rendered 
America tlie paradise of Nimrods ; so that the woods, the fens, the waters 
are indeed fast becoming utterly barren, useless, and unprofitable wastes. 

It is certain that the fact of any farm being well stocked with game is not, 
ill any possible point of view, a disadvantage, even if their value, whether 
as an article of food or as an object of pleasurable and healthful pursuit be 
entirely set aside, since the actual profit consequent on their subsistence is 
greater than the loss from the grain which a few of the varieties consume. 
Besides the insects, many of the game birds are great consumers of weed 
seeds. The prairie-hens, where they exist in large numbers, do depredate 
upon corn-fields and stacks of grain ; but even there, it is not a very severe tax 
to feed them ; and we think that farmers could make the preservation of 
birds profitable. 

It may be assumed, as a reasonable average, that every farmer who owns 
and cultivates a hundred acres of arable land, with from fifty to a hundred 
of meadow land and pasture, and an equal quantity of woodland, if he 
choose to protect and preserve them, especially if he takes the trouble to 
erect a few little shelter huts of brushwood and fern in his woodskirts, and 
to bait thein in hard weather with a few bushels of buckwlieat, in a good 
game district where the winters are not too severe, may winter from ten to 
twenty brace of quail, which may be expected to raise from fifteen to thirty 
bevies of birds. Each bevy will probably average fifteen birds, which gives 
a yield of from seventy-five to one hundred brace of quail, to be killed and 
sent to market in the late autumn or early winter, with the butter, buck- 
wheat, fat turkeys, and other produce of the farm. These birds will average 
twenty-five cents a brace in ordinary seasons, and when game is scai'ce or 



Sec. 11.] BlPwDS. 201 

for any reason there is an unusual demand, an increased price. To this may 
be added, if it be a rufled grouse country, two or three broods of tliese 
hardy, bold, and delicate birds, wliicli rarely 2)roduce fewer than twelve and 
thence upward to sixteen poults, so tliat the landholder may reckon on Ids 
fifteen to twenty brace of ruffed grouse at seventy-live cents a brace, and on 
his thirty or forty rabbits, at a dime a head. Here is a profit of perhaps 
fifty dollars per annum, arising from no expenditure, from no investment of 
capital, and involving as a consequence, several days or hours of pleasant 
exercise and amusement in lieu of labor, for the purpose of rendering it 
marketable. On snipe grounds and countries adapted to M'oodcock, the 
l^rofits are yet more enormous. 

Tlie number of woodcock to be killed annually on any given piece of 
ground is never so great as that of snipe, since the birds killed in the early 
part of the season consist of those bred on the ground itself on which they 
are shot, which is of course a limited number, although the autumnal flights, 
which come in successively, are those Itred in the uncultivated wastes far to 
the northward. Yet even of these, there are numerous localities, especially 
in parts of the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Michigan, and other "Western States, which might be counted on. as sure to 
furnish ten woodcock to the acre in each season, at twenty-five cents the bird. 

It can hardly be doubted that by the system of game protecting, without 
expending a dollar, every owner farming from 100 to 200 acres of land in a 
country well adapted for game — and tliere is but little country in any of the 
Northern, Western, or Middle States which is not adapted to it — can add 
from $50 to $200, and in some instances a much larger sum to his annual 
income. If he have trout-streams, and the facility of making a chain of 
small trout-ponds, as may be easily done in every deep glen watered by a 
rapid brook, instead of suffering them to be weired and netted by all the 
vagabonds of the country side, lie might make thousands more easily than 
by his poultry-yard or sheep-fold, and at far less cost. 

With these facts before them, it is for the farmers themselves to consider 
whether game-laws are the obnoxious things that demagogues have taught 
them to believe. Is it not rather worth their while to insist upon the 
enactment, and strict observance of such laws as will protect their own 
interests, and afford them such additions to their income as we have briefly 
hinted at. 

2-tO. Seudiug Wild Pigeons to Market. — The Eacjle^ newspaper, printed at 
Grand Eapids, Michigan, published an article in the spring of 1860, about 
the pigeon trade. There had been at that time shipped from that village 
588 barrels of wild pigeons — equal to 108,555 lbs. The express freight on 
this quantity at three cents a pound, would be $3,256 65. If sold at twenty 
cents a pound, they -would bring $21,711. It was estimated that the west 
part of Michigan had sent two millions of wild pigeons to market in one 
season. This great number can easily be understood by those who are 
acquainted with the manner in which these birds flock together. To one 



202 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

who has never seen a pigeon-roost or a nesting-place, the truth will seem 
almost as fabulous as the tales of Siuhad the sailor. Yet it is far within the 
bounds of truth to say that we have seen many millions of wild pigeons at 
once, or at least as soon as we conld direct our eyes npon them. We have 
seen them on their evening flight toward the roosting-place. in one nnbroken 
flock, two miles wide, and two hours' continuance. We have ridden two 
liours in a straight line through a pigeon-roost at least seven miles wide. 
We have seen upon a single beeeli-tree many M'agon-loads. At one time a 
little section of the main flock got belated in reaching the roosting-place, 
and settled in a heavy beech -wood near our house in Indiana, and the noise 
tliey made resembled a terrific tornado ; and tliey piled on to the trees in 
such numbers that all the weak limbs were broken ofi", and hundreds of 
large trees, such as stood leaning, and were weak at the roots, were entirely 
broken down. We spent hours of the evening in that temj^orary roost, 
witnessing thiir operations, and trying to imagine the vastness of the mul- 
titude. There is groat danger in visiting sucii a roost, from the falling 
timber. In one long occupied, all that is liable to break lias been prostrated, 
and there is less danger, so there is less commotion. They often sit so low, 
and remaip so quiet, that you may approach near enough to kill half a score 
at a blow. A charge of shot sent into a full tree brings down a great 
number. Wlien they alight npon a tree that breaks under the mass, they 
fly and light upon the backs of others already loading a tree all it can bear, 
and so the additional weight perhaps produces a second crash, and sometimes 
crash after crash, almost without cessation. That was the case upon the 
evening mentioned. The breaking commenced at dusk, when they began 
alighting, and continued until we left at midnight. In the morning about 
two hundred acres were literally covered with broken timber. 

A pigeon nesting-place is a still greater curiosity than a pigeon-roost. It 
covers hundreds of acres of dense forest, and every tree is covered with nests 
almost as closely as the birds can build them, by laying a few loose twigs 
together among the branches. It is an easy matter to load a wagon with 
squabs. Often they fall out of the frail nests, and fall a prey to \vild animals 
and wood hogs. Audubon gives a very truthful picture of the immense 
numbers of wild pigeons in the great West. To us it is the more interest- 
ing, because we know it to be true. 

Those who have read Audubon, or others who have written accounts of 
pigeon-roosts, and can believe the truth, will be able to realize the extent of 
the trade we have spoken of. 

Having now, we hope, said enough about birds to create an interest in 
their behalf, and induce a study of their character, and their value to the 
farmer, we shall leave the subject for another, which, though about small 
things, is of great importance to all our readers. 



Sec. 12.] 



ENTOMOLOGICAL. 



203 




SECTION XII.-ENTOMOLOGICAL 

; hat are Insects ? — Tlie term is applied to all, or nearly 
all, the family of bugs, worms, flies, wasps, moths, 
millers, and small creeping things that infest a farm, 
and all are generally ranked as pests, though erro- 
neoi;sly, as M-e will show by-and^by, some of them 
being highly beneficial. 

The word insect comes from two Latin words, 
signifying cut into, or notched ; and the body of a 
perfect insect, as a wasp, is cnt into and divided into 
three distinct segments — the head, thorax, and abdo- 
men, with two or three pairs of legs, and one or two 
pairs of wings, and it breathes through holes in the 
sides of the body. Insects commence life in eggs, 
which hatch into worms or larviB, such as maggots 
or caterpillars, and these, after doing immense mis- 
chief, as in that state they arc voracious gormandizers, nndergo transforma- 
tion to the pupa or chrysalis state, and from that to the bug or butterfly 
form, during which the eggs are laid in such vast numbers, that the species 
are propagated so rapidly that the art of man seems insufficient to stay their 
ravages, if of a ravaging breed, and hence he must look to natural aids. It 
is for this that we liave advocated protection to birds, because they are great 
insect destroyers. Pestiferous insects also have several other natural ene- 
mies, which must be studied and protected by farmers. 

Besides what are considered and treated of in natural history as perfect 
insects, there are a great many sorts that come under the general name. of 
insect that do not answer the above definition, such as some of the aphis, or 
plant-lice family, the striped and other bugs, and various vrorms. Some of 
the latter — for instance, the earth-worm, or angler's worm — are thought to 
be beneficial to soil. "We think, rather, it could be made more beneficial in 
its death than in its life. Anything, such as salt, lime, potash, ammonia, 
that would kill all the earth-worms, would add all tlie animal matter of their 
body to the soil's fertility. 

"We can not go into a general examination of entomology, though we do 
earnestly advise a study of the science by all farmers, who are, above all 
other classes of the commimity, most in want of knowledge of insects, and 
how to distinguish between those that are pests and those that are harmless, 
or, perhaps, actual destroyers of those that are devastating our orchards, gar- 
dens, and grain-fields. Of a few of these we shall give correct pictures, 
with brief hints about their character, depredations, and such preventives as 
have been tried and proved valuable or useless. 

The great difficulty with the management of the greatest pests is their 



204 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. R. 

diminutive size. Tlie great destroyers of wheat, the midge, Hessian-fl}^, and 
joint-worm, are so minute that a microscope is needed for their examination. 
It is the same with the aphis tribe, and what is called the " scale insect," 
which cov^er the limbs of fruit-trees like a second bark, until millions of 
mouths, although very diminutive, suck away the life of the tree. Neither 
man nor bird notices these minute destroyers until it js too late to stop their 
ravages. 

Now let us look at what some of these insect pests do to the farmer's 
crops. As cotton is considered the great American staple, and as America 
is, above all competition, the land of insects, we will first enumerate the cot- 
ton destroyers found upon that plant by that indefatigable student of ento- 
mology, Townend Glover, wlio was employed by the Patent Office to collect 
information upon the subject. 

242. Insects Infesting the Cottou-Plaut. — A species of cantharides, similar 
to the striped potato fly, feeds upon the nectar or pollen, and sometimes eats 
the petals of the flowers. Those are injui'ious, and several others found in 
the flowers did not appear to be so. 

A leaf beetle eats holes in the petals, and, some say, injures the bolls. A 
large, green, thorny, poisonous caterpillar damages the foliage in August 
and September. It also attacks Indian corn. If handled incautiously, its 
spines inflict painful wounds. This large worm is in strong contrast with the 
diminutive cotton-louse, which destroys tlie young plant in wet seasons. 

The boll-worm, however, is the great destroyer. Their presence in a cot- 
ton-field is indicated by the great number of young bolls fallen to the ground, 
after the inside has been eaten out. Before it falls, the worm crawls out and 
attacks others, which in turn fall ; and if the worms are numerous, all the 
bolls may be destroyed, just as all the plums of a tree are destroyed by 
curculio. 

A small green caterpillar feeds upon and rolls itself in the leaves of the 
cotton plant; and a solitary hairy caterpillar, of a yellowish color, eats the 
leaves; and a green, smooth-skinned one feeds upon the blossoms ; and also 
several very slender, brownish span-worms. A small beetle, of a greenish, 
metallic color, barred with dirty cream-color, often seen in the holes made 
by boll-worms, is not thought a destroyer. It only follows in the path of 
insects that do destroy. 

Various other small insects are found on the plant, but it is not certain 
that they are destructive, while several are well ascertained to be highly 
beneficial to the cotton-planter. Among these we enumerate the lady-bird 
{Coccinella), which, both in the larva and perfect state, devours myriads of 
cotton-lice. 

The planter and overseer should learn to distinguish these from noxious 
insects, and instruct their hands to protect them. 

The larva of the bee-'winged fly also destroys lice, and ichneumon flies de- 
posit eggs in their bodies. 

Tiger beetles {Cicindella) are also destroyers of the noxious insects. Ants 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 205 

climb the cotton-stalks to feed upon aphis, and not upon the plant. Spiders, 
too, catch moths in their nets, and also seize and devour other insects. The 
great aim should be to learn which of all the insects found in the cotton-field 
are friends, and which foes. 

The boll-worm, and the one which is some seasons so destructive to Indian 
corn in tlie milk, are declared by some, upon pretty good authority, to be 
identical. The chrysalis is of a bright chestnut brown ; the moths, a tawny 
yellow color. The upper wings yellowish, shaded with green or red, in some, 
with a dark band, and crescent-shaped mark near the center of the wing. 
The under wings are lighter colored, bordered with black. 

To prevent depredations from the boll-worm, it is recommended to light 
fires around the field at night, to attract the moths when they begin to make 
their appearance. Doubtless many will be attracted to the light and de- 
stroyed. They have also been destroyed by placing plates upon stakes set 
among the cotton, in which about half a gill of vinegar and molasses is 
placed, mixed, four of vinegar to one of molasses. Tliis attracts the moth, 
which perishes in the mixture. This kind of moth-trap recpiires a good d-eal 
of labor, for the plates must be visited every evening and replenished, while 
the moths last. The same plan will be found a good one to catch other 
moths than those which infest cotton. 

243. Insects Destructive to Indian Corn and Wheat. — ^The insect which cats 
into the grains of Indian corn is not only a destructive one, but when it in- 
fests the ears that are wanted for cooking in their green state, it is trouble- 
some and disgustingly oii'ensivc. It only feeds while the corn is in the 
" roasting ear" condition. At first it is so small as to be almost impercept- 
ible, and doubtless many a one gets between the teeth of the eater of early 
green corn, even in this city, for here we have seen a great many marks of 
their ravages. It is, however, much worse at the South. Slieltered under 
the husk, it eats voraciously, and increases in size rapidly, until about an 
inch long. Some are brown, some green, some sti-iped. In fact, there is no 
uniformity in color. The body is sparingly clothed with short hairs, rising 
from black spots or warts. The worm leaves the ear and goes into the 
ground to undergo its transformation. 

If farmers, particularly Northern ones, would watch the first appearance 
of these insects, and try to destroy the moths, they might save themselves 
much loss in the future, for all insects of this -kind are wonderfully prolific. 
There is an ichneumon fly which preys upon this insect, and the habits of 
that fly should be studied, and, if possible, the family increased. Birds, too, 
are fond of this species of worms ; probably because the food it fattens upon 
makes sweet morsels for their palates. 

The destruction of the grains of corn eaten by this worm is only a part of 
the damage that ensues. The grains eaten are upon tlie small end of the ear, 
and here grows a fungus, which often destroys the ear. It also oftentimes 
aff'ords a secure harbor for other insects, which destroy what the worms have 
left. The corn-worm does more damage in dry seasons than wet ones, owing 



•206 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. H. 

to the fact that the silk grows irregularly, or continues longer green, and the 
worms often eat oft' the silk before the kernel is fructified. 

Another insect infesting Indian corn at the South is called Si/h'a7nis 
quadricoUls—a. diminutive beetle, which hides between the grains, and 
loosens them from the cob, devouring the germ first, and then the white 
starchy part of the kernel. These insects sometimes exist in vast numbers, 
and are then very destructive. Sometimes they destroy the germ in such a 
way that its absence is imperceptible, and that causes disappointment when 
it is planted as seed. Kiln-drying is recommended when the corn is to be 
used for food, but not for seed. Quick-lime is recommended, strewed among 
the ears of corn in the crib. If put up with husks on, salt has proved 
beneficial. 

There is another insect that troubles corn in the Southern States — the 
corn-borer. Tliis is called a bill-bug, or corn-borer. It bores into the stalk 
just at the surface of the earth, and deposits its eggs. The grub eats the sub- 
stance of the stalk, and the transformation takes place in the cavity eaten 
out, where the pupa remains till spring, and then comes forth a beetle, in its 
tarn to deposit eggs in the young corn. 

These insects have been very destructive in Alabama and several other 
Southern States, and, like many other pests, may gradually become acclimated 
farther and farther north, till all the corn-growing region is infested. Farmers 
should be on the look-out for these " borers," and also bear in mind that the 
best remedy yet found is to pull up all corn-stalks, after harvest, and pile 
and burn them. These insects are usually most troublesome in swamp lands. 

The larva of the angoumas moth is very destructive to corn, as well fis 
wheat and other cereals, when stored ; and in the South, in the open field. 
The grub is one fourth inch long in corn, and less in wheat. It spins a 
cocoon in the cavity eaten out when it goes into the pujia state. From a 
small round hole previously made, it emerges a moth, with long, nairow 
wings, of a yellowish gray color, of satin-like luster, fringed with long hairs. 
The insects grown in maize are larger, though identical with the wheat in- 
sects. This insect is not confined to warm latitudes, but is more troublesome 
there than farther north. "We have seen the moths swarming in myriads 
about corn-houses and around wheat-stacks. The female lays from sixty to 
ninety eggs, which hatch into minute white worms in four to six days, each 
one of which makes a lodgment in a grain of corn, where it eats, and ma- 
tures in three weeks ; so that two sets mature in one season, the pupa of the 
second growth remaining in the grain till sjaring. 

It is said that this insect was first observed in North Carolina, about forty 
years ago. They will fly into a candle sometimes, in a granary, in such 
numbers as to extinguish the light, and doubtless could be destroyed by fire 
to a great extent. Smear a cask with one head, on the inside, with tar or 
molasses, and place a light in it, and j'ou will catch quantities of the moths. 

Where they abound, it is advisable to store corn unhusked ; and salt is 
also useful, sprinkled in as the corn is put in the crib, just as hay is salted. 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 207 

We know places where this insect is so troublesome to farmers, that it is only 
by great care that they can keep corn or wheat over from one crop to an- 
other. In west Tennessee and northwest Mississippi they are excessively 
annoyinc;. 

Several remedies have been tried, with success in some cases and failure 
in others, under apparently the same circumstances. We will name some 
of them. After the grain is thoroughly cleaned, spread it upon white sheets, 
or board-s, or a tin roof, or, if convenient, a flat rock is better than either, 
and some use a clay floor, and let it lie in the sun until it gets hot, and then 
put it up ill tight casks. Kiln-drying at 176° kills the insect and the germi- 
nating power of the corn at the same time. If grain is placed in tight casks, 
and the gas arising from burning charcoal conveyed to it by a tube, which 
may be iron next the fire, and flexible tube next the cask, for convenience, so 
as to fumigate the grain, the insect is destroj'ed without injury to the germ. 
An infusion of the fumes of chloroform will kill these or any other insects 
in a close vessel. Even a few drops put in a bottle with insect.?, corked up, 
deprives them of life directly. It will not, however, destroy eggs, as the 
heating of the corn does. Heating it, by piling it up damp, has been prac- 
ticed ; but care must be taken, if this is jiracticed, that it does not overheat 
and get musty. If it does, it should be washed before grinding. 

Lime has been effectively tried, entirely preventing the ravages of the 
insect, by storing the grain, ready prepared for the mill, in tight casks or 
bins, and coveinng by sifting over the top an inch or two deep of finely- 
powdered lime. Whenever the grain is wanted for the mill, run it through 
the winnowing machine, and blow out the lime. A trifle will adhere to the 
furze of the kernels, but it does no harm — it is rather beneficial to the flour 
or meal. 

244. The Rice Weevil. — -This is another pestiferous insect, which not only 
destroys rice, but attacks other grain upon the upland portion of a rice 
plantation. This weevil {Calandra onjsm) resembles the one whose ravages 
we have noticed in 243, which is the Calandra granaria. All true weevils 
are beetles, with long snouts, and only depredate upon dry grain. 

Many of us consumers of rice have seen the rice weevil, which has 
hatched out of eggs deposited by the female parent, one in each grain, 
where it hatches, and the young larva eats out all the substance, making 
food of its habitation. By-and-by the weevil comes out, and the sexes meet, 
and the female deposits its eggs in sound grains, and so on until all are 
destroyed. 

When very plenty in rice, it makes anything but a savory dish. It is the 
same with wlieat. We have eaten bread that tasted as though we had about 
an even mixture of bread and meat. " Weevilly flour," we have heard said, 
was not unwholesome. Perhaps not ; to us it is most decidedly unpalatable, 
and no art of cooking wheat or rice will hide the weevil flavor. It looks 
and tastes of weevil, even in the buttermilk and saleratus biscuit of the most 
liberal user of that salt. 



208 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

The rice weevil lias often been found in rice imported from China, and it 
may have been introduced into this country from thence. It differs, both in 
appearance and habits, a little from the grain weevil. It is said to attack 
rice in the field as well as after it is stored. It also attacks Indian corn in 
the field, if left out till late in the fall, or until it becomes quite dry, in those 
States at the South where this insect most abounds. 

The same remedies that will answer for one variety of weevil will answer 
for all. We give a few more remedies. 

246. To Destroy Weevili — Grain subject to depredations from the weevil, 
which develops and matures in the heart of the seeds, and which imparts 
considerable heat to the bulk of tlie pile, equal to or above blood-heat, is 
easily detected on thrusting the hand into the body of the grain, by means 
of the great heat of the mass. 

In France, large quantities of grain are stored np against time of scarcity ; 
and in order to protect it from the depredations of the insects tliat prey upon 
it, commissioners have been appointed to examine into the means of destroy- 
ing them, wlio have reported that a small quantity of chloroform or sulphuret 
of carbon put into the interior of the grain pit (which is usually in the 
ground), and then hernietically sealed up, will destroy all the pests. About 
seventy-fis'e grains of sulphuret of carbon arc sufficient for about four bnsliels. 
Grain put up in rail pens, as is the custom in the West, may be treated with 
equal success with this agent, by covering the heap with a tarpaulin or close 
woven cloth. 

A successful farmer in Broome Co., N. Y., recommends cutting wheat while 
in the milk, and the straw green, and salting it in the mow or stack. lie says : 

" About fourteen years ago the weevil appeared upon this farm, and quite 
seriously affected the wheat crop. We commenced also about that time 
cutting our wheat very green, as soon as it was out of the milk, no matter 
how green the straw or heads ; and in order to preserve it the better in the 
mow or stack, always applied salt liberally. For many years I liave salted 
my grain mows and stacks, but put none upon my hay. I am now cutting 
my wheat as green as usual. 

" From my own experience, I am satisfied that if the wheat is thus treated, 
and not thrashed until after it has been some time piled up, tlie insect Avill 
be destroyed in some of its transformations. At any rate, whoever tries the 
experiment will be Avell surprised in the value of liis wheat and straw. 
Where straw is fed to stock — and all mine goes that way — it is sought fbr 
with keener relish, and makes better manure, M-hile tlie wheat is much 
heavier and plumper than when not so treated. 

" I ought to say, perhaps, that the weevil has not troubled the farm since 
that year, although wheat has been grown every year. Almost any year a 
few may be found, but none to do any damage. My soil is a slaty, gravelly 
loam, and my seeding is usually all done from the 1st to the 10th of Sejitem- 
ber, and the best variety of wheat thus far has been the hlue-stem, a beauti- 
ful variety of white wheat." 



Sec. 12.] KNTOMOLOGIOAL. 209 

Another Broome County farmer, who thought the yellow-birds destroyed 
his wheat, wished a neighbor " would get a gun and kill some yellow-birds, 
which farmers generally suppose destroy the wheat. Mr. R. declined, as he 
does not like to kill birds of any kind. Out of curiosity, however, he killed 
one of the birds and opened the crop, when he found that the bird, instead 
of eating the wheat, ate the weevil — the great destroyer of the wheat. He 
found as many as two hundred weevil in the bird's crop, and butyOT?/- grains 
of wheat, and these had the weevil in them. This is a very important dis- 
covery, and should be generally known. The bird resembles the canary, 
and sings beautifully." 

240. Wheat Insect vs. WecTil. — ^There is a confusion of tongues in relation 
to the weevil that we have described (244, 245), and the one that attacks the 
wheat in the milk. 

The insect that has injured the wheat crop so extensively in New York, 
Pennsylvania, and Ohio, is not the one generally known as the weevil. This 
insect, called " red weevil," " wheat-midge," " the insect," etc., differs very 
much from the Calandra granaria^ as that only injures the ripened kernel 
of wheat or corn after it is stacked or housed, or even after it is in the bin 
of the granary or grist-mill. The weevil exhibits in swarms around the 
barn, tiie female laying her eggs on the grain, and the grubs as soon as 
hatched work into the kernel, consuming all but the bran, without breaking 
tliat, so as to show that all is rottenness within. The ravages of this insect, 
as we have already stated, are so destructive at the South, that it is difficult 
to keep wheat and corn. The latter is generally put up with the shucks on, 
which is (lamp or else heavily salted. Wheat is kept in close casks or tight 
bins by covering M'ith flour of lime an inch deep over the surface. 
"The insect that has destroyed so much grain in past seasons is a 
3'ellow fly (with blue wings), about one tenth of an inch in length ; it 
deposits its eggs, while the wheat is in blossom, within the chaffy scales of 
the flower, during the evening twilight and dark stormy days, in numbers 
from two to forty, which hatch in ten days and completely destroy the germ 
of tlie berry. The maggot is reddish j'ellow, about one sixteenth of an inch 
lo.ig, or perhaps an eighth when full-grown." 

''It is supposed that it leaves the wheat and winters in the ground. That is 
the time to kill them. Salt is undoubtedly the remedy. The fly is hardly 
ever seen ; they never fly in the sunsliine. The weevil All the air like mus- 
ketoes in a swamp. This insect jiides on tiie stems and leaves, shaded from 
the heat of the sun. This is a northern insect; the weevil is a southern one." 

" This insect was first seen in America about the year 1828, in the nortlieni 
part of Vermont and borders of Lowci- Canada. It first inade its appearance 
in northern Ohio in the year 1843, and its ravages have rapidly increased 
from year to year." 

Dr. Harris recommends brimstone fumigation of tlie plants. That would 
be impossible, almost, on whole counties. Flour of lime sown on wet wheat 
has appeared to prevent the work of destruction. Deep plowing the stubble, 



210 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. H. 

and not sowing any grain upon it next year, might eradicate tlie insect, if 
all who are aii'ected would unite in that course, as all must in any other that 
should be adopted. 

The remedy recommended by our correspondent in Broome Co., of salting 
the cut wheat in the mow or stack, would not answer, for the maggots already 
burrowed in the ground for winter, but the salt must bo apjjlied to the land 
in liberal quantities — say five to ten bushels per acre. "We cut up the cut- 
worms effectually upon our corn ground this season with a handful of salt to 
a hill. The corn fired a little at first, but it is growing beautifully now. 
Every bug or worm can be killed in the soil, with salt, and we have no 
doubt that will be found the most sure way of ridding the country of this 
terrible pest of wheat-growers. Tlie Cccidomyia tritici of Kirby is what we 
take to be the insect called the " red weevil." 

A " close observer" of the habits of the midge, says of one who had 
written of the insect's wintering in the ground : 

" The writer is mistaken in some of his facts as to the habits of the insect, 
as he can very easily satisfy himself by getting a few heads of wheat in the 
proper season that are affected and putting them in a small glass jar. He 
will see that the worm does not go into the earth, but comes outside of the 
head after desti'oying the grain of wheat it hatched in, and weaves itself up 
into a snug little cocoon on the under side of the outside chaflT. If he exam- 
ine that cocoon after a time, he will find the worm has changed into a new 
shape, and will ultimately come out a winged insect. I have never yet 
been able to find the worm seeking shelter in the earth. It is this knowl- 
edge of the habit of the insect that induces the belief that liberal salting of 
the grain in mow or stack is fatal to it." 

Towuend Glover, who is pretty good authority, says of this pest : 

" The parent fly deposits her eggs in the beginning of July, and in the 
opening flowers of the grain, or when the wheat is still in the milky state. 
The eggs hatch in about eight days, when the little yellow maggots, or 
worms, may be found within the chaffy scales of the grain. The seed scales 
of grass also sometimes serve as a shelter for these depredators. The worms, 
which are of a bright yellow or orange color, do not exceed an eighth of an 
inch in length, and are often much smaller. I have seen as many as twelve 
within the chaff of one single grain, sent to the Patent Office from Ohio. 
These maggots prey upon the wheat when only in a milky state. When 
they begin their depredations, soon after the blossoming of tlie plant, they 
do the greatest injury, as the grains never fill out. Toward the last of July 
or beginning of August the full-grown maggots cease eating, and become 
sluggish and torpid, jireparatory to shedding their skins, which takes place in 
the following manner : The body of the maggot gradually shrinks in length 
within its skin, and becomes more flattened and less pointed, as readily may 
be seen through its delicate transjiarency. This torpid state lasts only a few 
days, aftfir which the insect casts its skin, leaving the latter entire, except a 
little rent at one end of it. These empty cases, or skins, may be found in 



Sec. 12.] ElfTOMOLOGICAL. 211 

great abundance in the wheat-ears, after the molting process is completed. 
Mr. J. W. Dawson, of Pictoii, Nova Scotia, says that sometimes the maggot 
descends from the plants and molts on tlie surface of the ground. After 
shedding the skin, it recovers its activity, and writhes about at first, but 
takes no food. It is shorter, somewhat flattened, and more obtuse than 
before, and is of a deeper yellow color, with an oblong greenish spot in the 
middle of the body. Within two or three days after molting, the mao-gots 
either descend of their own accord or are shaken out of the ears by the wind, 
and fall to the ground. They do not lot themselves down by threads, as 
has been supposed by some, for they are not able to spin. Nearly all of 
them disappear before the middle of August, and they are rarely found in 
the grain at the time of harvest. Hon. William D. Lindsley, of Sandusky 
City, Ohio, however, sent me several si^ecimens of wheat with this insect in 
it as late as the beginning of August. From observations and remarks made 
by intelligent farmers, it appears that the descent of these insects is facilitated 
by falling rain and heavy dews. Having reached the ground, the maggots 
soon burrow under the surface, sometimes to the depth of an inch, those 
which have not molted easting their skins before entering tlie earth. Hei'c 
they remain without further change through the following winter. It is not 
usually before June that they are transformed to pupte, this change being 
effected without another molting of the skin. This pupa state lasts but a 
short time, a week or two at most, and in many cases only a few days. 
Under the most favorable circumstances, the pupa works its way to the 
surface, before liberating the included fly, and when the insect has taken 
wing, the empty pujja shell, or skin, will be seen protruding from the ground. 
In other cases, the fly issues from its pupa skin in the earth, and comes to 
the surface with flabby wings, which soon expand and dry on exposure to 
the air. Tliis last change occurs mostly in the months of June and July, 
when great numbers of the flies have been seen apparently coming from the 
ground in fields where grain was raised the year before. 

" The wheat-midge, or fly, ' is a small orange-colored gnat, with long, 
slender, pale-yellow legs, and two transparent wings reflecting the tints of 
the rainbow, and fringed with delicate hairs. Its eyes are black and prom- 
inent ; its face and feelers, yellow ; its antennre, long and blackisli. Those 
of the male are twice as long as the body, and consist of only twelve joints, 
which, except at the base, an oblong-oval, somewhat narrowed in the middle, 
are surrounded by two whorls of hairs. Those insects vary much in size. 
The largest females do not exceed one tenth of an inch in length, and many 
are found toward the end of the season less than half this length. The males 
are usually smaller than the females, and somewhat paler in color.' Mr. 
Lindsley sent several of these insects to the Patent Oflice in August, 1855, 
and stated that they have been extremely destructive in several parts of his 
district last year (1854), and that in some places the cattle were turned into 
the field in order to eat the straw and what little was left of the grain, the 
main crop not being worth harvesting. These flies are likewise said to be 



212 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

much more nnmerous and destructive on the edges of fields tlian in the 
center, and in some cases when tlie edges were completely worthless, the 
center bore comparatively a good crop. 

"Fumigation with sulpliur, and burning weeds on the windward side of 
the field, when the grain is in blossom, have been recommended. Air-slacked 
lime or wood-ashes, strewn over the grain when in blossom, in the proportion 
of one bushel of lime or ashes per acre, to be scattered over the field when 
the plants are wet with dew or rain. Two or three applications have some- 
times been found necessary. Plowing np the ground, also, to destroy the 
maggots ; and the dust-chafl'', or refuse straw, if found to contain any of these 
insects, should be immediately burned. In those parts of New England 
where these insects have done the greatest injury, according to Dr. Harris, 
the cultivation of fall-sown or winter grain has been given up, and this for 
some years to come will be the safest course." 

247. The Joint-Worm.— One of the greatest pests that Virginia farmers 
have had to contend with in Avheat-growing is the joint-worm. It has been 
more destructive than the weevil, and in some cases as great a pest in that 
State as the midge has in New York. 

The following is Glover's description of this insect : 

"The joint-worm (^/iryow« /u</yA'/), which lias committed such ravages 
in the wheat-fields of Virginia, comes from a small, black, four-winged fly, 
about an eighth of an inch in length. The female lays several eggs in the 
outer sheatii of the stalk above the joints. After they hatch, the worms 
commence feeding within the sheath, and the constant irritation produced 
by them forms a woody gall, or rather succession of galls, in the cavity of 
each of which lies a small, footless maggot, about the seventh or eighth of 
an inch in length, having a body with thirteen segments, and of a pale, 
glossy, yellowish color. The number of worms in each cluster of galls varies 
from four to ten, or even more. The substance of the stalk attached becomes 
brittle, and either partially or entirely fills its central cavity, and frequently 
distorts it into various irregular shapes. I have often observed young root- 
lets putting out immediately below a joint so affected. The worms on the 
stalks of wheat, when examined in February, were yet in the larva, but 
early in March several had assumed the pupa state. They were about an 
eighth of an inch in length, of a pale yellow color, which as the pupae were 
near coming out, became afterward nearly black. These pupa3 had the 
rudiments of wings, legs, and antennte as in the perfect fly, but were motion- 
less. Late in April and the beginning of May the flies made their appear- 
ance through holes gnawed through the tough, woody covering of the gall- 
like excrescence in which they had passed the winter. Tiiis transformation, 
however, took place in a warm room. These flies are about an eighth of an 
inch in length, of a black color, the knees, joints, and feet being tinged 
with yellow. The males, according to Dr. Harris, vary from the females by 
beinof smaller, and in having no piercers. The joints of the antennae are 
likewise longer, and surrounded with whorls of little hairs. The hind body 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 213 

is shorter, less pointed at the extremity, and is connected with the thorax 
by a longer steia. He also says, that among fifteen females only one male 
■was found. This corresjjonds with what I have observed, as out of sixty to 
eighty joint-worm iiies, produced from diseased stalks of wheat, I only pro- 
cured one male answering to his description, and eight parasites, not quite 
a tenth of an inch in length, of a dark metallic shade, with yellow legs, and 
the antennas much thicker at the end. These flies were furnished with four 
transparent, dotted wings. It is somewhat incomprehensible how it happens 
that so many females appear at the same time without more males. 

" Another four-winged fly also made its appearance from the same stalks, 
of about an eighth of an inch in length, with an abdomen and legs of a 
bright yellow. The head and thorax were of a dark color, and somewhat 
metallic luster. The wings were transparent, dotted, and fringed with short 
hairs, and the piercer reached to the middle of the under part of the abdo- 
men. Dr. Harris states that it has been found in Massachusetts, that plow- 
ing in the stubble has no effect upon the insects, which remain alive and 
uninjured under the slight covering of earth, and easily make their way to 
the surface, when they have completed their transformation. A free use of 
manure and thorough tillaae, by promoting a rapid and vigorous growth of 
the plaut, may render it lels liable to suffer from the attacks of the insect. 
It has been stated that this fly, like the wheat-midge, does more injury on 
the edges of fields than in the middle. 

" At the Joint- Worm Convention, held at Warrentown, Virginia, in 1854, 
the following was recommended : Prepare well the land intended for wheat, 
and sow it in the beginning of autumn with the earliest and most thrifty 
and hardy varieties, and do nothing to retard the ripening of the crop by 
grazing or otherwise. Use guano or some other fertilizer liberally, partic- 
ularly when seeding corn-land or stubble. Burn the stubble on every field 
of corn, rye, or oats, and all thickets or other harbors of vegetable growth 
contiguous to the crop. Sow the wheat in as large bodies and in as compact 
forms as practicable ; and if possible, neighbors should arrange among them- 
selves to sow adjoining fields the same year. Feed all the wlieat, or other 
straw, which may be infected, in racks or pens, or on confined spots ; and 
on or before the first of May carefully burn all the straw which has not been 
fed. The refuse of wheat, such as screenings, etc., should also be destroyed, 
as the pupa case is hai-d and not easily softened by dampness or wet." 

Wo can add nothing to this preventive, except a recommendation to com- 
post the refuse of the cattle, instead of burning it. Make a heap that will 
undergo a heating fermentation, and the eggs will be destroyed, and the 
manure will be more valuable than the ashes. 

2-iS. The Ilessian-Fly.— This is the common name of an insect that at one 
time threatened to put a stop to wheat-growing in all the Northern and 
Middle States. This insect {Ceddnmyla destructor) obtained its name from 
the fact of its (supposed) importation with the Hessian soldiers of the Revo- 
lution, though this fact has been strongly disputed. It might have been in 



214 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

tlie country before, and it might also liave been imported. It was first pub- 
licly noticed in 177G, at Flatbush (L. I.), and on Stateu Island, in the vicinity 
of Sir William Howe's debarkation of those mercenaries of King George, 
and it was quite in keeping witli the feelings of the people that tliey should 
readily credit the charge, that they had brought this among the other evils 
of wai-. At any rate, it multiplied and spread rapidly, and was for a time 
looked upon as a scourge almost as great as fire and sword. Of late years, 
however, it appears to be dying out. It is subject to the attack of parasites, 
which have done more than all the arts and strength of man to rid his land 
of this pest. 

The greatest destroyer of the Ilessian-fly is a shining black four-winged 
fly, about the tenth of an inch in lengtli. Do not mistake this friend for 
your foe, and compass its destruction. Many sensible men have made this 
mistake, and very aptly, too ; for, as they will tell you, they have actually 
seen the fellow come out of the dried skin of the Hessian. So they did ; but 
not until the destroyer of wheat had been destroyed by an insect that fed 
upon his vitals. 

The parasite of the Ct'cidrnnyia destructor is the Cerapliron. destructor of 
Say, and it is a question of vast consequence ^ wheat-growers what they 
can do to promote the growth of this insect, whfth has already been of sucla 
vast benefit to them. 

"We have no doubt tliat the parasite of the wheat-midge will do the same 
kind of service, and periiaps exterminate tliat pest. 

The Hessian-fly is a very small two-winged gnat. Tlie female deposits 
her eggs soon after the wheat begins to grow, say in October, for lat. 39°, 
40°, 41°, in the cavities between the little ridges of the blades. In from 
four to fifteen days the eggs hatch, and the diminutive maggots work down 
into the leaf-sheath and there spend tlie winter. The fly works from August 
to January, according to latitude and climate influences, so that what would 
be a remedy in one place would not be in another. In fact, it is asserted that 
the fly sometimes works upon wheat in tiie Sj^ring ; so the following recom- 
mendation would not be cfi'ectual. That is : 

About the middle of August sow a strip of wheat adjoining where you 
intend to put your crop — say one or two acres. About the middle of Sep- 
tember sow your field. When that has come up and shows cleverly, plow 
under the first sown ; turn it under well. Your fly is headed and your crop 
is safe. 

In the particular locality of tiie man who says " that remedy wont fail," 
perhaps it will not. 

The maggots within the leaf-sheath lie dormant through the winter, and 
do not stop the growth of the wiieat until just before it is ready to blossom, 
when if there are several oii a stalk, it withers and dies. The worms do not 
eat the stalk, but suck up the sap and poison it. A full-sized maggot is 
three twentieths of an inch long, with a hard skin, of a bright chestnut color, 
and looks as much like a flax-seed as anything it can be compared to. This 



Sko. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 215 

appearance remains, but the outside is a dried skin inclosing the pupa, wliicli 
advances to perfection in April or May, and it is these early flie> tiiat lay 
eggs upon spring wheat. It is asserted that there are three broods in a year. 
The fly is about the tenth of an inch long ; the head, antennae, and thorax, 
black ; the hind body tawny, the wings tawny at the base, and black and 
liairy at the ends, expanding about a quarter of an inch. The legs are pale, 
red, or brown, and feet black. The antennas are jointed, and surrounded 
with whorls of short hairs. 

With the above short description and microscope in hand, it will not be 
difficult for any observing person to determine the character of an insect 
found upon his wheat, so as to decide whether it is the Hessian-fly or the 
Hessian-fly destroyer. 

249. Insects Injurious to Fruits. — Probably of all the tribe of pests that 
infest fruit-trees, that known as curculio, or plum weevil [RhynchcBnus 
nenuphar), does the most damage. It has nearly driven the plum-trees 
away from every farm, and has in some seasons destroyed the peaches, and 
done incalculable damage to the apple crop. In fact, for many years pre- 
vious to 1860, there was not a good apple crop in all the Eastern States, 
owing, in a great measure, to the curculio. Small as this pest is, it is capable 
of doing great mischief to all the fruits, and its sting is deatli to plums, 
apricots, and nectarines, and very injurious to cherries and pears. The finer 
the fruit, the greater the injury. A very hardy plum or cherry may survive 
a sting from tliis insect, which leaves a peculiar, crescent-shaped wound, and 
makes an ugly scar and a hard gnarl in the fairest fruit. 

Tills insect is found in nearly all the States of the Union ; it is worst in 
the Middle ones, or between latitudes 39^ and 41°. 

By the following minute description by Glover, the little villain may be 
known by any one, though not previously acquainted with him : 

"The perfect curculio is about two tenths of an inch in length, of a dark 
brown color, with a spot of yellowish white on the hind part of each wing- 
case. The head is furnished with a long, curved snout, or bill, with which 
it is enabled to bore into the unripe fruit by means of jaws placed at the 
end of the bill. The wing-cases, which are rigid, uneven, and humped, 
cover two transparent wings, by which the perfect weevil is enabled to fly 
from tree to tree ; but when these wing-cases are closed, the back appears 
without any suture, or division, which has led to the very erroneous idea 
among farmers that the insect can not fly. When disturbed, or shaken from 
the tree, it is so similar in appearance to a dried bud, that it can scarcely be 
distinguished, especially when feigning death, which it always does when 
alarmed. As soon as the plums are of the size of peas, the weevil com- 
mences the work of destruction by malung a semicircular cut through the 
skin with her long, curved snout, in the apex of which she deposits a single 
egg. She then goes to another plum, which is treated in a similar manner, 
until she has exhausted her whole stock of eggs. The grubs, which are 
batched by the heat of the sun, immediately eat their way to the stone in an 



216 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

oblique direction, where they remain, gnawing the interior, until the fruit is 
weakened and diseased, and by this treatment falls from the tree. The 
grub, which is a small, yellowish, footless, white maggot, then leaves the 
fallen fruit, enters the earth, changes into a pupa, and in the first brood 
comes to the surface again, in about three weeks, as a perfect weevil, to 
propagate its species and destroy more fruit. It has not yet been decided 
whether the latest generation of the weevil remains in the ground all winter 
in the grub or in the pupa state. Dr. E. Sanborn, of Andover, Mass., asserts, 
however, that the grubs, after having entered the earth, return to the surface 
in about six weeks as perfect weevils, which must remain hidden in crevices 
until spring. The most popular oj^inion is that they remain in the larva or 
pupa state in the earth during the winter, and only reappear in the spring 
in the perfect state. The worm, or grub, is often found in the knots or ex- 
crescences which disfigure and destroy plum-trees, and has been wrongfully 
accused of being the cause of these swellings ; but it is highly probable that 
the weevil, finding in the young knots an acid somewhat similar to that of 
the unripe fruit, merely deposits its eggs therein, as the nearest substitute 
for the real plum. 

" Some of the remedies recommended for preventing the ravages of these 
insects are actually absurd, such as tying cotton round the trees in order to 
prevent them from ascending, when it is known that they are furnished with 
wings, and fly from tree to tree with perfect ease. Among the remedies at 
present in use, one is to cover the fruit with a coating of whitewash mixed 
with a little glue, applied by means of a syringe. Another is to spread a 
sheet upon the ground under the tree, and then jar the principal branches 
suddenly with a mallet covered with cloth, so as not to bruise the bark, 
Avlien the perfect insects will fall into the sheet and feign death, and may be 
gathered and destroyed. Hogs are sometimes turned into plum orchards, 
where, by eating the fallen and diseased fruit, they materially lessen the evil. 
Coops of chickens, placed under the trees, have also been recommended. 
Then shake the trees often, and the chickens Avill catch and devour the 
insects. All fallen fruit should be gathered up several times in the course 
of the season, and burnt, or given to hogs, or destroyed in some otlier way." 

We shall now give, besides the above remedies, a few more, "infallible," 
of course, that float annually through the newspapers. 

250.. Curculio Remedies. — To one pound of whale-oil soap add four ounces 
of flour of sulphur. Mix thoroughly, and dissolve in twelve gallons of 
water. To one half peck of quick-lime add four gallons of water, and stir well 
together. When fully settled, pour ofli" the transparent lime-water, and add 
to the soap-and-sulphur mixture. Add to the same, also, say four gallons 
of tolerably strong tobacco-water. Apply this mixture, when thus incor- 
porated, with a garden-syringe, to your plum or other fruit trees, so that the 
foliage shall be well drenched. If no rains succeed for three weeks, one 
application will be sufticient. Should frequent rains occur, the mixture 
should be again ai^plied until the stone of the fruit becomes hardened. 



Sec. 12.J ENTOMOLOGICAL. 217 



The person who used and recoiiiinendud this remedy says : " The trees that 
received the application ripened an abundant crop of as perfect and beautiful 
plums as ever grew, while not a single plum was ripened on those trees to 
which the wash was not applied." 

He also recommends a little salt to be added to the mixture. 

It has been stated as an important fact, that plum-trees planted in sucli a 
position that the fruit will hang over water, will never be stung by cnrculio; 
so that nothing is more easy than growing this delicious fruit wherever the 
trees can be so planted. Dr. Underbill, of Crotou Point Vineyard notorietj', 
states that lie is never troubled, not having seen an insect upon one of 150 
trees in six years. He formed an artificial pond, with banks constructed on 
purpose to set the trees slanting over the water. He gathers the fruit in a 
boat. He has many of the best varieties of plums so planted, and never 
saw finer fruit than lie thus produces. It is an experiment that should be 
tried by eveiy man wlio has the necessary conveniences. The ravages of 
the curculio have been so great for many years that we have had but few 
plums, and those inferior and high priced, in this market. 

We have the following account from James Taylor, of St. Catherine's, 
C. W., a few miles from Niagara Falls, of a pretty efii"ectual I'emedy for the 
great pest of the plum-grower — the curculio. He says : 

" Our locality being much infested with the curculio, and observing in one 
paper issue, last spring, what had been pronounced by a Mr. Jos. H. 
Mather, of Goshen, twenty miles southeast of the place whei'e the writer 
resided, an effectual remedy against its ravages, allow me, for the benefit of 
your readers, to state my experience of its efficacy. The proposed remedy 
was a mixture of sulphur, lard, and Scotch snuff, to be rubbed freely on the 
trunk and branches. This I applied according to the directions, and it is 
true that I had a splendid crop of plums, some of the choicest varieties, 
always most subject to the attacks of this insect, viz., the Bolmar, Huling's 
Superb, etc., being perfectly loaded ; hut mark the result. On examining 
my trees last fall, I found all that I had applied the mixture to in a dying 
state, and I have lost them all, with the exception of one or two young trees. 
Tlie operation being rather a troublesome one, I did not aj^ply it to as many 
as I should otherwise have done, or I should have lost more. So much for 
quack nostrums. Tlie remedy proved worse than the disease. Perhaps my 
expei'ience will be useful to others." 

P. G. Pardee gives the following remedy for the clirculio, which has been 
successfully practiced by a person of his acquaintance. Take fresh cow- 
droppings, and a little wood-ashes, some lime, and a little sulphur, and make 
all into a thin decoction, and throw it over tlie trees with a hand-basin. 
This lasts until it rains ; it is then put on again. A half pound of sulphur 
to a half barrel is sufficient, and of the other substances it is not very im- 
portant as to the proportions. 

'SKq tliink the labor of this application would be too great. 

Dr. Trimble, of New Jersey, says that he has tried all sorts of offensive 



218 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

odors to keep off curculio, without effect. " I have found no remedy equal 
to that of manual labor in catching and destroying the insect. It is a fact 
that some phim-trees are not infested by the curculio." 

Tlie following is a conversation of some exj^erienced fruit-growers upon 
curculio remedies, and the character of the insect : 

IIeney Steele, a New Jersey nurseryman, said that he had prevented 
curculio by the use of black soap from the tallow-chandler's, dissolved in 
water and mucli diluted, with whicli the trees are syringed directly after the 
blossoms fall, after a rain, and repeated, if necessary, in consequence of being 
washed off. 

R. G. Pardee — A person present assures me that a neighbor of his 
yarded his hogs around his plum-trees, and that saved them from the curcu- 
lio. Mr. Pardee said that he thought that fresh cow or pig manure, dis- 
solved, and the water sprinkled over plum-trees, would prevent curculio. 
Tlicy dislike any strong-smelling substances. 

Wm. Lawton — You may apply cow or pig manure raw to all fruits and 
berries, but not horse manure ; that never should be used fresh — make it first 
into compost. 

Dr. Trimble — The curculio has already commenced its ravages this spring. 
I am also satisfied that the curculio stings the bark of plum-trees and pro- 
duces the disease known as the black knot. I liave made a great many 
experiments to prove the insect identical with that which destroys all of our 
smooth-skinned fruit. Tlie jarring of trees to shake off the curculio is effect- 
ual, but it is an immense labor, as it must be attended to every day, and 
some sunny days several times a day. I think that, unless some remedy 
for this insect can be discovered, we shall be unable to raise any fine fruit. 
It is the curculio that causes the disease in apples known as gnarly. We 
get no good apples in Jersey, and it is out of the question to raise plums, 
apricots, or fine peaches. We import prunes from Germany cheaper than 
we can make boxes to j^ack them in — the plums grow to such perfection in 
that country. 

Wm. Lawton — I have removed bushels of black knots from my cherry-trees 
and burned them. I found in all these knots a living worm. I destroy the 
common caterpillar by collecting them in the nests and destroying them. 

Mr. O. W. Brewster, of Freeport, 111., gave a statement of his success in 
repelling the attacks of the curculio on his plums. Early in spring he scat- 
tered lime, wliich had "been mixed for whitewashing, under his plum-trees 
once a week, until the curculio quitted the field. He also scattered soap-suds 
and chamber-lye under them in liberal quantity. He said, I have twice tried 
the same remedy, with complete success. I once applied it to a small tree, 
which matured its whole crop ; several other trees near it, which set full of 
fruit, did not ripen a specimen. If plum-trees succeeded with us well, I 
should have no fears of the curculio. 

P. H. Perry, of Collins Center, N. Y., says : 

" A gentleman lately informed me that he had raised a good crop of plums 



Sko. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 219 

simply by spreading a lieavy coat of fresh horse manure on the ground under 
his trees. He said it entirely prevented the ravages of the curculio, when 
0:1 their account he had not been able to gather a crop of plums for years 
before." 

Solon Kobinson read the following letter from Dobbs' Ferry. The man 
certainly can read, at least he says so, but we wonder how he can own a tree 
liable to the attacks of the curculio, and know so little about it. He says : 

'• I have been much interested in the doings and sayings of the Farmers' 
Club, but in the various debates before that body, I have seen no statement 
advanced concerning the liabits of the curculio. I have also read several 
articles concerning its depredations, but I have yet to learn whether it is a 
flying insect, or simply crawls up the body of trees. 1 have several cherry- 
trees iu my garden of choice varieties, and I can safely say that every cherry 
was punctured by the curculio this spring. 

" The trees are growing and have just commenced bearing. 

" The soil is sandy. 

" My neighbor, less than a hundred feet from me, has escaped its ravages. 

" Does it fly or crawl ? 

" Would a barrel or trough similar to those used on the elms of New 
Haven be of any service in staying its ravages ? 

" Are the worms in the common black cherry, which is universally 
inhabited, produced by the curculio ? 

" Is there any remedy for this pest ?" 

That question — " Is there any remedy for this pest ?" — has been answered 
in every agricultural paper in the world, and so it has been stated that the 
insect has wings, and yet the writer of this letter has not read of it. 

Let me ask another question : " How is it possible to enlighten people 
who will not read ? or, reading, will not understand ?" 

Dr. Tkimble — I am now trying several experiments to prove that the 
same insect that stings the fruit makes the knots on the limbs. No attach- 
ment to the bole of a tree can be any protection against a flying insect like 
the curculio. The excrescence on the limb is no more remarkable than the 
insect that produces the balls upon oak-trees. Dr. T. showed specimens 
of the curculio of phmis, that he had hatched out in earth covered to pre- 
vent escape, to show that the insect becomes perfect from the first laying of 
eggs in young plums, and, as he thinks, these perfect insects lie dormant till 
spring. The question is. Where do they hide themselves until the young 
fruit is ready for them to deposit their eggs ? 

Prof. Mapes said that a preparation called Persian Powder is said to be 
very etfectual in destroying insects. 

Wm. S. Carpenter thought that no bug-powder would rid a farm of cater- 
pillars. Something else must be done. 

Wm. Lawton said that he had cleared his farm of tent caterpillars by 
pulling down the nests by hand, with all the worms in them, when they are 
easily destroyed. 



220 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

Dr. TitiMBLE gave a history of the cockchafer, which remains in the ground, 
like the locust, four years, and then comes forth in immense numbers, but 
in tlie flying state. They do not feed, and consequently do no damage to 
plants. 

In our opinion, the best remedy for ciirculio is pigs, poultry, and birds. 
"We have seen fine crops of plums grown in a curculio neighborhood, in a 
season when these pests were active, in a small lot occupied as a poultry -yard, 
in which several pigs run at large. The hens scratched, and the pigs rooted 
the ground, and the dove-cot also had something to do M'ith the matter. At 
any rate, the barn was inhabited by swallows, and they catch flies, and per- 
haps curculios. 

251. — Apple and Peach Worms.— Tlie codlin moth, or apple moth {Ogrpo- 
caj)sa pomonella), is the name of an injurious insect M'hich deposits its eggs, 
in June or July evenings, in the calyx of the young apples, where they soon 
hatch, and the little worms eat their way to the heart of the fruit, where 
they continue till ready to change into the chrysalis state. " Wormy apples" 
generally ripen prematurely and fall. The worm is of a reddish color when 
fully grown, and ready to leave the fruit and creep into crevices of the bark 
to spin a semi-transparent cocoon, where it changes into a small chestnut- 
brown chrysalid, and that produces a moth in a few days, measuring 
seven tenths of an inch across the wings, wliich are of a brownish-gray color, 
crossed by many dark-colored lines, with a dark, oval spot on each wing. 
The under wings are lighter colored, shaded near the margin. As a remedy 
against this pest, it has been recommended to wrap clotlis loosely around 
the forks of the trees, for a shelter for the M'orms to form cocoons, and then 
destroy them. We fancy that this remedy will cure but a very small part 
of the evil. Picking np and putting all wind-falls where the worms can 
never see daylight will kill more of them. 

Perhaps the best remedy for this, and many other little pests, is the Scrip- 
tural one — " Dig about the tree and dung it." That is, give it greater vigor 
of growth ; make it more productive, so that a portion of the fruit will come 
to maturity in spite of all insects. It is a well-known fact that the most 
vigorous-growing, thrifty trees exactly correspond with thrifty farmers — the 
more they have, the more they gain. Insects mostly attack the most 
neglected trees. 

252. Peach-Tree Borers. — The peach-tree borer {JEgerla cxitiosa) is one 
of the greatest pests of the farm, because it has almost blotted out of exist- 
ence this most valuable fruit in large districts of the country. It is believed 
by most careful observers to be the cause of nearly all the diseases which 
afi^ect the peach-trees, the most visible of which is " the yellows," where the 
leaves gradually take on a yellow, sickly appearance in midsummer, and 
frequently at the age of three or four years show scarcely a green leaf, when 
they should be clothed in the richest green, and finally wither and gradually 
perish. The epitaph of tens of thousands of peach-trees all over New En- 
gland, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 221 

would be, " Died young — ^attacked by borers — the disease exhibited in yel- 
low leaves — speedy death followed." 

This boring Avorm is produced from eggs deposited at the foot of the tree 
by a wasp-shaped moth, of a steel-blue color, M-itli an orange ring about the 
abdomen. Sometimes the eggs are placed in wounds, or between forks, biit 
general!}' in the bark, close to the ground, where the M'orms can easily pene- 
trate into and devour the inner bark and wood just below tlie surface. 

Sometimes a vigorous tree will retain life year after year, with these worms 
gnawing at its vitals. Sometimes the tree is girdled and destroyed in a single 
summer. There appears to be a succession of broods in a single season. In 
the latitude of New York city, the moths come out in June and July. Nec- 
tarines and apricots are also attacked by the same insect. The plum wood 
appears too hard, and peaches engrafted on plum stocks sometimes succeed 
where, if upon their natural roots, they would never bear fruit. Tliese 
borers, when full-grown, are about an inch long, colored yellowish white, 
M-ith an amber-brown head. The chrysalis is brown ; it is formed in a case 
made of the gnawings of the worm, which it glues together around its body. 
Tiie moth expands M'ings an inch across, transparent and veined, and bor- 
dered blue in the male, and dark blue upon the female's upper wings, and 
lier body is belted with orange. 

The remedies, as preventives or cures of the peach-tree borer, are n^nner- 
ous. Dr. Harris, the great American entomologist, says: 

" Remove the earth around the base of the tree, crush and destroy the 
c(^coons and borers which may be found in it and iinder the bark, cover the 
wounded parts with the common clay composition, and surround the trunk 
with a strip of slieathing-paper nine or ten inches wide, whicli should extend 
two inches below the level of the soil, and be secured by strings of matting 
above. Fresh mortar should then be placed around tlie root, so as to con- 
fine the paper, and prevent access beneath it; and the remaining cavity may 
be filled with new or unexhausted loam. The operation shoidd be jierformed 
in the spring, or during the montli of June. In the winter the strings may 
be removed, and in the following spring the trees should again be examined 
for an}' borers that may have escaped search before, and the protecting ap- 
plications should be renewed. The ashes of anthracite coal have also been 
recommended to be put into the cavities made when the earth has been re- 
moved from around the" trunks when searching for the worm ; and if the 
trunks are thorouglily searched three or four times a year, especially in the 
earth near the roots, and the grubs and chrysalids dug out and destroyed, 
these insects would soon cease to be as injurious as they are at present." 

The following conversation in the Farmers' Club conveys some useful in- 
formation upon this important subject: 

Solon Robinson read a letter from the Rev. J. S. Weishampel, Sen., Bal- 
timore, Md., upon the use of hot water to kill insects upon trees. He alludes 
to a letter read here some weeks since, about scalding wheat, and then says: 

" This scalding process destroys the egg of the fly, and the same jsrocess 



222 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

has been known to destroy the eggs as well as the grubs themselves, that injure 
the peach, phun, and other trees so greatly. Scald the stem of the tree well, 
letting the hot water get well into the ground around the tree, where the 
grubs do the most harm, and a destruction of botli eggs and grub follows ; 
and, in addition to this, the scalding appears to add to the vigor of the 
trees. 

"An old lady in Berks County, Pa., had a plum-tree that for many years 
bloomed and brought forth crojjs of fruit till half ripe, and then slied them. 
She often besought her husband to remove the tree, but he still pleaded, 
' Let it stand another year.' At length, one spring, after she had boiled her 
soap, she heated the kettle full of the refuse lye to a boiling degree, and 
poured it all down the stem of the tree, intending to ' scald it to death,' as 
she said. It soon blossomed most abundantly, and bore a profuse crop of 
plums, which it brought to the greatest perfection, which greatly pleased the 
old lady. 

" Tliis same principle could be applied to the destruction of every 
kind of destructive insect upon the various choice fruit-trees, either by pour- 
ing boiling water upon the limbs and stems, or by conducting a stream 
of steam through a hose or j^ipe, from a movable boiler, to kill both eggs 
and insects. 

"Chestnuts, too, are very liable to be worm-eaten. If they Avere subject- 
ed to a momentary heating (wet or dry heat), to a sufficient degree to scald, 
it would kill the germ of the worm that destroys that sweet nut. And the 
same principle would also prevent all wood used in building and machin- 
ery from becoming worm-eaten." 

Prof Mapes — I have used it on peach-trees, until I have satisfied myself 
that a peach-tree can not be injured by hot water. 

Mr. Caepentee said that lime was the best thing he ever tried around 
peach-trees. 

Mr. AVuEELER said that lime will not kill the grubs in tlie wood. 

Mr. Smith, of Connecticut — I have found no remedy except manual labor, 
thougii wood-ashes are valuable, and so is lime. I have an orchard in full 
bearing tluit is fourteen years old. 

Prof Mapes — I have never found any remedy equal to hot water. It 
cooks the worms. 

A letter from East Wilson, Niagara County, N. Y., says : 

" A large and interested community, comprising at least fine thousand 
peach-growers in this county, ask for light. What can be done to stay the 
ravages of the red-headed peach-grulj? To dig him out and kill him will 
only insure an armistice for about ten days. Fresh wood-ashes applied to the 
trees only seem to sharpen his appetite for destruction. Hundreds of orchards 
and thousands of frees are dying from his operations. There are half a 
million of peach-trees in this vicinity suffering from this pest. Will tar pre- 
vent his operations? and will it injure the tree? Can you or any of your 
numerous readers or correspondents tell us of any specific which will kill 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 223 

the grub witliout injuring tlie tree? If you can do so, you will confer a 
substantial favor upon many hundreds of your readers." 

Andkkw S. Fuller — The best remedy is to preserve the birds— the natu- 
ral insect destroyers. It is their decrease that has increased destructive 
insects. 

Wm. Lawton stated that he had taken great pains to preserve birds around 
his place, and was now reaping the benefit. As to any outward application 
to kill the peach-worm, he did not know of anj^thing that would destroy it 
without destroying the trees. If the worms are dug out, and a plaster of 
soft cow-manure is applied, the tree may recover. It is a very tedious 
operation. 

Wrens. — Tlie Secretary advocated the cultivation, or ratlier protection, of 
wrens and insect destroyers. 

Mr. Fuller said that the wren was a mischievous bird, and destroyed the 
eggs of other birds. 

A letter from P. M. Goodwin, Kingston, Luzerne County, Pa., says : 

"I observe in tlie transactions of the Club of July 2, it is thought that if 
a discussion of tlie topic of the peach-grub would elicit a remedy, it would 
be universally entertaining. My conclusion is, that trying to cure the peach- 
grub, unless wliere the soil is light and but few are found, is a humbug. I 
have a preventive, which I will give clieerfully : 

" When I purchased my little place on Hose Hill, overlooking a portion 
of ' Wyoming Valley,' there were one hundred neglected peach-trees thereon 
— budded, and of excellent varieties — which were full of grubs. Early in 
April I commenced operations by carefully clearing away the grubs by 
means of the knife and wire. I then made a funnel-shaped hole around the 
base of each tree, which would hold three or four quarts of water. I filled 
the holes with boiling water, which efi'octually destroj'cd the progeny. I 
then filled the holes witli a tenacious clay, and tamped it hard, leaving the 
surface around the tree cone-shaped and hard compacted. I have examined 
these trees at various times during the intervening five years, and have found 
but one tree aft'ected, and that with but two grubs. This mode, with me, 
has acted as a perfect preventive, and, I have no doubt, will witli all who 
adopt it and exercise the same care. 

"Tliese trees were three or four years old, and, at the time the experiment 
was made, much inferior to some from the same lot growing elsewhere, 
which were regularly examined and carefully cleared of grubs in the usual 
way. My trees are sound in wood, and look well, while the otliers have dis- 
appeared. 

" In planting peach-trees now, I would cut away the tap (not top) root 
close under where the horizontal roots put out. Having driven a stake firmly 
for each tree, I would plant it so shallow that after the lieavy rain the upper 
side of the roots will become exposed. In this way the trees are not so liable 
to become infested with the grub. I planted some trees so a year ago, and 
find the non-appearance of the grub satisfactory." 



224 SMiVLL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [CnAP. IT. 

R. G. Paedee — I Lave tried the hot water very often, and have always 
found it effectual ; and I thought that by this time everybody had heard of 
it, but if they have not, I hope this letter will be read and remembered. 
Instead of clay I used leached ashes, as they were more convenient, and they 
answered a good purpose. 

The Chairman presented a new pest of the peach — a dark-colored worm, 
about an inch long, that fixes itself in the foot-stalks of the leaves and destroys 
them. 

Wm. S. Caepentek — This insect discussion is one of great importance to 
farmers. These little, insignificant things are great destroyers of our crops. 
AVhat if we could discover a remedy for the bugs that eat up the potato vines, 
or a remedy for the effect of cold upon fruit-trees ; for I have noticed, within 
a day or two, that the northerly sides of the pear-trees are blasted and turned 
dark by the cold wind. The cold of a day or two in spring often destroys 
many tender vegetables. 

It was observed that cold nights sometimes have a beneficial effect upon 
fruits, by destroying some of the insects that usually prey upon them. It did 
in the spring of 1860. That season proved the most productive of fruit of 
any year in the memory of most young people. Of the hot-water remedy 
for the peach-grub, we speak from experience, that it is the best of all we 
ever knew. Lime, too, has been tried with good results. Hon. John M. 
Clayton, of Delaware, assured us once, at his house, that the peach-trees we 
were then looking at, which were so vigorous, had been treated with half a 
bushel of lime, placed in contact with the body and upper roots, and he be- 
lieved it would continue to be a preventive of the peach-grub. 

253. Insect Remedies. — We give the following various remedies for insects, 
all of which are vouched for by good men ; some believing one infallible, 
and some another. 

The following wash is recommended for all sorts of trees, as a preventive 
remedy against caterpillars, etc. : Potash, 20 lbs. ; air-slacked lime, half a 
bushel ; sifted wood-ashes, half a bushel ; fresh cow dung, half a bnshel. 
Mix in water enough to be of the consistence of whitewash. Scrape oft" the 
rough bark, and rub the wash in well with a brush. 

Caustic soda icash is one of the best things we ever saw applied to a fruit- 
tree. It will make the bark as smooth as if wax-polished. It leaves no 
harbor for insects under pieces of dead bark. It is made by heating the 
common sal-soda red hot in any old iron vessel, and then making a lye of it 
— say about one pound of the salts to a gallon of water — and washing the 
trees with a brush. It is best to put it on in the spring. A piece of old 
stove-pipe, battered up at one end, and stuck into one of the stove-holes, 
answers very well to heat the soda in. The wash should be too caustic to 
put your hands in, and, Avhile putting it on, it will not be worth while to 
wear a fine broadcloth coat. 

The Liquid Brimstone Remedy. — M. Letellier states in the Journal of the 
Paris Horticultural Society, that a liquid formed l)y boiling 63 grains of red 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 225 

American potash, and the same quantity each of flour of sulphur and soap, 
in la pints of water, is most excellent and efficacious in destroy in_<^ insects. 
If it requires to be stronger, tlie quantity of potash and sulphur may be 
doubled, but the soap must remain the same. Uj^on immersion, the insects 
— ants, caterpillars, cockchafers, grubs, etc. — are instantly killed, while the 
solution occasions no injury to plants. The liquid will destroy ants and 
grubs when poured into tiieir places of resort. 

Preventive of CtxnJcer- Worms from Apple-Tre^. — A letter from Maiden, 
Mass., gives a most sensible plan for a cheap jjreventive of canker-worms, 
which climb the boles of apple-trees: 

" Take pine boards of suitable width for four to box a tree. Cut them in 
pieces two feet long on one edge, and four feet long on the other edge. Nail 
them together in a box around the tree, with four sharp points up. This box 
is to be adjusted about the tree before the grubs come from the ground, and 
a peck of powdered lime or ashes thrown between the trunk of the tree and 
the inside of the box. The caustic lime or ashes will destroy the grubs near 
the tree, and the boxes will invite all the grubs near them to ascend and de- 
posit their eggs. I found the pinnacles covered with grubs and eggs, and 
the insects apparently contented with this highest point as a safe place, and 
there the eggs were deposited. 1 then removed the boxes to a consideral)le 
distance from the trees, and heard no more from canker-worms; they all died 
for want of proper food." 

Anotiier plan, lately patented, to prevent worms climbing trees, looks as 
though it would be effectual. A tin trough is made in two parts, large 
enongli to encircle the tree and leave a space four or five inches between the 
trough and bole of the tree. From the outside edge of the trough a strip 
of cloth extends all around, wide enough to have its upper edge tacked to 
the tree, by which the trough tilled with oil is sheltered from rain and sus- 
tained in its place, so that worms creeping upward come first in contact with 
the cloth, and if they crawl down that to get around the edge and so up the 
tree, they are caught in the oil, which, being sheltered, remains in good con- 
dition longer than when exposed. Now it is an experiment worth trying, 
and for which there is no patent, whether a strip of cloth nailed around the 
tree at one edge, and having the other extended six inches from the bole by 
a wire or limber rod, would not answer the purpose without the oil-trough. 
The under side of the cloth could be coated with some kind of pitch that 
would not harden soon, being protected from sun and rain, which would 
effectually prevent the ascension of insects — certainly much more so than 
the belt of tar as it is usually applied. 

Dr. Trimble, in answer to the question, what remedy to apply to this pest, 
said that the only remedy is the ichneumon parasites. These, in their proper 
time, will attack the worms and destroj^ them. In the mean time, while 
one section of the country is ravaged, another is extraordinarily fruitful. 

He introduced specimens of the caterpillar that preys upon the grapevine, 
to show that it has its parasite, one of which had just emerged from the 



226 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

body of the caterpillar. This, he hoped, would prove a sufficient check to 
the ravages of this particular pest, 

254. Another Conversation at the Club about Insects. — Wm. S. Caepentek— 
All classes of insects have their favorite j^lants, but if these favorite plants 
fail, the insects will take to others. Last year I saw ailanthus trees in this 
city completely covered with a worm known in the country as the canker- 
worm. The trees were wholly stripped of foliage. We are continually im- 
porting insects in various ways. I am told that every banana stem contains 
a worm, and some of the same sort of worms have been discovered preying 
upon the quince. 

The rose-slug is easily killed by hand in the after part of the day, by an 
application of quassia decoction, sprinkled upon the leaves, as the slugs are 
then on the upper surface. 

Extra cultivation, by which the plants grow rapidly, is the best remedy 
for squash bugs. 

Mr. Paedee said that the best remedy is to expose the soil dug from 
a deep hole several days to the sun, and thea put it back in the hole, 
patting it down solid, and then putting in the seed, and covering it lightly, 
and then spreading fine charcoal over the hill. 

Mr. FuLLEK— I tried this charcoal remedy, last year, most thoroughly, 
without deriving a particle of benefit. 

Mr. Pakdee — I have used charcoal, and was not troubled with bugs. 
Now it is possible that, without it, the plants would not have been troubled. 
So, after all, it is uncertain whether the charcoal was the preventive, or 
whether there were no bugs to be eradicated. 

Mr. Gakvey — I have tried a great many remedies, and have never found 
anything so good as careful watering, and hand killing the bugs. 

R. G. Pardee — I wish every man would try the solution of aloes — two 
ounces to the gallon of water. It is such a bitter vegetable that it is 
offensive to all insects. It may be used just as strong as it can be made — 
from one fourth to a whole pound to the gallon. 

Mr. Caepentek — The canker-worm, in the northern part of Connec- 
ticut, is now ravaging the orchards to an extent that is destructive 
to all prospects of fruit. On some large orchards there are no apples— 
in fact, nearly all the foliage of the trees has been destroyed. Can this be 
prevented ? 

Washing Insects f/vm Fruit-Trces. — Mr. Paedee read a letter fi-om Charles 
Lincoln, of North Bridgewater, Mass., which stated that he succeeded in saving 
his plum-trees, last spring, from insects, by washing them frequently with 
clear cold water, using for the purpose a little hand instrument called the 
" hydropult." 

Dr. Trimble contended that all the rot in plums is caused by the sting of 
the curculio. 

Mr. Pardee thought that this statement was incorrect; that plums fre- 
quently rot where there are no curculio. He said, thirty years ago, at Seneca 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 227 

Falls, there was no curculio lo disturb the plum, and we grew great crops, 
and sometimes nearly all on a tree rotted, almost all at once. 

Geisharsfs Com^wxind for Insects. — P. B. Mead (editor of the Ilorticul- 
turht) said that he has tried the above compound upon several kinds of in- 
sects, and found it sure death to all he had aj^plied it upon. Tiie objection 
to it is its liigh price — too high for common use ; if it would rid us of the 
curculio, it would make the plums too costly. 

John G. Bergen — It is a fact that we have a prospect this year of a larger 
crop of plums than we have had in many years, and tlierefore persons 
should be careful of their hasty conclusions about this or that nostrum 
driving them ofl". 

Mr. Mead — ^The prei>aration I mentioned, dissolved in water and used as 
a syringe upon plum-trees, had the effect to drive off the curculio, even upon 
one side of a tree, while the other was still infested. 

Remedy for Rose-Slugs. — Geo. li. Hite — I have found an effectual rem- 
edy against the depredations of these pests, in sifting dry dust upon the 
bushes. It is just as good as snuff, or any other bug-powder. Of course, it 
wants frequent renewal. 

Bark-Lice. — Andrew S. Fuller — If a tree is properly cultivated, it will 
grow so vigorously that it will outgrow all bad effects from attacks of plant- 
lice. 

Worms Destroying Gooseherry Bushes. — R. Dixie, of Painesville, Ohio, 
inquires for a remedy for a pest upon his gooseberry and currant bushes. 
He says " they have been stripped of tlieir leaves entirely, in one summer, by 
hosts of green caterpillars or worms about an inch in length — a number 
of broods during the season. "What shall we do to get rid of^ the pests? I 
have used lime in powdei', and dry unleached ashes, without any ajsparent 
beneficial effect." 

SoLfiN Robinson — I would try the new preparation of " attenuated coal- 
tar," which we have had exhibited here in the form of a dry powder. So 
far as I have been able to try it, I have found it particularly offensive to 
all insects. 

A. B. DicKTOSON — If soft soap is placed in the crotch of a tree, and left to 
work down by the rain, it will keep off all insects, even the curculio. Many 
insects are kept away by offensive smells, which do not kill them. Smoke, 
for instance, keeps off many insects. 

Pests of Gra_pevi?ies and other Plants. — Dr. Trimble— Here is a specimen 
of the insect that curls the grape-leaf Spring is the time to look after them, 
and pick them off by hand and destroy them, or they will destroy the vines. 
Here is another curious insect that infests the currant bushes. It is what we 
call lice, and these lice furnish food for a colony of ants, by their exudation 
of a sort of sweet substance. Here is the worm that curls the currant-leaf; 
and here is another curious insect that binds itself up in a web and a leaf, 
and what is remarkable, this insect is itself full of other insects — parasites 
that live upon, and in a great measure destro}' it. I wish that some para- 



228 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. ' [Chap. IL 



site could be found to destroy the curculio. Perhaps it may be destroyed in 
time, as the Hessian-tiy has been. 

The Measuring Worm. — Solon Robinson — If any one desires to extirpate 
the worms that infest the trees in our parks, now is the time to do it by de- 
stroying the eggs. Scraping and washing with potash is the best protection 
of the boles of the trees. If we had plenty of birds we should get rid of the 
worms. It is only in cities, where there are so few birds, that these pests 
are so troublesome. Insects are the natural food of all birds. Even the 
domestic ones that we keep about our homestead destroy untold quantities 
of pestiferous insects that could not be got rid of in any other way. The 
greatest profit in keeping poultry is the good the animals do in their inces- 
sant pursuit of bugs and worms, which, if not destroyed, would in their turn 
destroy the food-plants that we cultivate. I know of no contrivance of man 
that will protect him from insects. 

Mr. Paedee — In New Haven, trees have been protected by zinc troughs, 
filled with oil, ai'ound the boles. 

Destro'jirig Trees to Get Hid of Worms. — Andrew S. Fuller stated that 
the worms in Brooklyn were so bad that the city councils were talking of 
cutting down all the trees in that city, to get rid of the worms. 

Solon Robinson — They had better cut down the boys who destroy the 
birds. 

More than forty years ago, the "canker-worms" were terribly destructive, 
for several years, of apple^rees in Connecticut, and attempts were made to 
prevent their ravages by making a band of tar, two or three inches wide, 
around the bole of the tree. It })roved eflectual while the tar was soft ; but, 
unless renewed every day, and sometimes twice a day, the surface dried so 
that the worms crawled over; and I have seen them so thick that they 
crawled into the tar and stuck, and then others went over them, and so on 
until they formed a bridge, and thus defeated their strong opponent. 

Dr. Trimble — The lindens of New Jersey, in former years, have been very , 
much afiectcd, but tliis year they have not been injured. I believe the in- 
sect has been destroyed by parasites, and I hope it M-ill be in Brooklyn. I 
hope that no one will think of cutting down trees to get rid of the worms. 

Origin of '■'■Bug-Powder.'''' — The Secretary stated that Lyon, the great 
bug-powder man, has gone home to Europe, worth an immense sum, and it 
is now publislied that the powder is made of a common French field-plant 
of a species of the chamomile. 

All the eft'ective insect powders now oflfered for sale owe their efficiency 
to red chediiomile. It is sold by some of the druggists. Rub it to a fine dust, 
mix it with some cheap divisor, and it is the best insect powder known. 
When dusted into the cracks and corners of ceilings, etc., out walk the 
cockroaches and all other intruders without fail. Dust the aflected plants, 
and you may keep them clear of insects. 

Mons. Radiguet states to the Society of Agriculture, Paris, that the plant 
known as " Whiteflower Margaret" {Chrysanthemum cuanthemum'), used as 

• 



Sec. 12] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 229 

a decoration, is vtry destructive to insect life. Tliis plant is not a native of 
this country, but is cultivated here, and can be easily multiplied. 

Disease, of the Coffee-Tree. — Dr. Montague stated, at a meeting of the 
Society, that a disease has attacked the coffee-trees of Ceylon, similar to the 
oidiuni of the grapevines. The same disease has been observed in the West 
Indies. Olives and mulberries are attacked ; insects are observed upon 
them, something like t!ie cochineal insect. There is also an exudation of a 
sweet guin that attracts insects. Milk of lime and purin — an extract of 
manure — are used as a preventive. 

Ailanthus, as a food for silk-worms, has been used in France with success. 

Kerosene Oil for Insects. — Wm. G. Le Due, of Hastings, sends us a rem- 
edy for caterpillars and other insects, easily applied. It is kerosene oil. 
He saj-s : 

" Finding some large nests of caterpillars on my plum-trees, I took a can 
of illuminating oil, as it is called, and applying a few drops (suflBcient to 
saturate the web of the nest), found that it Avorkcd like a charm. It is in- 
stant death to the vermin. Care should be taken not to apply it to the 
leaves of the plant or tree, as they will be scalded at once. I have but little 
doubt that, in the hands of your careful experimentalists, it will prove of 
value. The coarser oils of coal will no doubt be equally efficacious in many 
instances. I may as well mention here, also, that I have found kerosene oil 
a most excellent diluent of printers' ink, which I use in my ilouring-mill for 
stencil-plate marking. It would be a thorough cleanser of type, though, per- 
haps, not so cheaji as potash." 

Coal-Tar for Insects. — Prof. Mapes — ^We are very free of destructive tree 
insects, this year (ISGO), in New Jersey, but have a fair show of other pests of 
the farm and garden, and we are obliged to resort to some remedy. We can 
not grow early turnips without using something to keep the insects off, and 
I am glad that the necessity stimulates invention to assist farmers in the de- 
struction of these pests. I have lately tried one called " attenuated coal- 
tar," and find it effectual. It is likely to be a very valuable aid to fruit- 
growers and gardeners. It is in the form of powder, and wherever sprinkled 
upon insect-infested plants, the insects leave at once. It is coal-tar mixed 
with some substance so as to retain all its odor, and yet remain in the form 
of a dry powder. ■ 

Mr. Lawton — The Black Tartarian is a good sort of cherry, but I prefer 
the Black Eagle ; it is a very hardy variety, and very productive. The En- 
glish Morello is an acid cherry, and the tree very free from insects. We 
have not had a rose-bug with us this year. 

Solon Robinson stated that, only five miles from Mr. Lawton, the rose- 
bugs infested his cherry-trees by myriads, destroying more than half the 
fruit. Mr. R. inquired of Mr. Lawton what it was that ate his cherry-leaves, 
if it was not rose-bugs, as they were evidently eaten by some insect, and if 
coal-tar or anything else will prevent their ravages, it should be extensively 
known. 



230 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

Whisky for Ants. — Wm. Davis, of Marengo, Morrow County, Ohio, offers 
tlie fi)llowing plan for protecting fruit-trees froq^ ants, whicli, be says, have 
killed many trees for him. It is the same plan pursued in this city to make 
loafers, and then get rid of them — that is, feed them with whisky and make 
them drunk, and then wipe them out. He says : 

" Mix whisky, molasses, and water, in equal parts, and fill a tumbler about 
two thirds full, and set it partly in the ground at the foot of the tree infested 
by ants. When it gets full of the drunkards, scoop them out and kill them." 

Wc suggest feeding them to fowls. 

Do Worms Rain Down? — A person at Angola, Ind., who notices that the 
Club talks about all sorts of miscellaneous matters, wants us, in the absence 
of more important questions, to talk about this : " Do fish, worms, and small 
toads, such as are often seen after a shower, in places where it appears they 
must have fallen with the rain, actually come from the clouds?" 

Dr. Wateeburt replied — They do not; it is one of the popular errors 
which are so hard to eradicate. 

The Locust Question. — A long discussion ensued upon the locust question 
between Professor Mapes, Professor Nash, Wm. Lawton, Wm. R. Prince, 
Dr. Trimble, and Andrew S. Fuller, about the habits of the seventeen-year 
locust, which appeared in great numbers in the summer of 1860, in the vicin- 
ity of New York. Every schoolboy of any pretension should read all about 
these locusts, and study their natural history. Wherever they appear, try to 
learn their habits, and whether they do injury to plants, either above or be- 
low the surface of the earth. 

Prof. Mapes exhibited the efi'ects upon branches punctured by the females 
to lay their eggs, he still thought without permanent injury to the trees. 

Wm. It. Peince declared the whole theory of the seventeen-year locusts a 
humbug. 

Prof. Nash thought they return in some localities in thirteen years, and 
inquired if tlie nature of the soil had any effect upon their maturity. 

Varieties of the Locust.- — Andrew S. Fuller — We have many varieties 
of what are called locusts, among which arc the Cicada Septeindccim., Cicada 
Canicularis, Cicada Jiimosa, Cicada Margiiiata, Cicada Siiperba, Cicada 
Jiobertsoiiia, and perhaps several others. The habits of these are well 
known, and have been for many years. The seventeen-year locust has ap- 
j^eared regularly every seventeen years for more than a hundred years, as is 
well attested by numerous writers upon natural history. 

Dr. Trimble, of New Jersey, gave a lengthy lecture upon the locust, show- 
iuf how the insect deposits its eggs in the limbs of almost every variety of 
trees. A great number of these twigs were distributed among the company, 
to show the curious manner in wliich these eggs are deposited. 

This peculiar insect appears once in seventeen years ; but the year of its 
appearance differs in every part of the country. In 1S55 it infested south- 
ern Illinois. In 1800, 1817, and 1834 the trees of Delaware and Maryland 
were literally covered by them ; and in 1843 many of the river counties on 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 231 

the Hudson were infested -with the Cieadae. The male insect lias a pair of 
drums on each side of the- head, and, wiien infesting an orchard or woods, 
the noise is frequently so great that no conversation can be heard in the 
vicinity. The insect appears about the 25th of May, and remains six weeks. 
The female is armed with an ovijMsitor, with which she inserts her eggs in 
the smaller portions of limbs of fruit-trees, oaks, chestnuts, etc., always 
selecting new growth, of an eiglith to a quarter of an inch in diameter. 
Tlic incisions, about twelve in number, are made at an angle of forty to fifty 
degrees, with an egg in each, and sometimes the twig is girdled near the 
eggs, so that when the end of the twig dies it falls to the ground, and the 
eggs are carried in by dews and rains. Miss Morris, of Germantown, Pa., a 
well-known entomologist of close observation, claims that she found them 
attaclied to the roots of pear-trees. 

"While plowing at our place. May 10, these insects were thrown out in 
large quantities. Tlie holes through which they ascend in the soil may be 
traced to a depth of fom- feet or more. This locust is not to be dreaded, as 
they do but little harm ; are not known to feed, and the shortening-in of 
limbs by the depositing of their eggs may give a useful hint to those who 
do not xinderstand the benefits of the shortening-in process." 

He also gave an account of a maple-tree in Newark, which appears to 
have a sort of bohun upas efi"ect upon flies ; they la}' dead by thousands under 
this tree. 

Prof. Mapes stated that, in plowing upon his farm near Newark, in 
Ma}', the seventeen-year locusts were turned up in vast quantities. 

Dr. Trisiele stated that this insect does not consume vegetation. Tliey 
are M-ithin a few inches of the surface, waiting for the right condition of the 
temperature to issue forth. Seventeen years ago these insects came forth on 
the 25th of May, and immediately commenced their musical notes. They 
remain about six weeks above ground, eating nothing. The injury they do 
vegetation is by puncturing tlie limbs to deposit their eggs. This kills the 
ends of the branches. The apple-tree and ehn-trees are favorite trees with 
these seventeen-year locusts. The time of their appearance varies in differ- 
ent localities. This is the year for all this vicinity and up the Hudson River. 
My opinion is that the life of the insect is sustained imder-ground by attach- 
ing to the roots of plants. The limb selected for puncture is always small. 

The Secretary stated that the size of the limb punctured is not usually over 
an eighth of an inch. 

Mr. Dodge stated that the locusts were very plentiful on Long Island five 
years ago, and that he has seen them every year iu this city. 

Prof. Mapes thought that these fellows would be a little too much for 
" insect powder." Still, he had received great benefit from one called the 
"Persian Powder." That will enable me to grow early turnips, and it will 
kill caterpillars. 

Mr. Gale — In 1809, in Orange County, the locusts were plentiful enough 
to allow me to gather bushels of them, and the apple-trees were covered. 



232 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

Tlie only injury was to the small twigs. Wheat-fields were covered, but not 
injured. 

Andeew S. Fuller — In 1S55 the locusts were very abundant in Illinois, 
and came forth out of heavy clay land, from more than four feet in depth, 
in oak forests. They appeared to prefer the oak-trees. 

The Chairman stated that he had observed their preference for oak in some 
instances, but upon the whole, he thought they had very little care for any 
particular sort of trees. 

Dr. Thimble thought the chestnut was tlltjir favorite. I found, yesterday, 
the eggs of the locust are beginning to hatch, and the young insect is as 
perfect in shape as the old ones, of a pure white color, and no larger than 
one of the eggs. 

Habits of G)'asshopj>ers. — A Goliad correspondent of the Colorado (Texas) 
C'dizeji gives some curious facts iu relation to the grasshoppers which have 
recently swarmed in that region. lie says : 

" They have an especial fondness for wheat and cotton, but don't take so 
kindly to corn. The only vegetable they spare is the jjumpkin. Tlie most 
deadly poisons have had no efiect upon them ; fumes of sulphur they rather 
like than otherwise ; musketo-nets they devour greedily ; clothes hung out 
to dry they esteem a rarity ; blankets and gunny-bags they don't appear to 
fancy. They swim the broadest creeks in safety, sun themselves a while, 
and then go on. The wliole mass appear to start and move at the same 
time, traveling for an hour or two, devouring everything in their way, and 
then suddenly cease, not moving perhaps for a week, during which, time no 
feeding is noticed ; and finally, they carefully avoid tlie sea-coast." 

Gi'iisshopper Parasites. — Solon Robinson — I have a letter from L. B. 
Rice, Middlebury, Vt., inclosing specimens of grasshoppers, showing a para- 
site that is preying upon them, which, it is to be hoped, will help to annihilate 
this pest. This parasite is a small red insect, which attaches itself to the 
grasshopper just under the wing. 

255. f auker-Worm Preventives. — The following letter to the author, from a 
New York city friend, is worthy of attention by all whose trees are eaten by 
worjns : 

" Sir : Your recent discussions upon the canker-worm, which is so seriously 
devastating the foliage of the city, stir me up to lay before your readers the 
information which some years of careful observation have enabled me to 
gain respecting this pest of our neighborhood. I do this the more because I 
notice some suggestions in your conversations which look to the adoption 
of remedies ; and before any remedy is tried, it is essential that we have 
some assurance that it will be effectual. 

" I was a student in New Haven at the time when the ravages of the in- 
sect were so severe in that city, and witnessed the extreme desolation which 
the creature produced. The magnificent elms which are the glory of that 
beautiful city, stood bare and wintry at the end of June, with every vestige 
of their foliage utterly consumed. I noticed, and have since repeatedly ob- 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 233 

served, how perfect a protection is afforded by tlie metallic girdle wliicli you 
describe. Whether the plan of a Mr. Taylor, spoken of in the papers, is 
an improvement, I am not able to say. 

"The whole merit of the plan, however, consists in its adaptation to the 
habits of the insect. Tiie female — which deposits its eggs upon the body 
and branches of the tree before the opening of the spring — is wingless, 
apterous, as we say in Entomology ; and being incapable of flying, is 
eflectnally arrested by the barrier which is presented by such an open tube 
encircling the tree. The protection is complete* the application is easy, and 
the remedy is effectual. 

" One fact, however, is to be taken into view, which efiectually alters the 
case with us. After familiar study of our New York insect, for several 
years past, I am convinced that it is an entirely different species, of different 
habits in many respects ; and, above all, different in the one particular which 
gives all its value to the New Haven remedy ; our species full 1/ possesses the 
poioer of flight. Its progress, therefore, to the body and limbs of the tree 
for the purpose of depositing its eggs can never be in the least arrested by 
any such measure as your correspondent proposes to adopt. Protection against 
the worm in our city can be obtained only by the same method by wliich 
New Haven derived hers, viz., the thorough and careful study of the habits 
of our own species of insect. 

" The very positive assurance of your correspondent, Mr. "Webb, that ' it 
is a law of nature that all the millers which produce the measuring worm 
have no wings by which they can fly one inch,' is in the main true, though 
perhaps rather strongly stated ; but it ajiplies only to the canker-worm of 
New England. Our species may be seen flying abundantly, both males and 
females, ascending above the tops of our highest trees, and reaching the 
large branches witli absolute ease. After having observed the whole process 
very carefully, I am in a position to speak confidently about it; and I beg 
to assure your readers that any attempt blindly to imitate the New Haven 
method will only prove a mistaken and unprofitable, because ignorant, 
attempt. In order to ascertain with greater certainty the truth upon tliis 
point, I transmitted specimens of our New York miller, last summer, to Mr. 
E. C. Herrick, the accomplished librarian of Yale College, whose investiga- 
tions of the New Haven canker-worm were published at length, some years 
ago, in the American Journal of Science, and received from him the assur- 
ance that my impression that the two species were entirely distinct was no 
doubt correct. Mr. H. also concurred with me in thinking that the power 
of flight possessed by the New York moth would require entirely different 
methods for the prevention of its ravages. 

" The one method which my observation has suggested as effectual, con- 
sists in thoroughly scraping the tree after the eggs of the moth have been 
deposited upon it. The worm with us does not, as in New Haven, go into 
the ground and remain there till the winter, but goes through its changes in 
a very brief period. After coming down from the tree, it lays itself up in a 



234 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Ciiap. II. 

cocoon, formed of a few thin fibers of silk, in the crevices of the bark of the 
trees which it frequents, or upon posts and fences near the tree. There the 
insect may then be found, undergoing its change. After about a fortnight, 
it comes forth in the shape of a wliite moth, somewhat less than an inch 
lung. At that period our parks and public squares are alive with these 
millers : the grass is studded, the paths covered, the air filled with them. 
Any one may easily satisfy himself of their power of flight by a careful ob- 
servation of them. The antennsE, or feelers, projecting from the head, are in 
the males feathei'ed, or, entomologically, pectinated ; a row of fine fibers, 
like the teeth of a comb, lines each antenna upon one side ; the females have 
the antenna plain and straight ; and they may also be distinguished by the 
larger size of the abdomen, which is distended by eggs. No difference, 
however, in the power of flight will be observed between the two sexes. On 
coming out from the cocoon the sexes meet, and the impregnated eggs are at 
ouce laid upon the bark of the tree. They may be seen in patches, varying 
from a dozen to fifty, or even more — minute, green globules, which soon change 
to a dusky gray or brown, scarcely distinguishable in tint from the bark. 
They adhere by a glutinous secretion very firmly to the tree, and remain 
through the year until the warmth of another spring hatches them into life. 

" At any time after the eggs are laid in the beginning of July, and before 
they are hatched in the beginning of the following May, a careful scraping 
of the tree will remove most of them, and so prevent their ravages for the 
next summer. 

" Having frequent occasion to pass through "Washington Parade Ground, 
I have pointed out the eggs upon the bark to the persons intrusted with the 
care of that spot, and the trees have been sometimes scraped in the spring, 
with very good results. This year it was omitted, and the deserted shells 
of the eggs of last year maj' now be seen on the trunks of the trees so seri- 
ously injured by them this summer. No other method than this affords the 
least security ; but this, if faithfully carried out under any competent super- 
vision, can be made entirely effectual. The eggs remain for nearly a year 
before they are hatched, quite obvious, and tolerably accessible. A couple 
of men -would in two or three days clean any one of our parks of this de- 
stroying agent for the next summer ; and careful attention for a few years 
throughout the city would nearly exterminate the pest." 

256. Garden and Field Crop Pesls. — The amount of damage done to farmers 
every year by bugs and worms, if it could be exhibited in figures represent- 
ing dollars and cents, would exceed the whole value of the wheat crop, or 
com crop, or cotton crop, and it would not surprise me if it exceeded the 
value of all of them. If we could give certain preventives of the ravages 
of any one of the pests, we could afford to devote much more space than we 
shall allot to this head. But we will urge farmers to give the subject more 
attention. Buy the best works upon entomology, and devote many a winter 
evening to the careful study of the ajjpearance, character, and habits of all 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 235 

the insects that consume your crops. Give, we pray you, good attention to 
what we liave ah-cady said and shall say in this section. You can not fail 
to find sometliing that will repay you well. You certainly will find valuable 
information in the following paragraph, written by A. S. Hall, of Maiden, 
Mass., in Jtfay, 1860 : 

257. Salt for the Ouion Maggot.— Much has been said and written about 
the onion maggot, and I don't know that there is any cure for him ; but I 
will tell you how 1 treated mine last year, and with good success for once, 
and shall try it again this year, and will tell it to you and the farmers free 
of charge, for I don't think I could get " $60,000" for it if I should ask it. 

I sowed last year in my garden, on good soil, three rows, about thirty feet 
long each, to onion seeds. I expected the maggots, and watched diligently 
their progress. When they were first up about one or two inches high, I 
put some strong salt and water on about three feet of one row, to see if it 
would kill the onions, and, in case it did not, perhaps it might kill the mag- 
gots, if they came. The young onions stood it well, and it did not hurt 
them. 

After the onions had got about as large as a pail-bail wire, there came 
a spell of warm, wet weather, and my onions began to be afi"ected. I 
watched them several days, and they grew worse, and were fast dying out, 
for about one in every eight or ten were wilting and dying, and I found a 
maggot at the roots of every one that appeared wilting, and sometimes the 
maggot was nearly as large as the little stock itself, and had eaten the bot- 
tom all away, and was making its way np^ the stem ; at the rate of havoc 
they were making, it appeared there would not be one onion left in the bed 
at the end of four weeks more. I took a pailful of strong pickle from my 
pork-barrel, and, with a watering-pot, put it all on to the three rows, as 
though I were watering them ; the onions never faltered or changed. The 
salt killed all the grass, young clover, and weeds, except purslane, which 
came up later, and the maggots were entirely killed, and I never saw any 
after, though the flies continued to lay their eggs down the side of the little 
plant, and between it and the dirt, just as flies will blow a piece of fresh 
meat; but the salt prevented their maturing or hatching, and I raised a 
good crop of fair-sized onions. I think they did not ripen as well as usual, 
but I am not convinced that the salt prevented them, for I have often seen 
patches remain as green as mine were at harvest-time. 

I put on two or three slighter sprinklings of brine after the first, during 
the summer. 

258. Essay on the £nt-Worm,— Bead he/ore the Chicago Gardener's Soci- 
ety, August Gth, 1860, hi/ Jno. Peeiam.— I acknowledge my inability to do 
justice to this subject, from not having given it my attention, except in a 
general way. It is, nevertheless, one which interests agriculturists, and par- 
ticularly horticulturists, as much, perhaps, as any other entomological sub- 
ject with which they have to do. The farmers, working on a more extended 
scale, using larger fields, and planting fewer varieties of hoed crops, do not 



236 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. U. 

notice, nor perhaps suffer as mncli from the ravages of these families of the 
Lepidoptera as the horticulturist proper. And the great order of insects to 
wliich this class belongs are, perhaps, the greatest scourge with which the 
worker in the soil has to contend. According to Dr. Fitch, the most of this 
species belong to the genus Agrotis, of the family ISToctuidse, or O\*let-moths. 
In England, the insects of this genus are named Dart-moths, from a peculiar 
spot or streak which many of them have near the base of their fore wings, 
resembling the point of a dart or spear, and he says that much the most 
common species of this genus in the State of New York can be nothing else 
than the Gothic dart, Agrotis suhgothica of the British entomologists. They 
are the same which flit about the lights in summer evenings, and are found 
hid by day within crevices and shutters. To show still further the import- 
ance of this class of insects, I will quote from Dr. Harris, showing some of 
the families. He has divided them into three sections, called Butterflies, 
Hawk-moths, and moths corresponding to the genera Papilio, Sphin.x, and 
Phalfena of Linnaeus. 

To the first of these orders belong the caterpillars of our common butter- 
flies, many of which are very destructive to vegetation. To the second be- 
longs that class of caterpillars which infect the potato, the grapevine, etc. ; 
the Algerians, or, as they are commonly called, Borers, which latter name, 
however, is equally applicable to the larvie of insects of many other orders. 
The third great section includes a vast number of insects, sometimes called 
Millers, from their dusty covering, or Night Butterflies, but more frequently 
Moths. Among these are the Cut-worm, the Bee-moth, and all other insects 
belonging to the order Lepidoptera which can not be arranged among the 
butterflies and hawk-moths. 

The most common of the Cut-worm tribe which have come under my ob- 
servation the present season, are the Striped Cut-worm, the Red-headed 
Cut-worm, and the Black "Worm. 

The first is of a dirty whitish color, inclining to brown, with darker 
stripes. Tliis worm works upon the surface of the ground, and may be found 
at any hour of the day, if damp and cloudy. The red-headed cut-worm 
has, as its name implies, a red head, and is of a uniform pale brown color, 
and has this season been particularly destructive; and as it works under 
ground, it is death to whatever it attacks. 

The Black, or (as it is sometimes called) Tiger worm may easily be known 
when seen by its dai'k, dull brown color and black head. It works under 
ground, just below the surface, drawing the stems and leaves after it into 
its hole. 

There are a number of others, among which are the faintly-lined cut- 
worm and the white cut-worm. Of the latter, I have not found a single 
specimen this season, though last year I found several. They are rare, and 
consequently do but little damage. In this day of patent discoveries, any 
one who has plenty of money and ample time to spend may furnish himself 
with a thousand-and-one nostrums which are said to be effectual exteiiiii- 



Sko. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 237 

nator.i. Snnff, strong liquid manure, powder, charcoal dust, etc., will pro- 
tect, provided tliey can find plenty to eat elsewhere; if not, they care about 
as much for them as I should about wetting niy feet in wading a brook for 
my dinner, if 1 could not get it by- any other means. I am satisfied that 
they might be, in a great measure, exterminated by neighbors joining, dur- 
ing the prevalence of the moths, and setting torches or building fires for 
them to fly into. I saved my tomato crop, the present season, by having my 
men go over the ground in the morning, soon after daylight, and pick up the 
worms by hand. The first morning we secured over two thousand by count, 
and the next morning we gathered over a half peck of them on about an acre 
and a half. After that they began to diminish, and in a few days scarcely 
one could be found. I protect dahlias, and other choice plants, by wrapping 
paper about the stems ; vines, by planting plenty of seed, and killing the 
M'orms ; vine shields, if set two or three inches below the surface, will gen- 
erally protect. I have never succeeded in trapping them in holes, because, 
if they fall into them, they can dig out, if they can not crawl out. The best 
way to protect against their ravages is to plant plenty of seed, protect the 
birds, and then help them kill the worms. 

The London Gardener^s Chronicle says there is a prospect of a total de- 
struction of the grass in the London parks, by the grub of an insect known 
as '• Daddy Longlegs," which eats the roots of the turf and totally destroys 
it. " Various remedies have been tried without success." Have any of 
those remedies been a heavy dressing of salt ? If not, it should be tried at 
-once. And besides that, we should like to know what this "Daddy Long- 
legs" is. It caii not be our cut-worm, that sometimes destroys the turf in 
old meadows; and certainly it can not be the "Daddy Longlegs" of our ac- 
quaintance, for that, so far as our youthful entomological researches went, 
was a very harmless Daddy, wliich had very long, slim, crooked legs, attached 
to a round body, the size of a small pea. 

259. Wire Worms. — " A Young Farmer'" wants to know Avhat he shall do 
to get rid of wire worms. He says : 

"An old gentleman not far from me says: 'Soak the seed over night in 
copperas water, and the wire worm will not trouble it.' Who knows whether 
this is so or not ?" 

Ah! who knows? Does anybody Aviow anything? 

Another says soaking seed in a solution of niter will prevent destruction. 
If so, how easily practiced ! Again, who knows ? 

Probably the best remedy against wire worms is not to grow them. Keep 
no old meadows. Break them up. Plow all your sod and stubble land in 
the fall. Either bury your worm seed too deep to get out in time in the 
spring, or else freeze it to death in the winter. There is probably no remedy 
equal to deep plowing in the fixU of the year. 

Perhaps we might all learn useful lessons from nature if we would more 
carefully read her printed pages. For instance, one who does try to read 
Buch lessons savs : 



238 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

" So far as my observation goes, the wire-worm is most troublesome in 
seasons after a mild winter, or when there has been a heavy coat of snow on 
the ground during winter, thus preventing the frost penetrating tlie earth to 
any considerable depth. Consequent!}-, the worms remain near the sui-face, 
and are not frozen to death or driven so far below the surface that they must 
starve before they can return. Two successive crops of buckwheat will 
generally rid any soil of wire-worms." 

And we add, so will ten bushels of salt per acre, and every worm that is 
killed by it will fertilize a whole handful of grass. Salt, alone, is an excel- 
lent manure ; salt and lime still better, prepared according to the formula 
under the head of " salt and lime mixture." Thirty bushels of lime, in 
powder, sown broadcast, will destroy the worms in many a field that has been 
almost barren, and make it productive of fine crops of wheat, clover, corn. 

" How to get rid of the worms," is one of the most important questions 
that a farmer can ask, and the want of a knowledge how, is not confined to 
young farmers. Hence, all we say upon the subject is worth treasuring up 
in the great store-house of knowledge, the human mind. 

260. Worm-Killers.— A reliable South Carolina acquaintance, Col. A. G. 
Summer, of Pomaria, declares that China berries applied like manure to soil 
will expel all grubs and worms. " China trees" are as common all over the 
South as locust or ailantlius here, and they are very fruitful, the berries resem- 
bling small cherries in size, and pulp surrounding a hard seed. Only a few years 
ago, the fact vi'as discovered, rather accidentally^ that the wood of this tree 
would bear a high polish, and that furniture made of it was as strong and 
handsome as that of some of our most expensive imported woods, and that 
its natural pleasant odor, like that of cedar or camphor wood, remains, and 
is a great preventive of moths. The botanical name of the " China tree" is 
Mdia azedaraeh, ; sometimes called the great Indian lilac. It is a hot- 
house shrub here ; at Charleston, it grows fifty feet high, and is a beautiful 
shade-tree, its greatest objection being its abundance of berries falling upon 
the ground, notwithstanding which it is a great favorite in all the most 
Southern States, and its berries, if of any value, could be had here at a small 
price. 

261. Tobacco-Worms. — Tliese destructive pests of the tobacco-planter, it 
is well known, can be subdued with a flock of turkeys better than in any 
other way. As both turkeys and worms are large, the operation can be seen 
and appreciated ; yet we have no doubt that a flock of wrens do just as 
much toward the destruction of some other family of worms, and really 
effect as much good to the farmer. And so of every other class of birds. 
Cultivators of other crops ought to take lessons from the tobacco-growers. 
The first glut of worms, in July, is easily subdued by the turkeys, while 
tobacco is small, and the worms are doing but little damage. Tlie trouble 
comes in August, but the destruction of the worms a month sooner may save 
the crop. 

Mr. Wm. Sheppard, of Ann Arundel Co., Md., has been very successful 



1 : 

Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 239 

in poisoning the moth that produces the tobacco-worm, by the use of cobalt 
— a quarter of a pound to a half pint of water. Tliis is made quite sweet 
with refined sugar, and the mixture is put into a small bottle, with a quill in 
the cork, and two or three drops through the quill deposited in the blossom 
of the Jamestown weed, or in the blossom of the tobacco-plants. The horn- 
blower will suck the poison till he dies. 

The trumpet blossoms of the Jamestown weed are favorite resorts of the 
moth, and are gathered fresh, and fastened to the tobacco plants, or upon sticks 
set through the field. It may be worth while to grow the weed on purpose 
for traps. 

The cobalt is the same black powder often sold by druggists as " fly 
poison." It should be reduced in a mortar to a fine powder before using. 
It is worth while to try it for other insects, placing it upon plates in their 
haunts. 

Mr. Sheppard thinks any planter may protect himself against the tobacco- 
worm with this poison. 

John G. Bergen, of Long Island, stated to us, in the spring of ISflO, that 
he had been obliged to send all his laborers into his tomalo-field to kill 
worms that are destroying the j^lants and young fruit. He thinks it identical 
with the tobacco-worm, having grown tobacco a few years ago and been 
troubled with the same kind of worms. One of Mr. B.'s neighbors told us 
afterward that the worms were not only very troublesome on the toujato- 
vines, but were eating the potato-vines ravenously. 

The New Haven Courier said the potato-vines in that State were being 
eaten by worms, so as to destroy the prospect of a crop, and these worms, 
we judge, are the same kind as those on Long Island. 

In this city, worms have been for years destroying the trees ; none but 
the ailanthus escapes them. 

Is it not worth while to try to poison the insects while on the wing, in the 
way indicated above, or some other way ? 

The Jamestown weed mentioned above, we take to be the same weed that 
grows along many New England waysides, called " Jimson weed,'' or " stink- 
weed." It is the Datura stramonium. 

262. Bug Remedies. — Here is a good one! "We haven't a doubt as to its 
etficacy — not one! try it. A correspondent says: "I have seen many plans 
recommended for removing and keeping bugs and other insects from vines, 
and among them, snuff, soap, mustard, etc., all or any of which articles 
must, in my opinion, more or less injure the plant. I have found this the 
case from q^perience ; and I have also found, by the same means, that the 
best preparation for this purpose is a cold and very strong decoction made 
with wafer and manure from the henroost and cow-yard, and applied morn- 
ing and evening. Tlie insects do not relish this preparation, while the plants 
to which it is applied do." 

Another one saj^s : " I preserved my vines last year from the ravages of 
the striped bugs by placing little wads of cotton, saturated with spirits of 



240 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

turpentine among the vines near the roots, using care to have them not touch 
the vines. The turpentine should be renewed from to time." 

Another says: "These pests of the vines may be easily got rid of by 
building a fire of light wood that will blaze freely in the evening. All 
insects fly into a blaze, and are thus destroyed in myriads." 

It is recommended by J. M. Dimond, of Eaton Co., Mich., to plant in the 
same hill with summer squashes or melons, etc., some seeds of the winter 
squash, such as have the largest succulent leaves. He says the bugs will not 
molest the smaller vines under such circumstances. When danger from 
bugs has ceased, then the plants can be removed. 

Another one gives the following as a sure specific for bugs on vines : 
" Having seen by your paper that many truckers in your section are anxious 
to ascertain a simple and sure remedy to destroy bugs on squashes, cucum- 
bers, and the like, I will give you one which is almost a specific, and -within 
the reach of every one, especially those living on the sea-board. 

" Procure fresh fish — of any kind whatever, the commonest and cheapest 
just as good — a sufiicient quantity according to circumstances, say one peck 
to a barrel of water. Let them stand therein a day or two, in order to com- 
mence decomposition and emit their necessarily unpleasant odor; then 
dampen the leaves with the liquid. 

"In addition to driving away tlie bugs, your plants will become green and 
healthy, and soon grow beyond the reach of any future swarm of depreda- 
tors. It may be necessary to use the water two or three times in the course 
of two Aveeks, but remember that every application is equivalent to a dress- 
ing of manure, which will amply repay for the labor, which is very trifling. 
Fresh fish ofl'al is of equal vEilue with the fisli." 

2G3. Potato Bugs. — It is quite as useful to report failure as success in 
farming. We are therefore obliged to Horatio J. Cox, of Zanesville, Ohio, 
for telling us that he tried powdered lime, and also ashes, sifted upon his 
potato vines to prevent them from being eaten by the potato bugs, but he 
found them at work as usual, with their backs white with lime. His con- 
clusion, therefore, is, that that is no remedy against the depredations of tlicse 
pests. He remarks that " there are two kinds working in concert, but, from 
my observation, keeping up separate breeds — the black sliell and the striped 
shell ; the latter is more active than the other, and not quite so plump." 

A French paper gives an opinion that nearly all the diseases of plants, 
including potato-rot, are occasioned by insects. Tlie insects, in many cases, 
are microscopic. The little aucaris, for instance, although so very minute, 
is a great destroyer. It causes little scabby pustules upon fruits^ particularly 
fine pears. 

Whether the potato bug always found on the diseased vines is tlie cause 
or efiect of the disease, is a mooted question. 

Although Mr. Cox did not stop their depredations, we still recommend 
liberal dressings of ashes and plaster, and if these do not kill the bugs, they 
will give the vines a vigorous growtli. So with lime and salt. 



Seo. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 241 

264. Protection of Turnips. — Tlie following, from an English newspaper, is 
equally wortiiy of attention in America : 

"In the list of patents for which provisional protection has been taken 
out is a machine of a novel and somewhat curious character. The specifica- 
tion, as taken from the list, describes the machine as a ' blast drill,' the 
object of which is to protect the turnip crop from the ravages of the fly and 
the slug, and its other numerous enemies, and secure, as far as human inge- 
nuity can accomplish it, this most valuable of all bulbous roots. The com- 
mon jiractice of protecting the turnip from the fly is bj' dusting the row with 
lime during the night and while the dew is upon the plant. This operation 
is difficult, and imperfectly performed. Besides the slow process of doing 
this by hand, the difficulty of dusting the under side of the jjlant as well as 
tlie top side offers an insuperable objection to- this mode of applying lime, 
soot, or any other compost, to the young turnip-plant. This difficulty is now 
overcome, and the lime (a mixture of one sixth of soot with it is recom- 
mended) is thrown, by means of a blast fan, npon every part of the plant, 
botli on the upper anil under side. The fan is put in motion by the travel- 
ing wheels of the drill, and receives its velocity in the usual manner by 
gearing wheels. The blast thus created by the fan is brought to bear upon 
the plant, which, yielding to its action, bends from the current, and as it 
acts upon a falling stream of lime or other composition, the plant becomes 
completely covered with the powder. But this is not the only object the blast 
drill will accomplish. The fly, disturbed by a simple contrivance, hops 
away, but is at that moment caught by a current of air entering the blast 
fan and instantly destroyed, and thrown out again with violence from the 
vortex into which it had been drawn. This operation is simple, and the pro- 
cess of annihilation is similar to that of a mouse or rat going down a thrash- 
ing-machine. The fly and the lime are so completely mixed and incorpo- 
i-ated that the mischievous yet delicate insects are destroyed by the atmo- 
spheric pressure thrown upon them, and the plant is also secured, by the 
dusting of compost, from all future attacks of the enemy. All farmers can 
not fail to know something about the insect Avhich does so much annual mis- 
chief to the turnip crops. Sometimes a fallow, which in tillage and labor 
has cost £5 or £G an acre in preparing it for a crop of Swedes, has had all 
the labor and capital expended made vain by the fly. Can this evil be rem- 
edied ? It seems possible ; and if this invention of a blast drill should be the 
means of securing a turnip crop, or even improving it, by the application of 
a top-dressing of soot or guano, or any other soluble manure, a great good 
has been accomplished, not to farmers only, but to the community at large."' 

2G5. Pea-Weevil — How Destroyed. — One of the greatest pests that growei-s 
of peas have to contend with is the pea-weevil, Bruchus pisi, which some- 
times attacks every pod, and leaves an egg to hatch into a disgusting insect 
in every pea, so that, if intended for food, when dry, we shall find a modi- 
cum of meat ready mixed in our pea-soup. If intended for seed, when we 
are ready to plant in the spring, we find the life of our peas eaten out. 



2-12 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

Although several birds, of which the crow aud Baltimore oriole are the chief, 
feed upon the pea-weevil, they are very far from destroying it, and the evil 
is ai)iuially increasing. How can this insect he destroyed, is a question 
worth solving. We think it can be, if farmers and gardeners would make a 
united eH'ort, totally annihilated from the country. The remedy' is very 
Bunple. It is to steam all the seed peas. Xiiis can be done in a small way 
in families by takhig the seed, so soon as gathered, shelled, and dried, and 
placing it in a cullender, covered with a cloth or plate, and placed over a 
kettle of boiling water until the steam is thoroughly passed through the peas, 
when they are to be dried in the sun and put away in paper bags. Upon a 
lai'ge scale, the peas may be steamed in bags or barrels, by inserting a steam- 
pipe from a boiler at so low a pressure that it will not cook the peas, but it 
will the pupae of the pea-weevil. Let it be remembered that steam, prop- 
erly applied, will totally eradicate the pea-weevil from the land And if 
from peas, why not from wheat, corn, and rice, easier and better than by 
kilu-drying? It would be very easy to dry the steamed grain. Passing it 
through a fanning-niill Mould probably be sufficient; or pouring it out of a 
basket, where it would fall fifteen or twenty feet through the air. 

266. Treserving Insects. — Insect collectors will find the following method 
of killing the insects they wish to preserve one of the most convenient of 
any they have ever tried. Dissolve cyanide of potassa in water to satura- 
tion, and keep it tightly corked in a small vial, and it will always remain 
in good order for use. When you catch a fly, moth, insect of any kind, 
or a beautiful butterfly that would be injured in fluttering, dip a needle- 
point in the solution, and prick your captive just under the wing, and 
see how quick and calmly they will lie down and die. Some large or 
hard-to-kill insects may require more than one stab to make them die peace- 
ably. This solution is used by scientific entomologists in making their 
collections. 

267. Household losects. — Hairs Medical Journal states that household 
vermin may be got rid of as follows : Half an ounce of soap boiled in a pint 
of water, and put on with a brush while boiling hot, infallibly destroys the 
bugs and their eggs. Flies are driven out of a room by hanging up a bunch 
of common plantain (fleawort) after it has been dipped in milk. Rats and 
mice speedily disappear by mixing equal quantities of strong cheese and 
powdered squills. They devour this mixture with greediness, while it is in- 
nocent to man. When it is remembered how many persons have lost their 
lives by swallowing mixtures of strychnine, etc., it becomes a matter of hu- 
manity to publish these items. 

Ihe Sc'unt'jic Ajneritan SA^'s: " Common red wafers scattered about the 
haunts of cockroaches will often drive away if not destroy them." These 
wafers, like candies, are colored red by oxyd of lead, a most deadly poison ; 
and so is the acetate of lead, or sugar of lead, as it is sometimes called, on 
visiting cards, which, being a little sweetish, has been known to destroy 
young children, to whom they were handed to be amused with. Fashion 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 243 



for once acts sensibly in discarding glazed cards, using instead Bristol board, 
more pliant, less eiimbersome, and really more delicate. 

"We have found that bugs can not stand hot alum water. Take two pounds 
of alum, bruise and reduce nearly to powder, and dissolve in three quarts 
of boiling water, letting it i-emain in a warm place till the alum is dissolved. 
The alum water is to be applied hot,- by means of a brush, to every joint and 
crevice. Brush the crevices in the floor of the skirting-board, if they arc 
suspected places. Whitewash the ceiling, jjut in plenty of alum, and there 
will be an end to their drop^jing from thence. 

To kill moths in carpets, spread a wet cloth on the carpet, and iron with a 
hot flat-icon round the edges and places where yon suspect them to be. Do 
this a few times in the course of the summer, and you will save your carpet 
from the moths. 

Silk-ioorms have been induced to work in France by electricity. M. 
Sauvageon reports to the Academ}^ his experience in the matter. Finding 
the little things torpid and unwilling to work, the idea struck him to stir 
them up by electricity. The results, as he gives them, are really marvelous, 
lie took fifty-three worms at random from among thousands belonging to a 
neighbor, put them every day on a sheet-iron plate, through which a curreirt 
of electricity was passed, kept them each time as long as they could stand it, 
and now has fiftj"- three beautiful cocoons, an amount which his neighbors 
will not obtain, to all appearances, from several thousand ungalvanized 
worms. If these results may be relied on, he has made a very valuable 
discovery. 

■2(18. Moth Protectors. — Camphor is one of the most useful moth j^rotectors 
about the household. A trunk full of furs, with an ounce of camphor gum 
scattered through tliem, will be safe from moths. Furs or woolens packed 
in a chest made of camphor-wood or cedar will generally be safe. Some 
housewives pack in a linen sheet, or bag of close texture. Others use to- 
bacco. Others keep their furs or woolens in drawers or trunks where they 
will be often exposed to the light, and where they can frequently take them 
out to the air and sun, and beat them, which will efiectually prevent the 
ravages of the moth. A very good preventive is to carefully kill the miller 
that makes the worm which is so destructive to woolens and furs. It is not 
a hard matter to do so in a house not already overrun with them. They 
may be attracted to a light blaze ; and they may be caught in plates with a 
little sweetened water and vinegar ; or a piece of an old blanket may be 
used as a trap ; or they all may be caught and destroyed by hand, by de- 
voting half an hour to the work each evening, in the proper season. 

209. Ants in the House. — These troublesome pests may be overcome by 
various remedies. Perhaps one of the best things for the red ants is to mix 
a few grains of corrosive sublimate in a spoonful of lard, with a little sugar, 
and then draw rough strings of cotton or woolen yarn through the mixture, 
and lay them in the cracks where the ants harbor, or in the corners of closet 
shelves. They may also be poisoned with cobalt, pulverized fine and mixed 



244 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Cuap. II. 

with something sweet that they like to feed upon. Tliese and other insects 
can be poisoned by arsenic. They may be kept from the sugar-bowl by 
setting it in a plate covered witli powdered chalk. The whisky remedy 
recouMnended in No. 254, to protect trees from ants, may be adoi)ted in the 
house. Tlje bug-powder mentioned in the same number, made of red chamo- 
mile, can also be used in the house for ants and other pests. For the large 
black ant, the best vehicle for poison is old cheese. Dip a piece of it in a 
poisonous solution, or moisten it if dry, and dust it with corrosive sublimate 
or arsenic. 

Be very careful, in the use of poisons, not to get them mixed with food. 
There is no more danger, with proper care, than there is in keeping gun- 
powder in the house. 

270. Insects BeneGcial lo Farmers. — It is not to be inferred that because an 
animal is called an insect, it is pestiferous. The contrary should be taught 
in all schools, as -well as in home lessons. The false idea is prevalent that 
all sorts of insects, bees excepted, are mischievous, hurtful, and hateful; so 
that every worm, bug, fly, moth, miller, or little crawling, creeping, flying 
thing is looked upon by almost every one M'ith a feeling of desire to crush 
it. A contrary feeling must be cultivated. Cliildren must be taught to dis- 
criminate between good and evil insects, as well as between good and evil 
deeds. A cloud of moths might be seen hovering around the wheat, and 
the farmer, under the supposition that they had come to destroy the grain, 
mio-ht destroy them, and afterward find that he had killed his best friends — 
the parasites of the wheat destructors. Before we declare a war of annihila- 
tion, as many have against the birds, upon any class of animals, let us first 
inquire which are and which are not noxious. "We will here briefly point 
out a few. 

The common angle-worm, instead of being detrimental to the farmer, is 
actually a co-laborer, and often a better one than the biped owner of the soil. 
A scientific writer on Zoology says : 

" The burrowing of earth-worms is a process exceedingly useful to the 
gardener and agriculturist ; and these animals are far moi"e useful to man in 
this way, than they are injurious by destro^-ing vegetables. They give a 
kind of under tillage to the land, performing the same below the ground 
that the spade does above for the garden, and the plow for ai-alile land, 
loosening the earth so as to render it permeable to air j^nd water. It has 
lately been shown that they will even add to the depth of soil ; covering 
barren tracts with a layer of productive mold. Thus, in fields that have been 
overspread with lime, burnt marl, or cinders, these substances arc in time 
covered with finely divided soil, well adapted to the support of vegetation. 

"That this result — ^which is most commonly attributed by farmers to the 
' working down' of the material in question — is really due to the actifln of 
the earth-worm, appears from the fact that in the soil thus furmed, large 
numbers of 'worm-casts' may be distinguished. These are produced by the 
digestive process of the worms, which take into their intestinal canal a large 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 245 

quantity of the soil througli which they burrow, extract frotn it a great part of 
the decaying vegetable matter it may contain, and eject the rest in a finely 
divided state. In this manner a field manured with marl lias become 
covered, in the course of SO years, with a bed of eartli averaging 13 inches 
in thickness." 

"White, in his " N"atural History of Selborne," says : 

" AVorms seem to be great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed 
but slowly without them, by boring, perforating, and loosening the soil and 
rendering it pervious to rains and fibers of plants, by drawing straws and 
stalks of leaves and twigs into it, and most of all, by throwing up such 
infinite numbers of lumps of earth, called worm-casts, which, being their 
excrement, is a fine manure for grain and grass." 

It is a part of the system of comminution spoken of under anotlier head ; 
and if all the earth could be eaten by worms, it would serve as a manure for 
crops, simply because it bad been pulverized, and thereby fitted for their 
use. 

Some time since, in compau}^ with several gentlemen, we listened to a 
conversation with reference to the value of the earth-worm, one gentleman 
claiming that they were a nuisance in the garden, and others asserting that 
they were a great blessing, as mole drainers, and always an index of the 
fertility of tlie soil. Here is a paragraph from the EncyclojXBdia Britan- 
nic'i^ right to the point : 

" The common earth-worm, tliough apt to be despised and trodden on, is 
really a useful creature in its way. Mr. Knapp describes it as tlie natural 
manurer of the soil, consuming on the surface the softer part of decayed 
vegetable matter, and conveying downward the more woody fibers, which 
there molder and fertilize." 

271. Plant-Lice Destroyers. — There is an iclmeumon fly, a very small 
blackish insect witli yellowish legs and abdomen, not cpiite the twentieth of 
an inch long, which destroys myriads of aphides. The female lays an egg in 
each louse, and the grub from that devours its nest, leaving only the skin 
attached to the leaf, serving for a shelter for the larva in its pupa state. Tiie 
fly comes out of a hole in the louse's back, and repeats the operation. 
Careful examination will disclose a great many of these peiforated empty 
aphis skins upon plants that would be entirely destroyed by a long-continued 
multiplication of their consumers, but for tliis little parasite. 

The SyiyJnis is the name of another destroyer of tlie aphis that abounds 
upon cotton-plants. This is not a parasite; the eggs being laid on tlie leaf 
among tlie aphis, the maggot, which is, when full grown, about one fifth of 
an inch long, makes its food of the lice. The pupa is formed on the leaf, in 
a case made by the worm of a glutinous secretiou^the juices it has sucked 
out of the lice it fed upon. Tlie fly is seven tenths of an inch across the 
wings, which are double ; the body appearing like a diminutive wasp, banded 
with brown, black, and yellow. It hovers mucli on the wing, witliout inucli 
motion, unless disturbed, when it shows its power of swift fliglit. Tliis 



246 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

louse destroyer does not confine its operations to the apliis of cotton-plants, 
tliougli it seems to prefer tliem. It is of immense service to Southern 
farmers. 

The Ladij-hlrd (Coccinella) is another valuable assistant to the cotton- 
planter, in particular. AYhero the lice most abound, there will be found the 
lady-bird doing its work. Yet there are numerous planters who, seeing this 
insect hovering over the cotton, suppose it the parent of the pest they stand 
so much in fear of, and direct the negroes to destroy all they can. It was a 
negro who first discovered that the worms hatched from their eggs, which 
are dej^osited on the leaf near the aphis, actually consume them, instead of 
the cotton-plant. The worms are a quarter of an inch long, bluish-black, 
and voracious as an alligator, to which they bear some slight resemblance. 
They seize and cat the lice alive, until all upon tlieleaf are consumed, when 
the grub fastens itself by the tail to the leaf to await its change. Tiie insect 
while on the wing is also a louse-eater. A disagreeable odor emitted by this 
insect will serve to identify it. 

The larva of the lace-wing fly is another cotton-aphis eater. These worms 
are hatched from filaments of eggs, which the fly attaches to the under 
side of the leaf near an aphis colony. This larva is not quite one fifth of an 
inch long. It may be known by the way it holds by the tail, while stretch- 
ing out full length looking for its favorite food. It spins a little cocoon, out 
of which, in due time, comes a bright green fly, with brilliant eyes, and 
four transparent greenish wings, delicately netted like fine lace — hence the 
name. This insect also belongs ti) the fetid-odor family. 

272. Other luscct Destroyers. — The Carolina tigcr-heetle is a beautiful insect, 
seven tenths of an inch long, of metallic blue, violet, and green color, and 
savage propensities toward all other insects. 

The Ilarpalus is another insect-consuming beetle, with very strong 
hooked jaws adapted to a 2')redatory life. If it can not find living food, it 
will consume dead, putrescent substances. 

Tlie Mantis^ an insect known in Maryland as the " rear horse," is a 
voracious consumer of insects. In fact, it is said that they will sometimes 
consume one another. The largest are over two inches in length, of a very 
awkward-looking form. The eggs attached to a limb look like an excres- 
cence, and are often attacked by an ichneumon fly, as a place of deposit for 
its eggs. The young mantis comes out in June, at first without wings, but 
with a strong appetite for aphides and other insects. It stands upon four hind 
legs, with body elevated and forward feet closed, and head constantly 
moving. It walks, or jumps, when alarmed, but is capable of domestication 
so as to come and take food out of the hand, and is perfectly harmless except 
to things obnoxious to man, and for that it should be preserved. Its color 
is brownish gray to light green, and its form will be remembered from a 
picture of it, or after being once seen or known. 

The Reduvius novenarius measures an inch and a quarter in length, and 
destroys multitudes of insects in all their stages of transformation. The 



Sec. 12.] ENTOMOLOGICAL. 247 

eggs deposited in autumn hatch in Maj' or June ; the young worms are 
marked with a black head and thorax, and blight red abdomen, and black 
s])ots on the back. They afterward appear of a grayish color, witli rudi- 
ments of wings, which at length enable them to fly -with strength. It 
approaches its prey cautiousl}^ and makes a dart, and pierces it to death, and 
tiien sucks out the substance. It eats the common tree-caterpillar voraciously, 
and it sometimes Avounds a person handling it incautiously with its sharp 
piercer. 

There are numerous other jiarasites of noxious insects, and insects like 
those named, which prey upon others, which are really beneficial to the 
farmer, as are many quadrupeds and other animals that are natural insect- 
eaters, snch as toads, moles, skunks, etc. The most important of all, perhaps, 
we mention in the next paragraph. 

273. The Wheat Midge Parasite. — The only hope of relief from the blasting 
effecis of the wheat-midge (323), with those who have thought upon the sub- 
ject, has been a parasite that would work its destruction. That hope, we 
trust, is about to be realized. A correspondent of the Canadian Agricul- 
turist^ writing to that paper in the autumn of 1860, says : 

"I am rejoiced that Jj'is week I can announce the arrival of a deadly 
enemy to the wheat midge or fly. In the neighborhood of Sparta, township 
of Yarmouth, the farmers liave discovered some species of ichneumons which 
deposit their eggs on the larva. One of these is very small, black, and 
shining ; the other is also black, with red feet and a blunt tail. These are 
often mistaken for the wheat-fly ; but as it has only two wings, and they 
hiwc finir, the distinction is obvious. To observe the proceedings of the 
ichneumons, place. a number of the maggots or larvfe of the wheat-fly on a 
sheet of paper, and set a female ichneumon in the midst of them ; she soon 
pounces upon her victim, and, intensely vibrating her antennoe, bending her- 
self obliquely, plunges her ovipositor into the body of the larva, depositing 
in it a single egg. She will then pass to the second, and so on, depositing a 
single egg in each. You will observe the maggot writhing in seeming 
agony, when sometimes the fly stings them three times. These ichneumons 
appear in myriads on the outside of the ear, but, as if impatient of bright 
light, sheltering themselves from the sun's rays among the husks." 

The same thing has been noticed in other sections ; and Di-. Fitch, the 
entomologist of the New York State Agricultural Society, is so much en- 
couraged that a remedy has come at last, that he writes confidently, in 
November of that year: "The days of the wheat-midge pest are numbered. 
I fully believe that farmers may again sow wheat without fear of its destruc- 
tion by the Cecidomyia tritici.''^ 



2i8 



SMALL ANLMALS AND INSECTS. 



[CnAP. IL 




SECTION X1II.-:\IISCELLANE0US-WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE 
FARM-DOMESTIC FISH-BREEDING, ETC. 

'oles. — Wo liuvc for four years (1859-1862) occu- 
^&^' pied our little farm iu AVestchester County — 
one of the many sadly-abused pieces of land, 
some of that in mowing, not planted for thirt}' 
years or more — and in this land we found the moles 
as thick as we ever saw them anywhere in our life, 
and therefore have a right to speak of them from expe- 
rience. In some respects we have suiFercd severely by 
them. They have killed many choice things that we 
have planted, including several valuable grapevines ; but 
we are not yet willing to destroy the moles. We do not 
look upon them as pests, although they have pestered us. 
They undermine the plants, but do ]iot eat them What 
for? It is not for sport, nor merely accidental in boring 
their subterranean galleries. It is in pursuit of food. And as that food consists 
of insects noxious to the farmer, this paragraph upon moles comes in course 
very well after the section devoted to insects. In fact, we believe that the 
mole is one of man's best friends, and that it never occupies land that is not 
already so preoccupied with destructive worms as to render it unfit for culti- 
vation. So impressed with this belief are some European people — all 
Prussia, we believe — that they have enacted laws to prohibit the killing of 
moles. As with the crow, opinions vary in this country whether the mole is 
beneficial or injurious to farmers. For our own part, Ave must say that we 
never see an account of a " new mole-trap" without wishing the inventor 
might get his own fingers caught in it. It is a great pity that farmers can 
not learn that moles are one of the good things that Providence has bestowed 
upon them — that they do not destroy seeds and plants, but the insects that 
are great pests to the fiirm and garden. In this opinion we shall continue 
until better informed upon this question. In the mean time we give some 
opinions of others. The following is the sketch of a report of a conversation 
at the New York Farmers' Club about moles : 

Solon Hobinson read a letter upon the subject of moles, which elicited a 
lengthy discussion. The foUosving j^ortion of the letter we print: 

"This animal, as you probably know, has a very small apology for eyes, 
which can not be discovered till the skin is removed, and it can not be ascer- 
tained that they are of any practical use. His sense of hearing and of smell 
is very acute, and he is enabled to elude observation, and to avoid anything 
unusual that may be placed in his track. No device, however, with which 
I am acquainted will force him to abandon a well-cultivated track, abound- 
ing with earth-worms, which are his chief attraction. He will pass from hill 



Sec. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 249 

to hill, severing the corn, melon, or other seeds from the tender plant, thus 
greatly impeding its progress, and in many instances wholly destroying it. 
In a scarcity of earth-worms he will prey upon beets, potatoes, and other 
roots with voracity ; still the damage he thus does is of little account com- 
]iared with that produced by his relentless plowing or rooting. "Where 
the soil is fertile and not too wet, this intruder will be found undermining all 
vegetation, and is a source of discomfort to the agriculturist, which must he 
realized to be appreciated. 

"Failures in field and garden, which are often attributed to drouth or in- 
sects, ai*e many times produced in a great measure by moles. At morning, 
noon, and evening the mole goes forth on his depredations, making the most 
rapid movements (for an underground pei-formance), and in less than twenty 
minutes finishes his rej^ast, and returns again to his hiding-place deep in the 
earth, beyond the reach of all intruders. 

"The Yankee mole is too shrewd for the English trap, or, indeed, for any, 
with a single exception. I have examined several traps, beautiful in theory, 
but they are splendid practical failures." 

Wm. S. Caepentee — I am satisfied about the injury of moles to the farmer, 
being much more than all liis benefit in eating worms. I had a bed of 
tulips destroyed by moles. I traced them by their paths from root to root. 

Prof Mapes — I have tried careful experiments with moles in confinement, 
and have never succeeded in getting them to eat any kind of vegetable 
matter. 

Mr. Moody, of New Jersey — I have found that moles do cut off the stems 
of thorns in my hedge. I can not say that they eat thorns. I am satisfied, 
too, that they will eat jjotatoes. 

Prof Mapes-^I find that potatoes are eaten in the vicinity of moles, but I 
am satisfied that they are eaten by grubs that the moles feed upon. 

Dr. Teuible — The potato is eaten by the grub of the cockchafer, and not 
by the mole. 

Mr. Fuller — I have known moles to gnaw potatoes, but not for food. 

The Chairman, Robert L. Pell, made the following remarks upon this 
subject: 

Mole-IIills. — In rich alluvial soils, mole-hills are thrown up in immense 
numbers, because such soils usually abound with the food that these subter- 
raneous creatures seek for. They destroy the roots of grass immediately 
contiguous to their mounds, besides often impeding the free action of the 
scythe, for these reasons. Some think it well to exterminate them ; still they 
no doubt do a vast deal of good by destroying obnoxious worms and grubs. 

In the spring of the year it is an easy matter to spread out these mounds 
over the surrounding ground, as they are dry and powdery, and act to a 
certain extent as an enriching top-dressing. 

The mole can not bear access to the atmosphere, being wholly subten-a- 
neous by nature ; they never drink, but live entirely upon worms, insects, 
and the roots of grass, and are never found in gravelly or clay soils. 



250 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

They breed in April and May, and generally ])rodnce four at a birth. 
The tunnels that they make are invariably parallel to the surface of the 
ground, and about six inches deep, unless they become alarmed, when they 
iniinediately sink to the depth of fourteen inches, rarely deeper. They have 
cities under ground, which consist of houses, or nests, wliere they feed and 
nurse their young ; communicating with these are wider and more frequented 
streets, made by the perpetual journeys of the female and male parents, as 
well as many other Tess frequented streets, with diverging branches, which 
they extend daily to collect food for themselves and families. 

Moles are exceedingly active in April and May, during the pairing 
season, when the tunnels become very numerous, for tlie purpose of meeting 
each other. I do not believe that they are blind, from the fact that I have 
never observed that the mole-hills increase except in the day-time, showing 
that they do not work by night, which they would probably do if deprived 
of sight. They commence very early in the morning, wlien you may often 
see the mold or grass moving over them ; you may then readily cut off 
their retreat by thrusting in the ground a spade directly behind them, when 
they may be dug out very easily and killed by the attendant terrier. By 
placing your ear on a newly-raised hill you may hear them scratching at a 
considerable distance, and thus be able to find them. You may always dis- 
cover the locality of their young by observing the hills, which are larger 
and the color diflerent, a portion of the subsoil being thrown upon top. If 
you desire to set traps in their tunnels, it will be necessary to discover which 
are the frequented streets and which the by-roads. 

This may be accomplished b}' pressing the foot lightly on the hill, and if 
the mole passes that way he will nearly obliterate the mark. You may then 
set a subterranean trap, and he will be caught. Tiiese may be made from -a 
piece of wood, in a hollow, semi-cylinder form, with grooved rings at each 
end, in which are placed the nooses of horse-hair, one at each end, fasteiied 
by a peg in the center, and stretched above-ground by a bent stick ; when 
the mole has passed through one of the nooses, and removed the central peg, 
the bent stick, by its elasticity, rises and strangles the animal. The structure 
of this quadruped adapts it admirably to the underground life that it leads. 
Its head is very long, conical in shape, and tapers to the snout, which is 
much strengthened by a bone, gristle, and very powerful muscles. The 
body is cylindrical, very thick on the back of the head, from which it dimin- 
ishes to tlie tail. It does not appear to have any neck, but where it should 
be, there is a mass of muscles, all of which appear to act upon the fore legs 
and head. These are the instruments with wliich he excavates the ground ; 
they are harder, shorter, and stronger, in projjortion to the size of the animal, 
than in any other of the mammiferous class. I have never destroyed one of 
these little animals, because I consider the damage they do to a few roots of 
grass is entirely counterbalanced b}' their immense destruction of wire- worms, 
slugs, etc., besides aerifying, disintegrating, and lightening the soil, and thus 
fitting it admirably for the purposes of top-dressing. 



Sec. 13.] "WILD AND TAilE ANIJIALS OF THE FARM. 251 

I never permit the common crow to bo destroyed, because he preserves 
my coni-fiekls from numerous enemies, keeps off hawks, destroys slugs, 
snails, grubs, and eats carrion. Nor the black snake, whose constant 
employment seems to he the destruction of field-mice, and other enemies to 
the orchard. Nor the cherry bird, because he is always on hand ready to 
eat the first cherries that ripen prematurely, which invariably contain the 
■worm. Nor the king-bird, wren, or robin, all of which are employed from 
dawn to dusk in relieving me from my enemies. 

275. An English Opinion about Moles. — The Eoyal Agricultural Society's 
Transactions contains the following opinion about moles. The report affirms 
that " in one year, and every year, 00,000 bushels of seed-wheat, worth 
£30,000, are de.^'i-oyed by wire-worms! This prevents 720,000 bushels from 
being grown, worth £300,000. If our farmers and others, instead of killing 
moles, partridges, and pheasants, wonld jtrotect them, 720,000 bushels more 
wheat would go every year into the English market. But the creature designed 
b)' a kind Providence to perform the chief part of this immense good is the 
mole/ Some years since I had two fields, one of which was full of wire- 
worms, the other periuips a third full. My crops failed on these fields for 
the first two or three years, but afterward improved rapidly, for I bought all 
the live moles I could find at three shillings a dozen, and then two shillings 
a dozen, and turned them into these fields. I had eight quarters of barley 
per acre and seven of wheat where the moles were at work all summer, 
making the ground like a honey-comb. Next year, the wire-worms, being all 
cleared out, my innocent little workmen, who had performed for me a service 
beyond the powers of all the men in my parish, emigrated to my neighbor's 
lands to perform the same service, but of course they met death wherever 
they moved, so that my little colony was wholly destroyed. Now I will 
receive all the moles that the formers will give me, and turn them into my 
glebe." 

276. An American Opinion about Moles. — An American writer undertakes 
to criticise what is said aliove, and says: "This I know from every-day 
observation to be very erroneous. I do not know that moles eat insects ; be 
that as it may, I have no doubt their living is principally seeds, and roots, and 
other vegetables. In the winter time, when snow is deep and the ground 
not fi'ozen, I have known them to destroy whole nurseries of apple-trees, 
and even young orchards that have commenced bearing."' 

Now this man don't know what he is talking about. He has confounded 
mice and moles together. It is the mice, and not the moles, that have been 
running about in this man's orchard eating his trees, But he believes it is 
moles, and has a fi.xed prejudice in his mind against them, which no argument 
perhaps can remove. We beg of farmers to learn facts about things in 
which they are so much interested. 

277. Mice and their Mischief. — Mice, we willingly concede, are mischievous 
— in young orchards excessively so. Wet seasons are favorable to the rapid 
increase of field mice, and -when followed by snowy winters and unfrozen 



252 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 



turf, so they can liave access to the clover roots, tliey become a scourge. 
The late dry summers nearly exterminated both rats and mice — jirobably more 
from thirst than hunger. 

The variefy of mice that does most damage to trees is known as the 
"meadow mouse," which always works under cover, girdling the trees most 
when the snow lies deepest, particularly if it lies liglitly or is hold up by 
weeds and grass, so as to allow the vermin easily to make their [jaths from 
tree to tree, or from the tree to their resting-place. 

278. Remedies for 3Iiee Eating Trees. — Tramping the snow down around 
the trees is a pretty sure remedy, and where the orchard or nursery is not 
extensive, will answer to be put in practice, but it would be troublesome on 
a large scale, as it may have to be repeated several times in the winter. 
Some persons have found it a good plan to tramp down the snow and wet it. 
It then forms ice, that often remains nearly all winter, keeping tlie ground 
warm, as well as keeping the mice off. 

Downing, in his " Fruits and Fruit-Trees," says: "The fjllowing mixture 
will be found to be an effectual prevention. Take one spadeful of hot- 
slacked lime ; one spadeful of clean cows'-dung ; half spadeful of soot ; one 
handful of flour of sulphur — mix the whole together with the addition of 
sufficient water to bring it to the consistency of thick paint. At the 
approach of winter, paint the trunks of the trees sufficiently high to be 
beyond the reach of these vermin. Experience lias proved that it does no 
injury to the tree. A dry day should be chosen for the application." 

Coal-tar has been recommended, but M-e advise great caution in its use, 
since many persons have destroyed their trees by it. We would sooner try 
a coating of strong alkaline soap ; that, at least, -would not injure the 
trees. 

279. Mice and Osage-orange. — J. D. Cattell, of Salem, Columbiana Co., 
Ohio, says the held-mice are eating up all the roots of Osage-orange hedges 
in that region, so that they are utterly destroyed, and their cultivation must 
be abandoned unless somebody can give a remedy. lie says : 

" It has been my understanding, heretofore, that one of the greatest excel- 
lences of this plant for fencing was its freedom from all animal destroyers. 
If no remedy against the ravages of the mice can be found, it will be folly 
to set a plant of the kind in this part of the country. One of my neighbors 
has already given up half of his for lost, and grubbed out the balance. No 
doubt others are troubled in the same way. I have tried traps, terrier dogs, 
and poison, but all in vain. What shall I do?" 

Who can tell ? 

We heard one nurseryman s.ay that he should dig up an Osage-orange 
hedge, because it attracted mice, and also because it entirely exhausted the 
soil of a wide space, so that he lost the growth of one row of trees. 

280. Rats. — This species of the genus mus is an almost intolerable nuisance 
in some portions of the United States. In fact, we do not know of any 
portion now exempt. They follow man into the wilderness. When we 



Seo. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 253 

located on the prairie, in 1834, about 15 miles from neighbors, and 40 miles 
out from what has since grown to be the city of Chicago, there was not a 
rat to seen or heard of. For several years we were exempt from this pest. 
There came abundance of shipping to Chicago, and with it abundance of 
rats, and they soou spread over the whole land, multiplying and devastating. 
Now they are great pests in the barns and stacks of prairie farmers. 

Our common breed is called " Norway rats," from the supposition that they 
originated in that country. British naturalists, however, assert that they 
were introduced into the British Islands from India. If they are tropical 
animals, all we have to say is, that they easily adapt themselves to a rigor- 
ous climate, where they multiply at a most prolific rate. What we are yet 
to do with them is a problem not easily solved. All the receipts to cure the 
nuisance are only preventive, not eradicative. 

281. Rat Antidotrs. — A correspondent of the Gardener'^s Monthly says : 
" I tried the effect of introducing into the entrance of their numerous holes, 
runs, or hiding-places, small portions of chloride of lime, or bleaching pow- 
der, wrapped in calico, and stuffed into the entrance holes, and thrown loose 
by spoonfuls into the drain from the house. This drove the rats away for a 
twelvemonth, when they returned to it. They were again treated in the same 
manner, with like effect. The cure was most complete. I presume it M-as 
the chlorine gas, which did not agree with their olfactories." 

Another correspondent writes : " Some four or five years since, my cellar 
became musty, to overcome which my wife sprinkled a solution of copperas 
(pretty strong) over the bottom. Since that time we have seen no sign of 
rats about the house, notwithstanding thei'c have been plenty of them about 
the barn and other buildings on the premises." 

Arsenic is considered, by some who have tried it, a failure, when used for 
the purpose of clearing premises of rats, because they are too cunning to 
partake of it after M'itnessing the death of two or three of the family. It is 
effectual, if the vermin will take the bait. 

Strychnine we consider far preferable, and although so much more costly, 
it requires but a few cents' worth to do the woi'k of death ujjon a hundred 
rats. It is also the very best thing to use upon a troublesome dog or cat 
that comes prowling about your premises. One grain for a dose is sufficient. 
We have killed numerous wolves by inserting one grain of strychnine in the 
center of a piece of fresh meat, just lai'ge enough for a mouthful for a wolf. 
As rats do not bolt their food, it is a little more difficult to get them to take 
strychnine, it is so intensely bitter. If it is mixed with corn-meal, and a few 
drops of oil of anise are added, it will attract the rats. 

Tarring and feathering rats, and then letting them run, has been practiced, 
to give the tribe a hint that it would be well for them to leave. One rather 
smart individual, not having tar, used spirits of turpentine. He was going 
to drive the rats out of his house cellar. He was entirely successful ; for 
when he let the rat loose in his kitchen, with a " Shoo !" to it to go down the 
cellar stairs, it took the kitchen fire in its course, and then a pile of flax that 



254: SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

lay ill tlie cellar way. In two hours there was not a rat in the house, unless 
it might be a roasted one. 

Plaster of Paris has proved a successful poison for rats ; and it has the 
advantage of being quite harmless to have about the house. A tablespoon- 
ful of the flour of plaster, mixed in a cup of Indian meal, and slightly sweet- 
ened, will be eaten by rats, and kill them. A little grated cheese makes the 
food more attractive. Oil of anise would be still more so. In fact, by the 
use of it, rats may be coaxed out of a house to eat poison, and die where 
their dead bodies would not be a nuisance. 

P/iosphorus, powdered and mixed with meal, a few grains to a teacupful, 
has been often used successfully as a rat poison. 

Powdered potash, strewn in the paths frequented by rats, has been known 
to drive them away from a house. The theory is, that it gives them very sore 
feet, and disgusts them with the place. 

2S2. En!!;lisli Rat-CatcherSi — In England, rat-catching is a profession, sons 
often following it as the business of their fathers. The rat-catcher visits a 
farmer, and contracts with him at so much a head for all the rats he destroys. 
His trap is a large bag, which is set with the mouth open, baited with a 
piece of bread scented Avith oil of anise and oil of rhodium, the scent of 
which attracts the rats, and thus he bags enough to fill the contract. He 
does not desire to rid the premises, as that would '' spoil business." A rat- 
destroyer would not be tolerated by the honorable company of rat-catchers. 

283. Rat-Traps> — Among the many devices for trapping rats, we will 
mention a few of the best. A large wire cage-trap, where the second rat 
will go in because he sees the first in there, ofteu proves successful. A large 
brass kettle, half full of water, M-ith a small stone island in the center, just 
big enough for one rat to rest upon, the top of the kettle being covered with 
parchment, similar to that of a drum-head, having a cross cut in the center, 
is a first-rate trap. Fasten a small bait upon the points of the cut, and the 
rat jumps down from a board arranged for the purpose, and through he 
goes into the water. He scrambles on the island and squeals for help. An- 
other hears him, and comes looking around, sees the bait, jumps fu- it, lakes 
the plunge, and goes down upon the other fellow's head. Then comes a 
scramble for place, the strongest pushing the Aveakest off to take his chance 
in the water. This muss, as with men, attracts others, and in they go. "We 
have heard of twenty in a night thus inveigled to destruction. 

A barrel, one third full of Avater, with an island, the surface covered wi:h 
chaff, arui a bait suspended over it, we have been told, is an excellent trap. 

Ferrets and weasels have been highly recommended to be kept about the 
barn, to drive away rats. The objection to them is, that they drive away the 
poultry also. Ferrets have been trained so as to be obedient to the call of 
their master, and used not only to hunt rats, but to drive rabbits out of their 
burrows. ♦ 

284. Domrstic fats. — Perhaps the best thing for a farmer to do, who is 
troubled with rats, is to multiply his stock of cats. We knew one farmer 



Seo. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 255 

wlio kept fourteen cats, keeping up that number for more than a year, by 
■which means lie got rid of all annoyance from rats, and they also hunted the 
rabbits out of an adjoining grove. 

The variety of the felis tribe known as the domestic cat, once wild, easily 
gets wild again if neglected by man, and is then as great a pest as the rats, 
and is given to the very bad habit of eating eggs and chickens, and catch- 
ing pigeons and other birds. 

Toj^reveni cats hillincj ch'icliens, Harriet Martineau gives the following as 
a sure preventive both against the killing of chickens and birds by the cats : 
"When a cat is seen to catch a chicken, tie it round her neck, and make her 
wear it for two or three daj's. Fasten it securel}', for she will make incred- 
ible efforts to get rid of it. Be firm for that time, and the cat is cured — she 
will never again desire to touch a bird. This is what we do with our own 
cats, and what we recommend to our neighbors ; and when they try the ex- 
periment, they and their pets are secure from reproach and danger hence- 
forth. Wild, homeless, hungry, ragged, savage cats are more difficult to 
catch ; but they are outlaws, and may be shot, with the certainty that all the 
neighbors will be thankful." 

The abundance of food and shelter obtained by the domestic cat makes 
them much more prolific than in a wild state. She is generally, though very 
tame and gentle, much more attached to the house than to its inmates, which 
is quite the reverse with the dog. There are some remarkable singularities 
about cats. Gentle as they appear, they are very nervous, and easily 
startled, and act for a moment as M'ildly as though never tamed. They are 
also accused of being very treacherous. Their affection for their own spe- 
cies or ours is certainly doubtful. Their conduct at times, when a member 
cf the family dies, is singidar. Their anxiety also to get at a corpse has 
led to curious superstitions. In the opinion of the superstitious, the black 
cat has ever been attendant upon witchcraft. It is our opinion that a jjortion 
of this black-cat superstition originated from the fact that the hairs of a 
black cat exhibit sparks of electricity to a remarkable degree, when the 
atmosphere is in the right condition. To see this, take such a cat into a dark 
room, upon a clear, cold November night, and stroke the fur the wrong way, 
and if you never have seen it before, you will be surprised at the effect. 

Cats, particularly females, arc generally very cleanly animals to keep as 
house pets. They are fond of warm quarters and soft beds, and their song 
of satisfaction, called purring, is very pleasant to all who have a fondness for 
cats. We have known this fondness become a cat mania. 

We look upon cats as a necessary part of farm stock, and they should be 
properly treated as much as any other kind of animals. 

285. DogSt — If there is any moi'e unmitigated nuisance in a farming com- 
munity than dogs, such dogs as farmers generally keep, we are unable to 
name it. In the country where we live, there are some hundreds of farms 
better fitted for sheep husbandry than any other purpose, but upon which 
no sheep are kept, because the country is so full of worthless dogs. The 



256 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. H. 

country might be a liundred thousand dollars a year richei', if the people 
could stock their farms with sheep. A man who keeps a worthless cur to 
prowl through a neigliborhood, is neither a good Christian^ moral man, nor 
good neighbor. He does not do as he would be done by. A well-trained 
terrier is the only kind of a dog that is useful to farmers in general. Of 
these there are several varieties ; the best is the wire-haired terrier, an ugly- 
looking brute, but a ferocious enemy to rats. The black-and-tan terrier is a 
handsome and more agreeable-looking dog to have about a place, and a 
good ratter, when trained, but does not have such an apparent natural pro- 
pensity to destroy rats as the wire-haired one. He is also, for his size, a very 
strong dog, and knows nothing about fear of anything, and is therefore a 
very good house watch-dog. But we do not believe a farmer ever should 
keep, a dog for his services alone, as a watch or guard of his premises. A 
dog to be worthy of a home upon a farm should liave several good qualities 
combined. No conscientious man can keep a dog when he knows that the 
keeping of such dogs, whether his parlicular one or not, has a tendency to 
prevent the keeping of sheep ; for sheep, of all animals, have greater adapt- 
ation to the purpose of furnishing the poor with cheaj) food than any 
other domestic animal in use in this country, and they are capable of con- 
verting the coarsest herbage of the farm into the most healthful meat of the 
shambles. 

2SG. Shepherd's Dogs. — Whenever sheep are kept in sucli numbers as to 
constitute a considerable flock, the owner can well afford to keep a good 
shepherd's dog. One who has never seen a well-trained shepherd's dog can 
form no idea of their extraordinary sagacity and usefulness. Wc iiave 
ridden leisurely across a wide prairie in a wagon, accompanied by a Scotch 
colley, half-breed slut, driving five hundred sheep better than three men 
could have done without a dog. 

If there were none but such dogs in the country, there would be ten times 
as many sheep kept. One man would be entirely competent to manage a 
thousand. He should have two dogs, so that they would be company for 
each otlier, and so that, in case of accident to one, the other would remain 
serviceable. 

The Scotch colley very much resembles a prairie-wolf, having a broad 
forehead and pointed nose. The ears are short and upright, the fleece 
shaggy and slightly curly, with a bushy tail. These dogs are very intelli- 
gent, docile, and faithful, and jjossess an instinctive sagacity in everything 
that relates to the care of sheep. In a pleasant little book called " Anecdotes 
of Dogs," some wonderful evidences of the sagacity of Scottish shepherd 
dogs are to be fomid, and they should be read by all farmers' boys. 

The English shepherd dogs vary considerably in appearance from the 
Scotch. The hair is smoother, and tliey do not appear so distinct a breed as 
the other. Both are of medium size, perhaps about fifteen inches high. 
The Irish shepherd dog is larger and more ferocious ; some of them would 
tear a man sadly, if he interfered with the flock at night while in charge of 



Sec. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 257 

the dog. Tlie Scotcli dog is always gentle, and generally very affectionate. 
In France, the shepherd dogs are soinewliat like the Scotch, but smaller. 
Tlic Spanish shepherds have a breed of dogs peculiar to that country. They 
are the size of a full-grown wolf, with large head, thick neck, mastiff-lookin"-, 
fierce and strong, and are often armed with a spiked collar, to make them 
more formidable to dogs, wolves, and bears, if they should attack tiie flock. 
Their color is generally black and white — their daily rations two pounds of 
black bread, with milk and meat when it can be had. In Spain, the o-reat 
flocks of the country, always in charge of shepherds and dogs, make lono- 
migrations every year from their lowland home to the mountain pastures, 
two or three hundred miles distant, feeding all the way in the roads and 
commons. 

Slieep arc the wealth of Spain, and without the aid of shepherd doo-s, that 
wealth, under the present system of management, could not bo produced. 

287. Dog Laws.^In New Jersey there is a dog law which should be 
entitled, "An act to encourage the keeping of tlie most ordinary breeds of 
sheep, and no others, and to induce owners to liave them killed by doers." 
This act provides that all sheep killed by dogs shall be paid for out of the 
public funds, at five dollars a head. To improve your flock, if you get a 
buck worth a hundred dollars, and the dogs kill him, yon get five dollars. 
If your neighbor has one killed that you would not have on your farm, if 
paid five dollars for taking him, he gets five dollars. It is not a law to 
encourage improvement in sheep-breeding. 

Tlie number of sheep annually killed by dogs in Ohio has been ascertained 
by the assessors. The number and value are astounding. 

Thereupon a correspondent of the Ohio Farmer says: " Shall we have a 
dog law, or must we give up keeping sheep? That is the real question. 
There would be kept fifty per cent, more sheep in this country, but for dogs ; 
not that quite that amount are dogged, but most farmers lose some, and this, 
with other risks, discourages them, and compels them to abandon the business. 
Now let every farmer make this a test question in the elections this fall. 
Let it be sheep vs. dogs, and let all Ilepul)licans and Democrats see to it that 
every man put in nomination for the Legislature is sound on dogs. Let the 
candidate choose whom he will serve — sheep or dogs. I am in earnest, Mr. 
Editor. The sight of a few fine Leicesters, each worth more tlian all the dogs 
in Ohio, mangled and torn by worthless curs, who are only kept because 
tlieir owners are too lazy to kill them, has made me in dead earnest; and- 
wo to the Ohio legislator, if he depends on my vote, whose fear of dog 
constituents shall induce iiim to oppose or dodge a severe dog law ! Now is 
the time, wool-growers of Ohio, to look to this matter, and see that antidog 
men are put in nomination by your respective parties." 

There is no use in talking about taxing dogs. The dogs that really do the 
mischief are the dogs of gentlemen of elegant leisure, who are too lazy to 
hunt with them, and of the democratic loafer, who don't like to M'ork, but 
glories in tlio luxury of a house full of children and a dozen doffs. Honest 



258 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

working people, wlio earn tlieir bread, don't keep worthless dogs about them ; 
if they keep a dog, they feed him, and train him up properly; but your 
roaming worthless vagabond will keep a score, and expect them to take care 
of themselves. But these fellows have votes, my dear sir; it will never do 
to tax their dogs. They would kick up such a dust about our ears that we 
could never find our way into the State-house again. 

288. A Trap for Catchiug Sheep-killiug Dogs. — Make a pen of fence rails, 
beginning with four, so as to have it square, and as you build it, draw in 
each rail as you would the sticks of a partridge-trap, until your pen is of 
sufficient height, say five feet. In this way you will construct a pen that, 
when finished, will permit a dog to enter at the top at pleasure, but out of 
which he will find it difficult to escape, should he have the agility of an 
antelope. All that you have to do to catch the dog that has killed your 
sheep, is to construct the trap where the dead sheep is left, as directed, as 
soon as possible after an attack has been made on your flock ; put a part or 
the whole of a sheep that has been killed in it, and remove the balance to 
some other field. In a majority of cases the rogue and murderer will return 
the succeding night, or perhaps the next, and you Avill have the gratification 
next morning of finding him securely imprisoned. Some may object to the 
plan, perhaps, on the ground that you might catch an innocent dog. If he 
is so, he can content himself with not trying it. 

289. A Sermon on Dogs. — The Texas Christian Advocate gets oflf the fol- 
lowing sliort sermon upon dogs, from a text to be found in Philippians iv. 2 — 
" Beware of dogs !" Upon this the preacher saj's : 

" The Apostle well knew the mischievous and meddlesome spirit of dogs. 
Hence his caution against them. 
I. Dogs in general are a nuisance. 
Because : 

1. They excite fears of hydrophobia. 

2. They worry and destroy sheep. 

3. They disturb our slumber. — Howling in horrid concert under our win- 
dow, simultaneously ba^'ing at the moon. 

4. They frighten us when out at night. — A snap or growl at a neighbor's 
gate, or when turning down a dark alley, has a wonderfully nervous tendency. 

5. They are too familiar. — Will sleep on the front gallery, scatter fleas, 
come into the dining-room and parlor, and go to church on Sunday mornings. 

From these and other considerations I observe : 
II. All dogs should be watched. 

1. To prevent their depredations. — Killing neighbors' cats, tearing pants, 
scaring children, and going mad. 

2. To correct their bad manners. — ^Teach them they are only dogs, and not 
quite equal to "white folks." 

3. Keep them in their places. — "Wherever else they belong, I question as 
to the propriety of their getting between the sheets with gentlemen, or using 
the church as a dog-kennel. 



Seo. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF TIIK FARM. 259 

Application. — Have you a dog? Then keep him in a dog's place, and 
watch him. If you admit him to undue familiarity, don't foi-get that other 
folks will still think him to be but a dog. If he has a shaggy coat and turn- 
up nose, these will not entitle him to the privilege of following yoa to 
church and disturbing the worship of the entire congregation. 

Though he may be as nice and sensible as his fond master or foolish mis- 
tress, it is not very probable the preaching will do him anj' good. The intel- 
ligent fellow might be allowed the pleasure of trotting across the floor, and 
barking his approbation at the occasional flights of the preacher's eloquence, 
were a dog's gratification more important than the people's edification. 

Hence, in conclusion, I would say, Beware of dogs ! and what I say to one 
I say to all, Beware of dogs ! 

Finally, to the sexton, or that good brother who raises the tunes, I would 
say with emphasis. Beware of dogs ! and if those canine interlopers persist 
in coming to the place of worship, just take them out and cut ofl' their tails 
close to the ears." 

290. Rabbits — To Prevent Gnawing Trees. — The American Hare, commonly 
called Eabbit, is common to all the Atlantic States and Canada. It is used 
for food by most people, but abhorred by others. Although clothed in a 
thick coat of soft, whitish-gray fur, the skin is not valuable, because it is too 
tender to be serviceable, and the fur is not much, if any, better than cotton, 
for such purposes as fur, separated from the skin, is used for. These animals 
are prolific, and generally prefer to live in and about farms that have been 
suffered to grow up badly to bushes. They do the most of their feeding at 
night, and farmers generally do not feel any dread of their mischief. 
Nurserymen do ; and so do those who plant young orchards near where rab- 
bits abound. "When hunger presses them in winter, they will gnaw apple- 
trees with tender bark so as to destroy them. Young nursery trees are often 
cut off bjf rabbits so smoothly that one not knowing how it was done would 
suppose it was by a knife. 

To prevent the depredations of rabbits, English nurserymen dip rags into 
melted brimstone, and fasten them about among the trees. The remedy 
mentioned in 278, to prevent mice, is recommended to keep the rabbits 
away. Some persons have daubed their trees with grease scented with some 
offensive odor, and found that rabbits would not touch them. Some have 
plastered them with fresh cow-dung. A very good remedy is to offer a 
bounty for every rabbit killed in the neighborhood. 

"Where trees have been injured, it is a good plan to bind up the wound 
with a plaster of clay and cow-dung, made plastic enough to adhere well; 
this, when firmly bound on, will often save a valuable tree. 

Domesticated rabbits, if suffered to run at large, are very ornamental, par- 
ticularly if of the finest fancy sorts, but they are sometimes unpleasantly 
mischievous. "Where they can be conveniently kept under restraint, we 
have no doubt they can be made as profitable as poultry or other small farm 
stock. In England, rabbit-breeding is quite a business, and men of wealth 



2C0 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

and good standing engage in it, and form rabbit clubs, and exhibit tlicir 
stock for prizes. Some of the specimens imported from London, that we 
have seen, were very beautiful. Some years ago, Francis Rotch, of Butter- 
nuts, Otsego County, N. Y., imported some of the best we have ever seen, 
and bred them to a considerable extent, finding ready sale for all he chose 
to dispose of in that way. 

We do not know of any large establishment in this country where rabbits 
are bred for sale in market for food. The common American wild rabbit is 
often seen in the 'New York market. 

Rabbits may be kept in very inexpensive hutches, and in tolerably close 
confinement. Their feed in summer is clover and various green things. In 
winter they will eat grain, sweet apples, parsneps, and other roots, cabbage, 
and a little sweet hay. A full-sized rabbit wants about a gill of oats night 
and morning, with a piece of rutabaga or parsnep, or its equivalent, say a 
quarter of a pound a day, and a little handful of hay. A doe, while suck- 
ling her young, which is most of the time, should be fed high, say three gills 
of oats a day, or wheat shorts, or pea meal, and roots and hay. Or in sum- 
mer, upon almost anything that grows green, if given fresh. 

A dozen or fifteen years ago, we remember having seen in "The Boy's 
Own Book" an elaborate treatise upon rabbit-breeding, and to that we refer 
the boy who reads this and desires to go into the business. They will also 
find frequent hints in agricultural papers, and in several books devoted to 
fancy poidtry breeding. From what we have said of the food whicli rabbits 
consume, it will be easy to calculate whether keeping them will be profitable. 

Newspapers bound around trees, it is declared in an article befire us, will 
wholly prevent depredations of rabbits, and also keep off the borers, and a 
wrapper well tied on will last for months. The writer says : 

" I find no other remedy necessary for either rabbit or borer. Tlie wrap- 
pers, if properly put on, keep whole through al^the changes of our variable 
winters. The trees are thus secure from damage by the rabbit. In the latter 
part of spring and early part of summer, when the beetles of the Saperda 
and the Buprestis are about, a few eggs will be deposited in the axils of the 
lower branches of trees, and at the tops of the paper wrapjiers. Even these 
points of attack, however, can in general be successfully guarded, by simply 
depositing a small piece of brown soap in the main axils, after the season's 
growth is well started, to be dissolved and washed down the stem by subse- 
quent rains. 

" But I do not find it necessary to resort to this precaution ; for if eggs are 
deposited at those points, I am certain to find the fact out, and make all 
right the latter part of August and first part of September, when I go among 
my young trees with a bucket of strong soap-suds and a hard scrubbing- 
brush, for the purpose of giving them a good hard wash, such as would make 
some people open their eyes with astonishment, and cutting out suckers or 
small shoots that may have pushed through the papers, and renewing the 
wrappers." ' 



Sec. 13.] WILD AXD TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 261 

291. Squirrels and Gophers. — All of our Eastern and Northern readers will 
understand about squirrels, and liow much mischief the smallest of the 
family does in the corn-field ; but they know nothing of gophers — they belong 
to the West. In California they are almost intolerable, and it is about as 
hard to devise a plan to get rid of them as it is here to get rid of the " chip- 
mucks" {Tamias tysteri). In our opinion, the best way to prevent them 
from digging up the seed-corn is to give them plenty to eat on the surface. 
What is half a bushel of corn sown broadcast for the squirrels to pick up ? 
It would save the seed of a large field harmless. We would M'illingly give 
that every year to see the dear little tilings around a farm. It is worth that 
to see tlie old dog chase them, and " bark at the hole" where one ran througli 
a stone wall. We have concluded never fo kill a chipmuck. If others wish 
to do it, they may perform the work by poisoning corn, or they may prevent 
them from eating it by coating the seed with tar, which is done by mixing a 
pint of tar in a pail of warm water, and putting the corn in it ; then, to make 
it pleasant to liandle, roll it in dry plaster. If a little flour sulphur is sprinkled 
on the wet seed, it will adhere and give it an odor that all little pests dislike. 

At the West, in woody districts, gray, black, and fox equirrels, particularly 
the first named, are sometimes very destructive to the corn-fields in autumn. 
The gray and black squirrels increase so rapidlj' after one or two seasons of 
an abundant suppl}^ of beech-nuts, that the regular squirrel-hunts do not 
appear to diminish their numbers. They are to some extent migratory, as 
their supplies change, from beech to oak lands. At such times the strong 
and healthy will swim large rivers, and uniformly take one direction, leaving 
the young and feeble at home. 

In Ohio, about the year 1835, squirrels became so numerous over the 
whole country as to threaten the entire destruction of corn-fields while in the 
milk. The following year. they were all starved. In the winter they ran 
desperately over the fields, indifferent of danger, sometimes feeding upon 
the bark of the beech. 

The red and striped or ground squirrel are not liable to suffer from these 
vicissitudes, as they lay up a store for winter. I think the flying squirrel 
does also, but this is a nocturnal creature, and less is known about it. 
There are also several kinds of winter bircls which deposit seeds iu knots 
and loose bark of trees for winter use. 

The fox squirrel is the largest of the American species. It is of a reddish- 
gray color, and inhabits the prairie groves of northern Indiana, Michigan, 
Illinois, Wisconsin, and other States. It is very shy of man, is hard to get a 
sight of, and difficult to kill. 

292. Striped Gophers {Spermophilus ttndccemlhieatus). — Perhaps, when 
you see the name given to this animal by natural-history writers, you may 
imagine it is as big as its name. But it is not half as formidable to look at. 
We give the scientific name for identification, because the word " Gopher," 
in Florida, means a small land-turtle. In AVisconsin it means a squirrel 
somewhat like a chipmuck. In California it represents a different animal. 



262 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

The striped gopher abounds in the Nortliwestern prairie region. In the first 
settlement of the country a Imndred miles around Chicago, it inhabited all 
the prairie groves and dry ravines. The following is its description : The 
ears are short and rounded ; the tail slender and hairy, about half the length 
of the body ; the body is of a dark brown above, longitudinally marked M-itli 
alternate rows and spots of a light fawn-color, which correspond nearly with 
the belly and sides. The lighter lines on the upper part may be distinguished 
by the lirown intervals between, which are occupied by the single rows of 
light spots, which are generally indistinct on the anterior half of the body. 

Although these animals are considered grain-eaters, and called mischiev- 
ous, we believe they are among the many real friends of the farmer. Like 
the weasel, which occasionally eats a chicken for lack of more favorite food, 
the gopher sometimes eats the farmer's seed-corn, but he should not be con- 
demned as an enemy for that act, without a fair hearing. 

There may be some of the gopher family that are destructive of farm 
crops. The evidence is very strong to that effect against the Californian 
gopher, which lives in holes all through the cultivated fields, and does not 
seem to be very particular what it cats, whether corn, wheat, potatoes, beets, 
melons, pumpkins, so that it is something which the farmer has grown for 
his own use. 

It is not so with the small striped gopher. Tliis beautiful little animal 
should be carefully preserved upon all farms where it now exists, and we 
have no doubt it would prove a valuable addition to the stock of any farm 
where it is not found in a natural condition. It is a great destroyer of field- 
mice, and in onr opinion a whole troop of gophers do less damage in one 
season than the mice which one of them would kill in a single day. For 
they are real epicures, eating nothing but the blood and brains, when the 
supply is abundant. These animals have such an appetite for flesh, that 
if deprived of it, a mother will cat her young. Such carnivorous animals 
must be better hunters than cats, and should be carefully preserved, and not 
" drowned out," as they often arc, when their homes are discovered by the 
boys, just for the " sport" (cruelty) of killing them. These animals seem to 
have a natural instinct that man is their common enemy. We have seen them 
often in situations where they could never have had any acquaintance with 
man, at least civilized ones, who are the only ones who ever kill such small 
game for "sport," and we found them wild in the extreme. They utter a 
cry when discovered, and dart away into some shelter with great rapidity. 
In this respect, quite unlike the chipmuck, which will play around a dog or 
man in the most tantalizing manner. 

The striped gopher never gnaws trees, roots, fruits, nor green vegetables, 
and in fact does the farmer no damage except to eat a little seed-corn. For 
all that they eat in the harvest-field, they save twice as much in driving 
away mice and squirrels. Chipmucks, red squirrels, and mice can not 
inhabit the same locality with gophers ; and yet there are persons who have 
offered bounties to have them destroyed. Let such learn this fact from this 



Seo. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 263 

Tolume, if they learn no other, that the striped gopher is worth its weiglit 
in gold upon any farm where field-mice are so abundant that they destroy 
fruit-trees. 

293. Skunks. — We don't know that we can afford to stem the current of 
popular opinion so far as to recommend the protection instead of destruction 
of skunks {^fep/titis Americana). We arc aware that these animals are 
troublesome visitors to the poultry-yard, and on that account they are hunted 
and killed without mercy, and without a thought about what they live ujjon 
all the time that ihey do not eat chickens. As they are tlesh-eaters, they must 
find something of the flesh kind to eat, and that something is tlie very thing 
that tlie farmer is most anxious to get rid of — it is mice, and worms, and 
bugs. The quantity of these pests destroyed by a single skunk is enormous. 
It is very rare that they come about a house, thougli we have known them 
to live for weeks in cellars, or store-i'ooms, or under a crib, without producing 
any nuisance. They never emit their fetid odor unless attacked by man or 
dog ; and it has been contended that it was practicable to domesticate a 
skunk so that he would be quite a harmless pet. AVe can not recommend 
making pets of these animals, but we do recommend farmers to learn the 
important fact, that if they do him a little damage occasionally, they also do 
him an incalculable amount of good. Generally speaking, there is not a 
farmer in all the region inhabited by the Mephitis who could not well afford 
to exchange dogs for skunks, and pay ten dollars each for the bargain. 
Tiiero is one other thing that skunks are good for. As an article of food we 
don't think there is any M'ild animal that makes a more dainty dish, and we 
hold that we are tolerably well qualified to judge. A fat skunk, nicely 
dressed and roasted, hung by a string before an old-fashioned wood fire 
till beautifully browned, and then served upon a platter flanked with boiled 
mealy potatoes, covered with the brown gravy made of the fat drip, is 
beyond dispute " a dish fit to set before the king." 

294-. Toads. — Although not among the quadrupeds, of which this chapter 
treats, toads are among tlie friends of the farmer, and as such should have a 
place in this connection. Every man who owns or cultivates a garden or 
field, who knows anything about the natural history of the toad, will never 
allow one to be destroyed. There is no animal more harmless, and few that 
do the farmer more good than toads. Their whole food is of insects injuri- 
ous to the farmer. The prejudice against "the ugly tilings" is a foolish one, 
and should be done away with. We once had a toad in the garden which, 
by some particular mark, was known to the children, who called it " father's 
pet toad," because it really appeared as though it knew that we were its 
friend and protector. Tliis toad came 3'ear after year to lend us its valuable 
aid in exterminating the insect pests of the garden. We had another that 
made the milk-room its summer home, where it was constantly engaged in 
catching flies and bugs. Toads and bats should both be protected from harm, 
and children taught to encourage them to come about the house. Bats are 
great insect-eaters, and never visit the house of an evening for any other 



264 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

purpose tliaii catching insects for food. It is charged against them, that they 
sustain bed-bugs as parasites. 

295. Camels— Their latroduction into the Uuited States.— It is a great jump 
from the back of a toad to that of a camel, but no:, so great as politicians 
sometimes make. As we have to make the leap somewhere, it may as well 
be done here as anywhere, and after a very short ride we will jump down 
again upon the back of a goat. We have introduced camels, because we 
want all, particularly the farmers' boys who read this book, to learn the 
fact that camels have already been introduced into the United States, and 
put to service as beasts of burden. The first imported were in 1857, we 
believe, under the auspices of the general government, since which time 
they have been in active government service, principally in Texas, and have 
made one or more trips to the Pacific with army officers. 

The Galveston jVews gives the following account of the strength of one 
of the camels. It says : 

"There were near a dozen on the wharf, of all ages. The camel loaded 
was one of the largest. On the word of command being given, the camel 
lay down, ready to receive his load, which consisted of five bales of hay, 
weighing in the aggregate over 1,400 pounds, which was firmly bound to the 
pannier placed upon the animal's hump. Upon the utterance of command 
by the native keeper, the huge animal arose, without any apparent effort, to 
his feet, and walked off in a stately manner along the wharf and through 
the city. We were informed that the same camel had 1,600 pounds placed 
npon him, with which enormous weight he arose. The aninuils arc all ex- 
ceedingly tractable, and seem to possess much affection for any one who 
treats them kindly, as an example of which Mrs. W. informs us that one of 
them, a pretty white one, which she had petted, would always kiss her when 
she was within kissing distance, which fact, we really thought, certainly 
proved the animal to possess an excellent taste as well as an affectionate dis- 
position. In thein native country tiie average load for a full-grown camel is 
some 800 pounds, with which they perlbrm their long journeys over deserts, 
with but little food or water." 

It is to be hoped that camels will become one of the ordinary beasts of 
burden in this country, where there are such vast arid plains, as in northern 
Texas, New Mexico, western Kansas, and Utah, that no other animals can 
traverse them. 

It is stated that the Emperor of Brazil is about to introduce dromedaries 
into that country. This animal can go long journeys without \vater, and 
therefore will be found valuable upon some of the deserts and plains of that 
country. A common load of an ordinary dromedary is 500 pounds. One 
of the camels in Texas has carried two bales of cotton, of 500 pounds each. 
One of the best kinds of dromedaries for riding can travel -400 miles with- 
out stopping to eat, drink, or rest. 

At the North, where horses, mules, and oxen are in such common use, we 
do not think that camels will ever supersede them. 



Seo. 13.] WILD AND TAME ANIMALS OF THE FARM. 2o5 

296. Goats.— lutroductiou of (he fashmtrfi Goats iato the United Statts.— 

About the most unprotitablc of all variuues of fariu-s:ock is the common 
goat. It is kuown in fcome parts of the country as the Irish goat, probably 
because the people from Ireland iu this country, particularly in cities, keep 
more goats than all the rest of the inhabitants. These are of all colors, as 
much so as the common breed of horned cattle, and about t.he size of com- 
mon sheep. The she-goats give a small quantity of milk, and the kids 
afford some flesh food, at a small cost to the owners, as they forage their 
living, and frequently do more mischief in a neighborhood or upon a farm 
than their necks are worth. The hair of the common goat is worth nothing 
for manufacturing purposes. It is quite the reverse with the Cashmere 
goat. The fleece of this variety is eight times as valuable as tine wool ; and, 
fortunately, it has been found that a cross upon the common goat, even in 
the first progeny, produces a fleece about half as valuable as the full blood, 
so that the breeding of goats in tliis country for the fleece is likely soon to 
become quite common, and a profitable branch of husbandry, particularly 
in some of the roughest districts of country. 

To Dr. James B. Davis, of South Carolina, the country is indebted for the 
introduction of the pute Cashmere goats, which are now to be found in 
various parts of the United States ; and to Hon. Richard Peters, of Atlanta, 
Ga., it is equally indebted for the interest he took at an early day in the 
propagation of the original stock, which he purchased of Dr. Davis, Mr. 
Peters, being a wealthy, public-spirited gentleman, spared no pains, even 
when success was doubtful, in getting this breed established upon a firm 
basis, and proving that its crosses upon the common breed would be profit- 
able, as well as.upon several other varieties of fine-wooled goats. 

We had the pleasui-e of an acquaintance with Dr. Davis and his stock at 
Charleston, in 1849, shortly after his return from several years' residence at 
Constantinople. Tie brought with him seven females and two males of the 
Cashmere goats, besides several other curious specimens of the livestock of 
the East. He stated his belief to be that the Cashmere, Persian, Angora, 
and Circassian goats are all of one breed, and that they have been slightly 
changed by locality, principally by altitude. These fine goats usually breed 
two kids in the spring, and, unfortunately, where rapid propagation is an 
object, the males preponderate. 

The progeny of these goats is now to be found in all the States from New 
York to Texas. In the latter State they have been established pretty exten- 
sively. We saw a letter written by John P. McCall, at Austin, in August, 
1860, which estimated that two hundred head, principally bucks, had been 
introduced into Texas. 

The demand for the fleece of Cashmere goats may be calculated from the 
fact-that it is stated that 4,000 looms and 12,000 people are employed in the 
city of Lyons, France, in the manufacture of the fleeces of Cashmere goats, and 
that they are worth from four to eight dollars a pound. As soon as the supply 
is large enough, we shall have manufactories in opei'ation in this country. 



266 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

Cashmere shawls -wei-e exhibited at the Crystal Palace, New York, valued 
at one thousand dollars each. These were all made by the needle. Fabrics 
made of Cashmere goat's fleece, it is supposed, will outwear those made of any 
librons material 3'et discovered. 

Tlie Thibet goat, one of which we saw at Dr. Davis's, differs from the 
Cashmere materially. The outward appearance is that of a very coarse- 
haired animal ; but there is an under-coat of long, white, silky wool, which 
weighs about a pound when combed out. Dr. Davis thought this like the 
Avild goat of the Rocky Mountains. Who knows if thdy are identical ? 

Dr. Davis imported, also, the Scinde goat, which comes from Scinde, at 
the mouth of the Indus. This was a remarkably large goat, with monstrous 
pendulous ears. 

A goat used in Malta is the best milker of the family. A good ewe gives 
a gallon a day. Goats' milk, in all Eastern countries, particularly in mala- 
rious districts, is considered more healthy than the milk of cows ; and some 
learned physicians in this country declare that cows' milk, in malarious dis- 
tricts, is the moving cause of many attacks of bilious fever. In this view of 
tlie subject, it may be well to inquii-e whether it would not be to the advant- 
age of the people, in a sanitar}' as well as pecuniary point of view, to intro- 
duce the improved breeds of goats into all sections reputed subject to mala- 
rious diseases. 

297. Breeding Fish for Food on the Farm. — Wo do not feel willing to close 
the chapter upon animals on the farm, without calling attention to the sub- 
ject heading this paragraph. 

Fish are tlie least costly food that man can obtain ; yet, owing to the 
scarcity, the labor of taking them out of the water — which is all the expense 
attending their production — has become so great, that fish are sold in our 
market at nearly as high a price per pound as meat. Salmon are really 
higher than choice cuts of either beef or mutton. And yet salmon can be 
grown at very trifling expense. 

We have long been producing oj'sters by artificial means, without which 
our market could not be supplied ; and yet, with that fact before our eyes, 
very few attempt to produce fish by an equally easy process. One fact of 
importance, in proof of the benefit of simply protecting fish from being 
taken in the spawning season, is the following: 

" In the river Foyle, in the north of Ireland, by a steady perseverance in 
a proper system of protection, the amount of salmon taken was raised from 
an avei'age of 43 tuns annually, in 1823, to that of 300 tuns in 1842 ; while 
in the small river of I^ewport, in the county of Mayo, in which the salmon 
was formerly unprotected by law, and consequently taken at all periods of 
the year, within three years after the introduction of parliamentary i-egula- 
tious enforcing their protection during the breeding season, the annual take 
was increased from half a tun of fish to eight tuns of salmon and three tuns 
of white trout, with a certainty of a still higher increase. 

" In view of the great augmentation in the price of all the articles of food 



Sec. 13.] DOMESTIC FISH-BREEDING. 267 

and necessaries of life in tliis country, the small probability of any consider- 
able reduction, and the actual s'liflbriugs of many of the laboring class from 
want of sufficient food, it appears to me that this subject is worthy of the 
closest consideration, aTid that any one who can suggest and effect the means 
of furnisliing a new and ample ^supply of cheap, nutritious food, has some 
small claim to be thought of as not an entirely useless member of the com- 
munity." 

There is a little book, published by the Appletons, that gives in detail all 
the French plans for artificial fish-breeding, and any one who reads that 
volume can go to work and stock his own -waters with any kind of fish he 
desires. That our natural supply has failed, there is not a shadow of doubt, 
and that it never will be replenished, except by artificial breeding, is equally 
indisputable. That a re-stocking of our waters with fish, so as to make them 
as plentiful as formerly, would prove one of the cheapest modes of lessening 
the price of human food, is just as certain. 

In the "West Indies, fish and turtle are constantly kept and stall-fed. At 
free running they never become fat, any more than our land stock. The 
ponds are constructed of stones, of irregular figure in wall, so as to retain 
three or four feet of water at the lowest tides. The water of the rising tide 
flows freely in. These ponds have a deck of plank over them, laid about two 
inches apart, for admission of air and light. A hatchway in the middle of 
the floor is opened to throw in their food, which usually consists of fry, or 
small fish, taken by cast-nets in any required quantity. "When this is scat- 
tered among them, the excessive eagerness of the fish is an interesting sight 
— their bright eyes, fiae teeth, and sparkling colors showing beautifully, as 
they leap out of water to catch the falling bait. 

The housekeepers send for a suitable fish for dinner shortly before the time 
to cook it. The person has a strong line and hook, with or without bait ; he 
lets it down, and the fish rush toward it, and he must be expert to let it drop 
to the mouth of the grouper, hamlet, snapper, white or blue band porgie, 
etc., which he wants. Such a fish never appears on the tables of the North- 
ern States, and yet every town on our sea-coast ought to have them. As it 
is now, when the poor fisherman has caught more than he can sell, the over- 
plus is a dead loss. 

There is nothing more simple than the artificial breeding of fish. The 
entire mystery consists in taking the female during her time, and by running 
the thumb with a gentle steady pressure down her back, force out her ova 
in ajar of pure fresh water. The male is then taketi in the same way, and 
made to yield a few drops of the spermatic fluid in the same vessel, the two 
are then stirred together for a few moments, and the contact of the fluid of 
the male has the effect to vitalize the eggs at once. The eggs are then laid 
down in shallow tanks with gravel bottoms, arranged in a series of steps so 
that running water can continually pass over them. The whole trouble of 
the breeder is then to keep the eggs free from any sediment or muddy deposit, 
and in due time each egg becomes a fish. Tlius almost every egg in an 



268 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. IL 

innumerable ova can be turned to account for the benefit of man. Tliere 
is, however, something to do after the eggs have become fish, and that is, to 
confine them within certain limits by a dam, until the}' are old enough to be 
able to take care of themselves, and make fight against the larger fish which 
would eat them up. There are now tliBee or four establishments in the 
country for the artificial breeding of fish, and we see no reason why every 
lake and river may not be filled with life and food, and made to make an 
ample return for all investments. 

Tlie cultivation of fish in France and some other countries of Europe has 
become as much of a trade as any other occupation, and the results in supply- 
ing food and aftbrding a handsome recompense to the owner have been equal 
to the most sanguine expectations. It is surprising that more attention is 
not paid to it in this country Avhere the facilities are unsurpassed. Occasion- 
ally an individual makes a trial, but little however has yet been done in this 
line compared with what might be accomplished. A writer in a South 
Carolina paper gives a description of a domestic fish-pond on the plantation 
of Mr. Freeman Iloyt, Sumterville. Mr. Iloyt had a small stream of water 
which ran through a low place in such a form as to enable liim, by a dam of 
some 50 yards long, to construct a jiond of some 700 feet in length by 150 in 
width, wiih a depth varying from the shores to 12 or 15 feet in the center. 
This gave him a pond of over two and a half acres, M'here ho could raise 
nothing. He deposited in the pond eight good-sized trout, and about 300,000 
eggs, with a larger amount of smaller fish for the trout to feed upon, and in 
one year the water was literally swarming with the finny trilies. His trout 
one year old are some seven inches in length. The water running from the 
dam passes through a sieve, so that the fish can not escape from the pond. 
The necessary apparatus for cultivating, feeding, and taking care of the fisli 
costs but a small sum, and the proceeds of the pond will be a source of much 
pleasure and profit. And this is but one instance in thousands which miglit 
with equal facility be turned into a source of revenue. 

In many sections of the country numerous springs and streams abound, 
confined within narrow valleys, that maybe converted into permanent ponds 
and thus be made to yield a profit in fish far beyond the capacity of the 
same area of the best of land devoted to the most profitable farm crops. 
These streams when supplied with living springs may be converted into 
nurseries of trout — the best of all fresh-water fish. The streams or ponds 
more sluggish in their nature may be made equally productive in a supply 
of still-water fish. This subject has been brought into extensive practice in 
France and otlier portions of Europe, and more recently a number of suc- 
cessful trials have been made in the United States to multiply domestic fishes, 
which may be as much at the command of the owner as tlie fowls in his 
barn-yard, afi^ording an equal luxury and at a much less cost. 

Of artificial propagation of fish in Scotland and Ireland, a late number of 
the Manchester (England) Guardian said : " As several reports have been 
circulated in the newspapers to the eflfect that the attempt to propagate 



Sec. 13.] DOMESTIC FISU-BREEDING. 269 

salmon by artificial means in Ireland and elsewhere had extensively failed, 
we think it right to state that we have obtained some information from the 
very best sources, which convinces ns that these reports are wholly unibnnded. 
On the contrary, we are glad to say the success attending the first attempt 
at propagation on an extensive scale in the country has surpassed our most 
sanguine expectations. It is reported from Perth, where about 350,000 ova 
are nearly hatched, that everything has progressed most satisfactorily ; the 
whole of the ova, with a trifling exception, seem in a lively state. The only 
difliculty appears to be that of providing sufiicient ponds for such a multitude 
of fishes, when they are able to swim, as the feeding-ponds already provided 
will not contain one tenth of them ; and such is the number, that there 
appears no other way, after having hatched and protected them for twenty 
weeks, but that of committing them to the river to take their chance. At 
Galway about 260,000 ova are in a similar prosperous condition. Propagation 
on a smaller scale has also been carried into effect on the rivers Tweed, Lou- 
chard, the Foyle, Bush Mills, the Blackwatcr, the Moy, the Dee, near Chester, 
and other places. By the use of spring water the spawn has been entirely 
protected from injury by frost, during the past severe Avinter; and of 2,500 
eggs which were sent from Galway to Basle, a distance of nearly 1,000 
miles, M. Lex states that a considerable portion are good, and in a state likely 
to live." 

Robert L. Pell, of Ulster County, N. Y., has done a good deal to establish 
fish-ponds upon his farm ; he says " that he is trying to grow the moss-bunker 
for manure, and hopes for success in growing them, but thinks the use of 
this fish the cause of disease in the districts where used. As many as 86,000 
moss-bunkers have been taken in a seine at one haul upon our coast. Mr. 
Pell also has in his ponds the black bass of the lakes — a fish that grows as 
large as shad. Another fish from the lakes very much resembles the black 
bass, and flourishes in artificial water. Both do well, and are easily caught 
with a hook. The dace is a good fish for ponds, as he prefers still water. 
The rock bass is a common flsh in Lake Cliamplain, and is much esteemed, 
and can be cultivated without difliculty. The muscalonge, from the lakes, 
is an excellent fish, and appears m-cU calculated for artificial water if pure. 
This fish grows large, and somewhat resembles the pickerel or pike of the 
lakes. Mr. Pell has the stickleback, that curious little fish that builds a nest 
something like a bird. Haddock he has tried, but failed of success, not- 
withstanding he salted the pond. The haddock is much inferior to the cod- 
fish, although frequently salted and sold as cod. He also gave accounts of 
experiments with several other varieties, and how to transport fish alive 
safely. Mr. Pell thinks it is possible to stock all the streams in the country 
with fish, and thereby increase the food of the people to a very great extent, 
without any expense." 

A writer in The Uomcstcad says : 

" Three yeai's ago I constructed, in a ravine, a fish-pond covering a surface 
of about tliree fourths of an acre. It is ftd by four small springs, and re- 



270 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

ceives a large amount of surface-water from the slopes around. It is fifteen 
feet deep at the greatest depth, and has shallow bays and inlets, where the 
small fish may breed and find jjrotection from larger ones. It contains a 
small island, and the shoi'es are embellished with flags {Iris), water-lilies 
{Nymphoe odoratd), and other water-plants. It was stocked with yellow 
bass, Oswego bass, white perch, and every variety of sun-fish and minnows, 
also a dozen gold-fish {Cyprinus auratus). And now, at the end of three 
years, it is astonishing to note the vast increase in my scaly family. They 
have multiplied by hundreds, and grown in size beyond all my calculations. 
The gold-fish number several hundred, some of them over a foot in length, 
and a few of them are beautifully marked with silvery sides and red fins, 
head, and tail ; others with golden sides and black fins and tail. I had no 
idea that they would thus sport in colors, but certainly they are very beauti- 
ful. The other fish have grown so much that I intend to commence using 
them for the table in autumn. I have not fed these fish, except for amuse- 
ment and to tame them, when a few crumbs of bread are thrown in from a 
small bridge connecting the island with the shore, and the fish called up like 
chickens. The sun-fish, gold-fish, and smaller fry soon learned to come at 
my call, and to follow me in great numbers, from one end of the bridge to 
the other, for their morning or evening meal. 

"The young bass (the old ones hold back) and the sun-fish dart to the 
surface for their food, and have a lively scramble for it ; the gold-fish pick 
up what sinks to the bottom. Their habits in this way are very much like a 
flock of chickens, for some of the smaller fish take their position imme- 
diately under my feet, to pick np the small crumbs that fall, in breaking the 
larger ones to throw out. Some persons ring a small bell to bring their fish 
up, but I prefer calling mine. They do not appear to come from a greater 
distance than about forty feet to any one spot. I feed them in several places, 
to note the varieties and their growth. Now, as to the utility of this pond, 
it furnishes ice for my own use and three or four of my neighbors who have 
ice-houses; it also afl'ords excellent stock water, and wnll doubtless hereafter 
supply my table with fish. A small skiff on its surface gives many a pleas- 
ant hour of recreation to the young who are fond of rowing. 

" The construction of this pond was very simple. The earth was excavated 
across the ravine four feet deep and five feet wide for a foundation ; then 
stifl' clay filled in and well pounded, to prevent leakage at the bottom. The 
earth from the bottom and sides of the ravine was thrown on the top of this 
foundation, to raise the embankment to the proper hight. A waste weir at 
one side, paved with flag-stones, and two feet lower than the top of the dam, 
suthciently large to carry off the heaviest flow of water in very heavy rains, 
guarded by a wire screen to prevent the escape of the fish, completed the 
construction. It is now sodded over, and planted with willows at the foot, 
and is considered safe. Tlie expense of making such a pond is small, and it 
adds much to the value of a farm." 

298. Trout Streams— Reasons for the Disappearance of Troutt — One of the 



Seo. 13.] DOMESTIC FISH-BREEDING. 271 

very best authorities in the country — Geo. Dawson, a great lover of pisca- 
torial sports — gives, in the Albany Ecening Journal., the following reasons 
for the disappearance of trout from streams where they were abundant. 
He says : 

"Every one who has lived a score of years in the neighborhood of mountain 
or spring brooks remembers when, in such and such a stream, trout were 
abundant, where scarcely one is now ever taken. 'What has become of 
them ?' is a question which every one has been asked, or has asked himself, 
a thousand times. One says, ' They have been driven out by sawdust from 
mills erected upon the stream.' Anotlier, who lives where tanneries have 
been erected, thinks ' the tan bark has killed or disgusted them.' Another 
says, ' Since the alders which used to border the creek have been cut down, 
and the forest cleared away, they have sought greater solitude.' Others 
say, 'They have gone because trout will not stay where there is a great deal 
of passing to and fro, as tliere necessarily is in a thickly populated locality ;' 
and others still insist that ' they have all been fished out.' Now, in my 
opinion, not one of these reasons is real. Neither sawdust, nor tan bark, nor 
clearings, nor dense population, nor excessive fishing, is the cause of depopu- 
lation. Some of the very best trout streams that I know of are full of saw- 
dust and tan bark. Tlie bottom of Caledonia Creek is not only a bed of 
sawdust, but the creek lies in the midst of a dense poi)ulation, and has been 
fished, night and day, for thirty years. Nevertheless, in its cold, crystal-like 
water, trout are more plenty to-day, and more are taken, than ten years 
since. I have been more than once surfeiled with success in a stream in 
Canada where the sawdust was so thick that it formed a compact covering 
upon its surface ; and every year I take trout from a little brook in Connecti- 
cut which has been cleared and fished for almost a century. There are three 
great causes for the depopulation of trout streams : First, the erection of 
establishments upon them in which lime is largely used ; second, the intro- 
duction into the streams of pike or pickerel, whose voracity is, sooner or 
later, fatal to all competitors ; and thirdly, and principally, the gradual 
change of the temperature of the water. Trout will not live long in water 
which is not, at all seasons, of a temperature which may not, in comparison 
with other -water, be characterized as cold. Other causes besides those I 
have named sometimes operate; but, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 
the changed temperature of the water is the cause of the absence of trout 
from streams where they were once abundant." 

He does not give the reason of this change of temperature, but we do : it 
is just the difference between a cool forest sliade and a broad expanse of hot 
sunshine. "Where these mountain streams once were shaded from the first 
gushing spring to their mouths at some large river, they are now exposed to 
the full force of the noonday sun, until the water is heated to a degree as fatal 
to the brook trout as ice would be to a tropical plant. The streams tliat still 
retain trout are those which are so largely supplied with cold spring water 
that the temperature is kept at a healthy point, notwithstanding the denuded 



272 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

state of the land. Sawdust has no more effect upon the fish than rotting 
leaves and wood in the forest streams. The washing of cultivated fields, by 
which the water is made impure, has more effect upon fish of all sorts than 
sawdust, or, in our opinion, lime, in such quantities as i-esult from any manu- 
facturing establishment. This fact must be kept always in view in establish- 
ing artificial ponds for fish-breeding. Make them where the water will not 
be roiled by every shower. 

299. Eel Streams and Eel-Fishing. — In all parts of the country where eels 
abound, they may be made an essential part of the food of the family in the 
autumn months, if the streams are such as easily admit the construction of 
weirs and placing traps or eel-pots. In some parts of the country the eel 
business affords no mean item of income to farmers who have riparian rights, 
the work not interfering materially with ordinary fiirm labor. 

"We find the following interesting account of the eel fishery on the Susque- 
hanna in the Lancaster (Penn.) Herald: 

" About the middle of August the water of the stream becomes very low, 
and usually by September that in the channel is only a few feet deep, leav- 
ing the stony bottom, for a wide space on cither side, in some places nearly 
bare, with occasional deeper furrows -which pass along it. At this stage of 
water, the instinct which governs the fish to descend the rivci's previous to 
the advent of cold weather becomes the means of their destruction. For 
many miles of the river's length, therefore, north and south of us, the people 
owning the shore adjoining erect their fish-dams and gins, by deepening the 
channel somewhat, and building an elongated V-shaped wall, at the lower 
point of which is fixed a box', from which the fish, when once caught, can 
not extricate themselves. Obeying this instinct in their descent of the 
stream, they find themselves borne pleasantly in this channel, and, wriggling 
themselves cheerily, they let the current, pent in by the walls, carry them 
along until they tumble plump into the box at the termination of the Y. 
The fish taken in this manner are for the most part eels, of which almost 
incredible quantities are captured during the fall season. Their 'run' only 
takes place during the night. In daytime they remain quiet in the compar- 
atively deep pools of the river. The work of catching them, however, is no 
sinecure, not so much on account of the labor as of the wakefulness and ex- 
posure which it involves. In some of the dark and showery nights of tl)e 
season the game will come into the box so fast that the watcher, who is often 
stationed there w-ith a boat, can scarcely remove them into it with sufficient 
celerity. At other times there will be scarcely spoil enough in the boxes to 
repay the trouble in watching them. It is only the larger apparatus and 
dams, however, tliat are thus cared for, the smaller being rarely filled to 
overflowing. Fishermen secure and salt down some five or ten barrels of 
eels during the season, besides living entirely upon them during the catch. 
The larger operators make the business pay, as a single man alone can 
perform all the labor required in taking and salting the fish. "We have 
seen various illustrations of digital dexterity, and also Ole Bull's manipu- 



Seo. 13.] DOMESTIC FISH-BREEDING. 273 

lation of the violin, but could any rapid manipulator once behold the 
marvelous rapidity with -vviiich some of the fishermen divest the eels of their 
slippery epidermis or integuiiients, they would stand abashed, and, like the 
sable individual in the song, 'Lay down the fiddle and the lioe' forever 
afterward. We are at a loss to see how it is possible for any fish whatever 
to descend to the mouth of the river, excepting it be a few belated ones, 
who delaj' their return until a rise in the river gives them security from the 
low-water traps. From Marietta to a point perhaps 100 miles up, excepting 
in a few places, these eel-gins are so numerous that they must entirely empty 
the river of eels, the run continuing constantly nntil frost, and the fishing 
being terminated only, as we have already said, by the fiiU rains. When 
these oecur, the boxes are taken up. The walls which remain under the 
water are very seldom disturbed, and the next year, M'ith very little repairs, 
are just as good as ever. The eels are packed in full-sized barrels, and many 
are sent to Baltimore. Quantities are j^urchased by sea-going vessels, whose 
skippers arc aware of the delicious flavor of this rather anomalous article 
of provision." 

The kind alluded to in this e.xtract is the "silver eel," which is also taken 
all along the sea-coast by hooks and spears, and sold in great abundance m 
all the city markets, at as high a price per pound as beef or mutton. 

Now will farmers please to think that eels can be artificially bred as well 
as any other fish, and that there are a great many streams and ponds, par- 
ticularly in the West, where there are no eels, which might be made to fur- 
nish a vast amount of food, as well for home use as for sale. 

There is another kind of eels called lamprey, or lamper-eels, much esteemed 
in some places. This kind have no gills, but have sucker mouths, and 
breathing holes upon each side of the neck. Tliese are found sometimes in 
great abundance in the streams of the Eastern States, in the spring of the 
year, and are easily caught by hand, by wading the shallows of the stream, 
where they are found clinging by their mouths to the rocks or large pebble 
stones. 

The silver eels are also caught by wading streams at night, with torches 
and spears, during low water, after harvest. This used to be accounted 
great sport for the boys, when we were counted one. Many a good meal 
wo furnished the family, also, by sitting an hour or two of a summer even- 
ing by the side of the mill-pond, with a hook baited with a small fish. This 
we mention to encourage farmers to take steps toward re-stocking their 
streams and ponds, as well as making artificial ones. 

300. Ancient Fish-Breeding. — Lest our readers should suppose artificial 
breeding of fish is a '• new-fangled notion," we state that it has been prac- 
ticed in China many centuries ; and it is probably a century since the mat- 
ter attracted attention in Germany. 

In that country fish-breeding has now become an extensive and profitable 
business. In Fi-ance, also, there are many estaldishments, in some of which 
it has been demonstrated that salmon can be successfully bred in fresh- water 



274 SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. [Chap. II. 

ponds, from eggs obtained from salmon that come from the sea into fresh- 
water streams to deposit their eggs at the spawning season, without allow- 
ino- the fish ever to swim in sea-water. And these young fisli, it is found, 
will reproduce their species. 

If what we have written should incite any one to undertake to make arti- 
ficial ponds, or stock the natural waters of his farm witli that kind of living 
animals which will give him the cheapest animal food that can be produced, 
he should first procure and carefully study the books already published upon 
this question, and, if possible, visit those who have had experience, such as 
Dr. Garlick, of Cleveland, Ohio, Robert L. Pell, of Ulster Co., N. Y., Messrs. 
Treat & Son, Eastport, Maine, E. C. Kellogg, Hartford, Conn., and n.any 
others. 

As an article of diet, there is no mistaking the fact, gained by reading 
and observation, that it is conducive to health, and particularly that those 
who use fish as their principal food are exempt from scrofulous and tubercu- 
lous diseases. This alone should prompt artificial breeding of fish in this 
(xiuntry. 



PLATE XIIT. 

(Page 275.) 

This picture in its two parts is allegorical, though drawn from an 
original. It is intended to teach. It should he studied with that 
object. Then it will convey its own lesson. If the residence of 
farmer Snug is most attractive, let every farmer strive to make his 
so, and keep it in that order. If the residence of farmer Slack is 
repulsive, let it bo a lesson to every farmer's son. 

After looking at this picture, placed as a frontispiece to Chapter 
III. — The Farmery — let him carefully read that chapter. It is full 
of instruction. This picture is not designed as an index to the con- 
tents of that chapter, but to tell its own story — a story of good and 
bad management. As you read, you will see how such a residence 
as this dilapidated one produces a debasing influence upon the minds 
of children, and what inducements you have to beautify home. 



XIII 




lll^ ■^ V'l« I"! \« b 1 ^ DM 1 \1 I 



CHAPTER III. 

THE FARMERY, 

DESCRIBING THE BUILDINGS, YARDS, WELLS, CISTERNS, AQUEDUCTS AND STRUC- 
TURES NECESSARY FOR CAEEYING ON THE BUSINESS OF THE FARM. 

SECTION XI V.-F ARM-HOUSES. 

'X this section, the size, form and construction of 
farm-lioixses, and adaptation to the purpose for wliich 
icy are designed, will be treated,, and reasons given why 
ley should be convenient, light, well-ventilated, airy in 
nner, warm in Winter, and handsome, botli in the inte- 
and exterior. Here, too, all who need the information, 
be able to learn how to build their dwellings so as to 
:e them, without great cost, all that we have indicated. 
301. Influence of the Dwelling upon Character. — "I will 
tell you the character of the man, if you will show me the 
house ho lives in." This quotation embodies a volume of 
truth, and the fact should be impressed upon the minds of all 
farmers' children, as well those who live in such a house as 
that of Farmer Tln-ifty, as those in the tumble-down mansion 
of Farmer Slack. If they were boru in one like the former, it is to be hoped 
that they received influences at the breast, that will always keep them out 
of one like the latter. If they were so unfortunate as to belong to the nume- 
rous family ofjSlacks, let it be impressed upon their minds that the character 
of a man is known by the appearance of the house he lives in. None but a 
" Slack farmer " ever lived through a lifetime in such a miserable dwelling 
place as some of our American farm-houses. 

Tliere is a debasing influence about a mean house upon the minds of 
children ; while a good one, that has many points of beauty about it, makes 
them not only love to call it " home," but it always has an influence upon 
their minds to attract them away from places that might injuriously afiect 
their morals, for it is a lv)me that they love. Such a home also attracts 
proper associates for- your Vbildren, to come and spend a pleasant winter 
evening, or a leisure day, '^ under the parental influence, and will make 
them good men and women ; and all because you provided for your family 
such a home as all American farmers' families should enjoy. 

302. Inducements to Beautify Home. — One of the strongest and one of the 
most common inducements for the sons and daughters of farmers to leave the 
country for a city life, is the neglect of parents to beautify home, and teach 




276 THE FAEMERY. [Chap. III. 

eliildren to love it because everything around it is more cheerful, more beau- 
tiful, more pleasant, more enticing tliau any other spot known to them. 
Instead of this, it is certainly true that a very large portion of our farm- 
houses are, in almost every resjjeet, exactly such places as children of intclli- 
'■■enee, who chance to see or read of the attractions of other places, are most 
anxious to leave. To prevent the exodus of your children, the moment they 
o-et old enough to have ideas of their own, let it be one of the life studies of 
every parent to make the children sensible that their homo is equal, if not 
superior, in all that serves to make life worth living for, to that of any other 
family in the same station of life. If your house is small, it is all the more 
easily painted, and made to wear an attractive outward appearance, and it is 
no good reason, because it is small, that its interior should be most incon- 
venient, uncomfortable and unattractive. Study to make your house such 
in every respect that your visitors Avill say, " What a lovely place," and you 
will make your children contented and yourself happy, and all will exclaim, 
" There is no place like home." 

•' More tban building showy mansion, ' 

More tlian dress or fine array, 
. More than domes or lofty steeples, 

More than station, power and sway, 
Make your home both neat and tasteful, 

Bright and pleasant, always fair, 

Where each heart shall rest contented, 

Grateful for each beauty there." 

Is there any one thought likely to be called up in after years so pleasing as 
the reminiscences of a happy childliood's home, when, like the frcslmess of a 
sunny May morning, we can call up the panorama of the wrens chirping on 
the peach trees under our windows, and the call of robiu redbreast to his 
mate in the orchard, Avhere the lambs are playing bopeep around the trees? 
Then there is the garden with its Spring and early Summer beaiities, the 
breakfast table covered with a snowy cloth, and garnished M'ith clean white 
ware, and provided with such bread and butter — ornamented, perhaps, 
with a fragrant bouquet, with the dew still glistening among the leaves, 
just gathered by a lovely sister, with a thousand other nameless attractions 
that will float before the mind's eye, to remind it of the pleasures of home. 

We look upon a love of home as one of the virtues, that, as a people, the 
American farmers are entirely too much neglecting. In fact, a dislike of 
home is much more common than the contrary, and an old homestead is 
parted from with as little reluctance as an old shoe, and very often for the 
same reason — because it is down at the heel. 

" Seek to make your home most lovely, 
Home should be a smiling spot ; 
Such a home makes man the better 
In lofty mansion or a cot." 

As one of the easy means of beautifying your house, make it light ; 
"misery dwelleth in darkness." 



Sec. 14.] FARM-HOUSES. 277 

303. Reasons why a Dwelling should be Light.— There is a mania for dark 
rooms. People do not appear to be aware of tlie fact, that dark rooms are 
deleterious to health. Hear what Florence Nightingale says upon this sub- 
ject : 

" A dark house is almost always an unhealthy house, always an ill-aired 
house, always a dirty house. "Want of light stops growth, and promotes 
scrofula, rickets, etc., among the children. Peoijle lose their health in a 
dark house, and if they get ill, they cannot get well again in it. Three, out 
of many ' negligences and ignorances ' in managing the health of houses 
generally, I will here mention as specimens. First, that the female in 
charge of any building does not think it necessary to visit every hole and 
corner of it every day. How can she expect those who are under her to be 
more careful to maintain her house in a healthy condition tlian she who is 
in charge of it? Second, that it is not considered essential to air, to snn, 
and to clean rooms while uninhabited ; which is simply ignoring the first 
elementary notion of sanitary things, and laying the ground ready for all 
kinds of disease. Third, that the window, and one window is considered 
enough to air a room. Don't imagine that if you are in charge, and don't 
look to all these things yourself, those under you will be more careful than 
you are. It appears as if the part of the mistress was to complain of her 
servants, and to accept their excuse — not to show them how there need be 
neither complaints nor excuses." 

"We beg of all who build houses, as well as those who keep them, to 
become aware of the fact, that there is a generous abundance of sunlight in 
the country, yet the observer is often convinced that a majority of country 
houses are but scantily provided with this first requisite of health and 
comfort. 

In reference to admitting light freely into our houses, the words of a writer 
on the subject are pertinent. He says : " From several years' observations 
in rooms of various sizes, used as manufacturing rooms, aud occupied by 
females for twelve hours each day, I found that the workers who occupied 
those rooms which had large windows, with large panes of glass, in the four 
sides of the room, so that the rays of the run penetrated through the whole 
room during the whole day, were much more healthy than those who occu- 
pied rooms lighted from one side only, or rooms lighted through very small 
panes of glass." Notwithstanding the cheapness and facility with which 
glass can be obtained, there is a deficiency of windows even in what is 
usually considered the better class of American dwellings. Sitting rooms, 
cheerless enough in having one or two small windows, almost extinguished 
beneath heavy drapeiy of paper and cloth, are exceedingly common. Foi- 
ordinary rooms, white cotton cloth fastened on rollers, as paper is usually 
hung for window shades, is suflicient for the purpose of screen — admitting 
at the same time a difi"used and softened light. 

Dark colors upon the walls, absorbing more or less of the prismatic rays, 
are also unfavorable in their eflfects. The writer just quoted found that in 



278 THE FARMERY. [Chap. Ill 

rooms of equal ventilation, lii^lit and drainage, some of whicli had white 
walls, and others yellow or hnfi'-colored, the occui>iei-s were not equally 
cheerful and healthy. Tlie workers in rooms with colored walls were all 
inclined to melancholy, and complained of pains in the forehead and eyes, 
and were often ill and unable to work. By having tlie color removed and 
replaced by whitewasli, uniform health and cheerfulness were ever after 
secured. In architecture, a course of progress is distinctly marked from the 
cave, the wigwam and hut of the savage, who rudely supplies his few M'ants ; 
from the tent and mosque of tlie Arab ; from tlie cots beneath the castle and 
beside the palace ; from tlie negro quarters to the mansion-house ; and we 
wish we could say, progressing ujiward to comfortable, light, cheerful, ele- 
gant homes for every American farmer. 

Let them learn that they cannot live rightly in dark dwellings. The 
mother who, in the fulfillment of her office, preeminently receives and 
appropriates from all the life sustaining elements, suifers a twofold wrong, in 
the injury to herself and offspring, by dwelling in darksome apartments; and 
childhood in such homes is pale and puny — often worse — is squalid and most 
pitiably diseased. Tlie predominance of the chemical rays in Spring-time 
is undoubtedly one of the adaptations of this season to the young of animals 
which then begin their existence, and it also exerts a decided influence upon 
our own physical health. The invalid desires the return of Spring, for he 
instinctively feels that nature without will then come to the aid of nature 
within ; and who, after the cold and lifeless Winter, does not love to seek the 
wind-sheltered nook, there to drink in the warm sunlight, and to receive upon 
the brow its life-giving blessing? Who has not felt the glorious influence of 
"bathing in the sunshine?'' Then, we conjure you, let the sunshine into 
your house, and do not be afraid of letting in the air, day or night. 

An extraordinary fallacy is the dread of night air. What but night air 
can we breathe at night? The choice is between pure night air from 
without and foul night air from within. Most people prefer the latter. An 
unaccountable choice. What will they say, if it is proved to be true, that 
fully one-ha,lf of all the disease we suffer from, is occasioned by people 
sleeping with their windows shut ? An open window, most nights in the 
year, can never hurt any one. In sickness, air and light are both necessary 
for recovery. In great cities, niglit air is often the best and purest air to be 
had in the twenty-four hours. I could better understand shutting the 
windows in towns, during the day, than during the night, for the sake of the 
sick. The absence of smoke, the quiet, all tend to make night the best time 
for airing the patient. One of our liighest medical authorities on consump- 
tion and climate, has declared that the air in London is never so good as after 
ten o'clock at night. Always air your room, then, from the outside air, if 
possible. Windows are made to open, doors are made to shut — a truth 
which seems extremely difficult of application. 

304. The Locatiou of a Farm-hOJise. — Adaptability is the word that farm- 
ers should study, above all others, when about to build a house. It is the 



Sec. 14.] FARM-HOUSES. 279 

W(jrd that they study least, if we may judge from what may be seen in a 
majority of the farm-houses Avhere we liave travelled — that is, from Quebec 
to New Orleans, and from Florida to Mackinaw. Everywhere is seen the 
lack of adaptability to tlie purpose, either in size, form or location. Not one 
farm house in tei] is located upon the farm as well as it could have been. In 
all the eastern, western and northern States, the farmery is found, nine times 
out of ten, upon some public road, without reference to the convenience of 
farming operations ; and frequently, in all respects, is very inconvenient. 

The location of the farm-house, and the arrangement of all the buildings 
connected with the farmery, require the exercise of good judgment, fine 
taste, carefully exercised skill, all combined, more than any other single 
operation of a whole lifetime, because it is not only for the lifetime of the 
builder, but succeeding generations. 

In the first place, the top of the hill, or highest point of a hilly farm, never 
should be selected for the dwelling of the farmer; such a site is only fit for 
the residence of the lord of the manor, who intends to carry on farming by 
a tenant, or hired farmer, who will occupy the house of the farmery proper. 
His residence is not the farm-house ; it is the mansion of the proprietor, 
and may be built to suit the owner's taste, if he has any. Our remarks are 
intended to apply to farm-houses — the dwellings of that numerous class in 
America who own the soil they till, jjartly with their own hands, and partly 
with those of hirelings. 

305. Size au<! Form of a Farm-hoiisei — It is not size that makes a dwell- 
ing-house attractive, beautiful, or convenient. It is adajitability to the 
purpose for which it was designed. Indeed, a house often has an unpleasant 
appearance on account of its size, because it gives the mind an impression 
that it is rtnnecessarily large for the purpose for which it is designed. 

It is necessary that some farm-houses shoidd be large — that is, atford a 
great deal of room ; but they never should appear large, for if they do they 
almost inevitably appear uncouth. 

Make just as much of the room as possible, on the same level. A farm- 
house with twelve rooms, should have eight of them on the lower floor. 
Never have a basement kitchen. 

No woman, during the years of child-bearing, who docs much of her own 
work, or oversees it when done by servants, should be compelled to go up 
and down stairs every hour of the day. Her sitting, or family-room, bed- 
room, dining-room, kitchen, wash-room, wood-room, well and cistern, should 
all be on the same level, or with a valuation of not more than two or three 
steps. You cannot be a good man if you compel your wife to run up and 
down stairs to do her every-day housework. You are not a good man, nor a 
'man of taste and good judgment, if jou build your house unnecessarily large, 
because it will cause your wife many weary, extra steps to keep it tidj' and 
always swept and garnished as you should be proud to have it appear to 
strangers. You are unworthy the name ot man if you keep your wife toil- 
ing in a house entirely too small for the necessities of jolfir family, or in one 



280 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

wretclieclly ill-adapted to their wants, one single year after you are able to 
provide a better one. 

306. What coustitutes a convenient Farm-house. — We can only speak in 
general terms of the jilans of farm-houses, because every plan is modified by 
location and the wants of the proprietor ; but we can give an opinion that 
Avill be some guide to the new beginner in farm life, or one about to construct 
a farm-house. 

We will suppose a farm of one or two luindred acres, and a family of four 
adults and four children, besides the necessary hirelings, which in most of 
the Northern States, are domiciled in the family dwelling. It should, there- 
fore, have a family-room located in the most pleasant part of the house, 
where the evenings, and all other leisure hours, are, or should be, spent; 
where the young mother devotes many days and nights of toil to her 
children ; where all the family feel " at home," more than in any other 
room. 

Adjoining this room there should be a large family bed-room, with conve- 
niences for warming it, so that it can be used as a sick-room when necessary. 
There should also be a parlor, or spare-room ; for it is not always desirable 
to introduce company into the family-room. There should be a dining-room, 
large enough not only to accommodate the family, but, if necessary, a dozen 
guests. This room should be so arranged that upon occasion, particularly in 
Winter, it can be used for a part of the cooking. This would often save the 
necessity of kindling a fire in the kitchen in a cold Winter morning, to get 
an early breakfast. Tlie farm-house kitchen, where so much of woman's 
work must be done, should be a large, cheerful, light apartment, with all the 
conveniences that modern ingenuity has made to focilitate labor. It should 
also, above all other considerations, be so ventilated that there would be no 
necessity for opening a door or window to let out the smoke of a broiling 
steak, or that of the buckwheat cake griddle. The best cooking apparatus is 
a good range, permanently set in the chimney. One of suitable size for such 
a family as we have indicated, will cost about thirty dollars without cook- 
ing utensils. The two ovens of a range obviate the necessity of a brick oven 
in the kitchen chimney. It will be convenient to have such an oven in the 
wash-room, which should be attached to every farm-house kitchen. This 
should have an open fire-place, a kettle set in an arch, a brick floor, a large 
sink, and a pump which draws soft water from the well or cistern. Divided 
off from this wash-room, there should be a large store-room, for such coarse 
things as barrels of flo\ir, fruit, fresh meat, and articles of kitchen furniture 
not in evcry-day use. Beyond the wash-room, there should be a rooni for 
fuel ; and the best of all, when it can be had at a moderate cost, is anthracite 
coal. Opening out of the kitchen there should be a jJantry, lai'ge enough"' 
and with conveniences to store all the groceries and food in every-day use. 
In this, or some other convenient place, be sure to have a refrigerator; and 
adjoining the kitchen, there should be a milk and butter room, where nothing 
else is ever kept. If cheese is made, it must have a separate room. Butter 



Sec. U.] farm-houses. 281 

and cheese must not be stored togetlier. The way to the ceUar should open 
out of the kitchen. "We do not advocate hxrge cellars under the house, 
because they are apt to become the storehouses of a vast amount of stuff tha 
would be more fittingly stored in some out-building, or an out-cellar. Cellars 
are generally ke^^t in a way that seriously endangers the health of the family. 
If the house is set as it should be, well up from the ground, and ventilated 
under the floor, it is better calculated to promote health than a cellar. 
If the nature of the soil is very dry, the space under the wash-room may 
be used for a store-room, or even milk-room, properly ventilated. Every 
kitchen should have one or more closets, upon the shelves of which the many 
little things can be kept, each in its place, and all in order. In the dining- 
room there should be two closets : one for dishes in cvery-day use, and one 
in which anything not always, but occasionally, wanted upon the table, and 
anything desirable to be locked up, can be safely stored. 

There should be a large closet for the use of the sitting-room ; and there 
must be such a one in the family bed-room. In fact, this should be a double 
room, a smaller one attached to the larger for the small children ; and this 
should have its closet, or clothes-press, that children might be early taught to 
piit every article of clothing in its proper place. 

The larger children, and other adults, should have large, airy bed-rooms 
up stairs ; and no farm-house will be complete without two, at least, " spare 
bed-rooms." 

307. How to Build a Convenient House. — A pleasant-looking, unostenta- 
tious farm-house, to contain the rooms indicated, may be of the following 
dimensions. A two-story portion, 34 by 24: feet, would give half of the 
parlor 16 by IG feet, and a spare bed-room 10 by 10 feet, and a hall 6 by IG 
feet ; a stairway 3^ by 10 feet ; a space for pantry, or closets, 2J- by 10 feet ; 
a family, or sitting-room, 13 by 18 feet, and two bed-rooms, 10 by 11 and 

5 by 11 feet. This building may be roofed to pitch either way. The other 
half of the parlor, not comprised in this space, is to be gained by an attach- 
ment, 8 by 16 feet, one story high, attached to that side to balance the 
piazza, giving the house more of a cottage look, as well as being less expen- 
sive, and making better rooms on the second floor. 

Attached to the main building, a wing or L part, a story and a half high, 
will give a dining-room 12 by 18 feet, a kitchen 10 by 18 feet, a wash-room 
12 by 12 feet, a store-room 6 by 12 feet, a pantry 6 by 8 feet, a railk-room 

6 by 6 feet, and passage and stairway to the half story, which will make good 
lodging-rooms for hirelings. 

The fuel-room may be a separate building, and although used for such a 
purpose, may be made with a finish to correspond with the house, and set 
forward flush with the piazza, which is to extend along the front of this Aving, 
and will form a good termination to the walk, besides being convenient and 
a]iproachable from all parts of the house under cover. This piazza, which is 
6 by 46 feet, and one 8 by 16 feet adjoining, should, if possible, have a south- 
eastern exposure, which will make it pleasant to all the rooms most used. 



282 THE FAKMERY. [Chap. HI. 

We do not give tliis as a superlatively excellent plan of a farm-house 
but one that would be convenient, comfortable, inexpensive, and capable of 
being erected in two or three parts, if necessary, at different periods, and 
upon the clieap plan described in JTo. 350. 

The advantage that we claim for this over some other plans is, that if 
built in parts, at different periods, according to the circumstances of the 
proprietor, each portion may be made to appear, and serve the purpose of, a 
complete house. Thus, the part 24 by 3i feet, with the little wings, one 
forming half the parlor, and the other the piazza, will be a neat looking 
liouse, and a comfortable one for a small family ; using the sitting-room as a 
kitchen, and one bed-room as a pantry. Then the dining-room, kitchen, 
wash-room, etc., might be added, one at a time, as ability or necessity 
prompts. Or, the part containing the kitchen, could be built first, and 
would make a tolerable house by itself. 

Another advantage of the plan is, that the rooms are all light and airy ; 
every room, except one small bedroom, has windows upon two or more sides, 
and the whole house will appear to every passer-by, as though built for use, 
rather than show. It is a great convenience to have a house so constructed 
that strangers can find some other than the front door entrance. 

The space in front of the piazza should be a plat of shrubbery, Avhich 
would form a partial screen, and in front of that the flower garden. There 
may be a door out of the dining-room into a garden upon that side. 

In arranging the plan of this house, the object has been to place the least 
used rooms in tlie house, the parlor and spare bed-rooms, upon the riglit and 
left-hand side of the hall, as you enter the front door from the portico. At 
the other end of the hall is the family room, and large and small bed-room. 
The stairway is situated, not for show in the hall, but convenient to all parts 
of the house, nmning iip at a right angle from the hall, between the sitting- 
room and spare bed-rooui. Tlie sitting-room is situated in the centre of the 
house, convenient to all the rooms, warm in Aviuter, airy in summer, and 
easy of approach. If the ground suits, yon may drop the L floor two feet 
below the main part, and set projecting beyond that part six feet, it allows a 
window there, and breaks the force of the wind upon that end of the sitting- 
room, and also gives room at the other end for a window and glass door out 
upon the large piazza. The common entrance to the house will be upon that 
piazza, and from that into the sitting-room, dining-room, or kitchen. 

Tliere was a plan, published by G. C. House, of Lowville, N. Y., in the 
Country Gentleman, so novel in its form, and apparently so convenient, 
that we consider it worthy a notice in this connection. The following is 
what he says of his plan. 

" In the plan submitted, we flatter ourselves that some improvements 
have been reached, when we take into consideration convenience, space, 
accessibility, the ease with which the hot air passages from the furnace can 
be ari'anged for so many rooms, all within a few feet of the body of the fur- 
nace ; and each door within a few steps of tlie main stair-case. From the 



Sec. 14.] FARM-HOUSES. 283 

peculiar form the centre of the house is at once reached on entering the front 
door. The second story is quite similar to the first, closets occujiying the 
spaces over the library and pautiy, and a fine balcony over the veranda, 
reached through glass doors. 

" To meet the full requirements -which were had in view, in this arrange- 
ment, a site should be selected having a southern or eastern exposure if in 
the country, and the building set with botli full fronts to the street, so that 
the veranda or front door will have a direct front aspect. If, however, the 
location be in city or village, it would be desirable to procure a lot having 
two fronts, if possible looking easterly and southerly, and place the building 
with a front to each road, the front door looking toward the angle of the 
street." 

308. Veutilation of DwellingS> — In whatever form, or upon whatever plan 
you build, do not forget the necessity of ventilation. Our dwellings are often 
I charnel houses. Tlie very first necessity of every human being — pure air — 
is rarely regarded in their construction. The air actually inhaled steals in 
at crevices and crannies, felon-like, because it cannot be shut out. Only the 
defects of our architecture prevent our dying of a vitiated, poisoned, mephitic 
atmosphere, from which the vital element has been exhausted. Most men, 
including architects, seem ignorant of the fiict that the atmosphere is a com- 
bination of different gases, only one of which is wholesome and life-giving, 
and that this is consumed in the lungs upon inhalation, leaving the residue 
to be expelled as a poison. Tlie clmrch, lecture-room or other structure, 
with doors and windows closed, with no provision for ventilation, soon 
becomes a slaughter-pen, and ought to be closed by the public authorities. 

Our manufactories and school-houses are nearly all disgraceful to their 
owners and architects in regard to ventilation. They are often divided into 
rooms less than ten feet high, each thickly stowed with human beings, who 
breathe and work and sweat in an atmosphere overheated and filled with 
grease, wool or cotton waste, leatlier or cloth, and the poisonous refuse 
expelled from human lungs, which together are enough to incite a plague, 
and are, in fact, the primary cause of nearly all the fevers, dysenteries, con- 
sumptions, etc., by which so many graves are peopled. oSTo factory should 
be permitted to commence operations, nor school opened, xintil it shall 
have been suspected by some competent public ofiicer, and certified to hv 
thoroughly provided with ventilators — not windows, which ma^ be opened, 
but in a cold or stormy day very certainly will not be — ^but apertures for 
the ingress of fresh air, and others for the egress of vitiated air, both out of 
the reach of ignorance and defying the eftorts of confirmed depravity of the 
senses to close them. 

Our bed-rooms are generally fit only to die in. The best are those of a few 
of the intelligent and affluent, which are carefully ventilated ; next to these 
come those of the cabins and rudest farm-houses, with an inch or two of 
vacancy between the chimney and the roof, and with cracks on every side, 
through which the stars may be seen. The ceiled and plastered bed-rooms. 



281 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

■wliere too many of the middle class are lodged, with no apertures for the 
ingress or egress of air but the door and windows, are horrible. Nine-tenths 
of their occupants rarely- open a window unless compelled by excessive heat, 
and very few are careful even to leave the door ajar. To sleep in a tight 
six-by-ten bed-room, with no aperture admitting air, is to court the ravages 
of pestilence and speedy death. 

Our railroad cars and steamboat berths are atrociously devoid of ventila- 
tion. A journey is taken with far less fatigue, and more expeditiously now 
than it was thirty years ago, but with far greater risk and harm to health. 
There are probably ten thousand passenger cars now running in the United 
States, whereof not more than one hundred are decently supplied with fresh 
air. Most of these, wliereiu forty or fifty persons are expected to sit all day 
and dose all night, ought to be indicted as nuisances — they are lit only for 
coffins. Tlie men who make them probably know no better ; but those who 
buy and run them have not even that poor excuse. They know that they are 
undermining constitutions and destroying lives ; they know that ample means 
of arresting these frightful avocs are at command ; yet they will not adopt 
them because they cost something. 

If people only knew how many thousands of lives are annually sacrificing, 
how many hundreds of thousands are now suffering from fevers and other 
maladies which have their origin in the inhaling of noxious air, the excite- 
ment and alarm on this subject would work a revolution in our style of 
building. 

Wlien we lived in old-style houses, with large open fire-places, like the one 
mentioned in the next paragraph, there was no need of being careful to build 
air-passages in the walls of the house for ventilatios, for the " fire-place, big 
enough to roast an ox," gave the most complete kind of ventilation. 

It is of the \itmost importance, particularly in malarious districts, that 
houses should be so constructed that a free circulation of air can be had 
through all tlie rooms. In the j^lan described in 305 this fact has been kept 
in view. "Witli slight modifications, the plan will answer for a house either 
at the north or the south. At tlie south the rooms would lie made larger, and 
the fuel-room would probably be substituted for the kitclien. Frequently, 
the kitchen of a planter's house is placed several rods distant, without any 
covered way between. 

309. An 01«1-Stjie Farm-house Kitchen in New England.— A picture of 
one of these scenes of comfort has lately fallen under my observation. 
AVhat can be more cheerful and pleasant than the view of a farmer's kitchen, 
taken during the evening meal of a cold Autumn day ? It is a jiicture of tlie 
calm happiness of rural life. 

The kitchen of the old-style farm-house of N"ew England is not the scullery, 
or mere cooking-place of some modern house — a dirty liole or comfortless 
out-room or sort of human bake-oven, where the cook is almost as much 
cooked as the food. No, it is a room perhaps 24 feet long and 16 wide, well 
lighted, warm, neat, and every-way comfortable. Upon one side there is a 



Seo. 14.] FARM-HOUSES. 285 

fire-place large enough to roast a whole ox, in which a great fire of logs sends 
up a cheerful blaze, lighting up the whole room so its brightness might be 
seen through its great uncurtained windows, like a beacon light to the 
traveller as he comes down the slope of yonder hill two miles away, and 
makes him involuntarily thank God, in anticipation, for the good things 
spread out upon the great table standing between the window and the fire. 

Let us take note of the old-fashioned meal. At the head of the table sits 
a matron of some sixty summers— though in appearance there is nothing of 
the winter of old age about her. Her dress is a gown of home-spun worsted, 
well fortified with flannels from the same manufactory, that bid defiance to 
the Autunui winds of a rigorous climate. The small, neat cap of white gauze, 
and the shoes and stockings of this woman, were made in pursuance of the 
best medical recipe ever written : " Keep the head cool, and the feet dry and 
warm ;" for the stockings arc the product of busy fingers at moments idle 
with many housewives, and tlie shoes of stout leather were made for service, 
and the cap is a mere ornament — a snow-wreath among raven locks — and 
her face is the indication of licaMi and ha]ipiness. 

Upon her right hand sits the farmer, dressed in a butternut-colored coat, 
blue pants, buft' vest, white linen shirt — every article home made — stout 
boots and black silk cravat — for he has been to town, and this is his holiday 
suit. Below him sit Jedediah, Ebenezer, Abram, and Solomon, all economi- 
cal names, for they can be sliortened in common use to Jed, Eb, Ab, and Sol. 
Two of these wear the check woollen winter frocks of New England farmers 
— the others are in round jackets; they are schoolboys. Upon the left sit 
Mary, Adeline, and Mehitable, pictures of real beauty and health. The 
eldest is "dressed up;" ^he has been to town with her father; she has a 
gown of "boughten stuflT;" around her neck is a bow of colored lamb's wool, 
knitted by her own hands, fastened in the throat by grandmother's silver 
brooch. The other two are in check woolen, wliich was spun, woven, and 
colored, and made ujd under the same roof. 

Further down the table arc three athletic young men, day laborers on the 
farm — sons of neighboring farmers — -one of whom is eyeing the charms of 
sweet Mary with an expression easily read by a good physiognomist. The 
group is completed by the schoolmaster, a young jnan with a glowing eye 
wliich speaks of intellect that will tell upon the world some day with as 
much force as though he had not been obliged to obtain his education by 
summer labor and winter teaching. He is one of New England's rising 
sons. 

The meal is for men who toil. At one end of the table stands a pot, of 
ample dimensions, smoking from the oven flanking the fire-place, of the most 
excellent of New England cookeries, " a disli of baked beans," crowned with 
a great square piece of salt fat pork, crisped and rich. Lower down a bi'oad 
pewter platter holds the remains of the " boiled victuals" that formed the 
dinner — beef, pork, potatoes, cabbage, beets and turnips — a pile that miglit 
rival a small hay-cock in size and shape — a plate of rye and indian bread. 



THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

cold, and another made of rye flour are untouched, for a great loaf, just 
drawn from the oven, nicely browned and hot, is offered in great broken 
pieces to temjJt the ajipetite to one of the richest repasts ever given to an 
epicure. By the side of the old lady stands a black earthcrn teapot, the 
contents of which are freely offered, but only accepted by two of the men. 
as the rich new milk, or the hearty old cider is j^referred as a beverage, 
morning, noon and night, by those old-fashioned, hearty laborers. We 
must not forget the never-failing accompaniment of the evening meal at 
this season of the year in New England, for it is New England's proudest 
dish, the golden pumpkin, sweetest pie. 

God being thanked for his great bounties after the close of the happy meal, 
all are drawn into a circle around the great fire-place. Father is finishing off 
an axeholve ; Jed is mending a pair of boots ; and one of the hired 'men, 
iTpon the other side of the same bench, is repairing a wagon harness — both 
using the same tools. The other two are employed, one shelling corn and 
the other helping Mary to peel pumpkins, which are cut in slices and hung 
upon poles overhead. This is Mary's accepted lover. Happy hearts and 
blessed industry ! Ab and Sol are engaged with the schoolmaster around the 
big table, lighted by a home-made candle ; they are studying geography, 
writing, spelling, and arithmetic — fitting themselves for future statesmen. 
Mother is making a new coat for one of the boys, Ada is ironing at a side- 
table, and Hetty is washing the supper dishes at another. There are two 
other members of this family group — the cat occupies the top of the blue 
dye-tub which stands in one corner of the fire-place, and old Bose sleeps 
quietly under the table. 

Directly, and before any sound is audible to human ear, Bose gets up, 
walks out into the long entry, and gives a loud, sharp bark at the outside 
door, and stands waiting the approaching step. Soon satisfied that the new 
comer is a friend, he retires again to his repose, and three or four boys, who 
look as though they might be brothers to those already described, so much 
are tlicy dressed alike, enter and draw around the table with the others and 
the schoolmaster. These are from a neighboring farm, sons of a widow, who 
have till now been so much engaged with the labors of the farm that they 
have been unable to attend the school in the daytime, but are determined to 
lose none of the evening opportunities to keep along with the class. They 
will make honest, intelligent, industrious farmers. 

The old folks M'elcome them heartily, and the young ones are all rejoiced 
at their arrival. The old lady inquires why in the world their mother did 
not come along ; and Mary, the kind-hearted Mary, is so sorry to hear that 
it is because Sarah is not so well, and mother is very busy getting their new 
clothes done so that they can go to school as soon as they finish picking 
apples. " John," says she, " let us hurry and get through our stent and we 
will go over to tlie widow's ; and I will help her with her sewing ; you will 
read for tlie amusement of poor Sarah, for an hour or two." " If that is the 
case," says father, laying down his axe handle, " my good children, you shall 



Sko. 14.] FARM-HOUSES. 287 

go now ; I will finish your work.'' " And Mary, my dear girl, don't go 
empty handed," says mother ; " you know from experience how sweet little 
delicacies, brought by friendly hands to the side of a sick-bed, are to a poor 
invalid." 

" Hetty, my dear, if you have done your dishes, you must get your cards 
and make a few rolls, for 1 am qmte out of grey yarn, and Ave must have 
some more stockings in the work. Old man, don't cut that pumpkin too 
thick. — Ada, daughter, get a plate of doughnuts and some of those nice fall 
pippins and set on the table ; I guess these boys can eat a few while they are 
cyphering. I do wonder if you have got light enough. Sol, get another 
candle, I am sure such industrious boys ought to have all the light they 
want." • 

Thus, my readers, I have given you a slight outline of a farmer's house, 
such as it used to be, such as it might be, and such as it always should be, 
and such as, I am proud to say, many an American farmer can boast of even 
in these degenerate days of " boughten stuff gowns " and lack-a-daisic:il 
lounging of farmer's girls, who are miserable and tired of nothing to do. 
How do you like the picture ? K well, imitate it. It is a happiness easily 
acquired. 

It is easy to imagine the suiTOundings of such a home as the one described 
above. And as there is probably no better exponent of the farmer's life 
than the farmer's home, we propose to present the portrait of a home quite 
in contrast to the preceding one. "We are sorry that such as this are altoge- 
ther too common. Here is the sketch : 

A square brown house; a chimney coming out of the middle of a roof; 
not a tree nearer than the orchard, and not a flower at the door. At one end 
projects a kitchen ; from the kitchen projects a wood-shed and wagon-cover, 
occupied at night by hens ; beyond the wood-shed a hog-pen, fragrant and 
musical. Proceeding no further in this direction, we look directly across the 
road, to where the bani stands, like the hull of a great black ship of the line, 
with its portholes spread threateningly upon the fort opposite, out of one of 
which a horse has thrust his head for the purpose of examining the strength 
of the works. An old ox-sled is turned up against the wall close by, where 
it will have the pi'ivilege of rotting. This whole establishment was contrived 
with a single eye to utility. The barn was built in such a manner that its 
deposits might be convenient to the road which divides the farm, while the 
sty was made an attachment of the house for convenience in feeding its 
occupants. 

We enter the house at the back door, and find the family at dinner in the 
kitchen. A kettle of soap-grease is stewing upon the stove, and the fumes 
of this, mingled with those that were generated by boiling the cabbage 
which we see upon the table, and by perspiring men in shirt-sleeves, and by 
boots that have forgotten, or do not care where they have been, make the air 
anything but agreeable to those who are not accustomed to it. This is the 
place where the family live. They cook everything here for themselves and 



288 



THE FARMEET. 



[Chap. III. 



tlieir bogs. They eat every meal liere. They sit here every evening, and 
here they receive their friends. Tlie women in this kitchen toil incessantly, 
from the time they rise in the morning, until they go to bed at night. Here 
man and woman, sons and daughters, live in the belief that work is the 
great thing, that efficiency in work is the crowning excellence of manhood 
and womanhood, and willingly go so far into essential self-debasement some- 
times as to contemn beauty, and those who love it, and to glory above all 
tilings in brute strength, and brute endurance. 

AVe do not expect to see every farm-house a domestic paradise ; but we do 
contend that one contrived upon the moderate plan described in No. 305 will 
be likely to produce a better race of men and women than such a home as 
the one last mentioned in this paragraph. 

Having occupied as much space as we can afford to give to the dwellings, 
let us now look at some of the surroundings necessary to make up a complete 
farmery. 



SECTION XV.-CELLARS, CHIMNEYS, AND ICE-HOUSES. 

"NT a cold climate, two of the most important requi- 
sites of a farm-house arc good cellars and good chim- 
'J^ neys. In all the great farming region nortli of Lat. 40°, 
]^ there are nights almost every "Winter in which the tliermo- 
metcr falls 10° below 0° of Farenheit; and in some of the 
elevated portions of New England it sometimes falls 40° 
below zero. Tliere warm cellars are a necessity. Every- 
where chimneys are so, for tliere is not a greater source of 
vexation about a farm-house than a smoky chimney. For- 
merly, ice was looked upon as a luxury merely ; it is so no 
longer. Hence we devote space to give the best information 
we can obtain, how to build an ice-house and j^reservo its 
contents. 

310. Cellars— Where an<l How to Build them. — As we have 
already intimated, we do not approve of extensive cellars under dwellings. 
As a general thing, in all damp soils, like millions of acres c>f the western 
prairie lands, cellars, even when kept M'ith the utmost care, are not healthy ; 
and when kept as we have often seen them, dripping with moisture, and 
frequently with water standing several inches deep, they are positive conta- 
gion breeders. In all such situations we recommend cave cellai's, built on 
the level of the surfoce. An excellent one which -we built near the kitchen 
do81", 8 by 20 feet, was made of eight-inch brick Avails, seven feet Idgh^with 
an entr}' and douljle doors at one end, and double windows at the other. At 
first our design was to arch this over and make a grassy mound ; but \ipon 




Sec. 15.] CELLARS, CHIMNEYS AND ICE-HOUSES. 289 

second thought, we earthed it up as high as the top of the wall and then put 
on a building for a smoke-house, the fire for which was built at the bottom and 
carried up in a iiue. Where there is a hillside, a cave cellar may be made 
more easily, though we did not find it a serious job to heap iip the earth from 
the level ground, taking care to slope it off so as not to leave any noticeable 
depression. Such a cellar is very convenient, dry, pleasant, and not 
unhealthy. If built wdiere a building over it would be unsightly, or not 
needed, it may be arched and covered with earth and made quite an orna- 
ment of the house surroundings. 

Wlierever a cellar is it should have as \inifoiTn a temperature as possible, 
the year through ; it shoiild never sink much below 38° Fahrenheit, nor rise 
above 50°, and it should be always moist, yet never wet. It should be also 
well ^■entilated, aiid that should be by a flue of the chimney, constructed 
specially for that object, when the cellar is under the dwelling. 

311. — Chimneys — Uow to Build them. — .rV new combination of chimney and 
ventilator has been patented by a Philadelphian (Mr. Leeds), and is very 
strongly recommended by many who have tried it in that city. The brick 
wall of this chimney is without flues, no matter how large the house, but the 
smoke is carried up, say half the height of the building, through a cast-metal 
box or square flue in the centre of the stack, while pure, cold air is intro- 
duced at the bottom of the building into the chimney outside of the flue. 
Tiic lieat of the flue causes this air to ascend with great rapidity and force, 
carrying the smoke with it from their juncture at the top of the box, and 
rendering it wholly impossible that the chimney should ever smoke. Venti- 
lation is eflected by valves opening from the external or air-chimney into the 
rooms, so as to throw out a column of air, M^armed by its contact with the 
flue, into the room near its floor, while another valve near the ceiling sucks in 
and carries oft' the impure air — the draught of the heated flue being aided by 
the influx of heated air through the lower valve into the room. This arrange- 
ment, it is claimed, saves the expense of brick flues, saves heat, which other- 
wise passes off uselessly through the chimney, insures a thorough ventilation 
without trouble or cost, and aflbrds a perfect security against fires from 
defective or overheated chimneys, through the gradual charring of the 
wooden beams or other timbers imbedded or ending against the chimney. 
A connection with the cellar, by an opening into such a flue, would draw off 
all the foul air that would be generated in any but a very badly kept cellar ; 
besides proving a valuable safeguard against the carelessness of carpenters, 
who do sometimes place wood in fearfully dangerous places. K all stove- 
heated houses had such means of ventilation, it would do something toward 
bringing back the same state of health that existed in connection with open 
fire-places. 

Tlie comfort of a dwelling depends in a great degree upon its having good 
chimneys, always maintaining a current of air upward within, and secused 
externally against the entrance of water. Form, size, location and workman- 
sliip, all unite in producing a good or bad article. 

19 



290 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

The ridge or highest part of the roof is the best place for the exit of the 
cliiniiiey, for it is less liable to those sudden gusts of " blowing down 
chiiiiuey " than when in proximity to higher objects. In this place too, the 
roof is more easily rendered tight and secure against wet. In small houses 
with but one chimney we need not seek any other place for it. In buildings 
larger, where several chimneys are needed, keep the same object in view, 
and approach as near to it as possible. In brick houses, if the chimney 
is built into an exterior wall, it will sometimes fail to draw well, because 
the air outside of the house cools the warm ascending current within the 
flue. If the flue is in a south wall, the heat of the sun sometimes aids the 
draught. 

The size of the chimney is also important. The modern fashion is quite 
too small for utility. Economy of space and a desire to conceal entirely an 
object merely of utility, have caused its dimensions to be contracted until a 
few months' deposit of soot entirely chokes the passage. AVhile we no longer 
need the huge " good old-fashioned chimneys " of former days, the flues should 
not be contracted so as to hinder the current of smoke, which needs a channel 
as smooth as for the flow of water. "We often find the curves, M'here the 
most room is needed, half filled with mortar carelessly dropped and loosely 
adhering to the bricks. By making a proper table above the roof, it can be 
made water-proof; but this, if not well done at first, always proves a 
vexatious and difiicult matter to accomplish. Mortar, putty, cement, and 
paint, in all their variations, have been tried with various success. An old 
grafter recommends for this purpose " grafting wax," as the cheapest, surest, 
and most durable application. But we say, build so that they will all be 
unnecessary. 

Always begin your chimnej-s from a good foundation on the earth. He 
who builds a small "stem" in the garret, builds a large nuisance for 
himself. The soot tea, black and penetrating, will leak out to discolor the 
walls, the gathered soot and ashes cannot be removed, and the thing proves 
a chimney only in name and in its appearance on the roof. 

All unused stove-pipe holes and fire-places should be closed to secure the 
best draught. 

Where there are two chimneys in the same building one will sometimes 
overpower the other, with the most provoking results. This is a contingency 
to be regarded in forming the plan. 

The top of the chimney may be full size and open where there is no 
danger of down currents ; otherwise it should be arched or provided with 
souio cap or ventilator of sheet iron. Those who have built will see the 
importance of these hints; those who are to build, will do well to regard 
them. 

312. Ice-IIouseSi — Xext to a good cellar, an ice-house is a necessity of a 
fasui-house. Here we can do without an ice-house, and north of latitude 40° 
we cannot do without a cellar — at least, not comfortably ; and, in our 
opinion, any family who have once enjoyed the comforts of an ice-Iiouse, 



Sec. 15.] CELLARS, CHIMNEYS AND ICE-HOUSES. 291 

will ever after think that they cannot live quite comfortably without 
one. 

We have often witnessed in good farm-houses the necessity of a supply of 
ice, in the character of the butter placed upon the table — -even among those 
who know how to make good butter, we find a quality far inferior to tl)e 
samples made where there are cool spring houses or an abundant supply of 
ice. "We give a few other reasons in favor of every farmer's liaving an 
ice-house, and we beg farmers to read and consider them well, and then we 
will tell them how to build one. 

313. Reasons why Farmers should have Ice-IIouses. — It is August ; hot, 
faint and exhausted, the farmer comes from the field so tliirsty that he 
cannot satisfy himself with water from a well so shallow that the burning 
rays of the sun have reached the surface and penetrated into the water, 
warming it almost hot enough for dish-water. Some draw their water 
from springs, and others from cisterns. It is only here and there that 
we find a spring that comes gushing to the surface, or that feeds a deep well 
with water, cool enough to satisfy the over-heated, thirsty harvester. How 
refreshing such water is, not only to drink, but to lave the face and hands 
and breast, before sitting down to a meal, or lying down to repose to recupe- 
rate tired nature. "We have no doubt that the laving is far better than the 
drinking, and it should always be the first step taken to quench thirst. 

Again, how i-efreshing is a cool di-ink witli the lunch in the field, but how 
difficult to have it there, at only half a mile from the coldest spring or well. 
How easy it would be if there was an ice-house on the farm. A piece 
that could be carried in one hand, wrapped in a blanket, would be large 
enough to cool the drink of a dozen men all the forenoon, and it would 
invigorate them more than a bottle of rum. Ice, taken in moderate quan- 
tity, is a tonic, and serves-to keep the system in such healthy condition, that 
food gives it more strength. Simply, then, upon economic principles, every 
farmer should have an ice-house. A humane man should have an ice-house. 
It adds to tlie health and comfort of his sun'i'mer laborers. Let him think of 
it now — think of it in August, think of it while sighing. Oh, for a cool 
drink ! Oh, for a cup of ice-water ! 

The stingy man, the v^eriest old hunks, who is never quite satisfied with 
the amount of labor that he gets out of his workmen in the harvest-field, 
should have an ice-house ; it will enable him to get more work out of them. 
Now is the very time to think of this ; particularly in the heat of the har- 
vest-field. 

The man that knows that fresh meat is not only more palatable in the 
heat of Summer, but that there is a positive economy in feeding his family 
and extra laborers upon sweet grass-fed beef and mutton, and upon cold milk 
and sweet, hard butter ; and that a man who does feed his day-laborers so can 
always get better men and more work for his money than his neighbor who 
lives upon salt junk and rum, will have an ice-house ; and if he lias not got 
one he will make up his mind, before the present Summer is over, that as 



292 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

soon as there is a lull in the work of haying and harvest he will set about 
buildhig an ice-house, which he can do with his own hands and common 
farm-laborers ; and with less than the work of one hand and team during a 
week iu winter, he can lay uji such a store of ice that he need never drink 
warm water, nor eat soft butter, nor fear to kill a sheep lest the meat should 
spoil before it could be eaten. 

Let all remember this fact : Ice is not a luxury ; that is, one that can be 
dispensed with, and may be indulged in only by the wealthy ; but one of 
the most economical things that can be provided for family use. It is an 
article that no fiirmer can afford to do without. 

Now, having given arguments enougli to convince any man that lie 
should build an ice-house, we proceed to tell him how to do it. 

314. How to Build au Ice-House. — An ice-liouse is not the complicated, 
costly structure that some peojile appear to think it is. Quite the contrary, 
it is one of the easiest and most simple tilings to build, needing very little 
mechanical skill, and being quite inexpensive. All of the work about an 
ice-house can be done by any farmer of ordinary Yankee capacity in the use 
of such a set of carpenters' tools as every farmer should keep. In the first 
place, it is not necessary to build an ice-house under ground, although in 
dry, gravelly soil it may be built so at less expense than on the surface, and 
it is easier filled. A hill-side is the most convenient location, with the gable 
of one end above the surface, in which Iiave an opening to put in ice — the 
other end, to a level with the floor, being exposed — through which we would 
have the ordinary entrance by double doors. In such a situation we would 
use broken stone, making a hollow, grouted wall ; and tlie same kind of wall 
might be built on level ground ; and a very good, cheap, durable wall it is. 
Brick or stone may also bo used for the walls, according to the fancy of the 
builder, always making them hollow, and the outer and iimer part of tlie 
wall absolutely as air-tight as could be made with brick and mortar. 

The cheapest, easiest and quickest constructed ice-house, and one all-sufii- 
cient for the purpose, is built of wood ; and the money difference in cost 
placed at interest will more than keep the wooden house in repair and good 
as brick or stone. So we will give directions for building a plain, cheap, 
common, rough-board, farm ice-house, large enough for all ordinary private 
families. 

Select a spot of ground convenient to the kitchen door, and remove the soil 
and put coarse gravel or sand in its place, with drains leading away from 
the eaves, so constructed that it will be absolutely impossible for water 
to stand under or around the building. Lay down two-inch plank six inches 
wide, bedded their thickness in the sand, for sills ; the end ones eight feet 
long and side ones thirteen feet. Cut your studs off square, eight feet long, 
of any size or width that you can get in the refuse heap at the nearest saw- 
mill or lumber-yard, so that you can get one straight side, and set them up 
face side in, and toe-nail them to the sill, with an inch-board on top for a 
plate, upon which rest the joist ; nail up through the plate to hold them 



Seo. 15.] CELLAES, CHIMNEYS, AND ICE-HOUSES. 293 

in place. 'Row board these studs on the inside, and batten the cracks with 
rouo'li boards, and serve the under side oF the joists in the same waj'. Tliis 
makes a tiglit boarded room, eight feet wide, eight feet high, and twelve 
feet long. The floor must be laid upon timber bedded in gravel or charcoal, 
to cut off any currents of air, but so that all wa'.er from melted ice will 
drain ofi' immediately. Divide off four feet of the end in which you intend 
to have the door, for a cooling-room, and you will have room for a cube of 
ice eight feet, less the straw^ or sawdust all around between the ice and 
boards, and this will last any family through the hot weather, with most liberal 
use of it for all needed purposes. 

Now for the protection of the ice to prevent its melting. Set up another 
"balloon frame" outside of the first, from one to two feet off, tlie widest 
space being the best, boarded perpendicularly with rough boards battened. 
The top of the outer frame must be tied firmly to the inner one by strips of 
boards nailed from plate to plate, and the space between the walls com- 
pactly filled with charcoal, sawdust, or straw, provision being made for a 
narrow doorway in one end, to be closed with shutters inside and out, which 
must be made to shut tight, and will be greatly improved by lining them 
with a coat of straw two inches thick, fastened on by lath nailed across. 
About the roof. This must bo made in the same way as the sides, with two 
sets of rafters, boarded and filled between with straw, with good shingling 
outside, or some other tiglit roofing. It will be necessary to make a trap in 
the roof, or a door in the gable end, opposite the usual entrance, with a slide 
leading to the interior, for the convenience of filling, and there must be a 
suitable ventilating chimney, six inches square, from the ice up through 
the roof, which at times may be partially closed by a wisp of straw. The 
space between the joists and the rafters, if filled with straw, will assist in 
the preservation of the ice, and need never be removed, except the portion 
around the door made for putting in ice. 

The expense of such an ice-house it will be easy to calculate upon the 
local cost of'lumber. 

Such a building as we have described will take forty-eight studs 8 feet 
long, 2 by 4 inches in size, which is quite strong enough, and sixteen inside 
rafters of same size, 8 feet long ; twenty rafters of same size, 9 feet long, for 
outside ; two sills 2 by 6 inches, 8 feet long each ; two ditto 13 feet long 
each for inside frame; two ditto IG feet and two ditto 12 feet for outside 
sills, and some short pieces of stuff for gable-end studs; for plates tw) 
boards 6 inches wide, 13 feet long; two ditto 8 feet long; two ditto 12 feet 
and two ditto 16 feet each ; and this constitutes the timber of the frame, and 
will not exceed 700 feet, board measure. In fact, this whole frame could be 
made of straight poles, or split stuff, which would cost but a trifle on some 
farms. The boarding of sides, roofs, floors, partition, measures in all, we be- 
lieve, 1,620 feet of surface and bat;tens, so that 2,500 feet of lumber and 2,003 
sliingles appear to be ample for an ice-house to stow a cube 8 feet square, 
with a cooling-room 4 by 8 ; and two men can build it in four days. Now 



294 THE FARMERY. [Ghap. IH. 

count the lumber at $12 a thousand, shingles at $4 a thousand, work at $2 
a day, nails, hinges, etc., $2, team work §2, and we have a total of $50 for 
the cost of a building that is worth $50 to any farmer every year. Who 
would do without an ice-house? 

Having given the above as our own plan, we will add the plans of several 
others. One writer says : 

" Instead of one hollow wall for a non-conductor of heat, as in ordinary 
ice-houses, I have two, with a space between them for coutined air. The site 
is on a gravel slope. The foundation, for convenience in storing ice, is dug 
two feet below the surface of the ground. The outside wall, for non-con- 
ducting material, is six inches in the clear. The inside wall is four inches. 
The doors for entrance correspond perfectly with the hollow Avails in 
thickness, and are filled in the same manner — being shaped to shut with 
a bevel edge, like the door to safes used by merchants and bankers. 
At the lower side of the plates is a ceiling, upon wliich I put spent 
tan one foot thick, which tan is in direct connection with the side-walls, 
so that any settling in of the walls may be sujjplied from overhead. 
From the under side of the ceiling runs a ventilator, with a hole of one and 
a half inch bore, up through the roof, which is finished with an ornamental 
cap. 

"The room for ice is eight by ten feet in the clear, and eight feet high. 
About all the waste of ^ce that I observed during the summer was at the 
bottom, and this was so slow that we used the ice without regard to economy 
for a large family, and in a dairy of thirty-five cows, besides giving freely 
to our neighbors. 

" I put sticks four inches thick in the bottom to put ice on, and also some 
straw about the sides as well as underneath the ice." 

At a discussion about ice-houses, by the American Institute Farmers' Club, 
the following facts were elicited : 

Mr. Pardee read an extract from a paper upon ihe ventilation and drain- 
age of ice-houses. It states that an \inderground ice-house is -calculated to 
melt ice much faster than above, because the earth gets heated and melts 
the ice. 

William S. Cakpentee — It is a question of great moment to farmers how 
small a cube of ice can be kept well. I have not, in my experience, found 
that one less than ten feet will keep. I have a floor over my ice, which I 
keep covered with straw, and find it an excellent thing to prevent thawing. 
I find the bottom layer of my hoiise, which is an underground one, keeps 
better than the layers above. Some of my neighbors think the ice keeps 
the best if the cakes are set on edge. 

John G. Beegen — The great ice-packers I have, seen put in their cakes 
flat, and very compact. Some of my neighbors break up the blocks of ice, ' 
but I prefer the solid blocks. My opinion is that straw is better than salt 
hay to pack ice in. I should prefer to have a very heavy coat of straw on 
the ice, and then I don't care about the ventilation above. I will say, how- 



Seo. 15.] CELLARS, CHIMKEYS, AND ICE-HOUSES. 295 

ever, tliat my neighbors' ice-houses that have no upper floor, and are a good 
deal open at tlie top, do keep the ice well. 

Prof. Nash — "We are too much inclined to be innovators in all our build- 
ings, and in ice-houses particularly. "We must look at the true philosophy 
of keeping ice, or we shall fail ; for the philosophy of it is to put it as much 
away from the air as possible, and that is why we pack it in straw or saw- 
dust, etc. As to giving some ventilation to the loft, or space over the ice, 
it may be of service. I think that an ice-house should not have any pro- 
vision for ventilation — the tighter the better. 

Solon Robinson — There is a misunderstanding about this term ventila- 
tion. As one of the advocates of it for 'an ice-house, as well as all other 
houses, I do not mean open exposure, but simply to allow an escape of the 
heated air that will accumulate in the space between the straw and the roof. 
Make it as tight all round the body of the ice as i^ossible, by using non- 
conducting substances from the exterior, and cover the top of the ice as 
closely as you please with sawdust or straw, but don't make the upper part 
too close ; at least, leave the cracks in the gable ends ojjen. As for the 
sides, the best of all substances to fill with is fine charcoal ; the next best, 
sawdust ; next, tan-bark, straw, leaves from the forest, or salt hay, or any 
other fibrous substance. It is not necessary to have a double wall if your 
ice is sufficiently packed around with any of the above substances. The air, 
at any rate, must not come in contact with the ice, nor with a board that 
touches it. And a stone or the ground will melt ice much quicker than 
wood. "What I have been most anxious for in bringing up this discussion 
upon ice-houses, is to divest the subject of all scientific nonsense about 
making buildings to keep ice of so exf)ensive a character that no common 
farmer would undertake it. Yet there are thousands of men who might 
enjoy the comforts of a full supply of ice, and some of them would do it 
if they only knew that they could build a house at almost no cost. A log 
cabin, as described by Mr. Pell, or a cellar lined with fence-rails and a 
board roof, with plenty of sawdust, leaves, or straw, will keep it longer than 
a stone or brick building, put up at a cost of $500. I Avant to encourage 
people to build cheap ice-houses. 

A correspondent says: "I live on Staten Island, where neither charcoal, 
sawdust, nor tan-bark can be had, except at great expense, but dry forest- 
leaves and salt hay cost but a trifie. "Will either of the latter answer a good 
purpose for an ice-house out of the grounjl, and, if so, which is the best? (1.) 
I propose to make two boxes of rough hemlock boards — the outer one 
twelve feet square by ten feet high, the inner one ten feet square by the same 
hight — so as to leave a continuous space of twelve inches all round between 
the boxes, this space to be filled with leaves or hay pressed down tight. (2.) 
The roof to be covered with tongued and grooved boards, and set at an 
angle of 35 degrees, with a projection of two feet. The double doors 
will be in the peak of the roof, the outside frame to be supported by chest- 
nut posts, lined on one side, and set into the ground four feet apart ; the 



296 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

inside box, or frame, to be supported by jois'.s, 2x4-incli, set edgewise, three 
feet apart, secured against the inner side. Cliestnut sleepers will be laid on 
the ground, covered with loose boards, from wliicli there will be good drain- 
age. Will it be necessary to make the roof double, and have an opening on 
the top for ventilation ? (3.) Can you suggest any improvement on tliis 
plan, without increasing tlie cost? (i.) One of my neighbors, for the want 
of tan-bark or sawdust, built an expensive ice-house on the ground, walled 
up with stone, but it fails to keep the ice. (5.)" 
I will briefly answer these inquiries : 

1. Either salt hay or leaves will answer a good purpose, and I should use 
whichever is the cheapest. * 

2. This plan will make an ice-house that will keep the contents safe in 
any place. 

3. There is the same necessity for a double roof that there is for double 
sides, and more, for that is not necessary if there is a good thick lining of 
straw between the ice and boards. I double my roof by a thatch of straw, 
first laid and then boarded over. 

4. The improvement I should suggest would be a cheaper frame. Make 
the outside just like the inside. It is cheaper, and will answer just as well 
as the chestnut-posts. 

5. This is probably owing to deficient ventilation ; that is, openings in the 
gable ends far above the ice, to allow the hot air and foul gases that accu- 
mulate there to pass ofi". If the stone walls of an ice-house once get heated 
from the sun, they retain the lioat botli day and night, and communicate it 
to the atmosphere within. Stone is the worst material for an ice-house that 
can be used. 

RoBEET L. Pell .said that he built an ice-house just like a log-cabin, in 
the ground, with a board roof, that keeps ice first-rate. He built one of 
stone and one of brick, laid in cement, neither of which would keep ice. 
He fills on a cold day, and leaves the house open to allow the ice to freeze. 
He packs broken ice into all the spaces between the cakes, and puts straw 
at the bottom eight inches thick, and packs the ice up to the wood on the 
sides, and leaves it nntil June or July, when there is a space melted away 
all round, and that is then packed tight with straw. His ice-house is most 
thoroughly ventilated in the upper portion of it. A full set of ice-tools costs 
about $50, but he did not think it necessary for a farmer to go to that ex- 
pense ; a saw is nearly as good as an ice-plow to cut ice on a small scale, 
when great haste is not very necessary, as is the case with the gi-eat ice- 
gatherers for market. 

John G. Bergen — My ice-honse is a cellar, about twelve feet square at the 
top and ten feet at the bottom, and this is fitted with a double-boarded frame, 
the hollow filled with sawdust. The earth is so porous that it gives a 
natural drainage. There is a building, used for other purposes, over the ice- 
house, which is ventilated, but the ice part has no ventilation ; and I cover 
the ice with sawdust, and also around the sides, and it keeps well. I pack 



Sec. 15.] CELLARS, CUIMNEYS, AND ICE-HOUSES. 297 

tlie cakes close, .ind they come out as square as tliey v/ent in. There is a 
free circulation of air in the upper part of my ice-liouse, and nothing hut 
straw to exclude tlie air from the ice. The great Hudson River ice-honses 
are very large, and always built above ground, with double walls, filled with 
sawdust. The ice is packed close, and broken ice filled in to all the cracks. 
Some single ice-houses hold 3,000 tuns; and most of the ice used in the city 
is cut upon the river, and not upon lakes. 

Mr. Ql'inn — I noticed that some of these ice-houses use salt liay. The 
roofs and sides are double, and the best of them are filled with fine charcoal, 
making the walls eighteen inches thick. I know one person who had an 
underground ice-house, and now has one above, which he prefers ; the ice 
keeps in this the best. 

J. P. Vkeedek — I made my ice-house by digging a hole ten or twelve feet 
square, and lined it with boards as a double wall, filled in with tan-bark. 
My roof is a straw thatch. My ice keeps perfectly well. I have good 
drainage, and I put about six inches of straw around the ice on bottom, 
sides, and top. The house is only four feet below the surface, and the rest 
above. I pack about twelve or fourteen tuns of ice, being careful to fill all 
the crevices with broken ice. 

John G. BiiEGEN said that he did not think a double roof necessary. 
None of the ice-houses in his neighborhood had them. 

Prof. Mapes — The point settled in building ice-houses is, that the whole 
ice-house should be above ground. This is the practice in Massachusetts. 
There is no substance equal to a confined space of air for the walls of ice- 
houses. Build of whatever substance you please, so that you have a double 
wall, and tight enough to hold air, and you will have a perfect protector of 
ice. As to ventilation, Jenner, who first constructed ventilated ice-boxes, 
found that ice melted faster in ventilated than in unventilated boxes. Ventila- 
tion is necessary wlien you desire to keep food sweet. If there is no ventila- 
tion, the confined air soon becomes very foul from animal substances on ice. 
He then gave some interesting particidars of the large refrigerators in some 
of the city packing-houses. Some are so large that tliey use up a number 
of tuns of ice a day. The temperature is kept at 42 degrees, and in large 
rooms thus cooled hundreds of animals can be killed and cooled every day. 
If your object is to keep ice without use, shut up close — it needs no venti- 
lation. 

315. How to Make and Store Ice. — H. Lymaii, of Johnstown, Wis., tells 
how to make ice for putting up in ice-houses, where there is no convenient 
pond or stream, and how to store it without an expensive house built on 
purpose. Mr. Lyman says : 

" I live on the prairie. On the coldest day of January I draw water from 
the well and pour it into square tin pans, two feet long, nine inches wide at 
the bottom, and nine and an eighth at the top, and aljout nine inches deep. 
"While I have been drawing water, Dick has been gathering clean snow 
and putting it into the water. The compound is frozen immediately. I now 



298 THE FARMERY. [Chap. IH. 

apply hot water w?tli cloths to the sides of the tin containers, which enables 
me to empty out the blocks of ice. 

" A cube of ice of four feet is all I need. No separate building need be 
erected to keep it in. The barn, the wood-house, or the tool-house can 
furnish an ample corner. Tlie conditions of its safe keeping are — the M'alls 
of a building around, and two feet of compact straw on every side of the 
gelid mass. In packiug, I lay loose boards on a bed of straw, and on this 
platform I lay the ice. I take care to expose the ice to the lowest tempera- 
ture of the year, and lay it up in the coldest state. If every alternate block 
of ice is inverted, the mass is thereby made compact; if not, there will be 
a little space open at the bottom between the respective blocks. When the 
cube is complete, cover the whole with straw. This work can be eU'ected 
with milk pans or other vessels, and if straw or ice be carefully filled into 
the intervals in packing it will answer a good purpose, though square pans 
are preferable. I use snow for the sake of hastening the process of freezing. 
The pans are flared a little toward the top to facilitate turning out." 

This excellent plan should be carefully heeded by all the dwellers upon 
prairies, and by a great many other people. 

31G. How to Carry Ice to the Field. — Lucius Beach, of Port Huron, Mich., 
says : " Many farmers do not put up ice from the supposed difficulty of using 
it on the farm away from the house. Iliave used ice-water for constant 
drink two summers on ray form. I happened to carry water with ice in it 
into the field in a six-quart tin pail with a cover to it. "We used the water, 
and the ice was left in the pail about six hours in a hot day, and some of it 
still remained. I then procured a twelve-quart tin pail with cover, put 
in a large piece of ice, took a jug of water into the field, and turned it on 
to the ice as we wanted to use it. In this way it will last from six to ten 
hours for the use of six men, and is a luxury indeed." 

317. How to Keep Ice in Summer. — If you have no ice-house, and buy ice, 
or even if you have an ice-house, and do not want to open it except at even- 
ing or morning, or if it is inconvenicrit to the house, and you wish to have 
ice always handy, this is how you can do it. Have a bushel of clean, dry 
sawdust, put a peck of it in the bottom of a tight barrel, having one hole 
for drainage, then put in a layer of lumps of ice and another peck of saw- 
dust, and so on, covering the top tightly with sawdust, and over all a folded 
blanket. Do not let the ice touch the staves, and do not set the barrel in a 
warm place, and you will have ice all day, with scarcely any perceptible 
waste. Provide sawdust enough, so that you can shift the wet for dry every 
day. This is a much better plan than wrapping ice in a blanket or keeping 
it in a refrigerator, because tlie best of these useful articles of household fur- 
niture do not preserve ice, but rather waste it, and in so doing preserve the 
food placed in them. 

318. Refrigerators. — No family can afibrd to keep house without a re- 
frigerator — a food-preserver. We do not mean an ice-box, which, like the 
one above described, will keep ice, but nothing else — -that is, not to any ad- 



Sec. 16.] 



THE BAKN AND ITS APPURTENANCES. 



299 



vantage. A piece of meat, placed upon ice, will keep a longer time than 
in the open warm air, but it does not keep as good as in dry air of ice 
temperature, and it spoils very quickly after it is taken off the ice. A cus- 
tard pie kept three days on tiie ice will be slimy aud not toothsome; but 
when kept in a good refrigerator, the pie will be as sweet and dry as it is in 
a pantry in cool weather; a piece of meat will keep in July as well as in 
January. Such a refrigerator has the ice at the top, and the air cooled by 
it falls upon the food below, or on a shelf alongside of the ice, and is as dry 
as any other cold air. A box of fine charcoal, kept in the refrigerator, and 
changed every month, will absorb all the unpleasant odors and keep the air 
sweet. Such refrigerators are common now in New York in families, and 
some of the butchers have, them large enough to store the quarters of a bul- 
lock and several sheep and calves. And some of the packing-houses have 
them large enough to store and cut and pack, in a winter atmosphere, several 
hundred hogs a day. Without such " cooling-rooms," the summer slaughter- 
ing of butchers' animals could never be carried on to the great extent it is in 
all the large sea-board cities. This is one of the great inventions of the 
present age. These improved refrigerators, of suitable size for families, cost 
from $15 to $50 each. Ours, which cost $25, is worth $10 a year — has been 
in use five years, and is just as good as ever, and we see no reason why it 
will not be so ten years hence. It is bettor than none, even without ice, as 
it preserves an even condition of temperature. Every farmer should have 
ice, and no one should be without a refrigerator in some very convenient 
locality near the kitchen cr store-room. 



course, a 



SECTION XVI.-THE BARN AND ITS APPURTENANCES. 

_ F all that might be profitably said under the title of this 
7 section were given, we should require a whole volume 
instead of a few pages, which is all the space we can allot 
'^ to the important subject. 

A farm M'ithoxit a Jjarn is only to be tolerated in a new 
settlement, as in some cases on the great prairies, where the 
land can be got under cultivation before the owner can erect 
the necessary buildings. Even there, we have always no- 
ticed that the most thrifty farmers were those who erected 
the best barns, at the earliest moment practicable. 

Tlie barn and its appurtenances, treated of in this section, 
contains information that will be found valuable to every one 
who owns, or ever expects to own, a farm. 

319. The Use and Value of Barns, and their Localion.— Of 
bai'n is one of the great essentials of a farmery — one that can 




300 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

not be dispensed with. Grain and hay may be preserved in stacks or bar- 
racks, but the one can not be threshed and cleaned out-door without waste, 
and the other can not be fed to the stock to good advantage anywhere but 
in the barn. A good house and convenient out-buildings are comfortable ; a 
good barn is one of the grand necessities of good farming. 

No farmer can aiford to do without one of sufficient size to accommodate 
all the purposes for which a bam is appropriate. We have rarely, if ever, 
seen upon a ■well-cultivated farm a barn that was too largo. In nine out of 
ten cases the barn is too small. After it is too late, the farmer regrets that 
he had not built it larger. But lack of size is not so great a fault as Avrong 
location, for you can build to the original, by a lean-to upon one side, and 
open shed or stable on the other, or an entire new building adjoining, so as 
to make the whole quite as convenient as though all built together in one 
building. But if the location is wrong, it never can be righted. So, in 
building anew, make this a question for careful consideration : " Where shall 
I place my barn ?" And do not place it until you know that you arc right. 

We will point out a few essential things about location, which we think 
may be of service to those about to build barns. 

First, a barn never should be set up-hill from the house, where by any 
possibility the drainage either on the surface, or under it, should come down 
about the door, or into the cellar or well. Wherever the situation will 
admit of it, place the barn on a lower level than the house, and northerly 
or Avesterly from it, and do not be afraid to give a good distance between. 
You had better walk an extra hundred feet all your life than have a hundred 
foul smells creeping into every room in your dwelling. 

Secondly, never build your barn npon the roadside. Upon the road, 
only a mile long, which we daily travel between our own home and the 
railroad station, there ai-e four barns, located upon just such situations as are 
very common in all hilly regions, the face of a hill, which gives most excel- 
lent natural drainage — but unfortunately for good economy, the drainage is 
directly into the public road. 

Another thing in the location of a barn should be had in A^ew, and that 
is convenience of access. For a large farm, a hillside barn, that can have a 
drive-way into the second or third story, affords a great convenience about 
unloading hay, and hauling away manure from the lower side. 

A location should be chosen for a barn, so far as it can be, with reference 
to other important considerations, where it will not occupy half an acre, or 
more, perhaps, of the very best soil, about the center adopted for the farmery 
establishment. If you are about to make a new location for the wliole of 
the buildings to constitute a farmery, it will be easy to have them arranged 
relatively right, if you first make a complete map of the whole farm, and 
then make your locations to suit peculiar circumstances. On a rough, rocky 
farm you may often save an acre of good land by placing your buildings 
upon ground or rock fit only to build upon, and much better for that than a 
rich soil. 



Seo. 16.] THE BARN AND ITS APPURTENANCES. 301 

Above all things, in selecting a site for the farmery, of whicli the barn, 
with its appurtenances, forms such a conspicuous portion, avoid locating 
directly upon both sides of the road, and all locations upon brook or river 
banks, which allow so much fertility to be washed away. And do not go 
lo the bottom of the hill because there is a natural spring there, or because 
you can dig a well so easily. You can have a cistern anywhere near a roof, 
if you can not get a well. Do not locate on the very pinnacle of the hill — 
it is too bleak, even in quite warm latitudes. .If you place the house on the 
hill, yo.i need not put the barn, like one I see almost daily, on the top of 
the highest pile of rocks in the vicinity — a spot bleak enough to blow the 
hair off a cow's back. 

Having said this much of the most important question, Ave will now 
introduce some descriptions of a few of the best barns in this country. 

320. Baru built by (he Shakers, Cauterbury, N. H.— The location of this 
Shaker society is about fifteen miles north of Concord, N. H., and nine miles 
east of Merrimac Ttiver. The society is composed of three families, and 
owns about 2,500 acres, lying in nearly a square form, in the center of 
which are their substantially built and commodious dwelling-houses and 
numerous other buildings, all of which are painted of lightish colors, and 
kept in the most complete repair and neatness. 

The main body of the barn is 200 feet in length by 45 in widtli, with 3i 
feet posts (three stories high). The roof is nearly flat, double boarded, then 
covered with three layers of stout sheathing paper, saturated with coal tar, 
upon which is spread a thick coat of coal tar and screened grave!. There 
is a projection at each end of the barn, 25 feet in length and about 16 in 
width, so that the whole length is 250 feet. The whole structure is well 
boarded. The sides and ends are covered with 16-inch pine shingles, laid 
four inches to the weather. There are three floors, extending the whole 
lenglh of the main body of the barn. The ground upon which the barn 
was erected was nearly level, but at great expense a drive-way has been 
graded, of easy ascent, so that the loads of liay are driven on to the upper 
floor, over the high beams, so that, in unloading, the hay is pitched down, 
instead of np. Tliis makes a material diflerence in forking over 200 tons 
of hay each hay season. The floors, ceilings, partitions, etc., are all planed 
and finished off as handsomely as farm-houses formerly were. There are 
two hovels on the lower fioor, extending the whole length of the main barn, 
the eastern portions of which are arranged for tying up 23 cows in each, 
with sliding stanchions. The cows have been so trained, as they pass in 
tlie hovel each one takes its own jilace with the regularity of well-trained 
soldiers, and by a simple contrivance — the turn of a short lever— the heads 
of all the cows are fastened or loosened, quicker than any one could be tied 
by a rope. Each cow is named, and, like the "world's people," they select 
fancy names for their cows, such as Eosa, Lady Grace, Julia, Bustle, and 
Crinoline, each of which is printed in large type on slips of pasteboard, and 
tacked upon the j oists over each one. Upon the roof ai-e three large, hand- 



302 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

somely finished ventilators, with Venetian blinds. The cellar, 200 by 45 
feet, is of good depth; the walls are of split granite, pointed with cement. 
Large wooden tubes pass from the cellar through the roof, which effectually 
cany off the heated foul air of the manure. From the south side of the cen- 
ter of the barn described, a two-story building extends, south, 100 feet by 
27. The upper part is used for storing hay, grain, straw, etc. ; the lower, 
for calf-pens, store-rooms, and hospital for sick animals, with a nicely fitted 
up room for the herdsman. The roof of this, like that of the large barn, is 
nearly flat, tarred and graveled, and shingled upon the sides and ends, as is, 
also, a new sheep-barn, built adjoining. This runs from the southeast cor- 
ner of the large barn, 108 feet long by 43 wide. The drive-way floor of 
this is 17 feet wide, so that two teams can stand abreast, and at the south 
end the floor is wide enough to allow the turning about of the team, so that 
the oxen passing out go before the cart, instead of the cart going out first — 
for the south end is not graded up so as to admit of driving through, as in 
the large barn. 

Another addition was planned, that is, a long shed, extending from the 
southwest corner of the barn 100 feet. This will give two barn-yards of 
about 100 feet square each, well sheltered, all but the south, with both yards 
well supplied with water. 

As the Shakers are famous for good barns, we shall give the description 
of another one of theirs. We have great confidence in the economy of t'lc 
form of the one next described, as well as its great convenience. 

321. A Circular Barn. — The Shakers of Berkshire County, Mass., have a 
barn that is worthy the attention of farmers who are contemplating the 
erection of barns upon a large scale. We should think that on some 
accounts it M^ould be a good form lo erect upon large prairie farms. We 
recommend its form for adobe buildings and concrete walls, as one best 
adapted to withstand the force of hard storms, as well as the form most 
economical for the room inclosed. The barn owned by the Shakers is 100 
feet in diameter, built of stone — a material that is ver}^ abundant in that 
part of Massachusetts. It is two stories high, the first one being only seven 
and a half feet between floors, and containing stalls for seventy head of 
cattle, and two calf stables. These stalls are situated in a circle next the 
outer wall, with the heads of the animals pointing inward, looking into an 
alley in which the feeder passes around in front of and looking into the face 
of every animal. The circle forming the stable and alley-way is fourteen 
feet wide, inside of which is the great bay. Over the stable and alley is 
the threshing-floor, which is fourteen feet wide and about three hundred 
feet long on the outer side, into which a dozen loads of hay may be hauled, 
and all be unloaded at the same time into the bay in the center. There 
should be a large chimney formed of timbers open in the center of such a 
mass of hay, connecting with air tubes under the stable floor, extending out 
to the outside of the building, and with a large ventilator in the peak of the 
roof. We should also recommend an extension of the eaves beyond the 



Sec. 16.] THE BAKU AND ITS APPURTENANCES; 303 

outer wall, by means of brackets, so as to form a shed over the doors, and 
the manure thrown out of the stable and piled against the wall. 

In the baru inentioned there is a granary projecting into the circle of tlic 
bay, which we do not exactly approve, preferring tlie granary in a separate 
building, to wliich grain may be conveyed through spouts, if the barn is 
located npou the hillside, which is preferable on account of entering the 
threshing-floor on a level, though that is not indispensable, as a wagon-way 
can be graded up from a level plat. 

323. Barn Foundations. — The stone foundation of a barn should never be 
laid in mortar. This is an error that should be avoided, as unnecessary and 
unprofitable. It would be even better to place the sills upon pillars, leaving 
a free circulation, and space high enough to furnish shelter for all tiio 
poultry in winter, and thus keep them out of the inside of tlie barn, where 
they are a nuisance. The main object, however, is to give free circulation 
of the air, to drive out all foul gases, and promote the health of animals. 
The surface must be so graded that no water will stand under the barn. 

323. Opinions of Practical Farmers about Barus.— At a Farmers' Club in 
West Springfield, Mass., after consultation and debate, it was decided that a 
large barn was better than two or more small ones ; that a tight barn was 
better, even for badly-cured hay, than an open one ; that a brick barn and a 
slate roof were the best and cheapest for a man who has all his materials to 
buy ; that a good connection between a house and barn is a covered walk, 
overhung with grapevines ; that economy of roof and convenience for work 
were of tlie first importance in any building ; that warm water and warni 
stables were essential to the comfort of animals ; that the housing of manures 
was judicious; that liquid manures are largely lost, even by those who 
have cellars and sheds for storing them ; and that the best absorbents of 
liquid manure are buckwheat hulls, leaf mold, sawdust, fine sand, dried 
peat, turf, and straw. 

The meeting was held at the liouse of one of the members — an old-fash- 
ioned two-storj' building — with modern furniture and fixtures, where the 
well-spread tables were bountifully loaded with fat chickens, mealy potatoes, 
light bread, yellow butter, melting cheese, with pies and cake to match, 
all lavishly bestowed, and such conversation ensued as would, if it could 
be imitated in every neighborhood, prove of great benefit to tlie people. 
Let tlie plan be imitated. If not the plan of the barn, certainly the plan of 
meeting with your neighbors, and talking over the subject, as to whether 
you shall build a large or small barn, and of what materials. It is also 
very important to every one about to build, to go about, far and near, and 
look at all the barns of various sizes, forms, and fashions, and talk about 
their conveniences and the reverse. 

324. Barns Boarded Tight or Open.— Whether barns should be tight is one 
of the most important questions that a farmer can consider; for it may 
involve the health and lives of all his farm stock. It is contended by some 
writers, with a good deal of reason, that open barns are more healthy for 



304 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

stock, particularly the bovine portion, than closely hoarded ones. A com- 
munication from a farmer in Maine says : 

" Several years ago, I learned by experience that tight barns were not 
healthy for cattle, and a little reasoning iipon the subject will explain why 
this is so. It is a well-known fact, that the droppings of cattle, both solid 
and liquid, exhale a vast amount of gases of different kinds, and these gases 
are unfit for respiration ; if cattle are deprived of air, and breathe these 
gases, they die instantly, arid if they breathe air impregnated with a large 
proportion of these gases, they sicken immediately ; tlie disease most likely 
to be produced is pneumonia, or inflammation of tlie lungs, as the poison is 
applied directly to them. 

" ]^ow what provision is made in modern tight barns to get rid of these 
gases ? Why, there is a ventilator on the top of the barn, but how are 
these gases to get to the top of the barn, since a large proportion of them 
are heavier than atmospheric air? The carbonic and suljahurous gases, 
which are more abundant than all others, are licavier than air, and con- 
sequently will not ascend ; ammonia is light and would fly away, but tlie 
carbonic and sulphurous gases, having a strong affinity for ammonia, seize 
the fugitive, and by a chemical action a new compound is formed heavier 
than air, which, of course, must remain, unless there is some underground 
passage by which it can escape. If there is no place for its escape, these 
gases accumulate until the barn becomes filled with them, the hay is im- 
pregnated, and the stock has to eat as well as breathe this noxious matter, 
and the trouble is worse if tlie stock is high fed. First, because high-fed 
animals have a greater amount-of blood, the blood-vessels are fuller, and 
consequently a greater tendency to congestion. Secondly, because the 
excrements of high-fed animals evolve a much greater amount of gases than 
those of others, and the difficulty of ventilation is increased by (lie f;ict that 
these gases are so nearly of tlie weight of air. If tliey were all light, like 
carbureted liydrogen, they would soon escape at the top ; or if they were 
lieavy like water, or even pure carbonic acid gas, they would, in most barns, 
find cracks sufficiently large to run out near the bottom ; but as the facts 
prove that the gases are nearly of the same -weight of air, I am led to the 
following conclusions : 

" First, that the walls of barns should never be clapboarded ; then there 
will be a gentle current constantly passing through tlie barn, and the gases 
passing out of the cracks on the leeward side ; second, that the stable for 
horses and cattle should extend from one end of the barn to the other, with 
a door at each end, both of which should generally be open excepting in 
severe cold weather, and in storms. I have found by experience that a 
horse kept in a small, tight stable, will commence coughing in a very few 
days. Cattle do not suffer with the cold (unless the cold is extreme) if they 
are in good health, are well fed, and have a dry, clean stall, and plenty of 
good air to breathe. The lungs of an ox will manufacture a vast amount 
of animal heat. I liave known a cow to be wintered with no other shelter 



Seo. 10.] THE BARN AND ITS APPURTENANCES. 305 

than an open shed, more than two hundred miles farther north than Massa- 
chusetts, and she gave milk all winter, and came out well in the spring." 

There is something worth a thought in this matter about airy barns. We 
know them to be the best tor hay and grain ; and we know that in olden 
time in New England, all of the barns, covered with upright boards, put on 
green, had wide cracks from top to bottom, and in such stables, although 
very cold, the cattle wintered well and kept healthy. It is shelter from 
storms, and not shelter from cold, that all of our stock needs. 

325. Ventilating Hay-mows. — One of the worst practices of farmers, in New 
England particularly, is storing hay in large bays, without a sign of any 
ventilation under the bulk, which usually rests upon a few loose poles or 
boards on tlie damp ground. A bay should have ventilation, not only under 
it, but up through it, by means of a chimney made of four poles fastened 
togetlier by rounds like a ladder. A loose stone foundation could be laid 
for the hay bottom, with an air-chamber from the outside leading to the 
chimney, directly over which there should be a ventilator in the roof. This 
simple contrivance M'ould not only save many a tun of hay from mustiness, 
but it would enable the owner to put in his hay in a much greener state, 
and that which is next the chimney would always come out very sweet. 

326. Stables — how to fonstruct them. — A stable should be built with a view 
to several points, among which we may mention economy of space consistent 
with comfort, convenience of feeding and milking the animals, convenience 
of tethering them so that they may have the largest measure of liberty of 
motion, but be unable to injure one another; convenience of getting hay 
from the loft and grain from the bin to the stalls ; and convenience of re- 
moving the licpiid and solid excretions, so as to preserve their quality, and 
remove them so speedily that the effluvium may not be breathed by the cows 

The floor of a cow-stall of a well-constructed stable is four feet to four feet 
six inches long, raised two or three inches for a dry platform. Behind the 
platform the floor is made of white-oak slats set apart so that the urine may 
drop through to the cellar beneath. The floor-beams are laid four feet 
apart. On the sides stout elects are nailed, and on these the 2x3^ white- 
oak slats are dovetailed and firmly nailed. The slats are beveled to a sharp 
edge beneath, so that the manure will not clog the open spaces, but drop 
clear as soon as it sinks below the upper edges of the slats. The slatted 
space is a foot and a half in width. Behind that the first plank of the floor 
is made to lift like a trap-door, turning on hinges, to secure an open space 
through which to hoe the droppings, litter, etc., that would not readily pass 
between the slats. By this simple contrivance the droppings of thirty cows 
can be removed in a few minutes. 

327. Stables should always be built high — that is, high between floors. Most 
stables are built low, " because they are warmer." But the builders forget 
that \varmth is obtained at a sacrifice of pure air and the health of the an- 
imal. Shut a man up in a tight, small box ; the air may>be warmer, but it 
will soon lay him out dead and cold if he continues to breathe it. If stables 



i I 



THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

are tight, tliey sliould liave liigli ceilings; if they are not tight, but open to 
the admission of cold currents of air from all directions, they will be too 
much ventilated, or, rather, ventilated in the wrong place. One of the 
cheapest modes of ventilation is to build the stable high, so as to give room 
for the light air to rise above the heads of animals. The grand rule that 
must be observed is not to contine a beast in a room so small that its 
breathing will soon poison all the air unless the foul portion can escape and 
fresh air enter. 

328. Cattle Sheds that Cost Nothing.— It is an act of wanton cruelty to 
expose stock to the blasts of winter without shelter. In a country of saw- 
mills, how cheaply a shed can be built of slabs nailed to rough posts, set in 
the ground, and roofed by laying one course of slabs round side down, and 
the upper course round side up ! The cracks of the sides can be battened 
wiih thin strips of slabs or refuse boards. 

In a wooded country, where sawed stuff can not be had, how cheaply a 
side of round logs can be built and cracks daubed with mud. Then an 
excellent roof can be made of split stuff, called shakes in some places and 
clap-boards in others, being split 2i to 5 feet long, and 4 to 6 inches wide, 
according to the quality of the timber for riving. These laid upon round 
ribs, and held in place by weight-poles, make a roof, though rough in appear- 
ance, as tight as a shingled one. If bark is peeled at the proper time and 
laid at once, or piled and dried flat, it makes a pretty good roof, still cheaper 
than one of shakes, though not so durable. "We have seen a very good 
cattle-shed rocif made of hemlock boughs, laid on in courses, butts up. 

Cheap sheds on the prairie, where cattle are exposed to winter blasts more 
than in any other locality, can be made so easily that it seems worse than 
cruel — it is wicked — to leave the poor brutes exposed. 

Where rails are to be had, lay up a double wall of rails a foot apart, by 
using cross-pieces at the end, and fill up the space with sods, or with earth 
and leaves, or brush, or with coarse manure, or moldy hay and straw, such 
as cattle will not cat out, and you have a good wind-breaker. Extend from 
this wall, to the south, rails or poles to rest upon a girder on posts, and stack 
hay or straw on top, and there is a shed. It costs but little more to stack 
hay in this way than it does to make a suitable stack-bottom, and then fence 
the stack. As the hay is fed off in winter, fill up the space with refuse hay 
and straw, so as to break the wind, if it does not stop all the rain. Such 
sheds for sheep are very valuable. 

Where lails are scarce, a good wall can be made of prairie sods laid up in 
courses, with hazel brush or stuall limbs to bind the sods together, to give 
strength and prevent cattle from hooking the wall down. On this wall lay 
a plate to support the floor of the stack or roof. Such cattle shelter pays its 
cost every winter. There is straw enough burned or wasted every fall, upon 
the Western prairies, to shelter all the stock every M'inter, if it were put up 
iu some such cheap form as we have indicated. 

o-2'J. A Valuable, Cheap Feed-Trough. — One of the puzzles in building horse 



Seo. 16.] THE BARN AND ITS APPURTENANCES. 307 

stables has been how to make the feed-troughs. We can solve that difficulty. 
We have learned how to make a horse feed-trough. Or, ratliei-, we have 
learned how to purchase a very good and very cheap one. We learned it 
of a progressive young farmer. The farm of Josiali Maey, a Westchester 
County farmer of the old school, is conducted by his grandson, who has 
gained knowledge from books, and goes ahead with improvements, one of 
■which is a new feed-trough. It is simply an iron pot^ — just such a one as our 
dinner used to be boiled in before the age of cooking-stoves. One of about 
four gallons is a good size, and it is set in the corner of the manger, in a 
casing of boards that inclose the rim, just up even with the top. It is supe- 
rior to any wooden, iron, or stone feed-box we ever saw ; is not expensive, 
and, barring accidents, it will last forever, and be a good pot afterward. 

330. Earthea Stable FloorSi — One of the best substances that can be found 
for flooring for horses is clean sand. It is superior to wood, as it does not 
heat and injure hoofs. Some English veterinary surgeons use nothing else 
for bedding but sand. We have always found stables with dirt floors prefer- 
able to plank ones. 

331. The Stable Tardi — The stable, or barn-yard, is one of the most im- 
portant appurtenances of the farmery. Two grand objects must be kept in 
view in its construction — the comfort of the animals and the preservation of 
tlie manure. If it is on soft soil, and tolerably level, as such yards are upon 
nine out of every ten of the Western praii'ie farms, they are most uncom- 
fortable places for stock, although good for preservation of manure, but that 
is little or no object where it is of so little value. The only help that we can 
see for a barn-yard upon such soil, where the tramping of cattle makes it 
into a quagmire, is thorough underdrainage, and scraping the earth from 
around into a low mound, and covering the most of that with sheds. It may 
be so constructed that all the drainage of the manure will concentrate in one 
spo", to be absorbed by straw or other manure-making substance. We have 
found paving a yard with common fence-rails, where stones could not be 
procured, paid the cost every year, and such a pavement will last half a 
dozen years. 

In a rocky country, like eastern New York, Pennsylvania, and the New 
England States, if care and sound judgment are used in the location of a 
farmery, the yard can be fixed on the southerly side of the barn and sheds, 
where it will always be dry, and very comfortable for stock, and yet not 
wasteful of manure. Our own is located upon a ro(!k, sloping southeast. 
Just outside the fence, at the lowest corner, an excavation is made, to be 
kept full of muck, sods, or other absorbents, so that while the yard is con- 
stantly drained, the drainage is not lost. Some very good yards we have 
seen constructed with a deep basin in the center. The great objection to 
this form in a small yard is that the basin sometimes gets so full that there 
is not dry space enough around the edges for the cattle. Sometimes, too, it 
freezes over quite full, and strong cattle push the weaker ones upon the ice 
to their injury. We prefer the absorbing basin outside of the yard. 



308 



THE FARMEKY. 



[Chap. III. 



332. The Hen-Roost. — Every farmery must have a lien-roost, if it does 
not have a poultry-yard ; and this should not bo an open shed, nor a cold 
open room, but one so arranged that it will be well sheltered from cold winds 
and storms, and lighted by a glass window upon the sunny side or in the 
roof. It will also be found a most excellent provision to give hens access in 
winter to a cellar, where they can scratch gravel and wallow in dust. The 
hen-roost, too, should be aftranged with special reference to saving all the 
droppings of the fowls, because it is the most valuable manure that is made 
about a farmery. 



SECTION XVII.-WATER FOR THE FARMERY. 

iBOUT half of the farms in the United States are 
deficient in water — that is, the water is not con- 
venient for stock; and in many situations cattle 
can only be watered by pumping, or by the still 
more tedious process of drawing water in a bucket 
from a well. This is a serious piece of labor, and a 
useless one, because the wind can be made to do the 
work a great deal better, cheaper, and more certain ; 
and the whole expense of a wind-mill, pump, and 
putting into operation, in a well twenty feet deep, 
would not probably exceed $50. 

You may use any one of a dozen iron pumps, to be 
found in almost every hardwai-e store. Our own 
choice would be "West's Anti-Freezing Pump, which 
is made of iron, and is very durable. The wind-mill 
for the motive power is simplicity simplified. The wind-wheel is four feet 
in diameter, divided into eight parts, curved from the center, just as we used 
to whittle out wind-mills from a pine shingle forty years ago. The wheel 
may be made of Avood or iron. If of wood, fix the points of the sails in a 
wooden hub and secure the outer ends by a rim, just like that of a large 
spinning-wheel. Fix this wheel firmly upon an inch iron-bar, say two feet 
long, with two bearings to run in iron or hard wood; and a crank in the 
center suited to the stroke of your pump. If the valve works four inches, 
make your crank short two inches. Now make a frame of three pieces, 
three quarters of a square, with bearings for the wind-wheel shaft upon 
two, and an inch and a quarter hole in the center of the other piece. 
Upon this frame attach a vane of strong, thin wood, about three feet long 
and one foot wide at the outer end. Now erect a gallows-frame seven feet 
wide and fifteen feet high over the pump, fixed with a pipe in the well. No 
matter whether that pipe is straight or not. Now put a bolt, with a big 
head and washer, through the hole in the frame that holds the shaft, and 




Seo. 17.] WATER FOR THE FARMERY. 309 

through the center of tlie cross-piece of the gallows, so that the small frame 
will be held firmly by the head of that bolt, yet will turn freely in the wind. 
From the piston-rod of the pump, extend a rod with a swivel-joint in the 
center to the crank, and, let the wind blow higli or low, you will have the 
satisfaction of knowing that your cattle are supplied with water. It is a 
good plan to make a cistern to hold a supply in case the pump stops at any 
time for repairs or want of wind ; the latter will not be apt to occur, as it 
will run with a very slight breeze. From your watering-tub or trough, con- 
duct a pipe back to the well, and you need not fear frost unless the pump 
stops. By making use of a force-pump you may get a supply from a well 
in the valley up to your house and barn on the hill, or to irrigate your 
garden. See Nos. 369, 370. 

How to get water most convenient to all parts of the farmery should be 
the leading consideration ; because water is indispensable — neither man nor 
beast can do without it a single day. All else may be inconvenient — water 
should never be. It should be brought in pipes from a higher level, when- 
ever it is practicable at any reasonable expense, because that is the most 
convenient of all forms in which water can be had at the farmery ; and no 
farmer can afford to neglect to supply his place with water, if he owns a 
spring or stream that would afford such a supply, because it is the greatest 
labor-saving fixture that he can make. 

If aqueduct water can not be had, then convenient wells and pumps 
should be; and if water can not be had by easy, shallow digging, in wells, 
it can and should be in cisterns : and upon this question we will give some 
useful information. 

333. Economy of Aqueducts. — Some farmers neglect to make provision for 
watering domestic animals until drought actually arrives, and then they can 
not. We well knew one who, during a drought, drove his cattle a mile to 
water, at the same time that he had roof enough on his large barn to give 
them all the drink they needed, if a cistern of proper capacity had been pre- 
pared to retain it. The bai-n cost $1,000 — the cistern might be built for 
|50 — yet every animal of his large herd must travel miles every week for 
necessary drink. He might construct a cistern now, but it will be another 
year before he can derive benefit from it, and so he puts off the labor. 

There are many others who do the same. We know another farmer, who 
has lived till past eighty years of age upon a fiirm where there is a gushing 
spring of excellent water within sixty rods of his house and barn, high 
enough to run through pipes over the top of every building, yet this man 
draws water with a bucket from a well, which sometimes fails, when he has 
to go to a more distant and inconvenient well, or haul water in barrels from 
the river ; and his stock, all the long winter, go down the road to the river- 
side for drink, wasting time (and that is money) and manure, to replace 
which he buys fertilizers. Saving the first cost of an aqueduct, in such 
cases, is not saving money. Neither is the neglect to construct cisterns a 
good piece of economy. 



310 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

334. Value of Cisterns — their Size and Contents.— jS^o man, whose only sup- 
ply of water is in a deep well, or where the well or spring water, however 
convenient, is hard — that is, like all the water of limestone countries, unfit 
for wasliing, or making butter — can afford to do without a cistern. If the 
earth where the cistern is to be built is compact clay, it can be dug out in 
the form of a jug, with only a man-hole at the top; and in all ground but 
caving sand it can be dug and plastered without any brick walls, and the 
top covered Avith durable timber, which sliould be placed at least four feet 
from the surface to its under side, as it will, when thus covered, last enough 
longer to pay for the extra work. Wherever flat stones abound, a moderate- 
sized cistern should be covered with them, laid shelving over each way, if 
not large euougli to reach clear across. The earth-bottom and walls are 
easily made tight by cement (water-lime mortar), made with three Y)arts of 
clean, coarse, shari^ sand to one of lime, which has to be wet up only as it 
is wanted for use, or it will set wherever it has a chance to dry upon the 
bed where mixed. It should be very thoroughly worked in, mixing while 
pretty wet, and jjlastcred on the bottom first and tiien up the sides, one coat 
after another as fast as one is dry — two or three coats — taking care that no 
defect is made in the joining of the sides and bottom together. The bottom 
should be dug hollowing, and corners full ; and to save cement, any little in- 
equalities in the walls niay be filled witii clay or lime-mortar before putting on 
the cement plaster. In situations wliere cement can not be obtained, a good 
cistern can be made as follows, whicli will last a dozen years certain. "We 
know one good at twenty years old. Take one and a half-inch plank, si.x or 
eiglit feet long, six inches wide at one end and six and a quarter at the other ; 
joint and dowel the edges, and fit the ends with a croze upon heads six or 
eight feet across, and hoop just enough to keep together to roll into the hole, 
biggest end down, upon a soft mortar bed of clay, four inelies deep ; then 
till the space between tlie tub and walls, M'liich should be four or six inches 
wide, with clay just moist enough to tamp in the most compact manner, 
and the cistern will never leak, and will give great satisfaction for its small 
cost. The top should be covered over with timber and earth, deep enough to 
keep warm in winter and cool in summer. 

Upon the roof of a barn 35 by 70 feet — if three feet of rain fall annually 
— three cubic feet of water will be aiforded by every square foot of surface — 
more tlian 7,000 cubic feet from the whole roof — which would be about 
1,700 barrels. This would be enough to water daily, the year through, thir- 
teen head of cattle, each animal drinking four twelve-quart jjails full per day. 
But if the water were reserved for the dry season only, or when small streams 
are dry, thirty or fort}' head might be watered from one roof. 

People are apt to make their cisterns too small, so that often they do not 
hold a tenth part of the water from the eaves. In the above-mentioned 
instance it would not be necessary to construct one large enough to hold tlie 
entire 1,700 barrels. If the cattle were watered from it the year round, and 
its contents thus constantly drawn as it fills, one large enough to hold 400 



Sec. 17.] WATER FOR THE FARMERY. 311 

barrels would do ; but if ncedei for the dry season only, it should be more 
than double. A cistern fourteen feet in diameter and twelve feet deep would 
hold about 450 barrels— twenty feet in diameter, and the same depth, would 
be sufhcient for 900 barrels. If built under ground, and contracted toward 
the top, it would require to be a little larger in dimensions, to allow for the 
contracted space. Such a contraction would be absolutely necessary to 
admit of convenient and safe covering at the top, and could be effected 
without any difficulty if built of masonry. The pressure of the water out- 
ward would be counterbalanced by the pressure of the earth against the 
exterior, especially if well rammed in as the wall is built. 

There are some portions of the country where the subsoil is underlaid by 
slate or other rock which may be excavated. In such cases, it sometimes 
happens that with a little care in cutting, the water-lime mortar may be ap- 
plied immediately to the rocky walls, a shoulder above being made on which 
to build the contracted part of the wall. 

We have such a cistern, dug in tolerably compact earth, and plastered 
with cement, put on in two or three coats, using about two and a half barrels 
for a cistern eight feet wide and six feet deep. It was designed to be 
deeper, which would have made a better proportion, but the excavators 
came upon a ledge that could not be blasted, and was very difficult to pick 
up, and the bottom being very rough, rerpiired more plaster. The top is 
covered with chestnut plank, over which is earth, and the water is let in 
through a pipe beneath the surface, and taken out by another that leads to 
the pump in the kitchen. There is also an outlet pipe imder the covering 
for surplus water, so that when full, there is a body of water five feet deep 
by eight wide, and this gives about sixty barrels; and being supplied by 
1,600 superficial feet of roof, is not likely to fail for family use. The water 
is perfectly filtered by the most convenient filtering arrangement for a cis- 
tern that we ever saw. 

This is by Peirce's patent porous cement pipes, which are laid in a sort 
of net-work in the bottom of the cistern, and the pump-pipe attached to 
them, so that no water can reach the pump that has not passed through the 
substance of the pipes, which are in appearance much like solid stone, and 
more than an inch thick, which certainly forms a very perfect strainer to free 
the rain water of all impurities. A writer in his recommendation to every- 
body to build cisterns, says : 

' I have one in my house cellar, entirely below the bottom of the cellar, 
six and half feet deep and five and a half in diameter, holding about 1,000 
gallons. It was dug six feet eight inches deep and seven feet in diameter. 
The bottom being made smooth, was laid over with brick. The mason then 
began the side with brick laid in cement, leaving a space all round between 
the brick and earth about five inches. After raising the work about eighteen 
inches, he carefully filled the space between the brick and side of the hole 
with earth, well and carefully pressed down. If you wet the earth or clay 
as you fill it in, it will be more compact. 



312 THE FARMERY. [Chap. HI. 

" "When you get within about two feet of the top, commence gradually to 
draw in the work toward the center, leaving, when finished, a space open 
about two feet across. The next thing is to pias'er the inside with cement ; 
also the top on the outside, commencing where you began to draw in. About 
two courses of brick are laid round the mouth of the cistern, forming a neck, 
wliich adds to tlic Strength of the top. Now cover the whole with earth, 
except the neck. The water is conducted to my cistern through a small 
brick drain laid in cement. I also have a drain near the top to let oif the 
surplus water. If a cistern is made out of doors, it must be below the reach 
of frost. Lead pipe would probably be cheaper than brick to conduct water 
to and from the cistern. 

" I have no doubt but that a cistern made this way of hard brick would 
last a century. Mine, holding 1,000 gallons, cost $18. The larger the size, 
the less the cost in proportion to the capacity. If the earth is firm and hard, 
you may lay the brick close against it, thus saving the trouble of filling in 
and digging so large. I have known them made by cementing directly on 
the earth, using no brick, and covering the top with timbers or plank. One 
made with brick will cost more, but I think it best and cheapest, taking into 
consideration safety and durability." 

Tables of Contents of Clecular Cisterns. — The following tables of the 
size and contents of circular cisterns may be convenient to those about to 
build them. For each foot of depth, the number of barrels answering to 
the diflerent diameters is as follows : 

For 5 feet in diameter 4.66 barrels. 

6 " " 6.71 

7 " " 9.13 " 

8 " " 11.93 

9 " " 15.10 " 

10 " " 18.65 

A cistern 3J feet diameter will hold for every 10 inches in depth 69 gallons. 

i " " 78 " 

4J " " 99 " 

5 " " 122 " 

5J " " 148 " 

6 " " 176 

8 " " 310 " 

You will find by this table that a cistern six feet deep and six in diameter 
will hold 1,260 gallons, and each foot you add in depth will hold 210 
gallons. Therefore, one ten feet deep and six in diameter will contain 
2,100 gallons. 

To find the contents of any cistern in wine gallons, the diameter and 
depth being known : 

1. Multiply one half the diameter (in feet) by itself. 

2. Multiply the above product by 3|, which will give the area of the bot- 
tom of the cistern nearly. 

3. Multiply this by the number of feet in depth ; this will give the cubic 
contents in feet. 

4. Multiply the last product by 1,728 (the number of cubic inches in a 
foot), which gives the number of cubic inches. 



Sec. 17.] WATER FOR THE FARMERY. 313 

5. Divide the whole result by 231 (the number of cubic inches in the wine 
gallon), and the result will be the number of gallons in the cistern. 

Divide the gallons by 30, and you will have the number of barrels, and 
thus you can calculate how large to make a cistern for the use of house or 
barn ; and be sure not to neglect so important and so inexpensive an im- 
provement as making a cistern. 

335. Digigiug WellSi — There is no better improvement put upon a farm 
than wells, cither in their every-day convenience or value in estimating 
the price of a farm. In some localities it will pay to dig a well at the 
house, at the barn, in the stable-yard, and in almost every field. In com- 
pact earth, a well can be dug without curbing to support the earth sides 
during the excavation. 

AVhere curbing is necessary, the best way to do it is to build the wall 
u|iou a wooden or iron ring, and let that down as the excavation proceeds, 
adding brick or stone at the top as fast as may be necessary to keep the wall 
even with the surface. 

336. Uorizoutal WellSi — Here is a new idea for dwellers in mountainous, 
or even moderately hilly districts to think of. Mining after coal in Penn- 
sylvania, and gold in California, has clearly illustrated the fact, that wells 
may be dug into hillsides, or banks, or blufls, as well level or horizontally, 
as down perpendicularly, which would save dangerous and severe labor. 
AVater, so troublesome in digging common wells, has not to be bailed in the 
horizontal, as it takes care of itself. The certainty of discovering or cutting 
off veins of water is greater with the horizontal well than the perpendicular, 
if it starts in near the base of a hill, or anywhere as much below the surface 
as a common shaft would be likely to be sunk. By laying down wooden rails, 
all the dirt can be brought out in a little railway car, and the stone or brick 
carried in to build the well as fast as the digging progresses. It will not 
be necessary to make a horizontal shaft any larger than a perpendicular 
one, though it should be of a diffei'ent shape. We would make it in the 
forui of the figure we call a naught or cipher in numerals. Two feet wide 
and four feet high will be large enough, with a gentle descent for the water 
to run to the outlet ; and in many situations it can be made to run through 
a short pipe into the house ; or if it will not run, it can be drawn by a pump 
through a horizontal pipe any distance. 

There is another advantage in such a well. It would not be constantly 
liable to have things falling, or being thrown into it, and the water would 
remain purer. 

There are a great many pastures where water for stock has to be drawn 
from wells, which might have a natural flow from hillsides, with an expend- 
iture of no more time and money than is required for a perpendicular well. 

There are some dairy farms that could have valuable spring-houses sup- 
plied by such a horizontal well, and such a supply of cold running water 
would add to the value of the farm almost as much, in some cases, as its 
whole value is now. 



31i THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

Sucli wells have been constriicted in California, and we earnestly coni- 
niciid them to the attention of all the fiirmers in the hilly isortions of the 
Atlantic States. In rocky hills a horizontal shaft can be drifted in much 
easier than it can be bored i^erpendicularly ; and the work either in rock 
or earth digging can be much better done in winter in a horizontal than in 
a perpendicular well. We hope to see them extensively adopted. 

337. Wells oa HillSi — We have seen a great many wells on the tops of hills 
affording a large supply of water, while the bottom was above the plain or 
valley in which the farmstead was situated. How easy to obtain this water 
by a siphon, or a pipe inserted on a level, which can be done without dig- 
ging a ditch the whole depth and distance. Ascertain where the level of 
tiie bottom of the well will strike on the face of the hill, and dig in there, 
and set up a frame to support an earth-boring auger, and drive a bore 
straight through to the M-ell, which can be easily done one or two hundred 
feet, if .artesian wells can be bored one or two thousand feet perpendicular. 
AVhere tlie distance is too great, or the hill is rocky, put in a siphon pipe, 
with a little hand-pump to start it, and you can always have running water 
in your yard or garden at tlie foot of the hill. 

338. Causes of Impure Water in Wells. — It sometimes occurs that the water 
of a well, noted for its purity and delicious drinking quality, becomes 
offensive to the taste and smell witliout any apparent cause. Sometimes it 
is occasioned by surface water from an impure source finding its way to the 
well, after many years of exemption ; and sometimes it comes from i-oots of 
trees growing into the water and decaying ; and sometimes worms work 
their way in and decay ; and occasionally rats, mice, or other pests burrow 
in the wall and injure the water. And not imfrequently a new vein of 
water finds its way into an old well and materially changes the character 
of the water. Generally a well is improved by cleaning, but we have 
known the contrary. In a well of our own, in the trap-rock district north 
of New York city, the quality of the water was materially injured by sub- 
stituting a pump in place of a bucket. The reason was obvious. Tlie 
water was seven or eight feet deep, and the bucket drew it from the surface 
and the pump from the bottom, and in the water drawn from the bottom 
we found a strong sulphur taste and smell. Cleaning it out did no good ; 
the water at the bottom was decidedly different fi-om the top. The only 
remedy, if we continued to use the pump, which was iron, and costly, and 
extremely convenient (it is one of Gay & West's force-pumps — very valu- 
able for farm use), was to attach a gutta-percha pipe to the bottom of the 
iron pipe, and to a float, so that it would always draw the water from the 
aurface, at whatever hight it might be in the well by the fluctuations of 
the seasons. 

Where wells are injured by surface water, resort should be had at once 
to the most thorough draining. Lay tile or stone drains five or six feet 
deep, so as to cut oft' all leaking into the well. If injured by trees — which, 
by-the-by, should never be set near a well — dig a deep trench so as to cut 



Sec. 17. j WATER FOR THE FARMERY. 315 

off all the roots, and fill that trench with coarse gravel, or a stiff mass of 
clay, that will not be attractive to the roots. Remove all that you .can from 
the wall and earth near the well, and time will cure the water. Sometimes, 
to get rid of roots, insects, or other pests, it will pay cost to imwall the well 
and build it anew. Fill in charcoal, cinders, or other sweet substances ; 
and sometimes it will be well to lay a portion of the top wall in cement 
mortar. 

It is recommended in all cases, where well-water becomes unpalatable, to 
agitate it freely, and very often. Jf drawn with a bucket, set a man at 
work pushing the bucket down deep and drawing it up full, and pouring it 
back again, so as to fall in the water till it is all thorouglily mixed and all 
the stones washed, and then when it settles clear again it will probably be 
found as good as ever. 

This plan of agitating the water may also be applied to cisterns to good 
advantage. 

Looking into a well, so as to see anything at the bottom, can be easily 
done any sunny day (the morning is the best time), by using a looking-glass 
so as to reflect the rays of light and throw them quite to the bottom of a 
deep well. We have used this means to discover the position of a bucket 
that had broken loose and fallen to the bottom, and then with the steel- 
yards hung to a rope have been able to liook on to the bucket and draw it 
up at once. We once recovered a tin pail of butter in tlie same way. 

339. Self-Emptying Well-Bucket. — If the water is drawn from a well by a 
bucket and windlass, two ropes are better than one. , Fasten by a staple to 
the center of the windlass and wind each way toward the ends, so that the 
ropes will be widest apart when the bucket is up. Instead of a bail, attach 
a short chain or piece of iron rod to each ear of the bucket, and set the ears 
low down, so that the bucket will tip easily. Cut a hole in the bottom, four 
inches across, and cover it with a block coated with soft sole leather, like 
the valve of a pump-bucket, which Avill open to let in the water as the 
bucket descends, and close as soon as it starts upward. To empty the 
water easily, there are two ways — first, and best, by a flat iron hook about 
eight inches long, fastened to the well-spout in such a way that it may 
catch the edge of the bucket as it is drawn up, and tip and empty. The 
other Avay is to have a pin in the spout that will strike the valve and open 
it when the bucket is placed upon the spout. Two buckets with two ropes 
will work much steadier and easier, and in the long run cost less than with 
one, and the valve to fill, and hook to empty the bucket, are great labor- 
saving fixtures. 

It is almost as important to keep water pure for stock as for family iise. 
Pure water is a great luxury to the palate of a thirsty horse, and every man 
who is fortunate enough to be the owner of so noble an animal, should see 
that the wants of the same are properly provided for. 

Unfortunatelj', very few p^ons realize the importance of supplying 
domestic animals with pure water; yet they stand in need of it whenever 



316 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

thirsty, and as a matter of profit to ourselves and Immanity to them, we 
should see that their wauts are well supplied. 

Pure water is very nutritious, and as a nutritious agent its value is im- 
paired when of inferior quality, or when mixed with indigestible foreign 
substances, such as are often found in watering-trouglis located by the M'ay- 
side. 

Some very interesting experiments have lately been made on horses 
belonging to the French army, in view of testing their endurance as regards 
the deprivation of water, and it M'as found tliat some of them lived twenty- 
five days on water alone ; it is a singular fact that seventy-five per cent, of 
the weight of a horse's body is composed of fluid. 

Strange water, as it is called, often has a bad effect on tlie digestive organs 
when first used, and in order to guard against its consequences, English 
grooms always provide for the wants of their liorses, when away from 
home at the race-course, by furnishing them with an abundant supply of 
]3ure water to which they have been accustomed, which is transported from 
place to place in hogsheads. 

340. The Hydraulic Ram. — ^To those who have no spring above the level 
of the house, but have one below, we press the subject of a water-ram — a 
simple, little, inexpensive macliine that can be made to throw about one 
eiglith or a tenth of the v.ater that flows through it up a steep hill and along 
a pipe half a mile or more, discharging it in a cistern in the garret of a house 
or loft of the barn, whence it is drawn as it is wanted in any apartment, 
while the overflow or surplus of water will give you a constant little stream 
in the cattle water-trough. Hundreds of these rams are in \ise all over the 
country ; but there are thousands of places where they are not in use, Avhere 
equal natural facilities exist. Our object here is only to call attention to the 
fact, that ever}' farmer who has a sjjring in a valley where he can get three 
or four feet fall from it to work the ram, can get a portion of that water on 
top of a hill ; and in many places where no running springs naturally exist, 
sufficient water can be obtained by digging. "We have seen a stream dis- 
charged at the outlet of an underdrain sufficient to drive a ram — water ob- 
tained without any expectation of obtaining it; because the object was to 
drain the land of its surplus water, and prevent it from oozing out of the 
surface of the hillside. 

The house of the late John C. Stevens, at South Amboy, is 120 feet above 
the level of a spring, near the bay shore. At this spring he set a water-ram, 
with a two-inch drive-pipe, about sixty feet long, laid upon an inclination 
of five feet. About one eightli of the water which runs through this pipe 
is sent, by the action of the ram — a little affair, about as big as a teakettle — 
up through a small lead pipe into the house, nearly half a mile distant. 
Perhaps the whole may have cost $100. We know a good many places where 
$50 has secured a full and constant supply of water from the bottom of a 
hill almost impossible to climb, yet which liffd been climbed from the first 
settlement of the country till the little water-ram was set to work. We know 



Seo. 17.] WATER FOR THE FARMERY. 317 

a great many other places where it is worth a dollar a day to tote the water 
up the slippeiy rocks in buckets, where all that labor could be saved by an 
expenditure of $50, and an animal expense for repairs of a shilling a year. 
Yet those who own such j^hices do not improve them, because they do not 
know they can. 

3 il . Durability of Wooden Pipes for Aqueducts.— Charles Stearns, of Spring- 
fioUl, Mass., has proved by a somewliat lengthy experience that wooden 
pipes are nearjy indestructible, if laid deep — deep enough to prevent atmos- 
pheric action upon the wood. His rule is six feet deep in sandy or porous 
earth ; four feet dee^j in compact, clayey earth, and three feet deep in 
swampy earth, where the pealy condition of the soil, which is antiseptic, pre- 
serves wood from decay. Thus laid, Mr. Stearns thinks wood will outlast iron 
or lead ; and the wooden pipes are cheaper than any material that can be 
used, wliere a bore of two to six inches is required. In one instance, an 
aqueduct laid by Mr. Stearns of three fourtlis-inch caliber lead pipe, cor- 
roded and failed in fifteen years, and had to be replaced. Another one, 
made with very heavy lead pipe of two-inch caliber, laid through a wet 
jucadow, in the very kind of soil that preserves wood the most perfectly, 
failed so as to need repairs within three or four years, and at the end of ten 
years had to be replaced with new pipe, which he then made of wood, and 
which, after twenty years of use, is still in good order. The aqueduct pipes 
supplying Springfield with spring water, that comes to the surface on the 
sandy plains above the town, have been in use fourteen years, and bid fair 
to last many years longer. The bore of the logs is from one and a half to 
seven inches, charred on the inner surface by forcing flame through 
the bore, or by the insertion of a heated rod, to prevent the timber from 
giving any unpleasant taste to the water. Mr. Stearns thinks, from experi- 
ments made, that lead pipe will last enough longer to pay for the expense 
of burying it deep, or packing it closely ill clay. He also thinks that the 
interest upon the difference iu cost between well-made and properly laid 
wooden pipes and those of a more costly material, called indestructible, will 
keep the wooden pipes iu repair forever. For the branch pipes leading into 
the houses, Mr. Stearns used lead pipes in all the houses supplied from the 
Springfield Water- AVorks, and has never known any injury to occur to any 
one using the water; and his own family have used water passed through 
lead pipe a long distance for many years, without suflering any of the 
effects frequently ascribed to such water ; nor has he ever heard of a case 
based upon any better testimony than " they say so." The water that sup- 
plies Springfield comes from several springs, improved by digging, and we 
have no doubt that there are hundreds of other villages that might be 
watered in the same way, greatly to the comfort and health of the inhabit- 
ants. There is anotlier advantage besides cheapness in wooden pipes. It is 
the ease with which they are tapped, wherever and whenever a branch is to 
be taken off, and they are also easily repaired. We hope that not only vil- 
lages, but farmers, wherever a spring exists above the level of the farmstead, 



318 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 



will avail tlieinselves of its benefits. Many farmers have chestnut or cedar, 
tlie best of timber, which they could have prepared at very small expense by 
their own hands, and get an aqueduct that would, in case of sale of the farm, 
pay ten times its cost; and it would be worth still more to the owner, for it 
would afford him a constatit enjoyment. 

There is a very curious manufactory of wooden aqueduct pipes at Elmira, 
N. Y. A large pine log is cut up into a scries of pipes, from an inch bore 
to ten or twelve inches, taking one out of the other, leaving the sides from 
one to two inches thick. These pipes are then banded with hoop-iron, drawn 
by a powerful machine through hot coal-tar, and being buried below the 
action of the atmosphere, are expected to last for au indefinite period. 



SECTION XVIII.-STACKIXG AND STORING GRAIN ; CORN-CRIBS, PIG- 
GERIES, AND PIG-FEEDING ; SMOKE-HOUSES, AND CURING BACON. ~~ 

)LTHOUGH, like most of oxir subjects, these are 
treated briefly, each is worthy of notice, and must 
have enough, if nothing more, to attract attention, 
so as to incite the reader to look further into the 
matter. 
One of the indispensable buildings of a farmery is a 
good storehouse for grain. Upon a small farm, a room 
in the barn can be set apart for the storage of small 
;rain, but it is more liable to the dei^redations of rats 
and mice than in a building made purposely for a gran- 
ary. Ever^f farmer who annually raises a hundred 
jushels of ears of Indian corn can not afford to do 
without a corn-crib, because corn can not be stored 
safely except in a room with very open sides. 

342. Corn-Cribs. — The best kind of a corn-crib is a 
building twenty feet wide, and of such length as will give sufiicient capacity 
—say thirty feet long — for a farm where ten to twenty acres of corn are 
usually grown. The sides should not be less than ten feet high, and boarded 
up and down with strips two inches wide, one inch apart. Six feet from the 
sides, partitions are made in the same way. This leaves a drive-way eight 
feet wide, so that you can drive in a wagon-load of corn and throw it right 
and left over the beam into the crib. This drive-way should be made to close 
at both ends with slat-gates, or lattice-work gates, so as to allow a free cir- 
culation of air. 

3J:3. Rail-Peu Corn-Cribs.— Cribbing corn, after the Western fashion, in 
open rail-pens, is considered down East a veiy slovenly method. Yet it is 
one of the best ways in which it (Mn be stored. It is true it wastes a little 







Sko. 18.] STACKING AND STORING GRAIN. 319 

by shelling if it remains till spring, but not much if the pens arc so located 
that the pigs and poultry can bo let in to pick up tlie scattered grains. Tlie 
■way to make a rail-pen corn-crib is to take straight fence-rails, as near of a 
size as possible, and saw part of them into halves of equal length, so that 
you can laj' up a pen half as wide as it is long, notching the corners so tiiat 
the rails will come close enough together to prevent the ears falling out. 
If this can not be done with all of the cracks, they must be stopped by 
" chinking" from the inside, or b^' boards nailed over. It is usual to build 
the pen upon a floor of rails, which are sometimes laid on the ground, and 
sometimes raised upon logs, stones, or blocks. The pen should not be over 
eight feet high, and wben full is covered with boards held on by a heavy 
rail or pole. In woodland regions the covering is usually made of " shakes" 
— split clap-boards, such as log-cabin roofs are generally made of. On the 
prairies, we have frequently seen straw used for a covering; and we have 
also seen many thousands of bushels of wheat, both in the chaff and after it is 
winnowed, stored in the same rude way, b}' simply calking the cracks with 
straw. 

Nor is it a very wasteful way of storing wheat, if the pen is built upon a 
hard-beaten spot, where all the grain can be swept up when the pen is 
emptied. 

"We have also seen corn put \\p in rail-pens without any covering, and 
kept through the winter without damage, the ears being simply rounded up 
on top. We have often been told by those who have had a good deal of 
experience in storing corn in this way, tliat rain does not hurt it — all that 
does not run through dries out the first windy da}'. Wheat in the chaff will 
not injure in a long rain-storm, M-hen sinqily piled in a conical heap, if it 
does not wet at the bottom. 

Great boat-loads of Black Sea wheat are brought down long rivers, being 
many weeks on the passage, without any covering. The wheat is rounded 
' up in the center, somewhat in the form of a roof, and the outside gets wet 
and grows into a mat, sometimes two inches thick, and that shelters the mass 
below. It does not strike us as an economical method, but that depends 
upon circumstances, as it does in cribbing Indian-corn. It certainly never 
would pay to build expensive cribs to store some of the great crops of the 
West ; and it has been found good economy, for want of better storage, to 
let the corn remain where it grew until wanted for use. Even with smaller 
crops, it may not always be evidence of bad farming where we see the corn 
stand in shocks until wanted. It certainly keeps better there than it would 
in a badly ventilated store-room. 

344. Stathets for Stack Bottoms.— In England, it is not considered good 
economy to build barns enough to store all the grain, and it is therefore 
stacked out. In this country, if economy warranted the practice of storing 
all under roofs, necessity would often forbid, and require our groat crops of 
wheat to be put up in stacks. In England, upon well-conducted farms, 
where the practice of stacking prevails, the stathels for the stacks to rest 



320 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

upon are permanent structures. Some of them are made with stone pillars 
and caps ; and some with a wooden frame on stone pillars ; and in some in- 
stances iron has been substituted for wood. The stack being elevated a foot 
or two, allows a circulation of air, and very much assists the curing of the 
grain. We recommend farmers, wherever they are in the regular practice 
of stacking hay and grain, to have a permanent stack yard, provided with 
stack bottoms, after the English fashion. Even for temporary stacking, 
building the stack upon the ground is a very wasteful practice. We have 
seen stacks upon the Western prairie built in a spot, dry at the time, become 
saturated with water, and half rotted two feet above the ground, before they 
were used up in winter. For a temporary stack bottom, there is nothing 
more convenient than fence-rails. We have built long wheat-ricks on the 
prairie in this way. We took fence-rails and laid them up as though build- 
ing a worm fence, pretty straight, in two lines about two feet apart at the 
bottom, and about four rails high, leaning inward so that the two lines of 
fence touch. Against this upon each side the sheaves were set witii butts 
on the ground, leaning toward the center until a sufficient bottom for the 
rick was formed. This leaves an air pipe through the bottom, and keeps all 
the heads from the ground, and although the water stood some inches deep 
in a wet time over the spongy soil, all the wheat came out bright and sound. 
The butts of the lower sheaves only were rotted. The fence sustained the 
greatest weight of the rick, besides giving it air. 

3i5. The Piggery. — No farmery is complete without a well-arranged pig- 
gery, which consists of a grain-room, a root cellar, a cooking-room, a feeding- 
room, a sleeping-room — all xinder cover. All this is requisite upon a farm 
where only two or three pigs are fatted annually. It is still more requisite 
where a dozen or more pigs are kept — where the leading object of the farmer 
is to convert coarse farm products into pork ; except where pigs are wholly 
fatted in cornfields, as at the West. Upon all other farms a well-arranged 
piggery is indispensable, and, as we have shown in Section 11, that cooking 
food for pigs is advantageous, the greater the conveniences for cooking, the 
more profitable will be the feeding. 

The best arranged piggery we ever saw for convenience and saving of la- 
bor was built upon the side of a Vermont hill, where potatoes were a lead- 
ing article in the manufacture of pork. The potatoes were stored in a cave 
cellar, from which they were shoveled upon a screen, over which they rolled 
to the large potash-kettle set in an arch some twenty or thirty feet distant. 
Generally the potatoes thus screened needed no washing ; if they did, pro- 
vision was made for doing it by a copious stream of water let on as they 
traversed the screen. The water was let into the kettle from the source sup- 
jilying the washing water. The floor where the kettle stood contained bins 
for meal, which were filled from the bags emptied into a spout on the out- 
side. The cooked food was shoveled from the kettle into a hopper that 
conducted it into a cooling-trough on the floor below, which stood high 
enough to allow the swill to run through a long conductor to the feed- 



Seo. 18.] PIGS AND PIGGERIES. 321 

trouglis. The objection to this last arrangement was, tliat the swill had to 
be made thin enough to flow freely. The arrangement, however, was a very 
perfect one, and worthy of imitation u}ion all similarly situated farms. 

34:6. Railway Cooking Arrangement for Pigs. — We suggested the following 
arrangement, more than twenty years ago, for cooking food for pigs or any 
other stock, and we afterward had a model made and exhibited at the fair 
of the American Institute, which awarded it a silver medal. 

This is the plan : arrange a steam chamber of any given dimensions — saj' 
three feet by six feet, and three feet high — over a furnace kettle, or any- 
where that steam could be conveyed into it from a boiler. This chamber 
has a door at one end, made steam-tight, and rails in the bottom upon which 
a car travels, and these rails should extend outside to the root-bin, or meal- 
tubs, or reservoirs of food to be cooked. The car being loaded, is rolled into 
the chamber, and door closed. "When the food is cooked, shut off steam and 
open an escape-valve, and then the door, and roll out the car over cooling 
vats, and open a trap in the bottom of the car, and let the contents drop. 
These cooling vats may be placed near enough to dip the swill into the feed- 
troughs, or it may be carried in another car along an alloy, and thence dipped 
into the feed-troughs, or made to run into them through conductors. Such 
an arrangement would, without doubt, save a great deal of hard labor, and 
it would not be very expensive. Whatever the arrangement of the piggery, 
keep this fact constantly in view, that in some sections of the country the 
manure which you can make while fatting your pork, if your piggery is 
well arranged, will prove to be the most profitable part of the pork-making 
process. 

There is another necessary farm-bnilding which we may as well speak of 
here, particularly as it is one that may, whenever the situation will admit, 
very pi-operly be located in the immediate vicinity of the piggery, and it is 
equally valuable to the farmer as a mine of manurial M'ealth. It is — 

347. The Temple of f loacina. — Every farm-house must have a temple set 
apart for tliis heathenish deity, but no farm-house should have such a neces- 
sary appendage a disgrace to civilization, as too many of them are. Such 
a building should be placed convenient to the house, but never in sight. 
It should be located in a clump of shrubbery, mostly evergreens, out of sight 
from the house, or else it should be made part and parcel of some of the out- 
buildings, so as never to be a prominent object. We have often seen these 
buildings so placed that they were the most consjiieuous things about the 
place. A very little refinement in a farmer's family will make it revolt at ex- 
posing the part of a farmery that should be hidden from public gaze. A 
very little knowledge of the deoderizing effect of fine, dry, swamp muck, or 
charcoal, or plaster, or copperas will serve to keep a place that must be 
visited every day, by every member of the family, so sweet that it never 
will be offensive ; and the valuable contents of the vault, which should bo 
always shallow and easy to clean, will then become a source of profit, instead 
of a nuisance both disagreeable and dis<^raceful. 



322 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

348. Snioke-Houses— How to Build aud how to Use Them.— "We lay it down 

as an axiom, tliat the best snioke-liouse over built is a log cabin, with the 
cracks all open. In such a building you can not confine the smoke so as 
to smother the meat and spoil it, as it easily can be and often is in a very' 
tight room. It is not generally understood how much the excellence of 
bacon depends on the manner in which it may be smoked. Indeed, we look 
iipon this part of the process as more important than a good receipt for 
pickling. A ham that is well pickled may be spoiled in smoking it, and 
then no skill in cookery will take away its dark color and strong, 'rancid 
taste. To make good hams, there must be a free circulation of atmosphere, 
so that the smoke never phall become heated. A smoke never should be 
made in a damp, foggy, or rainy day. 

In building a smoke-house the farmer is more apt to regard external 
appearances than the object for which it is intended. It may be very strong 
and neat, but if it be built on wrong principles, it will never give satisfac- 
tion, and the good wife will be always wondering liow it is that her bacon 
is not equal to that which she eats away from home. Now, there is no 
bacon in this country superior to that produced in Maryland, where the 
smoke-houses are certainly rather primitive in their construction. Thisy 
are usually made of logs, rudely plastered with clay on the outside, and 
thatched with straw. The hams are liung upon hooks driven into the 
rafters. The fire of chii:)s — covered with saw-dust in order to prevent a 
blaze — is in the middle of the floor — ground floor, generally ; and the smoke, 
after having done its duty, escapes through the innumerable cracks and 
openings in the wall and thatch. Such a building is not very ornamental, 
but it is much more elficicnt than those we frequently see constructed of 
brick or stone, with tight roof, a close-fitting door, and but one small -aper- 
ture for the escape of the smoke. The great secret in the art of smoking 
hams is to dry them in smoke, but not by heat. When they are kept close 
to tlie fire, they invariably' acquire a disagreeable flavor, and often become 
soft and greasy. The smoke should not be allowed to reach them until 
nearly or quite cool, and to effect this some farmers have the fire outside of 
the building, perhaps twenty or thirty feet distant, and conduct the smoke 
to the interior through a narrow covered trench. By its passage through 
the trench, it is cooled and purified, and there is no danger of its giving an 
unpleasant taste to the meat. A still better plan is practiced by the people 
of Westplialia, which, as all the world knows, is celebrated for its bacon. 
The smoking is performed in extensive chambers, in the uppermost stories 
of high buildings. Some are four or five stories above the ground, and the 
smoke is conveyed to tliem by tubes from pipes in the cellars. The vapor 
is condensed, and the heat absorbed by the tubes, so that the smoke is bo;h 
dry and cool when it comes in contact with the meat. Many of the farni- 
liouses in Pennsylvania have a somewhat similar arrangement. A i-oom is 
partitioned oti" in the garret, next to the kitchen chimney, and the hams are 
hung from the rafters overhead. Near the floor is a small opening in the 



Sbo. 18.] SMOKE-HOUSE AND FRUIT-DEYING HOUSE. 323 

chimney, by which the smoke enters tlie apartment ; and instead of return- 
ing to the flue, it finds its way into the open air througli the innumerable 
. crevices in the roof. The meat is thus kept perfectly dry, and it will be 
found to have a color and flavor unknown in that treated in the common 
method. 

A smoke-house can liardly be too open; where tlic walls and roof are 
tight, or nearly so, the smoke condenses on the bacon, rendering it flabby 
and ill-colored. To be sure, when tiiere is good ventilation it takes mucli 
longer lo complete the process, but tliis delay we believe to be rather bene- 
ficial than otherwise. Some people have the fault of always being in a 
hurry, and their bacon is never well smoked. It should be cured gradually 
and slowly, and this is another reason why the Germans are so successful in 
the business. In Virginia, two months is not considered a long time for the 
operation. 

Green sugar-maple chips are the best for the fire, and after maple are 
ranked hickory, sweet birch, and white ash or beech. Some think well- 
dried corn-cobs superior to everything else; and they certainly furnish a 
sweet, penetrating smoke. Saw-dust from hard wood is also excellent for 
the purpose, but rotten wood should never be used ; and it is said that locust 
hark will actually spoil the fiavor of hams; and we doubt not that there are 
many otiier substances which will produce the same result. 

Some persons are always very particular about hanging their hams with 
the leg end down. They should never be allowed to touch each other, nor 
touch any flat substance. In hanging large numbers of hams in a crowded 
room, we have often kept them apart by a small piece of a corn-cob. 

No farmery is complete without a smoke-house, and where the amount of 
meat to be annually smoked is insufiicient to make it an object to erect a 
building specially for that purpose, it will be found very easy to set apart a 
small room in some of the outbuildings, and convey the smoke to it tlirough 
a long flue. As the building mentioned in No. 349 never will be wanted for 
the purpose for which it was constructed, when bacon should be smoked, it 
could, perhaps, be made so as to answer both purposes. 

349. A Fruit-Drying House.^In some sections remote from cities, and upon 
some farms, fruit-drying is quite an object, and is relied upon by the female 
portion of the family as a means of replenishing their wardrobe, independent 
of the general products of the farm. Upon fruit fai-ms it is also made a 
considerable item of the regular business. All such farms should have a 
fruit-drying house, built upon scientific principles, to accomplish the objeci 
in the most expeditious manner, at the least expense. The true principle of 
drying fruit would be to place it on open-work hurdles, in the flue of a 
heated air furnace, so that there would be a continual draft of hot air pass- 
ing through the fruit, carrying^off the moisture into the upper air. The best 
one we ever saw,heatcd the air in the basement of a three-story building. In 
the third story, one side of the large brick flue was arranged like the drawers 
of a bureau, the bottom of the drawers being basket-work. In these, each of 



324 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

M'liicli held about a bushel of apples or peaches cut in quarters, the fruit 
dried with wonderful rapidity. It needed no other attention than changing 
the drawers once from top to bottom, to equalize the drying, so as to finisli 
all at once. Other things besides fruit were dried in this flue, such as sweet 
corn, olcra, pease, tomatoes, etc. 

The following, taken from the Vallci/ Farmer, is the description of a dry- 
ing-house in use in Wisconsin : 

" It consists of a building of logs, brick, or stone, of any convenient size, 
say ten feet wide by twelve or fourteen long, and one story high, having an 
ordinary roof, with a ventilator to admit of the escape of the heat and vapor 
arising from the fruit. 

"The furnace should open on the outside of the building, at the end. It 
should be about two feet square. The sides sliould be of brick, and as thin 
as may be to sustain the top. The flue should lie extended to near the entire 
length of the building, and then return, forming a parallel flue, wliich may 
be reduced to two thirds the size of tlie furnace or main flue, terminating in 
a chimney near the door of tlie furnace. The top of the furnace and flue 
should bo covered with plates of thin boiler iron ; thicker iron, or a covering 
of brick or stone, will not admit of a suflicient escape of heat to facilitate 
the drying process. The fruit is di-icd on trays or hurdles, arranged in three 
tiers, one above another, with a space of twelve or fifteen indies between 
them. The hurdles may be two and a half feet wide, six or seven feet long, 
and three inclies deep. These are made of common boards, with a latli bot- 
tom, made thin ; tlie laths should be made of hickory, as the fruit is found 
to dry much more readily on hard wood lath than it does on poplar or other 
soft wood. Through the length of the building frames are put up to support 
the hurdles of fruit. These frames or rails extend through openings rtiade 
in the end of the building opposite the furnace, and corresponding with each 
pair of rails are wooden shutters. The rails extend on the outside about six 
feet; upon these the liurdles are placed crosswise; upon each of the hurdles 
are rollers corresponding with the rails ; being filled with the fruit to be dried, 
the hurdles are run in like cars upon a railroad. Thus arranged, with the 
three tiers of rails filled with trays of fruit, about one and a half l)arrels can 
be dried at once, requiring about twenty-four hours to complete the opera- 
tion. The trays nearest the fire will, of course, dry the fastest, and, with the 
convenience of the railroad and the shutters in tlie end of the building, they 
may be drawn out and changed to the upper rails, when the whole may be 
finished within the twenty-four hours in the most perfect and uniform man- 
ner, and without tlie least burning. The fire shoidd be made witliout grates, 
on the bottom of the furnace, which consumes less fuel, and keeps up a more 
uniform heat than if placed above the draft. 

"In some instances we have seen pieces ofc old steam-boilers substituted 
in the place of brick walls for a furnace ; to the boiler is connected and re- 
turned a pipe of somewhat smaller dimensions, a sheet-iron pipe, which ad- 
mits of the free escape of heat and speedy drying of the fruit. 



Sec. 19.] 



ECOlSrOMY IN BUILDING.— BALLOON FRAMES. 



325 



"The ordinaiT method of drying peaches and apples in Kentucky and 
Tennessee is to construct a kiln of stone, witii a broad flat top, upon which the 
fruit is laid, and a fire kept up in the flue beneath till the fruit is sufiiciently 
dried. This is more expeditious than drying in tlie sun, and the fruit is not 
so liable to be soiled by flies, yet it is objectionable on account of liability 
to bum the fruit in contact with the over-heated stone." 




SECTION XIX.-EC0N0M1CAL FARM BUILDINGS, BALLOON FRAMES, 
CONCRETE WALLS, AND OTHER CHEAP STYLES OF BUILDING. 

fE are satisfied that we can do those who desire to 
build no greater favor than making them acquainted 
with the modern style of building, known as " bal- 
loon frames" — a name that was at first conferred 
upon them in ridicule on account of their lightness 
and unsubstantiability. This name is only true as 
it applied to their lightness. Balloon frames are not 
ridiculous fi'om any lack of suflicient strengtli. There 
is need of no stronger building than one made upon 
this plan, except where it is necessary to have strength 
of timber to sustain weighty storage or ponderous 
machinery. For all ordinary farm buildings, we 
earnestly recommend balloon frames. And we are 
not alone in our recommendations, though, so far as 
we know, we were tlie first in recommending them to farmers in the Eastern 
States. Of late, Geo. E. Woodward, an architect and builder of New York 
city, has written some exceedingly valuable articles upon this subject, and 
published them in the Country Gentleman, with illustrations, and to him or 
them we respectfully refer readers, who may be incited from what we say 
here, to make further inquiries. 

Among the sensible things said by Mr. "Woodward, are the following: 
"Economy in the construction of all buildings adapted to the hal)itation 
or convenience of man has been a study of much interest to those who con- 
template the erection of luiildings for their own use or for the purposes of a 
profitable investment ; though we are inclined to think experimental or in. 
ventive talent has applied itself more to produce some new and cheap build- 
ing material than to develop the full resources of such materials as are found 
best adapted to onr wants. 

" Necessity has done much for the building public by introducing 
to their favorable notice the balloon style of framing wooden buildings— 
a style which is not well undea'stood in the old settled' and well-timbei'ed 
portions of our country, but is, with few exceptions, the only plan adopted 



326 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

throughout the magnificent agricultural districts west of our great inland 
seas. 

"The increasing value of lumber and labor must turn the attention of men 
of moderate means to those successful plans which have demonstrated econ- 
omy in both, and at the same time preserved the full qualifies of strength 
and security so generally accorded to the old fogy principles of framing, but 
which, we presume to say, is inferior in all the true requisites of clieap and 
substantial building. 

" Any intelligent man who can lay out a right angle and adjust a plumb 
line may do his own building, for it is without a mortice, a tenon, or brace, 
and a man and boy can do all the work. This principle is the one applied to 
the construction of what are technically as well as sarcastically termed bal- 
loon frames, which, instead of proving a failure, stands with more than 
30,000 examples of cvei-y conceivaljle size and form, a perfect success." 

350. How to build Balloon Frames. — Tiio following remarks upon the sub- 
ject we printed some years ago, not only to sho^V^ that much labor and much 
timber may be saved, but that sawed timber may be dispensed M'ith where 
it is very expensive. We know that this article enabled many persons to 
build cheap frames, and as it once did good, we reprint it that it may do 
much more good in future. The remarks were an answer to the inquiry how 
to build balloon houses. 

"I would saw all my timber for a frame house, or ordinary frame out- 
building, of the following dimensions : two inches by eight, two by four, two 
by one. I have sometimes built them, when I lived on the grand prairie 
of Indiana, many miles from saw-mills, nearly all of split and hewed stuff, 
making use of rails or round poles, reduced to straight lines and even thick- 
ness on two sides, for studs and rafters. But sawed stuff is easiest wrought, 
though in a timber country the other is far the cheapest. First, level your 
foundation, and lay down two of the two-by-eight pieces, flatwise, for side- 
sills. Upon these set the floor-sleepers on edge, 32 inches apart. Fasten 
one at each end, and, perhaps, one or two in the middle, if the building is 
large, with a wooden pin. Tiiese end-sleepers are the end sills. Now lay 
the floor, unless you design to have one that would be likely to be injured 
by the weather before you get the roof on. It is a great saving, though, of 
labor to begin at the bottom of a house and build up. In laying ftie floor 
first, you have no studs to cut and fit around, and can let your boards run 
out over the ends, just as it hajjpens, and afterward saw them off smooth by 
the sill. Now set ujJ a corner post, which is nothing but one of the two-by- 
four studs, fastening the bottom by four nails ; make it plumb, and stay it 
each way. Set another at the other corner, and tlien mark off your door 
and window places, and set up the side-studs and put in the frames. Fill 
up with studs between, 16 inches apart, supporting the top by a line -or 
strip of board from corner to corner, or staid studs between. Now cover 
that side with rough sheeting-boards, unless you intend to side up with clap- 
boards on the studs, which I never would do, except for a small, common 



Seo. 19.] 



now TO BUILD BALLOON FRAMES. 



327 



building. Make no calculation about the top of your studs ; wait till ^-ou 
get to that hight. You may use them of any lengtli, with broken or stub- 
shot ends, no matter. When you have this side boarded as high as you can 
rei^cli, proceed to set up another. In the mean time, other workirien can 
1 e lathing the first side. AVhen you have got the sides all up, fix upon the hight 
of your upper floor, and strike a line upon the studs for the under side of the 
joist, and cut a gain four inches wide, half-inch deep, and nail on firmly 
one of the inch strips. Upon these strips rest the chamber-floor joist. Cut 
a notch in the joist one inch deep in the lower edge, and lock it on the strip, 
and nail each joist to each stud. 'Now lay this floor and go on to build the 
upper story as you did the lower one, splicing on and lengthening out studs 
wherever needed, until you get high enough for the plate. Splice studs or 
joist by simply butting the ends together, and nailing strips on each side. 
Strike a line and saw ofl" the top of the studs even uj^on each side of the 
building — not the ends — and nail on one of the inch strips. That is the 
plate. Cut the ends of the upper joist the bevel of the pitch of the roof, and 
nail them fast to the plate, placing the end ones inside the studs, which you 
will let run up promiscuously, to be cut oflF alongside of the rafter. Now 
lay the garret floor by all means before you put on the roof, and you will 
find that you have saved 50 per cent, of hard labor. The rafters, if sup- 
ported so as not to be over ten feet long, will be strong enough of the two- 
by-four stuflf. Bevel the ends and nail fast to the joist. Then there is no 
strain upon the sides by the M'cight of the roof, which may be covered with 
shingles or other materials, the cheapest befng composition or cement roofs. 
To make one of this kind, take soft, spongy, thick paper, and tack it upon 
the boards in courses like shingles. Commence at the top with hot tar and 
saturate the paper, upon which sift tine gravel evenly, pressing it in while 
hot — that is, Mdiile tar and gravel are-both hot. One coat will make a tight 
roof; two coats will make it more durable. Put up j-our partitions of stuff 
one by four, unless where you want to support the upper joist ; then use 
stuff two by four, with strips nailed on top for the joist to rest upon, fasten- 
ing altogether by nails M-herever timbers touch. Thus you will have a frame 
without a tenon, or mortice, or brace, and yet it is far cheaper and incalcu- 
lably stronger when finished than though it was composed of timbers ten 
inches square, with a thousand auger-holes and a hundred daj's' work with 
the chisel and adze, making holes and pins to fill tliem. To lay out and 
frame a building so that all its parts will come together, requires the skill 
of a master mechanic, and a host of men, and a deal of Iiard work to lift 
the great sticks of timber into position. To erect a balloon building requires 
about as much mechanical skill as it does to build a board fence. Any 
farmer who is handy with the saw, iron square, and hammer, with one of his 
boys or a common laborer to assist him, can go to work and put up a frame 
for an outbuilding, and finish it off with his own labor just as well as to 
hire a carpenter to score and hew great oak sticks and fill them full of 
mortices, all by the science of the 'square rule.' It is a waste of labor that 



328 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

we should all lend our aid to put a stop to. Besides, it will enable many a 
farmer to improve his place with new buildings, who, though he has long 
needed them, has shuddered at the thought of cutting down half of the best 
trees in his wood-lot, and then giving half a year's work to hauling it home 
and paying for what I do know is the wholly useless labor of framing. If 
it had not been for the knowledge of balloon frames, Chicago and San 
Francisco could never have arisen, as they did, from little villages to great 
cities in a single year. It is not alone city buildings, which are supiJorted 
by one another, that may be thus erected, but those upon the open prairie, 
where the wind has a sweej) from Mackinaw to the Mississippi — for there 
they are built — and stand as firm as any of the old frames of New England, 
with posts and beams sixteen inches square." 

To this we add something more from Mr. Woodward. He says : 

" We hear and read very much about the policy of cutting mortices, 
tenons, gains, etc., in the various pieces whicii go to make up the balloon 
frame. Now it is our opinion, based upon a long and thoroughly practical 
experience, that he who does much of this will have some misspent time 
to account for hereafter, besides weakening his building and hastening the 
decay of the frame. A gain must be cut in the studding for the side girt, 
unless the dwelling be lined. Gains arc sometimes cut in floor joists for 
the purpose of locking them over partitions that run through the hight 
of the building. Rafters projecting over the sides should be notched, to 
give them a foothold on the plate. These causes would, as a general thing, 
constitute all the cutting necessary. 

"In building houses one-and-a-half-story high, never cut a gain for the side 
girt on which to rest the upper-story floor joists, unless the thrust of the roof 
be well guarded against by secure collar beams. We prefer, when we cut 
this gain, to use studding one inch wider ibr the sides. Where the building 
is lined, the side girt rests on top of the lining, and no cutting is necessary. 

" Unplastered buildings, of a moderate size, are sufficiently strong if the 
girt be nailed directly to the studding M'ithout cutting the gain or recess. 

" We have recommended, in the construction of a barn 24 by 40, alternate 
studs on the sides, 2 by 4 and 2 by 5, the side girt to be nailed to the narrow 
stud and let one inch into the wide stud. This would not answer for a 
plastered building, as the surface is not flush for lathing. 

" Two full story buildings are abundantly strong with 2 by 4 studding and 
gains cut into them for side girt; the third floor ties the top of the studding, 
so there is no yield. Tlie joists of the third floor should be placed upon the 
jilate, the ends beveled to the same pitch of the rafters, and each joist nailed 
at both ends to each rafter. 

"We prefer to build the second story full for a dwelling-house, as we get 
more strength, more convenient room, and the real diti'erence in expense is 
practically nothing. Where the studding is more than five feet high above 
the second floor of a barn, two or three tie-strips across the foot of the 
rafters will make all snujr. There should be tie or collar beams on all raftei's. 



Seo. 19.] COST OF A BALLOON-FRAME HOUSE. 329 

" lu story-and-a-half Iniildings, it is very desirable that collars be put on 
securely, so as to prevent any thrust of the rafters ; where the side girt is 
not gained in, as in small unplastcred buildings, the collars may be nailed 
or spiked to the rafter. If the side girt is set into the studding, as it should 
be in a plastered building not lined inside, it makes a weak point in the 
studding, reducing them from 2 by 4 to 2 by 3, and the collars should be 
put on in such a manner as to guard against any thrust whatever. The size 
of tlie building and the judgment of its constructor will indicate the best 
course to pursue. Buildings of one, two, or more full stories have no collars ; 
the joists of the upper floor tie the top of the building, and take the thrust 
of the rafters. In the usual mode of inside lining, one side laps the stud. 
The ends of the lining of the adjoining side are nailed to a strip fastened to 
the stud to receive them. 

"We have built balloon frames with green oak studding, basswood siding, 
and butternut trimmings, that have never yielded. There is a system of 
compensation among the light sticks of a balloon frame by which the sea- 
soning process goes on without injury to it. "We liave seen warped surfaces 
produced by using green oak siding and by careless building, but there is 
no good reason why a balloon-frame building should not be always square 
and plumb, and the outside boarding remain secure. 

'• The subject of ta]iering rafters has been pretty thoroughly discussed here- 
tofore. The same amount of strength can be had with a less amount of 
lumber. There is an additional labor in sawing such rafters, as well as a 
different calculation to be made in using up a log to the best advantage. It 
is necessary always to order this special bill of rafters direct from the mill, 
and the result will be that the extra cost will, nine times out of ten, over- 
balance the amount saved." 

351. The Cost of the Author's Balloon House and Barn.— Tliere is not only 
a saving in lirst cost of lumber, but a very large item will be saved in the 
bill of carriage, particularly where it has to be hauled a long distance on a 
wagon. The saving in the carpenter's bill is very large, because so much 
of the work may be done by persons less skillful than a well-bred carpenter. 
And then there is a total saving of all that troublesome, dangerous, hard 
work attendant upon an old-fashioned " raising." 

"We have lately built (that is, we were our own architect) a house and barn, 
a few miles out of the city of New York, upon the plan we are advocating, 
and therefore can speak from actual experience of the benefits of the plan 
in an old as Avell as in a new country. The house, or rather the addition to 
an old one, is 18 by 2i feet, with an attachment eight feet square upon one 
side, and a piazza six feet wide on the other. It is one stoiy of lOi feet, and 
has nine windows and seven doors. Both floors are deadened by a course 
of boards and heavy coat of clay mortar. The siding is nailed upon studs 
2 by -i inches, and there are two courses of lath and plastering — one half 
way between the siding and inside lath. The roof projects, and is orna- 
mented, and the garret is lathed and plastered, and the lower part divided 



330 THE FARMERY. [Chap. HI. 

into four rooms, and all is of good materials and workmaiisliip, at a total 
cost, except painting and papering, of $450. The sills and sleepers are pine, 
3 by 7, and the joist 3 by G, sprnee, and all wonld have been just as good, 
if procurable, 2 by G inches ; and there is not an upright stick larger than 
2 by 4 of hemlock. This house, notwithstanding its cheapness, is strong, 
durable, warm, and good-looking. "What more could we have of a ponder- 
ous, expensive frame? 

Our horse barn is 22 by 24 feet, and 13 feet high, and has but one upright 
stick in it larger than 2 by 4 inches. As the hay-loft is a high half story, it 
was thought best to have a center-post, which is 3 by 7, to support the ridge 
pole in the middle. The studs are covered with smooth pine siding, and the 
lower story is lined with rough boards, and the building is as strong as wo 
desire, and cost, completely finished, with good floors, stalls, mangers, doors, 
and windows, $300. The carpenter's work was only $50. 

"We have dwelt more fully ujDon this subject of balloon frames than upon 
many others, because we look upon it as one of very great importance. It 
is one that, if fully understood, would induce and enable farmers to have 
better dwellings and other farm buildings. 

352. Concrete Walls. — ^The best advice that we can give one who asks for 
information about making concrete walls, or how to build houses of gravel, 
or broken stones and lime and sand, is that he buy a little book called a 
"Home for All," published by Fowler & "Wells, whicli gives all the details 
of this mode of building. Mr. Fowler directs mixing a large mortar-bed 
of lime and sand together, with twice as much sand as slacked lime, made 
quite thin, and well worked. Into this mixture of lime and sand and water 
the gravel or broken stone is put and evenly mixed, and then shoveled out 
into a barrow or hoisting tub, and from that dumped into a smaller mortar- 
bed on the scaffold, where it gets another good mixing, and wetting if 
needed, and is then shoveled into the box that forms the mold to give shape 
to the walls. In thlo mold it hardens in one day so that the mold can be 
removed, but it takes a longer time to dry hard enough to put on the next 
course. Sncli walls, if well made, are almost as solid as hewn stone, and 
much cheaper whei'elime is not costly, and where sand and gravel or broken 
stone can be had for hauling. 

The proportion of materials given in the book referred to for a concrete 
wall are eight wheelbarrows full of lime, mixed with sixteen barrows of sand 
into a thin mortar, to which add sixty or eighty barrows of pebbles or rubble- 
etone. The lime may be of the coarsest kind, and not over one bushel of 
stone lime to thirty bushels of sand and stones. A wall three stories high 
is recommended — twelve inches thick for the first, ten inches for the second, 
and eight inches for the third. To protect the outside plastering, the roof 
should be a projecting one. 

Wedo not know how far this plan of building can be recommended upon 
the score of economj'. "We think that will depend very much upon circum- 
stances. If broken stone or pebbles are very convenient to the building site, 



Seo. 19.] CONCRETE WALLS. 331 

and lime to be had for the burning on the phace, or at a small cost, the 
building will be a clieap one, and not otherwise. Horace Greeley built a 
large barn of concrete upon his farm in Wesfcliester County, of such stones 
as are spread over tlie suriaco of these granitic hills. Although it is a very 
substantial building, our opinion is ^at we could build a good frame, and 
put the surplus money into other improvements, to a better profit. 

353. Building with Billets of Wood.— A new style of building has been 
adopted in several places at the "West, where brick and stones are inconve- 
nient, and sawed lumber and carpenter's work are expensive. The plan is to 
saw billets of wood of an even length, say one foot long, from limbs of trees ; 
or split stuff; slabs, we suppose, M'ould answer a good purpose, if Sjilit up into 
fire-wood size. These billets must be straight enough to pile np well. The 
wall is made by laying them in lime mortar, and, we believe, in some cases, 
in good clay mortar, where lime and sand are scarce, and then plastering 
tlie wall outside and in. The great objection seems to be that the oulside 
plastering cleaves off, as it does from all plastered buildings exposed to rain, 
frost, and heat. A friend writes ns inquiring whether there is any composi- 
tion for outside plaster that will stand the weather. We answer, none that 
can be wholly depended upon. A mortar made of hydraulic cement 
(water lime), of good quality, mixed with clean, coarse, sharp sand — two 
parts of sand to one of cement — would stand until some crack occurred, and 
water and frost get in behind. Perhaps the mortar described in No. 359 
will answer the purpose. But as it is cheaper, and perhaps equally good, 
we would recommend an ordinary coat of plaster, and then take cement and 
any cheap oil, and mix a pretty thick paint, and put on thoroughly two or 
three coats. Another good paint may be made as follows : Take four pounds 
of rosin and one pint of linseed oil, and boil together, adding about an 
ounce of red lead, and put it on hot, and afterward paint any color you like. 
If a crack ever occurs, stop it at once with the rosin and oil mixture. We 
have no doubt that these billets-of-wood houses can be built in many places 
cheaper than any other, and that they can be made neat, comfortable, and 
dm-able. 



332 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 




SECTION XX.-ROOFS AND ROOFING-rAINTS AXD WHITEWASH FOR 
FARM BUILDINGS-NAILS ^ND JIORTAR-FARM GATES. 

^' '^^HATEVER the style of building adopted for any 
of the farmery structures, a good roof never should 
be lost sight of, for upon that, much of the farm 
economy depends. A leaky roof on a dwelling de- 
stroys comfort and property, and is tlie source of 
many unpleasant days and nights to the family, and 
sometimes productive of sickness, as well as injury 
to furniture. A leaky roof upon a barn will destroy 
every year a greater value of hay and grain than it 
would cost to make it tight. It is for this that we give 
special attention to this part of the farm buildings. 
We also give some valuable hints upon painting and 
whitewashing, because both beauty and economy 
may be thus promoted. 
351. Sawed ShinglcSt — Of all the inventions ever contrived, that of sawed 
shingles has proved to be one of the least value to the country. The only 
profit is to the patentee and manufacturer. To every one who has used 
them, sawed shingles have proved a loss, no matter what the saving has 
been in first cost, unless the shingles, previous to laying on the roof, were 
prepared so as to prevent their saturation with water every time the rain fell 
upon them. It is this repeated saturation of sawed shingles that rots them, 
and gives us leaky roofs in one fourth the time that s[)lit shingles remain 
sound. It is true that good shingle timber is becoming scarce, and more 
and more so every year, and that farmers must have something as a sub- 
stitute. What that something is we know not, but are quite sure, where 
economy is studied, that it M'ill not be sawed shingles. If they must be 
used, let the roof have a very steep pitch. On a flat roof we have known 
them rot entirely through in five years. Another roof, ten years old, both 
shingles and roof-boards, when taken off, crumbled into a mass of rotten 
wood, that scarcely bore any resemblance to boards and shingles. 

"A retired mechanic" writes us that he followed building eighteen years, 
and prefers sawed shingles if they are planed on the upper side, and says 
that a smart hand can plane from two to three thousand a day. We think 
a machine might be constructed to plane one side of sawed shingles without 
adding much to the cost. Without planing or dipping in boiling oil or tar, 
we do not believe sawed shingles should ever be used by any one who wants 
a good roof, or who cares for economy. The writer of a letter now before 
us speaks in very severe terms of the manufacturers of sawed shingles. He 
says they are often made of small cross-grained, sapling spruce, and that 



Seo. 20.] ROOFS AND EOOFING. 333 

the bark of the tree will last about as long as such shingles on a roof. The 
carelessness of persons employed to lay shingles is notorious, and a cross- 
grained shingle is just as apt to be laid wrong side up as right. Tlien the 
surface wears rough, and water soaks into the wood and rots it through so 
as to leak in a few months. This writer thinks the fanlt of sawed shingles 
is much more in the timber than in the manufacture ; that is, that sawed 
shingles from good, sound, straight-grained timber will last as long as 
split ones. 

Another letter writer suggests that sawed shingles should never be laid 
upon a boarded roof, but upon narrow laths, one to each course. He says : 

" I know of a building where the shingles were put on boards and the 
boards ptit close together, which have been on but a few years and are very 
leaky ; the shingles and boards have rotted through in places, while other 
]iarts are sound and good. I think the reason is, the shingles lie so close to 
the boards that when they get wet they never dry through ; while if laid upon 
laths, sawed shingles will last as long as split ones from the same timber." 

Another writer, speaking of the absolute necessity of using something as 
a substitute for split shingles on account of the scarcity of timber, wants to 
know why we can not have tile manufactured that will be a better substi- 
tute for shingles than anything else that we have, both for economy and 
certainty of having a good roof. " 

A correspondent speaks of shingles cut by a machine patented by J. L. 
Brown, of Indianapolis, Ind., at the rate of 50,000 a day, that are altogether 
superior to sawed shingles, even should the latter be planed. This may be 
so, bnt we have no faith in the economy of using shingles made by any kind 
of machinery th.at cuts wood across the grain. No shingles thus made will 
be as durable as split ones, unless saturated with oils or resins, or kyanized, 
and then they would be as expensive as those made by riving and shaving, 
or perhaps as much so in the long run as slate or tin. Depend upon it, using 
poor shingles upon farm buildings is very poor economy. 

355. Preseniug Shingles ou Roofs. — "Some paint roof shingles after they 
are laid. This makes them rot sooner than they otherwise would. Some 
paint the courses as they are laid ; this is a great preservative if each shingle 
is painted its full length, and not by courses." 

Mr. Ed. Emerson, of Hollis, Mass., thus gives, in the I^cw England 
Farmer, some hints that are worthy of preservation upon shingling roofs. 
He says : 

"Twenty- three years ago I had quite a lot of refuse shingles on hand, both 
sappy and shaky, and I laid them on the back kitchen and wood-shed. I 
liave just examined them, and think they will last at least seven years longer. 
The building has not leaked, to my knowledge. I soaked these shingles in 
a very thin whitewash, made with brine instead of clear water. There has 
been nothing done to them since, although I have no doubt that to have 
whitewashed or served a coat of dry-slaked lime or tine salt once in two or 
three years on them, would have been of great advantage to them. 



334 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

"As I shingle differently from almost every one else, I will give yon my 
method, and my reasons for it. However wide the shingles may be, I do 
not allow the nails to be put more than two inciies apart. Ii<ason — If your 
shingles are wet or green, and the M-ide ones are nailed at the edges, the 
shingles must split or one of the nails must draw when the shjngle shrinks. 
If the shingle is dry, it must huff or crowd the nail out when it swells. 
Thus your nails are kept in constant motion by every shrink or swell of the 
shingle till they are broken, pulled out, or the sliingle is split. I do not 
want the nails driven quite in, or so as to sink the head. /Reason — The 
heads of the nails hold up the butts of the next i-ow of shingles, and give 
the air a free circxdation. 

" I lay all my shingles in whitewash. I prefer brine for making it. I 
line with red chalk. I then whitewash the last course laid down to the 
line, and after the building is shingled I whitewash the whole of the roof. 
Reason- — To make the shingles last twice as long as they would without the 
whitewash, and I consider it much better than just whitewashing the roof 
after shingling." 

" Whitewashed shingles are never mossy. If slaked lime is sprinkled upon 
wet roofs, it will prevent moss from growing, and if the shingles are cov- 
ered ever £0 thick with moss, putting the lime on twice will take all the 
moss ofi" and leave the roof white and clean, and it will look almost as well 
as if it had been painted. It ought to be done once a year, and, in my opin- 
ion, the shingles will last almost twice as long as they will to let the roof all 
grow over to moss." One who has tried this plan says : 

"I tried it on the back part of my house ten years ago, when the shingles 
were all covered over with moss, and appeared to be nearly rotten. I then 
gave the roof a heavy coat of lime, and have followed it nearly every year 
since, and the i-oof is better now than at first." 

356. Roofs — their Form — Shingled and f omposition. — It is a serious defect in 
our roof architecture that the roofs of most buildings are so flat that the rain 
finds its way under the shingles. Sharp roofs keep out i-ain and last longer, 
and although the first cost is a trifle greater, they are cheaiicr in tlie end. 
"We know of no composition we can recommend to cure leaky shingled 
roofs, though several are advertised as sure cures. We are afraid they are 
like the Indian's gun — ■" cost more than he worth." There is a patent 
asphalt roofing felt tliat can be easily put on bj' any person. It weighs only 
about forty-two pounds to the square one hundred feet. It must be stretched 
tight and smooth, overlapping full one inch at the joinings, and closely 
nailed through the overlap. It should then receive a coating of coal-tar and 
lime — two gallons of the former to six pounds of the latter — well boiled to- 
gether and kept constantly stirred while boiling, and put on with a swab, 
and while it is soft some coarse eand may be sifted over it. This coating 
needs renewing once in five or six years. 

There is also roofing-paper — a soft, spongy substance, saturated with tar, 
which comes in rolls, and is sold for about four cents a pound. It is un- 

« 



Seo. 20.] ROOFS AND ROOFING. 335 

rolled upon a flat boarded roof, and tacked sufBciently to hold it in place, 
and then saturated with tar, which glues it to the boards, and it is covered 
with sand ; then more tar and another coat of sand. 

Another receipt' for composition roofs is given as follows: TaVe coal-tar, 
300 pounds ; hydraulic lime, 150 pounds ; ocher, 75 pounds ; and whiting, 
40 pounds. Mix these substances together thoroughl}-, and they will make 
a suthcient quantity of cement to cover 1,000 square feet of roofing. It 
should be laid down upon strong cotton sheeting nailed to the roof-boards, 
and on ihe lop of all a coat of dry sand or gravel is to be laid and pressed 
firmly down. The cost of such roofing is about $2 30 per ten square feet. 
It answers very well for sheds and other outhouses. 

357. Protecling Roofs from FirCo — In a country where wood is used as fuel, 
and where roofs are made of pine shingles, and where droughts are among 
the things occurring every summer, there is constant danger of conflagration 
of the dwelling from sparks on the roof. This may be guarded against in 
a very great measure in a very inexpensive manner. A roof carefully 
washed with three coats of either composition mentioned in Nos. 300 or 361, 
once in three j-ears, would be a hundi-ed times less liable to take fire from 
sparks than an unwashed roof. 

Such a wash would be a very cheap preventive of danger from fire. So is 
the paint mentioned in the following extract: 

" A wash composed of lime, salt, and fine sand or wood ashes, put on in the 
ordiuar}' way of whitewashing, renders the roof fifty-fold more safe against 
taking fire from falling cinders or otherwise, in cases of fire in the vicinity. 
It pays the expense a hundred-fold in its preserving infiuence against the efiect 
of the weather. The older and more weather-beaten the shingles, the more 
benefit derived. Such shingles generally become more or less warped, rough, 
and cracked ; the application of the wash, by wetting the upper surface, re- 
stores them at once to their original form, tiiereby closing the space between 
the shingles, and the lime and sand, by filling up the cracks and pores in 
the shingle itself, prevent its warping for years." 

358. (heap Nails. — The cheapest nails are not the lowest priced ones. 
Cut nails, made of iron of good quality, "will outlast such as can be bought 
at the lowest rates about two to one. Never use nails for siding or shingles 
that break very easily ; and be'sure not to allow your carpenter to use 
nails of very light weight. First-rate cut nails of suitable size may cost 
twenty-five per cent, more than the poorest and lightest, but in the end they ■ 
are a hundred per cent, the best. Nails made of poor iron will rust out a 
great deal quicker than nails made of good tough malleable iron, like th3,t 
known as old sable. It is about on a par with sawed shingles to use the 
cheapest or lowest priced nails, particularly for shingling. In building 
balloon frames none but the very best quality of nails should be used. 
Those known as "fence nails" are far the best, being made of thicker iron 
than the ordinary nails of the same number. 

Weather-Proof JVails — are described in the Ohio Cultivator. It says : 



336 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

"Everybody knows what a difficult thing it is to nail roof-boards and 
weatlier-boards so that they will hold for a good length of time. There are 
many other places in which it is nearly impossible to make nails do the 
office for which they are intended. A remedy — and the only one I ever 
saw — I discovered a few years ago ; it is very simple and never fails. Take 
teni^enny, malleable nails, and place the head in a vice, and with a pair of 
pincers grip the nail near the point, and twist it half-way round, minding to 
make the twist somewhat elongated. In driving, the nail becomes a screw, 
and neither sun nor hammer can M'ithdraw it." 

359. To make Morlar Impervions to Wet, — " Provide a square wooden 
trough, say S by 4 feet, and 2 feet deep ; put in a quantity of fresh lump 
lime, and add water quickly. When the lime is well boiled, having assisted 
that operation by frequent stirring, add tar (the heat of boiling lime melts 
the tar), stir it well, taking care that every jjart of the lime is intimately 
mixed with the tar; then add sharp sand or crushed clinker, and stir it well 
as before; after which, in about twenty hours, it will be fit for use." 

3(50. Cheap Paints for Farm BuildiugSt— Tar and lime may be used, in 
order to make either wood or mason-work waterproof. The best way to 
prepare gas or coal tar for coating wood-work with, is to get some of the 
best stone lime, avoiding chalk lime, and slake it to a fine powder; boil the 
tar for about half an hour, and then add about one pint of hot lime-powder 
to a gallon of tar, and boil it about half an hour longer, stirring it conlinu- 
ally, and using it hot. 

We give the above as we find it, but prefer the following: Take the com- 
mon " Kosendale cement" (water lime), sift it, and mix the fine powder with 
coal-tar, or any kind of oil, and it will make an excellent paint, of a diab or 
brown-stone color. 

361. Permanent Whitewash Paiut. — Another excellent paint is made of 
the following ingredients: that is, one bushel of well-burnt white lime 
unslaked, 20 lbs. Spanish whiting, 17 lbs. rock-salt, 12 lbs. brown sugar. 
Slake the lime, and sift out any lumps or stones, and mix it into a good 
whitewash, say with 40 gallons of water, and then add the o'.her ingredients, 
and stir all well together, and put on two or three thin coats with a common 
whitewash brush. Five dollars' worth of this cheap white paint will give 
the farmery such an improved appearance that it would sell readily for $100 
more than it would in its old wood-colored coat and neglected-looking con- 
•dition. This mixture makes a paint that is very cheap, and makes a coat 
that does not wash off or rub oft', and looks well — that is, makes the loiigh 
boards of a barn, shed, outbuilding, or fence look much better than in their 
natural wood-colored condition ; and it will, by its antiseptic qualities, tend 
beneficially toward the preservation of the wood. It can be tinted by any 
of the articles mentioned in 362. This is intended for tlie outside of build- 
ings, or where it is exposed to the weather. In order to give a good color, 
three coats are necessary on brick and two on wood. 

Another cheap and good paint may be made of any pure clay ; such as 



Seo. 20.] PAINTS AND WOITEWASH. 337 

potters use is the right sort; or that known as "bhie clay" will answer a 
good purpose in its natural condition. Even such as brick-makers use can 
be washed of all its impurities, by thoroughl}' mixing it with a large bulk 
of water, and letting it settle and then draw off the water, and also reject 
the bottom of the mass, which will contain all the sand. 

To prejjare clay for paint, first dry it, either in the sun or by fire, and 
then pulverize it fine, which may bo done with a cannon-ball in a swinging 
iron pot. Then sift it, and mix with boiled linseed oil, pretty thick, and you 
will have just as good a fire-proof paint, or a weather-protecting paint, as 
any that are sold as such in the shops. 

In some localities soft slate, or slate-dust from a manufactory, can be had, 
and that will make a good " mineral paint." 

362. Zinc and Lime Whitewash Paint. — Take a clean barrel that will hold 
water. Put into it half a barrel of quicklime, and slake it by pouring over 
it bgjling water sufiicient to cover it four or five inches deep, and stirring it 
until slaked. When quite slaked, dissolve it in water, and add two pounds 
of sulphate of zinc and one of common salt, -which in a few days will cause 
the whitewash to harden on the wood-work. Add sufiicient water to bring 
it to the consistency of thick whitewash. 

To make the above wash of a pleasant cream .color, add three pounds of 
yellow ocher. 

For fawn color, add four pounds of umber, one pound of Indian red, and 
one pound of lampblack. 

For gray or stone color, add four pounds of raw umber and two pounds 
of lampblack. 

The color may be put on with a common whitewash brush, and will be 
found much more durable than common whitewash. 

363. Stucco Whitewash.— To make a brilliant stucco whitewash for all 
buildings, inside and out, take a bushel of clean lumps of well-burnt lime, 
slaked ; add one fourth pound of whiting or burnt alum pulverized, one 
pound of loaf sugar, three quarts of rye flour, made into a thin and well- 
boiled paste, and one pound of the cleanest glue, dissolved. This may be 
put on cold within doors, but should be applied hot outside. 

The following is another receipt for stucco whitewash : Take half a bushel 
of nice unslaked lime, slake it with boiling water, covering it during the 
process, to keep in the steam. Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or 
strainer, and add to it a peck of salt, previously well dissolved in water ; 
three pounds ground rice, boiled to a thin paste, and stirred in boiling hot ; 
half a pound Spanish whiting, and a pound of clean glue, which has been 
previously dissolved by soaking it first, and then hanging over a slow fire, 
ill a small kettle inside a large one filled with water. Add five gallons of 
iiot water to the mixture, stir it well, and let it stand a few days covered 
from the dirt. It should be put on qxiite hot ; for this purpose it can be 
ivcpt in a kettle on a furnace. It is said that about a pint of this mixture 
^'•■]l cover a yard pnnare of the outside of a house, if properly applied. 



338 THE FARMEKY. [Chap. III. 

The size of the brushes used should be adapted to the work required. This 
composition answers as well as oil paint on wood or stone, and is cheaper. 
It retains its brilliancy for many years. 

Coloring may be jjut in, and made of any shade you like. Spanish brown 
stirred in will make red pink, more or less deep to the quantity. A delicate 
tinge of this is very pretty for inside walls. Finely pulverized common 
clay, well mixed with Spanish brown, makes a reddish stone color. Yellow 
ocher stirred in makes yellow wash, but chrome goes further, and makes a 
color generally esteemed prettier. In all these cases the darkness of the 
shades is determined of course by the quantity of coloring used. It is diffi- 
cult to make rules, because tastes are different; it would be best to try 
experiments on a shingle, and let it dry. We have bee;i told that green 
must not be mixed with lime. The lime destroys the color, and the color 
has an effect on the whitewash, which makes it crack and peel. Wlien 
walls have been badly smoked, and you wish to have them a clean whijc, it 
is well to squeeze indigo plentifully through a bag into the water you use, 
before it is stirred into the mixture. If a larger quantity than five gallons 
be wanted, the same proportion should bo observed. 

The above is the receipt that has been so long in circulation as that which 
gave the original whiteness to the " White House" at Washington. 

In oil painting, never suffer a painter to tise unboiled oil upon any of 
your buildings or farm imi^lements, and certainly never sufier yourself to 
leave any of them unpainted. Take care that the painter is not too liberal 
in the use of his " di-iers" in your paint. Tint is to please the eye. Oil 
preserves the wood, and one coat of boiled oil is worth three of unboiled. 

All farm buildings should be oil-painted or whitewashed. Whitewash 
lends to j)reserve wooden buildings more than any ordinary coat of paint, 
particularly such a one as would be given to iinplaned boards, which is a 
better condition for whitewashing than when smooth. The ice-house should 
be whitewashed on the outside as often as it is necessary to keep it perfectly 
white, as that is an important aid toward keeping it cool. 

364. Farmery GateSi — No farmery can be considered at all complete that 
is not amply furnished with gates, constructed with particular adaptation to 
their several situations, and arranged in the most perfect manner with 
hinges, latches, and fastenings. Tliere is to us no greater evidence of a 
slovenly farmer than is furnished by half-dilapidated, or at best incon- 
venient, bar?. These bar-ways may answer in field fences, where they are 
seldom to be opened, but they are a nuisance about the farmery. Most of 
the farmery gates should be self-closing, and made to swing so that an 
animal could not push against and open the gate. In some places a gate 
can not be made to swing either way ; then it must be made to open upon 
some one of the several plans that have been made for convenient opening 
in a straight line. One of the sort patented by some one in Oneida County, 
N. Y., is a very easy working gate. It is made of very light stuff, and for 
a wagon-way a pair, each five feet long, are set between posts nine feet 



Sec. 20.] IMPROVED FARM GATES. 33D 

apart, and held against tlie posts by guides, which allow of their easy work- 
ing. Attached by bolts to the upper outward corner are two light strips of 
boards, one on each side, and two others in the center. These strips are 
hinged to posts at the bottom in the same way they are at the top to the 
gate, and when the gate is shut they stand at an angle with the gate like 
braces, and when the gate is to be opened it lifts upon these centers, and 
passes over and stands alongside of the fence in a straight line. Such 
gates are very convenient in case of snow, as they lift np right out of the 
drift, so as to allow a passage without shoveling. When closed, the two 
gates are fastened together by hooks or bolts, or any convenient fastening. 
As they are not hinged to the posts, these may be made quite light. 

Another plan of a gate, to open without swinging, is to suspend it upon 
rollers running upon a rail overhead. Some one has improved upon this 
plan to make the gate openable by a person driving up in a wagon. This 
is done by lifting the gate at the front end by a lever, which changes the 
level of the railway-bar upon which the gate hangs, so that it rolls back by 
its own gravity. The principle will be understood by looking at any gate 
made to run ofl' on rollers upon a bar above the top, by supposing one end 
of the bar raised, when the gate rolls down. A touch of another lever, as 
the wagon passes, reverses the piosition of the bar, and the gate rolls back 
again to its closed position. 

The great objection to this, and almost all the plans for opening gates from 
the wagon, without alighting, is the unsightly appearance of the gallows- 
frame necessary to support the levers, ropes, and pulleys. 

"We have seen gates which opened by the weight of the wagon passing 
over a bar, and shutting it by another touch of a bar on the other side. 
There is a good deal of machinery to this plan, as well as to nearly all of 
the contrivances to open and shut gates without labor, and the most of them 
are very liable to fail of working easily. 

The most simple one of the kind, and, so far as we could judge from a 
single examination, the least liable to get out of working order, was one ex- 
hibited at the New York State Fair of 1860 by Jasper Johnson, of Genesee 
County. One of the greatest advantages of this invention is, that it can be 
applied to gates already in use, so that one can be opened by a person iu a 
wagon and shut as he passes through without stopping. 

Any erection that will sustain a single cord upon each side, and a bar of 
iron about four feet long, of the size of an ordinary crowbar, and one or 
two small rods, comprises all that need be added to any gate to fix it for 
this convenient way of opening. This bar of iron is made in a peculiar 
form, and attached to the gate-post by a loose joint at one end, while the 
other works in a long staple attached to the gate. Its position is moved by 
pulling the cord, and its specific gravity being thus changed, throws the 
gate open, and shuts it by another pull at the same cord, or the other one, 
as the person drives through. The attachment certainly is a very cheap 
one, and its operation was entirely satisfactory. 



340 TEE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

Kobiusou's Farm Gate is the name given to one invented, and not 
patented, by Dr. D. A. Eobinson, Union Springs, N. Y., of which we think 
pretty higlil}'. One of its good points is tlie cheapness of tlio hinges. Tliese 
are figured and fully described in that excellent pocket manual, the " Hural 
Eegister," jjublished by Luther Tucker, from which we copy the following 
description : 

"This gate may be made of any light, tough, and durable wood, but an- 
swers a good purpose wlien made of pine, with the npright or cross-bars of 
white oak. The upper horizontal bar is 11 feet long, 3 inches wide horizon- 
tally, and 5 inches deep at the hinge, and 2| at the latch. The mortises are 
only two thirds through, to shut out rain, and f by 3 inches- — except in 
the heel-piece they are an inch and quarter. Tlie heel-piece is 3 by 5 inches, 
and the four lower bars arc boards 1 by 5 inches. The cross-bars, the 
brace, and the two pieces forming the head-piece are 1 by 3 inches. They 
are secured at each crossing by wrought or annealed nails. The head-piece 
consists merely of two boards, nailed on each' side of the horizontal boards. 
The hinge is made by driving an iron rod, at least three fourths of an inch 
in diameter, into the top of the ])ost, which turns in a hole seven eighths of 
an inch, bored two thirds of the distance through the large end of the npper 
bar. A short iron plug driven into this hole makes a hard resting point 
that will not wear, for the gate to turn upon. The lower hinge is a wooden 
block, attached to the lower part of the gate, and hollowed out so as to fit 
upon the ronnd jiost. The latch is not attached lo the gate, but to the post, 
so that it catches over the top rail, which is made lo project beyond the end 
of the gate for that purpose. If it is preferred to have the latch fastened on 
the gate lower down, a pin can be fixed in or one of the slats projected for- 
ward. This gate is not liable to sag much, because there is no xoeight what- 
ever straining the hijujcs, except while the gate is open. A pin or spike is 
driven into the jjost on which the hinges turn, just above the lower hinge, 
to prevent hogs or other animals from lifting the gate, but which does not 
prevent it from being i^laced on its hinges while open. The post holding 
the latch may bo i-ougli, except the face, and the other need be rounded only 
where the hinge turns. 

" The whole cost of the hinges need not exceed ten cents, and the gate 
itself may be made at no greater expense than a common set of bars." 

An excellent gate-fastening is one in common use in Mississippi and some 
other Southern States, which we have never seen in any of the Northern 
ones. A gain is cut in the corner of the post, say three by four inches, and 
in that is hung a. piece of flat bar iron, say one inch wide and one fourth 
of an inch thick, bent in somewhat the form and of the length of half a 
horse-shoe, the npper end hammered thin and bent over a staple which is 
driven in the npper part of the gain, so that the lower end of the bar rests 
on the bottom, near the outer edge. An iron pin in the upright of the gate 
strikes against this little bar and lifts it up and passes beyond the end of it, 
when it falls back, and no power but a man's hand can open the gate — but 



Sec. 20.] IMPROVED FARM GATES. 3-11 

for that it is. very easy. It is one of the best latches we evex* saw to prevent 
iinrnly animals from getting the gate open, and it is very cheajilj' made, and 
wonld he a very safe one for all the gates about tlie farmery liable to be 
opened by the hogs and cattle. 

The following is a good jjlan of a new gate-hinge or plan of fastening the 
upper hook or eye of a gate-hinge into the jjost, which we have seen de- 
scribed lately, and like it so much that we wisli all farmers to know it. In- 
stead of driving the hook into the post, a hole is bored quite through it just 
at the top of the upper rail of the fence, and the shank is made long enough 
to reach some inches beyond the post, and has several notches on its upper 
side. Bore a hole through the rail and put a small bolt with a loophole at 
one end, to bite into a notch of the hinge, and nut at the other. Of course, 
when screwed up, the sag of the gate can not draw the hook; but If neces- 
sary it can be made shorter by shifting a notch or two. 

The following dimensions of a good strong farm gate, and the timber 
for it, may be taken as pretty near correct : 

Space between posts, 12 feet ; bight of posts above ground, 5i feet ; slats, 
12 feet long, 5 inches wide, 1\ inches thick for the bottom one, and 3 inches 
wide for the other six ; bight of gate, 4i feet. The ends into Avhich the 
slats are tenoned are 2i by 3 inches, 5 feet long. Some prefer to have the 
top rail double the strength of the middle slats. There are two braces and 
a center upright fastened with small screw bolts or rivets. If a strap hinge is 
used, they should be riveted to the slats. If straps are not used, the iron 
should be made to clasp the upright, and not go through it. 

In soft land, like that of the Western prairies, it is difficult to make gate- 
posts stand firm, and they are often formed with a gallows-looking cross-bar 
overhead. 

A better way is to put this cross-bar and braces at the bottom. Frame 
the posts and braces into a sill, and bury that three feet deep, and it will 
effectually prevent the posts from sagging, and then you may use them of 
much smaller timber. 

A good light gate is made as follows : Take strips of boards three inches 
wide, half an inch thick, of any strong wood ; pine, free of knots and M^eak 
spots, will answer, and cut them suitable lengths for the length, and others 
for the width of the gate. Lay down ujjon a smooth surface several of the 
short strips not over three feet apart, and then lay the long strips on for a 
close gate three inches apart at the bottom, gradually widening to the top ; 
then lay cTown short strips directly over the others, and nail through these 
with clinch nails. "We have sometimes reversed the order, and used two long 
strips opposite, instead of two short ones, which makes a stronger but heavier 
gate. Small gates made either way are quite strong enough. The hinges 
should be of a peculiar form, with long straps to clasp the gate so as to rivet 
through and hold the wood between the iron. 

In Section LII., in an article upon farm fences, something will be found 
about how to make gate and fence posts durable. 



342 



THE FARMERY. 



[Chap. III. 




SECTION XXI.-LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS-PROTECTION OF FARM 
BUILDINGS FROM FIRE. 

T is a great question for the owner of fanm buildings 
(r whether he can protect tliem from destruction by light- 
ning-rods. Being almost faithless ourselves, yet not quite 
sure that lightning-rods are all useless, we will give the 
opinions of several who have investigated the question. 
365. Opinions of the Value of Lightning Conductors. — ^Mr. 
Quinby, a practical electrician, gave the following view 
of the subject in an article in the Wb)'ki7iff Farmer : 

" There can be few subjects of equal importance less gen- 
erally understood, or perhaps more universally misunder- 
stood, than the science of electricity in its application to 
lightning-rods. The errors of the past are very slow of erad- 
ication, although it must be admitted that progress has been 
made since the famous discussion in George III.'s time as to 
whether lightning-rods should be pointed or blunt at the top. So little is 
known of electricity itself, and so largely is it a purely speculative science, 
that it is no wonder that doctors disagree. 

" It is clear that the most valuable opinion on this subject is to be looked 
for from those who have made the study of electricity and thunder-storms a 
specialty, with the practical result in view of ascertaining the most effectual 
means of protection, and it is to be remarked that those who have done this 
have arrived at similar conclusions. 

" It is a common error to suppose that lightning-rods should be insulated, 
and a very natural one, arising from a superficial view of the subject. It 
should be remembered that currents of electricity in a rarefied state are con- 
tinually circulating through masses of matter silently and without producing 
any manifest effects ; the effect of insulation is to interrupt the flow of these 
currents, whereas the lightning-rod ought rather to be so contrived as to fa- 
cilitate their free passage from the building to the rod, and thence to the at- 
mosphere, and vice versa. 

"During that disturbed, electrified condition of the atmosphere, which 
we call a thunder-storm, these currents circulate in greater volume and 
rapidity, and a sufficient interruption of them brings about a discharge of 
lightning. 

" At such times the insulation of the rod from the building is a most ex- 
cellent device for causing an explosion of accumulated electricity either 
from or into the building, as the case may be. The rod, on the contrary, 
ought to act somewhat as a safety-valve, as regards any electrical disturb- 
ance within the house, neutralizing it gradually, and thus preventing an 
explosion. 



Seo. 21.] LIGHTNING-CONDUCTORS. 343 

"Should the rod be struck by lightning, its etficacy in carrying off the 
shock will depend on whether it presents a continuous chain of conducting 
matter, in the line or direction of the discharge, which is superior to any- 
thing witliin the building. If it does not, all the glass in the world will not 
prevent fluid from leaving the rod and passing through the building on such 
conductors as it may find there, 

"The true theory or purposes of the lightning-rod is to facilitate electric- 
ity in following out its natural laws and tendencies, and nothing can be 
more truly unscientific or practically absurd than the idea of presenting a 
barrier or obstruction to lightning." 

This theory fully accords with all our information upon this subject. 

The following are the views of another practical electrician, S. D. Cush- 
man, of South Bend, Ind. He says : 

" A conductor for the protection of life and property from the effects of 
lightning should be so constructed and applied that it will add to the con- 
ducting power of the building so as to admit of the most intense discharge 
being securely transmitted, without explosion or damage to the building or 
structure. 

" Attraction. — The utility of a lightning-rod does not consist in its 
attracting 2>ower. 

" Insulation. — -The conducting power of a lightning-rod is frequently 
diminished by insulation, and never is increased; it should never be insu- 
lated. It may be fastened to the building with brackets of wood or staples. 

" Points. — The attaching to the upper end of a lightning-rod a copper, 
silver, gold, or any kind of a point, does not add to the utility of the rod, 
but when attached always diminishes, more or less, the conducting power 
of the rod, by breaking up the perfect continuity that a rod should possess, 
and interrupting its polarity. 

" Size. — An iron lightning-rod should never have less than three inches 
conducting surface, nossessing solidity sufficient to have strength and dura- 
bility. 

" CoNSTKUCTiON. — A lightning-rod should not possess in its construction 
sharp edges, neither should it be in sections nor pieces (the sections or pieces 
being hooked or screwed together), but it should be all in one piece, possess- 
ing an equal, even unbroken surface in its whole length. 

" Application. — In the application of the rod to the building the conduct- 
ing power of the building should be brought into the general line of con- 
duction ; that is, the rod should come in good metallic contact with all the 
important metallic substances upon the outside of the building, such as 
gutters, spouts, etc. That part of the rod that conies in contact with the 
earth should be increased in its surface and conducting power, so that there 
will not be less conducting surface in contact with the earth than is exposed 
to the building and atmosphere, and care should be taken that the earth 
around and in contact with the rod is always moist. 

" Shade-Tkees. — Shade-trees should not be relied upon as a protection 



344 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

from lightning, because tlieir conducting power varies so much, and very 
often, when in their best conducting condition, they are damaged by the 
lightning passing over them. The conducting power of shade-trees, then, 
should be increased and made permanent by the application of an iron or 
copper wire. 

" Eekoes. — One of the errors committed in protecting from lightning is 
an improper estimate placed upon the conducting power of the bnilding, 
compared with the material used for protection. When a lightning-con- 
ductor terminates or ends in a substance of imperfect or less conducting 
power, it is reduced to the conducting power of the body in which it ends. 

" Dry earth is a non or imperfect conductor. Earth owes its conducting 
power to water. According to Cavendish, the conducting power of iron, as 
compared to the conducting power of water, is as four hundred millions to 
one. The electrical size of the mass of lightning-rods is not as large as a 
common knitting-needle, being reduced by so small a portion of the rod's 
surface coming in contact with damp earth. 

"Another error is in constructing the rod in sections. Rods properly 
applied, of perfect continuity, being all in one piece, without coupling or 
hooking, have never failed to carry the quantity of electricity that may 
have passed upon them safely and successfully to the ground, while the sec- 
tioned, or the rods hooked or screwed together by burs or nuts, have fre- 
cpieutly failed to do their duty. Scarcely a day or a week passes during 
the summer months but we hear of the failure of the coupled lightning-rods. 

" However well the fact of electrical conduction may be known — however 
well scientific men may be agreed that by the judicious employment of 
metallic bodies we may increase protection against lightning, certain it is 
that they have taken too much upon trust, and neglected the investigation 
of the facts. 

" Men ignorant of every electrical principle have professed to furnish 
security against lightning, until the scientific electrician who attempts to 
sell lightning-rods is received with jeers and contempt as a designing 
swindler ; his story is listened to with impatience, and his jjresence consid- 
ered an intrusion." 

The rod recommended by Mr. Cushman is made of four copper and four 
iron wires laid together, with a pointed cap on the top, and some metal plates 
at the bottom. There must never be a splice in the wire, but several wires 
carried up from the ground, in the main body, may be taken off and con- 
nected with the metal roof of a building, or with other points. 

The following language we used upon a discussion of this suhject before 
the American Institute Farmers' Club : 

"As lightning-rods are most commonly constructed, they are not what 
they are generally conceived to be — tliat is, attractors of an approaching 
thunderbolt, picking it up on the sharp points, and conducting it down a 
carefully insulated rod to a safe deposit in the earth. If a lightning-rod 
ever performed such a service, I should like to be assured of the fact. At 



Sec. 21.] LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS. 345 

present I have no faith. I believe that, wlien the atmosphere is surcharged 
with electricity, any metallic substance will absorb it just in proportion to 
its natural affinity, and if tliere is an excess of fluid in the air around the 
top of a rod, it will run down it to the earth, just as it runs along telegraph 
wires ; and experience has proved that a bright, sharp uoint is more attract- 
ive than a blunt one. 

"Still, a blunt rod will become charged, and so will a metal roof, and, 
more than all, an iron building, and the water-conductor, or whatever other 
metallic substances reach from the top to the earth, will tend to dissipate tlie 
excess of electricity in the air above and around the building, and prevent 
an accumulation of it sufficient to produce an explosion. But I have not 
one particle of faith that any building that happened to be situated in the 
path of what we call a thunderbolt, ever was saved by the best liglitning- 
rod ever erected. And if in its course the discharge from the cloud, coming 
like a rifle-ball from the muzzle of the gun, happens to strike the sharp 
point of the I'od, it is, to my mind, a preposterous idea to suppose that perfect 
insulation of tliat rod from the building can be of any possible advantage." 

This opinion we still abide by. The world is full of theories upon the 
subject. Wc wish we could elucidate them. We want all these lightning 
theories reduced to two or three facts. It is claimed by some that iron is 
the best, and by others that copper is best. One contends that blunt iron is 
just as good as sharp gold or platina. One says that insulation is necessary, 
and tlie other that it is not. Now it is facts that we want. Farmers want 
to know whether they can protect their buildings from danger of being 
struck by lightning. 

A. B. Dickenson, a practical and close observing farmer of Steuben 
County, N. Y., is of opinion that no lightning-rod will protect a barn while 
giving oflf steam arising from newly stored hay and grain. Then, of what 
advantage to erect one ? for that is the very time it is most needed to save 
the formers' barns from destruction, which are much more likely to be de- 
stroyed than any other buildings, and the loss is much greater. 

Adrian Bergen, of Long Island, relates one case of a barn apparently 
saved by the conductor. The force of the shock was so great that a man in 
the barn was knocked down. The rod was a small, round one, fastened to 
the barn by wooden supports. After the explosion a hole was found at the 
foot of the rod. 

So we have read of many cases where "there was an apparent good effect 
from having conductors upon buildings. A very heavy crash fell upon or 
over a house and barn in New Hampshire, which melted the points of new 
conductors and apparently' dissipated the fluid so as to prevent damage, 
though the barn appeared to be filled with electricity. 

The Temple at Jerusalem stood ten centuries without oeing injured ; but 
this building had a great deal of metal about it, and perhaps conductors for 
water that carried the electricity from the roof to the ground. Yet we have 
many instances in this country where buildings have been struck that were 



346 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 



fully provided witli lightning-rods. This may be owing to bad constniction 
of the rods. In the case of a great explosion, like the one in Xew Hamp- 
shire, it is not likely that a single rod could convej'' all the charge to the 
ground. If a rod was full of j^oints along its length, it would serve to dissi- 
I^ate the charge, and a square rod is better than a round one. 

Wm. S. Carpenter, of the eastern part of Westchester County, IST. Y., says : 

"The farmers in my section have no faith in lightning-rods, because the 
proportion of barns that have been struck with rods upon them is greater 
than those without conductors. A scientific work states that a copper rod 
one inch in diameter is better than an iron i-od four inches in diameter, and 
nothing less than that seems to be sufKcient. This rod, too, must be contin- 
uous, and well connected at the bottom with damp earth." 

Cases have occurred where a tin roof appeared to act as a great absorbent 
of the electricity, which it conducted down the tin water-spouts, and in one 
case into a water-cask, which it burst, a"nd passed on into tlie wet earth. 

Single rods are apparent!}' not always reliable. It is not doubted that an 
extensive spread of metal diffuses lightning. Then, are buildings safe with 
metal roofs ? Flagstaffs have been torn to pieces on their tops, and no mark 
of injury left about the dwelling. Would it not answer the purpose and be 
also economical to place a stout rod on the center of a wooden roof, and at- 
tach to the bottom, where it touches the roof, a number of telegraph wires, 
carried in many directions to the ground ? Would the stroke on the center 
rod be carried safely off by such radii ? If so, the plan is vastly cheaper 
than an entire metal roof. Faraday experiment^ on iron cages suspended 
in air — in one of them a man ; in another small cylindrical one, a mouse. 
The cages powerfully charged with electricity, produced no effect on the 
man or mouse. The plan of one central rod, with many wires covering the 
building, may produce like results. 

It is wortii a trial. It is also worthy of observation how many more barns 
than houses are struck by lightning. A calculation of an average of seven 
persons to a dwelling in the United States, basing the population at 
30,000,000, would give 4,200,000 dwellings. And assuming that there are 
5,000,000 of farmers, we may say there are 700,000 barns. Now, greatly 
as the number of dwellings exceeds that of barns, our opinion is that there 
are two barns to one dwelling destroyed by lightning. 

The impression is common, that barns when first filled with the harvest 
are attractive of the fluid by the medium of the ascending gas of their con- 
tents. This is probably true, and it is our opinion that a rod to serve as 
a conductor, so as to be a sure protection, must reach higher than this col- 
umn of vapor. Some barns need several rods ; others may need but one. 
It depends upon the location very much, whether on a damp or dry soil, etc. 

Prof. Henwick, of New York, says : 

" I doubt whether a barn was ever struck by lightning which was prop- 
erly protected by a conductor." 

Ah ! but what is that proper protection ? That is what we would gladly 



Seo. 21.] LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS. 347 

tell the farmers. We know of a fact that two barns were burned the last 
season in "Westchester County, which were provided with conductors, which 
the owners tliought as perfect as it is possible to make them. Several cases 
have come within our knowledge where green trees were torn to shivers 
near buildings, which saved the buildings from destruction, while lightning- 
rods on the buildings touched by tlie trees did not attract or conduct the 
fluid. 

Then, as trees certainly are protectors, let every farmer plant trees around 
all the farmery. That they are the very best conductors we believe, but 
they are never tall enough to protect the barn when giving off its towering 
column of steam. 

366. Material of Conductors and Insnlators. — If a farmer has determined 
to erect a lightning-rod, the first and most important thing for him to be as- 
sured of is, what constitutes the best conducting material. As there are but 
two materials, copper and iron, and as both are good conductors, and only 
vary in power according to size, the choice may be regulated by the cost. 
M. Poulet, a French scientific writer, gives the conducting power of copper 
as five and a half to six and a half times (varying with the specimens tried) 
greater than iron. Then, if iron is six cents a pound and copper thirty-six 
cents, the cost would be equal for a given length of rod. This is probably a 
fair average of the difference in the conducting power, as Dr. Priestly makes 
copper five times greater than iron, and Prof. Faraday six and two-fifth times 
greater. As scientific men have calculated that a copper rod, to possess suf- 
ficient conducting power, should be, for short rods, half an inch diameter, 
and for very long ones, three fourths of an inch, it follows that none of the 
iron rods in use are large enough, for they are generally under one inch di- 
ameter. We believe that that is large enough, and we do not believe that 
insulators are necessary, but that the rod should be in one continuous piece, 
and if it can not be welded together on the ground where it is to be erected, 
it should be firmly screwed together, so as to be as nearly solid as possible. 

If the rod is continuous, it may be safely fastened to the building with 
ordinary iron staples. If it is inserted deep in the earth, so as always to be 
moist, there is no danger about the lightning leaving it while passing from 
the cloud to the earth, should it be attracted by the ever bright point which 
the rod should, and must, possess, to be of any practical value as an at- 
tractor of electricity. 

Instead of insulating a rod from the house, it would add to its efficiency, 
if the house has a tin roof, to connect it with the conductor. It would also 
be beneficial, we believe, to connect the conductor with the tin water-spouts 
of a wooden building. 

367. The Area of Attraction of Liglitning Conductors. — It is of much import- 
ance to a farmer, if he intends to protect his buildings by lightning-rods, to 
know how far a single rod will aflFord protection ; that is, the area of attraction 
over which the single bright point of the rod is supposed to exercise an in- 
fluence — so as to attract or bend a stream of electricity from its course — so 



348 THE FARMERY, [Ohap. III. 

as to carry it down the conductor to the earth without liarm to the building. 
My own opinion is, that the area is much smaller than is generally sup- 
posed. If a rod is erected at one gable of a barn forty feet long, projecting 
ten feet above the peak, \ve do not believe it would afford the least protection 
to the other end. 

If a conductor is erected upon a dwelling, it should have a point ten feet 
above each gable and each chimney, and then it is doubtful whether the 
steam and smoke arising from a wood tire would not prove a better con- 
ductor than a rod. 

We should not feel any protection from the very best lightning conductor 
projecting ten feet above the roof, at over ten feet from it. Probably this 
fact, that the area is very small over which protection extends, may account 
for buildings being struck and destroyed which were furnished with well- 
arranged lightning conductors. The area exposed was too great for the at- 
tractive power of the rod. 

368. Protection from Fire. — There is no mistake about the matter of pro- 
tecting buildings from danger of fire, whatever there may be about protect- 
ing tiiem from lightning. 

In tlie first place, have a careful supervisory care in building that no wood 
is allowed to be placed where it can be heated to a point of ignition. Here 
is a case in point. In building a chimney upon the soft, damp soil of tlie 
Western prairie, where brick was too expensive to encourage excavating 
down to a solid foundation, the mason suggested placing hewed timber on 
the ground, to which I readily assented, as it would save brick, and being 
two feet below the hearth there was no thought of danger from the fire. 
So upon this foundation the chimney was built, and as it was built right 
end up, it afforded the opportunity of having large fires, though the fire- 
place was but a small one. 

After keeping a liot fire through several extremely cold days and nights in 
midwinter, we began to be annoyed by the smell of wood burning in a con- 
fined situation. This continued several daj's, and began to be alarming, yet 
no one would believe it could be possible that those solid oak timbers under 
the chimney were being consumed by subterranean fire. Yet it was so, and 
it was found impossible to extinguish the fire without digging up the hearth, 
and with great labor working out the most exposed timber ; and as the other 
could not be taken out without danger of throwing down the whole chimney, 
we saturated it with salt, alum, and lime, to prevent it from taking fire 
again. 

This case we have introduced solely to prove how dangerous it is to allow 
any wood to come near enough to the fire to be heated very hot, for wood 
will ignite from heat, without any possible contact with tli6 fire. Another 
case: 

A gentleman in this city set a stove in a lower room, and conducted the 
pipe through the room above, used as a nursery. For convenience of warm- 
ing food he had a hole made in a slab of stone, just large enough for the 



Sko. 21.] WINDMILLS AND THEIR USE. 349 

pipe to fit closely. This stone was neatly set in the floor, forming, as tlie 
owner and the mason thought, a very safe way to conduct the stove-pipe, 
whicli did not stand within a foot of any of the wood-work. It was for a 
long time a great convenience, and very safe ; but one day the stove Lelow 
M'as heated pretty hot, and communicated its heat to the stone, and the 
wooden beams it rested upon, which had been long seasoning, ignited, and 
the house was within a very narrow chance of destruction. Five minutes 
more of absence from that room, and it would have been too late. 

We could name many instances like these which have come within our 
own observation, but we hope these are sufficient to put all who read them 
on their guard against similar dangerous practices in building. 

Stove-pipes may be safely passed through floors and wooden walls by in- 
serting an earthen pipe, at least one inch in diameter larger than the stove- 
pipe, M-hich should not be allowed to touch the earthen pipe, but should b'e 
wedged ofl' from it by little pieces of stone, brick, or broken earthenware. 
' This allows a current of air continually to circulate, and renders it impossible 
to become heated so much as to convey fire through the earthen pipe to the 
wood-work. If the stove-pipe fits tightly in the earthen one it will be liable 
to become hot, like the stone mentioned, and set fire to the house. 

369. Windmills aud Iheir Use in a Farmery.— There is one more building, 
or an adjunct of some of the buildings of the farmery, that should be men- 
tioned, before closing this chapter, more fully than it is in the commence- 
ment of Sec. XVII. We allude to the windmill. Besides pumping water, 
which, by-the-by, would be a great help in the way of protection against 
fire, a windmill attached to a barn could be made serviceable for a great 
many purposes, such as thi-eshing, corn-shelling, cutting straw, grinding 
feed, sawing wood, and turning the grindstone. 

Wind is undoubtedly the cheapest power that a farmer can use, and, not- 
withstanding its inconstancy, the improvement mentioned below operates 
well, and has been often applied to many valuable uses. By windmills, 
swamps may be drained and upland irrigated. What an advantage in a 
drought in many parts of the country, besides the economy of using a great 
amount of fertilizing matter in water at all times ! 

We have often suggested the idea of nsing wind-power to pump iip water 
into a reservoir, or M'ind np a weight, to be hold as a reserved power, that 
could be vised when the wind did not blow. 

There is no doubt in our mind that such a cheap power could be econom- 
ically established to do a great deal of work that requires a motor upon 
almost every large farm. If the seat of the power is at the barn, it can be 
carried to the house by a couple of wires, to do the churning. We have seen 
power carried thus from a water-wheel, nearly half a mile from the dairy, 
and it was used not only to drive the churn, but the washing machine, the 
sausage-cutter, a small grindstone, and the coifee-mill. To obtain the power 
from the wind-wheel, all that would be necessary for the dairywoman to do 
would be to pull a cord or wire at the house, which would throw into gear- 



350 THE FARMERY. [Chap. III. 

ing a driving-wheel, and that would, by means of the wires, convey a crank 
motion from the windmill to the churn, no matter how distant ; and the 
motion can be stopped and started as easily as though churning by hand. 

The objection to wind-power is want of constancy. This can only be 
obviated by accumulating power. If the situation is such that a water 
v"eservoir can be filled upon high ground, to be used in a calm, the accumu- 
iation of power would not be expensive. 

The method of conv£ying power by wires a long distance, from the water- 
wheel to the churn, may be seen in several places along the Chenango Canal. 

370. Seif-regulating WiudmiliS. — One of the best contrivances for a self- 
regulating windmill was invented by Daniel Ilalliday, of Ellington, Tolland 
Co., Ct. The size mostly built by him has five-feet wings, that is, the diam- 
eter of the wind-wheel is ten feet, and the first one was in operation for six 
months without a hand being touched to it to regulate the sails. It run 
fifteen days at one time without stopping day or night, and it stood through 
some hard gales. The beauty of the improvement is, that it stands still when 
the wind rages hardest, with the edge of the wings to the wind, and as it 
lulls they gradually resume their position for a gentle breeze. It is so con- 
trived that nothing but a squall of great severity falling upon it without a 
moment's warning can produce damage. 

The mill mentioned has drawn water from a well 28 feet deep, 100 feet 
distant, and forced it into a small reservoir in the upper part of the barn, 
sufiBcient for all farm purposes, garden irrigation, and " lots to spare." The 
cost of such a mill will be $50, and the pumps and pipes about $25. It is 
elevated on a single oak post a foot square, the turn circle being supported 
by iron braces. The vi^ings are made of one longitudinal iron bar, through 
which run small rods ; upon these rods, narrow boards, half an inch thick, 
are fitted, holes being bored through from edge to edge, and screwed 
together by nuts on the ends of the rods. This makes strong, light sails, 
which, it will be seen, arc fixtures not to be furled or clewed up ; but they 
are thrown up edgewise to the wind by a very ingenious and simple arrange- 
ment of the machinery, which obviates the great objection to windmills for 
farm use — the necessity of constant su- ervision of the sails to suit the 
strength of the wind. 

"With this much food for reflection, we will close the chapter upon the 
farmery. 



CHAPTER IV. 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 

SECTION XXII.-THE FOOD QUESTION-QUANTITY, QUALITY, VARIETY, 
ADAPTATION, ADULTERATION, AND CHANGES PRODUCED BY COOK- 
ING, BRIEFLY CONSIDERED. 

^^ic^^^^^gOMESTIC ECONOET ! What is it? ''Domestic, 
~ belonging to the house or home ; Economy, from 

two Greek words, signifying a house or family 
law — that which relates to the family concerns 
of a household, and the disposition or arrange- 
ment of any household work." 
Such is the character of this chapter. It is full of 
information useful to every household. "Without it, 
we should have fallen short of our object in writing 
this book. It was never our intention to make a work 
for the sole benefit of the male portion of farmers. 
Much of the preceding chapter, and nearly all of this, 
is intended to promote the comfort of those who ad- 
minister all of our home comforts. 

We shall also say something that will be valuable 
upon the subject of^tho dairy, at least to new beginners in the various arts 
and mysteries of domestic economy. 

No question can be discussed between the master and mistress of the 
house, nor between parents and a famil;f of growing cliildren, that is of 
greater importance than the one that heads this section. To the employer 
and his hirelings, to the master and his slave, it is a question not only of 
interest, but of health, and it is all concentrated in four words : quantity, 
quality, variety, adaptation. 

There is o«ly one thing more requisite, and that is, that each of these 
words should be fully understood and properly acted upon. Believing that 
they are not so, we shall treat upon each briefly in its order. And first — 

371. What Amount of Food is Required by a Hard-working Man?— This de- 
pends on the quality of the food, the nature of the climate, and on such a 
variety of circumstances that it is impossible to give a satisfactory answer. 
Tlie average allowance to British sailors in active service is 302 ounces of 
solid food per week, and a pint and a half of rum. Dr. Percy, an English 
author, mentions the diet of a prize fighter during a course of rigorous train- 
ing, who ate one pound of mutton at each meal three times a day ; at dinner 




352 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

he ate in addition two ounces of bread, and at each meal drank half a pint 
of ale. lie walked regularly 17 miles per day. The total solid food con- 
tained in this diet is 350 ounces weekly. We suppose about three pounds 
of solid food per da}^ in temperate climates may be taken as the average 
consumed by hard-working men. But in the Arctic and Antarctic regions 
the amount of food that can be disposed of is truly immense. Thus Ross 
tells us that the Esquimaux eat 10 lbs. of meat at a meal, accompanied by 
the same quantity of oil. Parry weighed the food of nn Esquimaux lad, 
scarcely full grown, and found that he consumed, during the day — sea- 
horse flesh, 8^ lbs.; bread, If lbs. ; rich gravy sou]?, 1\ pint; raw spirits, 
3 glasses ; strong grog, 1 tumbler ; water, 1 gallon 1 pint. Cochrane de- 
scribes a Yakut or Tongouse as eating 40 lbs. of flesh in a day, saying that a 
good calf, weighing 200 lbs., "may serve four or five good Yakuts for a 
single meal," and that lie has seen three of them " consume a reindeer at one 
meal." Admiral Saritclicflf says he knew a Yakut who consumed " the hind 
quarters of a large ox, 20 lbs. of fat, and a proportionate quantity of melted 
Initter for his drink" in a day. The admiral tried an experiment with him 
by giving him " a thick porridge of rice, boiled down with 3 lbs of butter, 
weighing together 28 lbs. ; and although the glutton liad already break- 
fasted, yet did he sit down to it with great eagerness, and consumed the 
whole without stirring from the spot ; and, except that his stomach be- 
trayed more than an ordinary fullness, he showed no signs of inconve- 
nience or injury." Barrow states that three Hottentots ate one sheep in a 
day, and that ten of them ate an ox all but the hind legs in three days. 
Tlie Samoyedes are stated to consume 8 or 10 lbs. of meat at a meal, fla- 
vored with a dozen tallow candles, and washed down with a quart or two 
of train-oil. Extravagant as these statements appear to be, most of them 
have been verified by numerous observations. 

We need not go to savage lands to find gluttons. We have tlie well-au- 
thenticated fact of one who lived in Connecticut, about seventy years ago, 
wlio ate three shad a day, upon a wager, thirty days in succession. The 
same man repeatedly ate a goose or a turkey at a meal. These were acts 
of gluttony, and we look upon gluttony as a great sin. There is just as 
much wrong in feeding too niucli to those who labor for us, who may hap- 
pen to possess gluttonous natures, as there is in feeding others too little. 
Every laboring man requires a sufficiency of sound, nutritious food to 
enable him to perform a fair task of labor. The question is, What is 
sufficient ? 

372. Rations of Southern Slaves. — The average ration of negro slaves in 
our Southern States is 3i lbs. of bacon and a peek of corn-meal per week to 
each adult. Tiie meal will weigh 141 lbs., making 18 lbs. of the strongest 
kind of solid food. Then they always eat potatoes, turnips, greens, pindars, 
green corn, and other things in their season, enough to make up an average 
of three pounds of solid food a day. 

As it is the policy of planters to give the slaves all the food that is neces- 



Seo. 22.] THE FOOD QUESTION". 353 

sary to give them strength, and as it is against the rules of good economy to 
give more, we may safely calculate that three pounds a day is all that a*la- 
borlng man requires. 

373. Soldiers' RationSi — The English are proverbiall}' hearty eaters, and 
the English government have not only studied economy, but the wants of 
their healthy, strong men in fixing their rations so as to give all that is nec- 
essary, and this is found to consist of the following articles. "While the men 
are in barracks, 1 lb. of bread and J of a lb. of meat per day. In camp or 
actual service, 1| lbs. of bread and | of a lb. of meat. On foreign service, 
1 lb. of bread or | lb. of biscuit and 1 lb. of meat. When billeted for board, 
the allowance is 1 lb. of bread, 1^ lb. of meat, 1 lb. of potatoes, and 1 quart 
of beer. 

This was mainly followed in the American army until the summer of 
1861, when in consequence of grumblings among the soldiers about insuffi- 
cient food, the rations were increased, and are now as follows : 

Katioxs — Daily — 1^ lbs. of pork or bacon, or li lb. of fresh or salt beef; 
22 oz. of bread or flour, or 1 lb. of pilot bread. 

Rahons to Ojte Hundred Men — Daily — Eight quarts of beans, 10 lbs. 
of rice or hominy, besides 1 lb. of potatoes three times a week to each man, 
or a substitute therefor ; 10 lbs. of coffee ; 15 lbs. of sugar ; 4 quarts of 
vinegar; IJ lbs. of adamantine candles; 4 lbs. of soap; 2 quarts of salt. 
Extra issues of molasses occasionally made. 

Rations may be commuted at forty cents per day when stationed in cities, 
or when there is no opportunity of messing, or when in regular camp, at the 
cost of the rations. 

37-1. Variety of Foodi — Man craves a change of food, that is, a variety of 
substances, either one of which would sustain life, but would not be satis- 
factor}-. Nature demands the variation, and the mixing together of tl:e 
several substances. Wliy? Simply because no one will give all the ele- 
ments that go to make up the animal economy. One article furnishes phos- 
phate for bones, which another article is destitute of, yet it may contain 
matter that will clothe the bone with muscle. Food that contained neitber 
fat nor sugar would be insufficient to keep up the animal heat. Food that 
contained all the elements of bone, muscle, fiber, fat, and heat-producing 
qualities, might be so concentrated as to be unwholesome. 

A man fed upon pemmican would have a disposition to eat straw, husks, 
and twigs, or gnaw the bark from trees to get something to distend the 
stomach, and enable it to perform its functions healthily. Let this be 
thought of in feeding domestic animals as well as men. It will furnish an 
easy rule for your guidance. Judge them by yourself, and act accordingly. 
You will find it an easy and sure road tx> success. We do not for animals, 
quadruped or biped, recommend, a variety of food at the same meal — only 
a change from time to time, so as to give variety, and consequently all the 
elements necessary to produce growth. 

And neither man nor beast will reach a high point in the scale of perfec- 



354 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

tioii who is confined to one single article, or to two or tliree articles of food. 
Look, for example, at the rice-eatiug nations; also to those who, like the 
Esquimaux, live principally upon the fat of seals and whales ; or to savage 
nations, confined to an almost exclusive diet of meat. Each shows a lack 
of some ciuality that we consider essential in civilized man. The confiiK- 
ment of a large portion of a nation of people to a diet of potatoes is rapidly 
•working a deterioration in the race. 

"The profusions of nature tempt the appetite of man. The productions 
of all the earth are at his command. But, for the control of his appetites, 
man is endowed with reason and conscience. The brute is governed in re- 
gard both to the quantity and kind of its food by an instinct from which 
it rarely deviates, unless when domesticated, and consequently corrupted. 

" There are three practical laws to be observed in the taking of food. One 
regards the time, another the quality, and the third the quantity. 

" An interval of at least five hours should elapse between meals for 
adults, unless some extraordinary exertion has exhausted tlie system, or 
something has interrupted pr prevented the reception of a full meal at the 
stated hour. The stated hours should be regular." 

375. Quality of Food Suited to a Farmer's Family.—" As to the quality of 
the food, there is no doubt that the more simply it is cooked the more easily 
it is digested. 

" Chemical anal^'sis should be the guide for the cookery book. 

"No one would think of eating raw potash, a substance that dissolves 
metals, but we do not hesitate to eat saleratus, M'hich is a modified prepara- 
tion of it, and has the same, though a more gradiuil effect, uj)on the organic 
tissues and the blood. Soda, it is well understood, rots cloth and takes the 
skin from the hands when it is put into soap, or even when used to ' break 
hard water,' as the washerwomen term it ; yet we put it into bread and 
cakes. Our stomachs were not made to digest metals, and when we powder 
them and eat them, we try to cheat nature. 

"Spices were undoubtedly made for use in those climates where they 
grow, but the natives of those climates use them much more sparingly than 
we do. We may reasonably suppose that they are more adapted to the 
wants of hot climates than of cold ones, as nature has placed them in the 
former, and yet we saturate our food with them, mix them together, destroy 
the flavors of each by so doing, and make a stimulus to appetite by a con- 
glomeration, which is a most unnatural one, and gradually injures the very 
power of digestion. We thus conceal, also, that fine aroma of vegetables 
and meats which distinguishes one from the other, and deprive ourselves of 
the pleasure God designed we should feel in partaking of them. Tliere is 
a delicate fruit of the tropics resembling a muskmelon, which grows, Jiow- 
ever, not upon a vine, but upon a tree, the taste of which is so finely deli- 
cate, that a foreigner can not even perceive it at first ; but if he does not 
cover it with pepper and salt, as we have seen many foreigners do, to 'give 
it a taste,' he will, after partaking of it a few days or weeks (according to 



Sec. 22.] THE FOOD QUESTION". 355 

the simplicity or sophistication of his ajipetite), appreciate its flavor, which 
is that of the most delicate aromatic nut. In oui- climate we lose the flavor 
of many vcf^etables in the same way, by covering ihein with pejiper, and 
also by putting them into water below the boiling-point when we cook them. 
Everj' one who is so happy as to live in the country, and can gather vege- 
tables dally from his own garden, knows the difference between them when 
gathered thus and j^roperly cooked, and those which have been picked and 
kept for market even one night. 

" When substances like rice, corn-starch, and farina are used, which have 
very little taste (rice, because it has been so long exposed to tlie air after it 
is gathered, and corn-starch and farina, because, from the mode of their 
preparation, they lose a great part of the nutritious ingredients of the corn), 
a delicate flavoring of spice may be used without injury to health. 

" Science may at last bring ns to the conclusion, that each climate and 
region produces those articles of food which it is most healthful to eat in 
their respective localities. 

"The quality of children's food should differ from that of adults, so f:ir 
as that it should consist of more substances containing starch, gum, and 
sugar. 

" It is not the most costly or most luxurious living that we would advo- 
cate, but it is a variety of food. The difficulty is, that we are tempted 
sometimes by a great variety of dishes at one meal to eat too much. This 
is no argument against variety of food. 

" It is important that we should study to increase earth's products, and 
improve their quality, to produce the highest condition of perfection in man. 
A man, it is true, may be a glutton, and consume mountains of flesh and rich 
dishes, but that is not the point. It is that we all should cons^ime the best 
food i^ossible to be produced, and in sufficient variety to give healthy 
results." 

370. Ilow Food Affects the Systenii— " The prevalent idea that soup which 
sets info strong jelly is most nutritious, is altogether a mistake. The souj) 
sets because it contains the gelatin of the sinews, flesh, and bones ; it has 
been fully proved that no animal can live upon this imagined richness 
alone. In fact, such jelly is unwholesome, for it loads the blood with useless 
substances ; hence what are termed rich soups, being loaded with gelatin, 
are not ranked among the articles of wholesome food. Marked results of 
the effects of cooking upon food may be seen in the contrast between civil- 
ized and savage nations. In every nation on earth, those who rule the 
masses are invariably better fed than the masses themselves. This is evi- 
denced in the power exercised by the beef-eating British over the rice-eating 
East Indian nations." It is further evidenced by the condition of the people 
of this country, where the masses are better fed than in any other on earth, 
and where there are greater numbers of men fit to be rulers than in any 
other. And this proportion will increase as the laws of hygiene are better 
understood, for then, those who control the preparation of food for those 



366 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

masses will understand how cooking affects the raw material of food, so as 
to make it wholesome and nutiutious, or otherwise. 

Next to the knowledge of the differences in the human constitution and 
the nature of food proper for man, tiie art of cooking so as to make tlie food 
most agreeable to the palate should he studied by every good liousekeeper. 
Bear in mind that in preparing food three things are to be united — the pro- 
motion of health, the study of economy, and tlie gratification of taste. 

Pie-catinfj is an Americanism that wo can not approve nor recommend to 
the extent it is practiced. Though pie bo nearly allied to piety, this does 
not save it from condemnation. Pies are eaten for breakfast, for lunch, for 
dinnei', supper, and many go to bed on pies. " Oh, pies save a great deal 
of cooking!" says the frugal housewife, "and are so convenient for tlie 
children to take to school, and then they are not so hungry when they have 
pie to eat." Pies are New England's favorite refection ; but that does not 
prove them, as a general thing, well adapted to the wants of the liuman 
system. Pies of every descrijjtion, as used in almost every New England 
farm-house, may safely be classed "unwliolesonie food." The worst of the 
family is the one most prized — the rich, sweet, highly spiced mince-pie. It 
is one of the prolific parents of dyspepsia. 

377. Adaptation of Food to f ircumstances. — One of the great mistakes of 
many families is in not adapting the food to the season, the climate, and 
circumstances. A hard-working negro slave may eat fat bacon and corn- 
bread in August, and bask in tlie sun in Mississippi. It would not be good 
diet for a sedentary white man. 

Fruit is an essential article of food for the preservation of health, in 
bilious localities. It seems particularly adapted by nature to that eml. 

A sensible man always adapts his eating to his labor. The _following 
remarks upon this subject we adopt, because they are pertinent : 

" I have been asked sometimes how I could perform so large an amount 
of work with apparently so little diminution of strength. I attribute my 
power of endurance to a long-formed liabit of observing, every day of my 
life, the ^simple laws of health, and none more than the laws of eating. It 
ceases any longer to be a matter of self-denial. It is almost like an instinct. 
If I have a severe tax on my brain in the morning, I can not eat heartily at 
breakfast. If the whole day is to be one of exertion, I eat very little till 
the exertion is over. I know that two forces can not be concentrated in 
activity at the same time in the body. I know that when the stomach 
works, the brain must rest — and that when the brain works, the stomach must 
rest. 

" If I am going to be moving about out of doors a good deal, I can give 
a fuller swing to my appetite, which is never exceedingly bad. But if I 
am engaged actively, and necessarily in mental labor, I can not eat much. 
And I have made eating with regularity and with a reference to what I 
have to do, a habit so long that it ceases any longer to be a subject of 
thought. It almost takes care of itself. I attribute much of my ability to 



Seo. 22.] THE FOOD QUESTION. 35 T 

endure work to good habits of eating, constant attention to the hiws of sleep, 
physical exercise, and general cheerfulness. 

"There is one thing more to be said in tills connection. It is not a matter 
of cpicureanistn that a man shonld be dainty concerning the food he eats. 
On the contrary, I hold that a civilized man onght to bo civilized in his 
cookery. I suppose one of the infallible signs of the millennium will be a 
better regulated kitchen — -a kitchen that sends out food that will help to 
promote health and increase Cliristianity." 

378. The Food and flodiina: a Mau may fonsume in a Lifetime. — Alex. 
Soyer's " Modern Housewife" gives the following calculation as the probable 
amount of food that an epicure of seventy years might have consumed. 
" Supposing his gastronomic performances to commence at ten years, he will 
make 65,700 breakfasts, dinners, and suppers, to say nothing of luncheons 
and extra feastings. To supply the epicure's table for sixty years, Soyer cal- 
culates he will require 30 oxen, 200 sheep, 100 calves, 200 lambs, 50 pigs ; 
in poultry, 1,200 fowls, 300 turkeys, 150 geese, 400 ducklings, 2G3 pigeons; 
1,400 partridges, pheasants, and grouse ; 600 woodcocks and snipes ; 600 
wild ducks, widgeon, and teal ; 450 plovers, ruffs, and reeves ; 800 quails, 
ortolans, and dotterels, and a few guillemots and other foreign birds; also 
500 hares and rabbits, 40 deer, 120 Guinea-fowl, 10 peacocks, and 360 wild- 
fowls. In the way of fish, 120 turbot, 140 salmon, 120 cod, 260 trout, 400 
mackerel, 300 whitings, 800 soles and slips, 400 flounders, 400 red mullet, 
200 eels, 150 haddocks, 400 herrings, 5,000 smelts, and some hundred thou- 
sand of those delicious, silvery whitebait, besides a few hundred species of 
fresh-water fishes. In shell-fish, 20 turtle, 30,000 oysters, 1,500 lobsters or 
crabs, 300,000 prawns, shrimps, sardines, and anchovies. In the way of 
fruit, about 500 lbs. of grapes, 360 ll)s. of pineapples, 600 peaches, 1,400 
apricots, 240 melons, and some hundred thousand plums, green-gages, ap- 
ples, pears, and some millions of cherries, strawberries, raspberries, currants, 
mulberries, and an abundance of other small fruit, viz., walnuts, chestnuts, 
dry figs, and plums. In vegetables of all kinds, 5,475 lbs. weight, and 
about 2,4343 lbs. of butter, 684 lbs. of cheese, 21,000 eggs, 800 tongues. Of 
bread, 4i tons, half a ton of salt and pepper, near 2 i tons of sugar. His 
drink during the same period may be set down as follows : 49 hogsheads of 
wine, 13,683 gallons of beer, 584 gallons of spirits, 342 gallons of liqueur, 
2,3943 gallons of coffee, cocoa, tea, etc., and 304 gallons of milk, 2,736 gal- 
lons of water. This mass of food in sixt}^ years amounts to no less than 
332 tons weight of meat, farinaceous food and vegetables, etc., out of which 
I have named in detail the probable delicacies that would be selected by an 
epicure through life. But observe that I did not count the first ten years 
of his life, at the beginning of which he lived upon pap, bread and milk, 
etc., also a little meat, the expense of which I add to the age from then to 
twenty, as no one can really be called an epicure l)efore that age ; it will 
thus make the expenses more equal as regards the calculation. The follow- 
ing is the list of what I consider his daily meals : 



358 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

" Breakfast. — Three quarters of a pint of coffee, four ounces of bread, one 
ounce of Ijutter, two eggs, or four ounces of meat, or four ounces of fish. 

" Lunch. — Two ounces of hread, two ounces of meat, or poultiy, or game, 
two ounces of vegetables, and a half pint of beer, or a glass of wine. 

" Dinner. — Half a pint of soup, a quarter of a pound of fish, half a pound 
of meat, a quarter of a pound of poultry, a quarter of a pound of savory 
dishes or game, two ounces of vegetables, two ounces of bread, two ounces 
of pastry or roasts, half an ounce of cheese, a quarter of a pound of fruit, one 
pint of wine, one glass of liqueur, one cup of coffee or tea ; at night one glass 
of spirits and water." 

To this we have added the following calculation of the clothing the same 
man may have used. We estimate that a full-d::es3ed man carries about 
fifty yards of cloth upon his body, or at least it has taken so many square 
yards of cloth to make the following garments : one under and one over 
shirt and drawers, eight yards ; vest, with all its inside and out, four yards ; 
coat, overcoat, and cloak, 32 yards; the handkerchiefs in the coat and cloak 
jiockets, two yards ; pants, lined, four yards. Then we may add a night- 
shirt, four yards, and morning wi'apper, 10 yards, and we have Gi yards for 
a single suit. Allow six of these suits a year — of some garments he will 
want more, and some less than sJx, but take that as an average, and we have 
3S-1 yards for the gentleman's wardrobe one year. Multiply that by sixty 
years, and we have 23,040 yards of cloth, which appears a fair allowance, as 
we throw out the ten years of childhood. With these garments he will want 
each year two pair of boots, two pair of shoes, two pair of slippers, two pair 
of rubbers or overshoes — 4-80 pairs. With these he will wear sixty dozen 
pairs of stockings and (four hats a year) 240 hats. I will say nothing about 
the yards of cloth that he will want about his toilet and table, his carpets 
and curtains, and his bed, with its daily change of bedding; but you can 
imagine it would make a large spread. The great question for considera- 
tion, in an agricultural point of view, is this : Could such a consumer of 
earth's products produce as much as ho consumed, with all industry applied 
during life, or would he be dependent upon the labor of others? 

370. How Cooking Changes Food. — We are not going to make a cook-book, 
but simply to attract attention to some of the leading scientific principles of 
the effect of fire upon articles of food. 

Meat, for instance, often loses more than half its substance, which is 
wasted and lost in the process of cooking, because the cook did not under- 
stand some of the simple elements of the chemistry of cooking, and the 
effect of water and heat upon flesh. 

If meat is to be boiled for eating, particularly fresh lean beef or mutton, 
never soak it in cold water. Have your water boiling over a brisk fire, and 
plunge the meat into it, and see that the heat is kept up. If soup is to be 
made, then the meat should soak a long time in cold water, because it 
extracts the substance that is wanted in the soup, leaving the fibrous portion 
of the meat almost worthless. If the meat is to be boiled for eating, plung- 



Seo. 22.] THE FOOD QDESTIO^. 359 

iiig it in hot water has the same effect that is produced upon an egg — the 
albumen is coaguhited, and remains in the niea% and cooks witli it, and 
becomes the most nutritive portion of it. Tlierefore remember it as one of 
I lie most important items of kiiowk'dge about cooking, never to put a piece 
of meat into water to boil, nnless the Avater is boiling hot ; and never put a 
p'ece of meat to roast until your fire is very liot ; and if it goes into an oven 
to bake, see that the oven is hot enough to cook the outside almost instantly. 
If you let it simmer slowly, it will ooze out the richest portion of its property 
for food. "The first effect of applying a strong heat to a piece of fresh 
meat, is to cause the fibers to contract, to scpieeze out a portion of the juice, 
and partially to close the pores so as to prevent the escape of more. Heat 
is applied to meat chiefly in three ways — boiling, roasting, and baking. 
During these operations, fresh beef and mutton, when moderately fat, lose, 
on an average, about as follows : 

In boiling. In baking. In roasting. 

4 lbs. of beef lose lib '. lib. 3 oz 1 lb. 5oz. 

4 lbs. of mutton lose 14 oz 1 lb. 4 oz 1 lb. 6 oz. 

The greater loss in baking and roasting arises chiefly from the greater quan- 
tity of water evaporated, and of fat which is melted out by either of these 
two methods of cooking. 

" In preparing meat for the table, we discover that it is most desir- 
able to retain all the ingredients of its juice ; how this is to be done will 
depend much upon the method of culinary procedure. If the piece of 
meat be introduced info the water when briskly boiling, the albumen at its 
surface, and to a certain depth inward, is immediately coagulated, thus 
inclosing the mass in a crust or shell, which neither permits its juice to flow 
out, nor the external water to penetrate within, to dissolve, dilute, and 
weaken it. The greater jiart of the sapid constituents of the meat are thus 
retained, rendering it juicy and well-flavored. It should be boiled for only 
a few minutes, and then kept for some time at a temperature from 158 to 
165 degrees. Meat is underdone or bloody M-hen it has been heated 
throughout only to the temperature of coagulating albumen (140 degrees) ; 
it is quite done or cooked when it has been heated through its whole mass 
to 158 or 165 degrees, at which temperature the coloring matter of the 
blood coagulates. As in boiling, so in baking or roasting ; for whether the 
meat be surrounded by water or in an oven, as soon as the water-proof coat- 
ing is formed around it, the further changes are effected alike in both cases, 
by interaal vapor or steam. In roasting or baking, therefore, the fire should 
be at first made quite hot, until the surface-pores are completely plugged 
and the albuminous crust formed. Hence, a beefsteak or mutton-chop is 
done quickly over a smart fire, that the richly-flavored natural juices may 
be retained." 

The above is extracted from a most valuable book — one that no house- 
keeper can aflbrd to do without. It is " Youmans' Iland-Book of Household 
Science." It is science in such an attractive form that all may read it with 



360 DOMESTIC ECaXOMY. [CnAP. IV. 

pleasure and profit. Weshall drawupon its valuable store-liouse of knowledge 
fo.- other fads in confirmation of what we have to say upon the food question. 

380. How the Albumen of Meat is Extracted. — When we wisli to dissolve 
out the albumen, and not the gelatin of meat, for soup or for beef-tea, which 
is much used as nutritive food for the sick, the meat should be cut fine — the 
finer the better — and soaked a few minutes in an equal weight of cold water, 
then slowly heated to boiling, and so continued a {esv minutes more, and 
when strained you will have as much Aveight of pure extract as you had of 
meat, and it will afibrd equal nutriment. It would not do so if boiled for 
hours, in a large mass. Ilence, meat for soups should be finely divided. 
The effect of long boiling of meat for soup is to thicken the soup, and make 
it apparently richer; but it is so only apparently. The albumen is extracted 
by cold water. It is cooked in the water in as short a time as an egg would 
cook. The substance extracted by long boiling, making the soup appear 
thick when cold, is gelatin. Still further boiling would make glue, which 
would harden by drying, like the glue of commerce. It is not considered a 
nutritious kind of food. 

381. French Experiments with Gelatinous Food.—" The French attempted 
to feed the inmates of their hospitals on gelatinous extract of bones ; mur- 
murs arose, and a commission was appointed, with Magendie at its head, to 
investigate the matter, the conclusion of which was, that giving gelatin to 
the poor was just equivalent to giving them nothing at all. The use of 
gelatin as a nutritive or invigorating substance may be regarded as given 
up. The utmost claim now put forth for it is that,'mixed with other food, it 
makes it go further ; but at the same time we must be careful not to use it 
to excess, as it is apt not only to weaken the individual by its insufiiciency 
as an article of diet, but causes also diarrhea, whether by acting as a foreign 
body, or b}^ some spontaneous decomposition. Hence the nnwholesomeness, 
to healthy stomachs, of dishes containing a great quantity of gelatin, such 
as mock-turtle soup, calves'-foot jelly, etc." 

The healthiness of any kind of strong meat soup is not a matter of doubt 
in the minds of those who have given the subject a thought. It may be 
taken in small quantities at the beginning of a meal, when it will be imme- 
diately followed with fibrous food ; but the appetite never should be sat- 
isfied upon soup alone, unless it is soup-maigre, or soup made almost entirely 
of vegetables. 

382. Relative Values of Food for giving Warmth or making Flesh. — The fol- 
lowing table shows Liebig's estimate of the proportion of warmth-giving 
substances to the flesh-producing substances in various articles. Basing the 
flesh-producing power at 10, each of the following articles gives the propor- 
tion of warmth-producing power set opposite. 

^ Fat pork 30 



Human milk 40 

Cow's milk 30 

Lentils 21 

Horse beans 22 

Peas 23 

Fat mutton 27 



Beef 1 

Hare 2 

Veal 1 

Wheat flour 46 

Oatmeal 50 



Rye flour 57 

Barley 57 

White potatoes 86 

Black potatoes 115 

Rice 123 

Bucla|heat 130 



Sko. 22.] THE FOOD QUESTION. 361 

This table gives a sufficient explanation of the reason why buckwheat is 
always used as winter food. The reason is still more apparent when we 
know tliat butter and syrup, wliicli are eaten with buckwheat cakes, are 
also producers of heat. It shows tliat veal is a very fit food for children 
and very unfit for aged people. In cold climates, particularly, where men 
are much in the open air, they instinctively crave fat meat. At the tropics, 
instinct teaches man to consume an abundance of fruits and vegetables. In 
temperate regions, where we may indulge with impunity in a variety of 
food, instinct is not so strong, or at least does not point out so unerringly 
wliat wo should eat, and therefore the question should be more fully dis- 
cussed ; for among all the arts of civilized life there are none in which all 
are more interested than the preparation of our daily food. 

383. Changes produced in fookiug Vegetables. — Many vegetables, for in- 
stance the potato, in a raw state, are wholly unfit for food. Every house- 
keeper knows that cooking renders them palatable and wholesome, but every 
one does not know how they arc affected by heat, nor why one mode of 
cooking makes them acceptable to the taste, while they may be nearly 
spoiled by a diflerent application of heat. Hence it is not always applied 
in the right manner to produce the best effect. 

It is often said of potatoes, " they were spoiled in the cooking." Look at 
the reason. A pound of potatoes contains on an average about three quar- 
ters of a pound of water and two to two and a half ounces of starch. It also 
contains about one fourth as much sugar and guni as it does starch, and 
about one sixth as much woody fiber. 

If a good, sound potato is plunged whole into boiling water and kept boil- 
ing until softened throughout to such a degree that it could be readily mashed, 
the starch-grains burst and absorb the water, so that the mass appears more 
like meal than like starch boiled in water, and is then in a condition to af- 
ford its nutritious properties readily to the system. If potatoes are naturally 
bad, cooking will not make them good, but bad cooking will make the best 
potatoes quite unfit for human food. If they are put into cold water and 
simmered slowly till soft, they will generally become so waxy that they are 
quite indigestible. 

If potatoes are roasted or baked, they should be put into a hot oven 
or buried in hot embers, and kept hot aiutil taken out, Avhich should be 
as soon as sufficiently cooked — otherwise a new change takes place, the wa- 
ter begins to evaporate, and the outside burns, while the interior soon be- 
comes worthless. 

In frying potatoes, the starch and fibrin are often turned to charcoal, 
which is just as nutritious and digestible as charcoal made of wood. As it 
is with potatoes, so it is Avith many other vegetables — they may be spoiled 
by improper cooking. As a general rule, put all into boiling water and 
keep it boiling briskly till the articles are sufficiently cooked. Never at- 
tempt to cook green vegetables in what is termed hard water ; it will some- 
limes render green ggas wholly unfit for food. The difficulty is often rem- 



363 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

cdied by putting a little lump of potash, saleratus, or soda in the water. If 
too iiuich is used, it causes the vegetables to fall to pieces. 

384. Reasons for Improved Cookery. — Erasmus says : " Bad feeding makes 
flie vulgar seditious and quarrelsome." Perliups this will account for the 
quarrelsome cliaracter of some families. We seriously think every young 
woman should have some knowledge of cooking. Ignorance upon this 
subject ought to be a reproach. Few nations have tlie wealth of material 
for fine cookery that we jjossess. Fish, flesh, and fowl are abundant ; fruits 
and vegetables unsuri:)assable, and can be raised without great labor or ex- 
l>ense, and it is owing to our own culpable carelessness in all that j)ertains 
to liealtli that we are not the healthiest, best fed, and best trained people in 
tiie world. Yet Americans generally undervalue preparations for eating. 
Disdaining gluttony, despising pampering to fancies, they run into the op- 
posite extreme of neglecting that which is of real value to their bodies. This 
inattention proceeds not from inability to comprehend the science of cook- 
ery, nor real dislike to good things, for their appreciative power of such is 
on a par with that of other nations ; but they grow up with the idea that it 
is unbecoming to be dainty, and beneath their dignity and independence of 
character to think too much of their stomachs. American mothers too 
seldom instruct their daugliters in the culinary art. 

In early times necessities were stronger than comforts ; kitchens were un- 
furnished with conveniences ; cooking utensils were" clumsy and scarce ; 
pots and kettles did double duty ; iron skillets were used instead of sauce- 
pans. This is not and need not be the case now. Every farm-house should 
have all the modern improvements for cooking, and then as a general thing 
our cooking should be l)etter ; and as necessities are no longer stronger than 
comforts, the i-eason that we lack the comforts is because our young Amei-i- 
can housekeepers lack the knowledge, and, for a certainty, their Irish cooks 
do not possess much of the science of the useful art of cookery. 

" Every beginner thinks it an easy thing to learn, and, without any knowl- 
edge of the necessary rudiments, expects to blunder into some sort of pro- 
ficiency, so that in time the mistakes come to be regarded as the rule, and 
they abide by their own experience, rather than accept of rules that science 
teaches. 

Another, and perhaps to most people the most important reason for im- 
proved cookery is, the economy of food. " What shall we eat ?" and " How 
shall it be cooked?'' should be made a part of the household economy of 
every family, particularly every one who purchases food by the wages of 
daily laboi". This question is not an idle one, and only interesting to those 
who live in cities. It is equally so to those who furnish the city with 
food. Let us glance at the prices which the consumers in the city have 
to pay. 

Of late years, the price of butchers' meats in New York, at retail, have 
been frequently at the following rates : 

For roasting pieces of beef and beef-steaks, the nominal price per pound 



Sec. 22.] THE FOOD QUESTION. 363 

is from 18 to 25 cents, while the real price, owing to the cheating in weight, 
is often 25 per cent, higher. A piece only fit for soup is charged at about 
12 or 15 cents, and a shin-bone, with very little meat, rates at 10 cents a 
pound. Plates, navels, necks, briskets, and rounds are rarely sold fresh, 
and one of the strongest i-easons given by butchers for selling the portions 
universally called for at such high prices is, that they can not retail the 
coarser parts at any price, except the small portion taken as corned beef, and 
for this the price is sometimes from 12 to 18 cents a pound. A leg or loin 
of mutton is sold at 16 to 20 cents a pound, and all the coarser parts at 12 
to 16 cents, and some of them are coarse and poor enough. Veal that is fit 
to eat, is sold at about the same price per pound as mutton. Lamb is fifty 
per cent, higher. Fresh pork — miserably poor, too — sells at 12 to 15 cents. 
Salt pork and smoked bacon sell for 15 to 18 cents, and smoked beef the 
same. 

When the greatest meat-eating people in the world pay such prices, it 
would be reasonable to expect that they would be willing to learn and 
practice improved cookery. We are sorry to say that they do not. A school 
that teaches the art is rare. It should, as a universal rule, be taught in all 
schools. In many families, with all the economy of the best housekeeping, 
it certainly is a question of serious import as to what we shall eat, that will 
afi'ord sufficient nourishment and variety of food for health, and still enable 
those Avhose income is limited to keep expenses below that limit. In such 
families it is important that they should learn how to cook butchers' meat 
more economically than it is generally in America. In some measure ad- 
vantage can be taken, though it seldom is, in buying fresh meat. The 
price by the piece or by the quarter, of beef and mutton, often varies fifty 
per cent., and a fore-quarter always sells the lowest ; yet, to the consumer, 
it is absolutely the most valuable. 

The truest economy is to eat less expensive meat and more vegetables, 
and learn how to compound them as the French do, so as to make whole- 
some, nutritious, economical food by improved cookery. 

385. Water for Cooking^i — One reason why we have treated so largely upon 
cisterns (see 333, 334), and why we made one for family use while we had 
a never-failing well of water, is because I'ain-water is the best of all for 
culinary jjurposes. What is termed hard-water is unfit for cooking some 
kinds of vegetables, and is never good for tea. We have already stated that 
water is sometimes so hard that green peas could not be cooked soft in it. 
On the other hand, care must be taken in the use of rain-water, or the tender 
vegetables will be broken down by a little over-boiling. In such water 
always be careful to throw as much salt as will serve to season the vege- 
tables for the palate. Onions lose nearly all their peculiar flavor when boiled 
in soft water without salt. This matter of suitable water for the kitchen 
has quite as much importance to the cook as it has to the laundress. 

386. A New Cooking Vessel Wanted. — A writer in the Scientific American 
suggests an improvement in cooking vessels that we hope will be at once 



364: DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

acted upon. It is to coat the inside with silver or phiviiuiin, which could be 
done by the galvanic battery, so that tlie expense would not be too great for 
ordinary use in the houses of those who are able to live in a way suited to a 
liigh order of civilization. This would be a particularly desirable improve- 
ment in kettles for heating water for tea. So it would for such cookery 
as requires porcelain-lined kettles. From the greatly increased supply of 
silver from Washoe, Arizona, and other silver mines, we may yet be able 
to improve our domestic utensils. Iron, copper, brass, zinc, are all objec- 
tionable for many purposes, and porcelain lining is soon destroyed by care- 
less cooks. 

3S7. Flour — How to Select Goodi — Farmers of all the Eastern States buy 
flour, and some of them arc not very good judges of what they buy. There 
are a few plain rules to observe in buying flour by which you can tell its 
quality, and select that which is good. The best flour is not snowy white, 
but has a yellowish tint when a handful is squeezed together and then 
broken open. Lay a little in the palm of your hand and smooth it with a 
knife or your finger, and see that it is free from specks, and of even fineness, 
but not an impalpable powder. To prove this, throw a little lump against a 
perpendicular board or smooth wall, upon which the most of it, if good, 
should stick. Good flour, squeezed in the hand, will retain its shape. If 
you wet a little in j^our hand, see that it does not work soft and sticky, or 
you may get spring-wheat instead of winter-wheat flour. Flour that works 
sticky is not good. If it has a bluish tint it is not good. If it falls in dry 
powder when thrown, or if it falls apart, dry and powdery, when squeezed, 
it is not good. We commend to all families who buy flour the trial of these 
tests with the flour now on hand, the quality of which is known. 

388. Adulterations of Food. — ^The first object of a housekeeper should be 
to procure unadulterated articles. This is very difiicult for city people to 
do, owing to the adulteration of almost every article of food prepared for 
sale. But this is not the case with most of the food used by farmers, because 
it is made of home products. 

Many of the adulterations of such articles as are usually purchased may 
be detected by simple tests. The microscope reveals the adulterations of 
flour, sugar, farina, arrow-root, starch, salt, etc. 

Bread, that most important article of food, is always more healthful in a 
farmer's family, because it is free from adulterations, or at least much more 
free than baker's bread. 

389. How Eating Affects the Health.— To meet at the breakfast-table, father, 
mother, children, all well, ought to be a happiness to any heart ; it should 
be a source of humble gratitude, and should wake up the warmest feelings 
of our nature. Make it a rule never to come to the table in a churlish mood. 
Let joy pervade your meals. 

" The tables of the rich and the nobles of England are centers of mirth, 
wit, and honhoinie, and they live long. It takes hours to got through a 
repast. The negroes of a well-to-do family in Kentucky, while at their 



Sec. 22.] THE FOOD QUESTION. 365 

meals, abandon themselves to jabber and mirth, and they enjoy life. At the 
family-table all should meet to make a common interchange of high-bred 
courtesies ; of warm affections ; of cheering mirthfiilness, and that generosity 
of nature which lifts us above the brutes which perish ; for such things pro- 
mote good digestion, health, and long life. Children in good health, if left 
to themselves at the table, become, after a few mouthfuls, garrulous and 
noisy ; but if within bounds at all reasonable or bearable, it is better to let 
them alone ; they eat less, because they do not eat so rapidly as if compelled 
to keep silent, while the very exhilaration of sjiirits quickens the circulation 
of the vital fluids, and energizes digestion and assimilation." 

Let this excellent advice of Hall's Jow-nal of Health, be followed univer- 
sally, and we shall hear less about dyspepsia. 

3i)0. Early Breakfast— its Effect ou Heallh.—'" Breakfast should be eaten 
before leaving the house in the morning for exercise or any description of 
labor. Those who practice this will be able to perform more work, and with 
greater comfort and alacrity, than those who work an hour or two before 
breakfast. Besides this, the average duration of the life of those who take 
breakfast before exercise or work will be a number of years greater than 
those who do otherwise. 

" If early breakfast were taken in regions where chill and fever and fever 
and ague prevail, and if in addition a brisk fire were kindled in the family 
room for the hours including sunset and sunrise, these troublesome maladies 
would diminish in any one year, not ten-fold, but a thousand-fold ; because 
miasm is more solid, more concentrated, and hence more malignant about 
sunrise and sunset than at any other hour of the twenty-four." 

This, and much more said upon the same subject by Dr. Hall, agrees fully 
with our long experience in a miasmatic region of the West. The most in- 
dustrious people who come from New England, where they had always 
been accustomed to early rising and working before breakfast, were the 
ones most liable to attacks in autumn of bilious fever and ague. Let us 
therefore urge every resident in such a region, never to go to work, nor 
go much out of doors before breakfasting, and let no expense or trouble 
about the work deter you from having your dwellings purified by fire. In 
some pJirts of South Carolina men have lost their lives from a single night's 
exposure to miasm, without fire. Hence, whenever persons are compelled 
lo spend a night in such a situation, their first care is to build a large fire 
and, without sleeping, keep near it, even in the smoke, and thus they escape 
the danger of the poiaouous atmosphere. 



366 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 




SECTION XXIII.-THE BREAD QUESTION-VARIETIES AND QUALITY OF 
BREAD, AND HOW IT IS MADE-YEAST, AND HOW TO MAKE IT FOR 
FAMILY USE. 

UCII is the importance of the subject in relation 
to tlie healthiness of fuotl, that bread should be of 
the very best quality, we have devoted a section 
especially to its consideration. In this country it is 
the general custom to make bread in fiimilies, and as our 
domestics are not scientific, it is in many cases absolutely 
necessary tliat they should not be left to the temptation 
^\ of using the readiest means for making bread acceptable, 
by putting in the convenient saleratus or soda, which, like 
charity, in that particular, covers a multitude of sins. If the 
dough has been put together over-night, it may have gone 
on to the stage of acetous fermentation, and a little sale- 
ratus (more than is necessary to sweeten it is often jjut in) 
will conceal the fact, and make all appear right. It will 
also save the trouble of kneading well. Let the mistress, then, if she do 
not actually mix the bread, overlook the process ; and it would be a good 
custom if all the ladies in a family would take their turn at bread-making, 
and thus insure its good qualities by efficient kneading. It can not bo 
kneaded too mucli. But of that hereafter, and in all that pertains to the 
subject, we hope to give some useful information to all who are not already 
good bread-makers. Not only in bread, but in every article consmned 
upon the farmer's table, we beg of him and the mistress of the family 
never to lose sight of the importance of quality. The proper consideration 
of this question will save many a doctor's bill, as well as the misery 
attendant upon sickness. 

There is nothing that the good housekeeper so much desires about her 
cooking as to have good bread, and as all have not had the advantages of 
the daughters mentioned in the following extract of a letter to the author, 
we shall give as much information as we can crowd into a brief space upon 
this subject. 

391. Good Wheaten Bread, and How to 3Iake it. — The letter alluded to is 
from a sensible, practical woman, who says : 

" I have been a housekeeper thirty years, and I have reared a family of 
six daughters, and we have alwaj's made our own bread, and it is a very rare 
thing for us to make poor bread. 

"Now, the first thing I strive to teach my girls is cooking, and making 
bread is one of the first items of cookery. I know that good bread can be 
made by the different kinds of yeast, but the recipe that is the most simple 
is the best. 



Sko. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION. 367 

" Here is my way of making good bread : Take one pint of warm water, 
one teaspoonful of salt, put it in a dish sutiiciently large to admit of stirring 
in flour until it is a thick batter, and keep it warm, quite warm, and in live 
hours it will rise or become fit for use. If it does not rise sufficiently, dis- 
solve a piece of common soda as large as two kernels of corn and stir into 
the batter. 

"You can make three common-sized loaves of bread with this yeast, 
which will be nice and tender. The soda is only necessary when the flour 
is of an inferior quality." 

The following directions for making bread we give in the language of 
another good housekeeper. She says: 

"To have good, wholesome bread, it is absolutely necessary to pay atten- 
tion to the making of it, and to believe that making bread, like learning to 
read, does not come by nature; that it is indispensable to learn every little 
fact connected with the fermenting or raising of the dough ; absolutely nec- 
essary to understand thediflerence between vinous and acetous fermentation, 
and when an alkali, such as saleratus or bicarbonate of soda, is required. 

"Of course, good flour is the first requisite. The finer the flour the 
greater the labor in kneading it ; and the finest flour does not always make 
the sweetest and healthiest bread, yet the best flour is the cheapest ; though 
I must confess I can not advise about using inferior flour, for I have never 
had any. 

" The next important thing is the yeast, and I give the preference to tha 
made of potatoes. I have tried brewer's yeast, baker's yeast, yeast cakes, hop 
yeast; leaven, which is a bit of sour dough, and needs saleratus to make the 
bread sweet ■; in fact, all the various kinds of yeast, and after over two years 
of constant use, I am content with potato yeast. 

"The rule of making it is this: Take ten potatoes of nearly equal size- 
wash and boil thein ; when cooked, peel and mash them perfectly smooth ; 
pour on to this a quart of boiling-hot water ; stir in a coffee-cup of good, pure 
sugar, and after standing a few minutes, pour in a quart of boiling water 
wanting a gill ; when lukewarm, add a pint of yeast to raise it, put it in a 
tightly-covered vessel to ferment, and set it away in a moderately warm 
place until sufficiently risen, which may be known by the potato appearing 
upon the top of the liquid, and light, foamy spots bursting up through it. 
The temperature of the place where this is set to rise or work should be 
from GS to 74 degrees ; too much heat is as bad as too much cold. When 
this is risen, put it into a stone jug and cork it ; tie in the cork and keep it 
in a cool place. A gill and a half, or common-sized teacupful, is sufficient 
to raise dough for two large loaves of bread. The source of the sourness 
which supervenes in bread, under careless or unskillful hands, was formerly 
ascribed to each of all the constituents of flour; to its gluten, which is 10 
parts; its starch, which is 70 parts; and its sugar, 4 parts; the other 16 
parts are water — but erroneously, for it is merely the result of the second 
fermentation, which always succeeds the vinous when pushed improperly 



368 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

too far. There are extremely simple and effectual methods for enabling tlie 
baker to adopt measures either to prevent or correct the evil of acescence, 
and these are to neutralize the acid by the use of an alkali, such as soda, or 
an alkaline earth, such as magnesia or chalk. 

" If proper care be taken of the yeast, there is no danger of having sour 
dough ; and if the yeast be removed to a lower temperature after the signs 
pointed out, the acetic fermentation never sets in. 

" To make bread I set a sponge over-night. To a half pint of lukewarm 
M'ater, put in a gill and a half of yeast and a pint of flour (after measuring, 
sift the flour), and stir this all well together, strew a little flour over the top, 
and cover the dish and jDut it in the same temperature that the yeast was 
in. In the morning, warm half a tea-cup of milk (if water is used, add half 
a tablespoonful of butter), add two tablespoonfuls of lime-water after it is 
warm, and stir this into the sponge ; have ready a pint and a half of flour, 
and knead this with half a teaspoonfnl of salt into the sponge. Divide this 
into two portions, and put each into a buttered pan to rise, and wiien the 
dough rises to the top and bursts into little cracks, it is ready to bake. 
These loaves Avill bake in a common stove or range-oven, heated with coal, 
in thirty or thirty-five minutes. The advantages of lime-water are these: 
The dougli requires less kneading, the loaves bake in less time, and tlie 
bread keeps soft and moist longer, and is less liable to mold, and it is healthy 
bread. After the bread is baked, it should be turned upside down from the 
pans upon a folded cloth, and left there until cool. Then it may be put info 
a covered tin. By following this plan, I never lose any bread from mold. In 
cool weather, the pans containing the dougli should be placed over a vessel 
containing hot water, or each pan over a bowl or pitcher witli hot water in 
it, and covered with a cloth. These loaves are generally ready to bake in 
two or two and a half hours. 

"To make biscuit, I warm a tablespoonful of butter in half a teacupful of 
milk, and stir it hot on a quart of flour, let it stand and cool, and when 
lukewarm add a gill of yeast, a spoonful of lime-water, and a little salt, and 
lukewarm water to knead the whole into a smooth lump of dough ; sprinkle 
a little flour into the bottom of the dish, lay in the dough, cover it, and 
when risen (which may be known by the dough's cracking and its spongy 
look when cut with a knife), divide the dough into equal portions and ])ut 
in pans, and let them stand twenty minutes before putting to bake. 

'•I never use tin or metal ware of any kind to mix bread in. I prefer a 
wooden bowl and spoon, because they can always be kept clean and swoet. 
A still better thing is a yellow nappy, as it can be dipped into hot water be- 
fore setting the dough in it. 

'• As to the use of salcratus and soda, it is only tolerated l>y the grossest 
ignorance. It is the received impression that an alkali makes the bread 
tender, and it is indiscriminately used, and hence so much yellow-looking 
bread. These alkalies are only of service when an acid is to be neutralized, 
and then they should be used very sparingly. It is very diflacult to enlighten 



Sm 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION'. ~ 369 

an ignorant cook, ■whose obstinacy is in proportion to her ignorance, and 
whose threat of leaving if not left undisturbed in her kitchen, friglitens her 
timid, delicate mistress into silence and absence. How few mistresses there 
are who are able to contend with these kitchen autocrats, or are competent 
to prove their ability to execute what they have undertaken to teach. 

"If an old housekeeper reads what has been written, she will cry out: 
' La, what a fuss about bread-making, which any ninny can do !' And if 
she has a batch of good, bread once in a fortnight, and that by good luck, 
as she would call it, she thinks she knows all about it, and disdains to give 
attention to such a trifling matter. Yet, if you ask her why her bread was 
not invariably good, she can not explain otherwise than that the leaven was 
overworked, the yeast not good, the water too hot, or the flour was bad. 
iS'o wonder this question continues to agitate the world, since the world is 
daily doomed to dough and burnt crusts. Good bread is the exception and 
not the rule in more than half the families of the world." 

For this reason we think that some farther rules for bread-making, which 
come from those who always have good bread, will be acceptable. The 
tirst is from Waldo, Ohio. The writer says : 

"I soak about a pint of dry hops two or three hours, or until the water 
foams, by which time I have boiled seven medium-sized potatoes, which I 
then mash, boiling hot, with a saucerful of flour, leaving the skins on ; tlien 
add a quart of cold water, little at a time, mashing and mixing thoroughly 
after each addition of water. "When lukewarm, I stir in the hop-yeas!-, and 
let it stand until morning ; then I run it through a cullender, with two 
quarts of lukewarm water, which I add part at a time, that the ferment 
may be rinsed from the potato-skins. Then add two rounding tablespoon- 
fuls of salt, and then flour until it can only be stirred with difficulty. Then 
I set It over a kettle of warm water in winter, or in a cool j^lace in summer, 
until it is very light, when I mix it and knead it thoroughly until it will 
not adhere to the table or bread-bowl. When very light, knead into loaves 
and put it in the pans, this time kneading as little and handling as lightly 
as possible. When it is again light, I put it in a hot oven, bake an hour, 
taking care by watching not to let it burn. When done, rub the crust with 
a little lard, and wrap up till cold. If the yeast sours, add soda to correct 
acidity." 

Another woman, Lynda Ball, of Clevit, Eaton County, Mich., gives her 
method, as follows : 

"Pare and slice four common-sized potatoes, and boil them in one quart 
of wafer. When done, pour the water ofl' into a basin, mash the potatoes 
and put them in the water, and when about milk-warm add one teacupful 
of good hop-yeast ; stir in flour enough to make a thick batter, and let it 
stand about two hours in a warm place. Then put flour enough in your 
bread-bowl to make three loaves of bread ; add three pints of warm water 
to the yeast, and stir it in the flour, and set in a warm olace till it has 
sponged nicely^ then mold, and bake one hour." 



370 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

The two following are from the Granite State Health Institute : 

"Indian Snow-Cake. — With one quart of meal mix two tablcspoonfuls of 
fine dry sugar and one teaspoonful of salt. Stir into this quickly two 
quarts of light, clean snow. When it is well mixed, put it in a deep cake- 
dish, sprinkle a little snow over the top, and bake half an hour in a hot 
oven. 

" Potato Eoll. — Boil one dozen mealy potatoes, nicely peeled, covered 
closely in just water enough to cook them. As soon as they are tender, 
drain ofi" the water if any remain, and leave them over the fire a few min- 
utes uncovered. This is the best manner of cooking potatoes for the table, 
also. Mash them fine with one cup of sweet cream or new milk ; nib them 
through a cullender into a quart of flour ; then add half a tea-cup of fresh 
yeast, and sutficient sweet milk to make a stifl' dough ; keep it in a warm 
place until light; mold into rolls, and let it stand fifteen minutes; bake in a 
quick oven for half an hour." 

We give another practical rule for potato bread : " The evening be- 
fore you wish to bake, take six or eight potatoes, more or less, medium 
size, pare, boil in water till done ; mash very fine, then pnt back into the 
water they were boiled in, and, when they come to a boil, have ready a pan ; 
I prefer earthen, as that keeps warm longer, with, say, a pint of flour; pour 
on the scalding potatoes and water, beat well, cool with water, if thicker 
than buckwheat-cake batter ; add, when a little more than milk-warm, half 
a pint or less of your bottled yeast, stir well, cover close, and set in a warm 
place till morning, when the mass will be pei'fectly light, if all the materials 
are good and put rightly together. Then mold out into small loaves, put in 
pans, cover, and set aside till they rise again ; be very careful not to let 
them over-rise this time, or all your care is thiown away ; have your oven 
of a moderate heat, and while baking watch carefully ; the loaves ought to 
bake in 40 minutes or an hour, according to the size. When done, they 
should be a light brown ; cover them up on a board kept on purpose, and by 
evening you will have bread that is rich and wholesome." 

Another direction, from an old housekeeper, says: "Take two handfuls 
of hops, three pints of water, six potatoes; boil all till the potatoes are soft; 
pare them, mash through a cullender, strain the liquid ; then put it in your 
preserving kettle, over the fire, with the potatoes added ; also, one cup of 
sugar, one table-spoon of salt, one table-spoon of ginger ; then add flour 
enough to give it the consistency of paste ; let it boil five minutes, stirring it 
all the time. Turn out, and when partially cool, add half a jiint of good 
yeast. Let this stand until fermdntat'ou takes place. In the winter I keep the 
yeast in a stone pot in the cellar, but in summer I dry it by mixing it with 
corn-meal, and spreading it on a table and exposing it to the air (not sun). 
Now we have good yeast, we will proceed immediately to make good bread. 
Wash and pare two dozen good-sized potatoes; boil them, with a large 
handful of salt, till reduced to a fine pulp ; strain through a cullender, add 
three pints of sweet milk, and when sufliciently cool to bear j»our hand in it-, 



Seo. 23.] THE BREAD QDESTION. 371 

stir in as inucli flour as will make it into a thick batter; to this sponge add 
a cofi:ee-cnp of the yeast. I always make my sponge at night. In the 
morning I add six quarts of sweet milk and three gills of lime-water, and 
knead into a stiff dough. 

"Some housekeepers use alum, as it makes the bread fairer, but I prefer 
lime-water, as that coagulates the gluten ; and it requires less baking, and 
retains its moisture longer — and I think it much healthier than alum, and 
health is the great desideratum. In two or three hours after you knead 
your bread, it will be as light and porous as a honeycomb; knead it down, 
and when it has again risen, mold, and put it into pans. Let it stand till it 
rises again, then wash the loaves over with cold water; this prevents the 
formation of too hard a crust; bake in a well-heated oven. "When baked, 
wash again, M-rapping it up closely in your bread-cloth. "Wrapping the 
bread up in tiie steam till cold, prevents it from becoming hard and dry. If 
your flour is good, bread made in this way will be equal in appearance to 
the best bakers' bread, and in point of sweetness and economy', far superior. 
The quantities I have named make twelve good-sized loaves, and my family 
requires such a baking twice a week. For many years this plan has given 
me good bread, and I hope others will try it." 

392. How to make Good " Bakers' Bread." — To those who would like to 
know how to have such bread as the city bakers make, we recommend the 
following formula of one that we know makes good bread, and we believe 
uses tirst-rate flour, and no deleterious mineral substances : 

Bakers' Yeast.- — ^The following is the formula for making a tub of yeast : 
Four pailfuls of hot water, two quarts of malt, half a pound of hops, six pounds 
of flour, four quarts of yeast. The hops are boiled about five minutes, and 
strained. The flour is made into a paste, with hot water, before mixing in 
the tub. The malt and yeast are added when the water in the tub is milk- 
warm, and stirred briskly. It must stand from 14 to 18 hours before it is in 
order to use. 

Ferment. — The following is the preparation for mixing a barrel of flour : 
Boil one half peck of potatoes, which are to be mashed, strained, and mixed 
thin in water, M-ith four pounds of flour and four quarts of yeast, and left to 
stand eight hours. 

Setting the Sponge. — A pailful of this ferment is poured into the flour 
in one end of the bread-trough, and mixed, with an addition of some hot 
water, into a soft dough, and left to stand three hours, when more water is 
added, and the whole mass mixed into a stifl" bread-dough, and left two 
hours to rise, when it is ready to make out into loaves for the oven. 

Salt Used. — The quantity of salt used in a barrel of flour is four quarts, 
and no other mineral ingredient is ever added by an honest baker. Care 
must be taken to use plenty of yeast, but not an excess, and that the dough 
is not left to I'ise too long. A great deal of hard manual labor is required 
in kneading dough, to have good bread. 

393. Brown Bread, or " Boston Bread."— An old Yankee housewife gives 



372 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

ns the following valuable directions for making home-made or family 
bread, sometimes called — 

"Wheat and Indian Bread. — To two quarts of sifted Indian meal add 
hot water enough to wet the same ; when sufhciently cooled, add one tea- 
spoonful or more of salt, half a pint of yeast, and one half teacupful of mo- 
lasses. Then add wheat flour enough to make it into loaves (it should bo 
well kneaded), and when well risen, bake or steam it three or more hours; 
if this should get sour while rising, add a teaspoouful of sugar and a little 
saleratus dissolved in water. 

" Rye and Indian Bread. — ^Take equal quantities of Indian meal and rye 
flour; scald the meal, and when lukewarm add the flour, with one half 
pint of good yeast to four quarts of the mixture, an even tablespoonful 
of salt, and half a cup of molasses, kneading the mixture well. This kind 
of bread should be softer than wheat flour bread ; all the water added after 
scalding the meal should be lukewarm. When it has risen sufficiently, put 
it to bake in a brick oven or stove — the former should be hotter than for flour- 
bread ; if in a stove oven, it siiould be steamed two hours, then baked one 
hour or more ; when done, it is a dark brown. The best article for baking 
this kind of bread in is brown earthenware — say pans eight or ten inches 
in hight, and diameter about the same— grease or butter the pans, put in the 
mixture, tlien dip your hand in cold water, and smooth the loaf; after this, 
slash the loaf both ways M-ith a knife, quite deep. Some let it rise a little 
more before they put it to bake. Many people prefer this bread made 
of one third rye flour, instead of one half. When it is difficult to get 
rye, wheat flour will answer as a substitute. It adds very much to 
the richness and flavor of this kind of bread to let it remain in the oven 
over-night." 

Indian or Yankee Beown Bread. — Another old bread-maker gives the 
following information about Yankee brown bread : 

"Brown bread, kneaded and made into loaves in the common way of 
mixing white bread, dries more quickly than the white, I obviate this dif- 
ficulty thus: Take a quantity of meal, sufficient for as much bread as you 
wish to make at once, put it in the mixing-pan with a bowl of rising, and 
add sufficient lukewarm water to bring it to the consistency usually required 
in making johnny-cake, mi.xing in the same manner with a spoon, but do 
not stir too long, or it will not have that liveliness so desirable in good meal. 
It is also a much neater method, as you are not obliged to immerse your 
hands in the dough. 

" Grease your pans, and fill not quite half full, and set it as usual to rise, 
which it will not be long in doing if the temperature is right. Bake one 
hour in a slow but steady oven. It injures a large loaf to cut while warm, 
though my family are very fond of it in this state, and I generally bake a 
loaf in a small pan to be eaten warm. 

" I can assure you that bread made in this manner will keep moist for 
several days, and even when it docs become rather dry, owing to its being 



Sec. 23.] THE BREAD QDESTIOX. 373 

light and porous, it Is immediately restored by simply warming the slices 
slightly in the oven of your stove before eating." 

We reproduce here, from a useful little book called "How to Live," 
which we wrote a few years since, for those who will try the economy as 
well as palatableness of a loaf of wheat and Indian bread, the following 
good receipt, long in use by our good mother and grandmother: 

" To two quarts of Indian meal add boiling water enough to wet the same ; 
when sufficiently cooled, add one teaspoonful of salt, lialf a pint of yeast, 
one teaspoonful of saleratus, one half teacnpful of molasses, and flour 
enough to form it into a loaf (it should not be kneaded hard); when 
light, bake two hours in a well-heated oven. (It should be baked until 
brown.)" 

And here is another good receipt from the same book for making rye and 
Indian bread, which is both cheap and wholesome : 

"Stir and mix most thoroughly two quarts of Indian corn meal with a 
tablespoonful of salt and a quart of boiling water, or enough to wet every 
grain of meal. When the mush cools to milk-warm, stir in one quart of rye 
meal and a teacnpful of good yeast, which you will first mix with half a pint 
of warm water, so that the j-east will be more evenly diffused. With the 
r^'e meal add water enough to make the mass a stiff dough, but not as hard 
or tough as flour. It must be kneaded with the hands. \_Rememher^7nje 
meal is not rye flour. It is the unbolted product of the whole grain.] Put 
the dough in a pan, and pat it smooth with a wet hand. It will rise enough 
to bake in an hour, in a warm place, and should be put in a hot oven, and 
remain three hours ; or if during the night, all the better. If white flour 
was not fashionable, or if people did not think that brown bread has a look 
of poverty, we should have the brown bread upon every table, for it is not 
only more economical, it is more nutritious and more healthy, particularly 
for children. 

"We do not eat oatmeal in this country to any extent, and yet it is the 
most nutritious breadstuff ever used by man." 

394. Potatoes Used in Bread-Making. — When potatoes bear such a price to 
wheat flour that, when cooked, they are about half the price per pound of 
the flour, it is good economy to add of potatoes about one fourth the weight 
that is used of flour, for a batch of bread. Bread so made is pleasanter to 
the taste, and equally nutritious. The potatoes should be boiled with the 
skins on, and then peeled, mashed, and stirred into a pulp with warm water, 
and rubbed through a wire sieve, and then mixed with the flour, and yeast 
added as for other bread. The bakers of New York understand the economy 
of using potatoes in their bread, whenever they are sold at low prices. The 
small potatoes, which are unsalable for other purooses, are often sold whole- 
sale to bakers, and added to the flour. 

The potatoes make the bread moister tliaTi it would bo if composed en- 
tirely of flour, so that for those who sell their loaves by weight, the more 
water they can be made to contain the greater will be their profits. When 



374 DOMESTIO ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

about one third of the weight is composed of potatoes, it makes lirst-rate 
bread. Many persons prefer the potato-bread because it is moist, and never 
think how much water they are buying at sixpence a pound. 

There is another use of potatoes in bread — they make it appear light, not- 
withstanding its specific gravity. Potatoes take ou the vinous fermentation 
quicker than flour, and sometimes that passes into the acetous state, which 
the bakers correct witli bicarbonate of soda, or lime-waler, still adding 
weight without any addition of nourishment. Lime-water is not objection- 
able; it is only so tliat we should be induced to buy it at sixpence a pound, 
because the baker puts it in his sour flour or potato-bread, to make us think 
it is sweet. 

Prof. Liebig advises the use of one pint of lime-water to every five 
pounds of flour. Tlie lime-water shoidd be prepared by dissolving lime in 
water to a point of saturation, and letting it settle and then bottling for 
future use. "With this lime-water, use pure yeast, and you will have light, 
healthy bread. AVith saleratus, largely used, you will not have wholesome 
bread, disguise it as you will. In using lime-water, add it fii'st to the flour, 
then add pure water and yeast, and you will have better bread than you can 
obtain from any preparation of carbonate of soda or cream of tartar. 

Wheat, divested of all its bran, does not contain enough of all the health- 
giving ingredients, jjarticularly of phosphate of lime, to satisfy the demands 
of nature. "With such flour, potatoes are beneficial. 

Bread should be more thoroughly baked than it is usually, and not eaten 
warm from the oven. 

Dry bread should never be thrown away. By soaking and reconverting 
it into dough, it can be again baked into excellent bread. It is of such ma- 
terials that tlie delicious tea-ru!.ks are made. Dry bread also makes most 
delicious puddings. Bread of fine flour is too much eaten. "We recommend 
farmers to have their wheat ground more coarsely, and only take out a por- 
tion of the bran. They may also add corn or rye meal, with advantage to 
economy and health. It will be also economical in the country to add 
potatoes. It is not always so in the city. And it is not quite honest either 
to sell them at the price of superfine flour bread. 

For potato biscuit, grate one half dozen potatoes ; add one quart of water ; 
one cupful of hop-yeast 'at night; and in the morning, when light, add three 
teaspoonfuls of sugar, and flour to form a dough. Let it rise; when light 
put in tins; let it rise again, and bake one half hour. 

395. Sprouted Wheat Flour— its effect on Bread.— Sprouted wheat flour 
makes Avhat housewives call runny dougli, and that is apt to make clammy 
broad. To remedy this, it has been recommended to add half a gill of 
whisky to flour enough to make four moderate-sized loaves. But many 
object to the use of whisky to make bread, and ask if something else will 
not answer as well. "We think it will. "We think if about the same quan- 
tity of shortening is added to the flour that is commonly used in making the 
old-fashion Yankee light biscuit, that the bread will be light, fine-grained, 



Sko. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION. 375 

and free from all the difficulties usually attributed to grown wheat. 
The addition of a little butter or lard to any flour will not do any harm. 
Try it. 

396. Teast — Bow to Make it. — The chemists have proved that yeast is a 
plant, as much so as mold or any other fuiigns. As we get it fresh from the 
brewer, yeast appears to be a yellowish gray or fawn-colored, frothy liquid. 
It soon settles down and appears dead, but is still active. The taste is bit- 
ter, and it emits a rather disagreeable odor. Its effect upon all moist sub- 
stances is to cause them to ferment, by a rapid increase of its growth, and a 
generation and diff"usion through the mass of carbonic acid gas, which makes 
the dough puff up and assume the condition called light. 

The great scci'ct of bread-making is to use just the right quantity of yeast 
to produce a light loaf without having any of the flavor or odor of the 
yeast imparted to it, as it will if too much is used, or if the action of the 
3'east is not arrested at exactly the right time. 

"We give in No. 397 the most convenient form for preserving yeast ready 
for use. If liquid yeast is preferred, it can be made by mixing wheat flour 
and water into a paste and letting it stand two or three days in a mod- 
erately warm place, when it will begin to emit a disagreeable sour odor, 
which afterward passes off or changes to a vinous odor at the end of six 
days. Then if yon liave the opportunity to get malt from a brewery — and 
if not, you can make it by sprouting barley or Indian corn, which must 
then be dried and crushed — yon will make an infusion of malt and boil it in 
water with a handful of hops, and cool it till lukewarm, and add it to the 
paste previously thinned into a soft batter with tepid water. This mixture 
kept in a warm place a few hours, begins to show activity. Fermentation 
has commenced, and will work the mass until there is a clear liquid on the 
surface, which pour off, and the opaque liquid at the bottom is good yeast, 
which you may keep as long as j'ou like in winter, and in summer upon ice, 
or hermetically sealed in bottles till wanted for use. 

A good yeast can be made, when you have the seed — that is, active yeast 
— from four pounds of peeled potatoes boiled in four quarts of water and 
a large handful of hops in a bag. The potatoes are mashed and thoroughly 
mixed with the water and a little salt, molasses, and flour to make a batter, 
to which a couple of spoonfuls of good yeast are added, and this will ferment 
the whole and make it fit for use as leaven for bread ; it may be kept a long 
time in a cool place. 

Yeast is sometimes preserved by dipping clean twigs in it and drying 
them and preserving them dry till needed, when they are soaked and the 
liquor added to the sponge. 

It has also been dried by spreading it with a brush upon a board and re- 
peating it as fast as each layer is dried until of considerable thickness, when 
it is scaled off, broken up and bottled, and sealed air-tight ; it will then 
keep for years. 

A yeast-plant has been found in California capable of reproduction to an 



376 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 



indefinite degree wiien placed in a bottle with a little sweetened water. 
Those plants appear somewhat like small grains of white-hulled com soaked 
iii water, or like the lumps of wheat flour which form in boiling, if not suf- 
ficiently stirred. A spoonful of this substance put into a quart of flour 
mixed for a si^onge will cause it to ferment, just as an addition of ordinary 
yeast would. The difficulty in its use is, that it is rather liable to become 
too acid, but it is a pretty good substitute for common yeast in a new coun- 
try where bakers and brewers are not convenient. 

397. ¥east-Cakes, or Ready-made 1 east— Take three ounces of good fresh 
hops, three and a half pounds of rye flour, seven pounds of Indian corn 
meal, and one gallon of water ; rub the hops so as to separate them ; put 
them into boiling water and boil half an hour ; strain the liquor through 
a fine sieve into an earthen vessel. While hot, put in the rye flour, and 
when lukewarm add a pint of yeast. Next day put in the Indian meal, 
stirring it well, and the mess will be stiff" dough. Knead it thoroughly, and 
roll it out to the thickness of about a third of an inch, and cut up^in'cakes 
three inches square, and dry them on a clean board or a tin in the sun. 
Turn them everyday, let them receive no wet, and they will become as hard 
as ship biscuit. Store them in a bag or hox, perfectly free from damp. 
When you bake, take two cakes for three loaves, and put them into a quart 
of tepid water with half a pint of flour in a vessel near the fire-place over- 
night, where they will dissolve by morning, and then use them in settino- 
your sponge as you would the yeast of beer. These yeast-cakes may be 
kept just as long as you desire. 

Rye flour is better than wheaten, but not absolutely essential. Some use 
potatoes, but a lady writes us that she finds the addition of the potatoes of 
no benefit and no injury, and for years has used Indian meal only— which 
being simpler, makes the work easier. ' 

To make yeast powder, take one pound of saleratus and two pounds of 
cream of tartar, mix them thoroughly together by passing them two or three 
times through a sieve. To each quart of flour add two heaping teaspoonfuls 
of this yeast or baking powder ; wet with sweet milk or water, as usual, 
and bake at once in a quick oven. The bread should be in small loaves- 
biscuit in the same way. 

398. Saleratus-Rising for Broad.—" In discussing this I aim at the health 
stand-point, and reject whatever impairs the nutritive qualities of the flour 
injures its flavor, or discolors it. The excellence of bread and its lightness 
depend upon the disengagement of carbonic acid gas during the process of 
fermentation, which is the action of yeast upon the saccharine matter of the 
flour. Ferment or yeast is an organized matter, and its essentially opera- 
tive constituent is a peculiar azotized matter, wliicli, in the wine-vat is 
mixed with some tartar and other salts, and in the beer-tun with gum and 
starch. Azote is found in animal bodies, and certain vegetables contain an 
azotized principle ; indigo, caperine, gluten, and many others contain an 
abundance of azote. All bread-making which dispenses with kneading and 



Sec. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION. 377 

true yeast fermentation may be distrusted. Tiie compositions of what may 
be termed bread compounds, even if palatable, difler greatly from true, 
good bread. 

" It is not of what kind of eatalile things bread can be made, but how to 
best make good, wliolesome bread that is as sweet when a day or two old as 
when first made, or better even than when new, that has no taste of yeast, 
none of the bitter of hops, nor the disagreeable flavor of alkali, and that will 
keep good a week, if necessary. 

" Tiie preference should be given to that yeast that will make the light- 
est, sweetest bread, without aid from extraneous substances, that is least 
likely to run into the acetous fermentation without infusing the bitter of hops. 

" The idea tliat alkalies make the bread tender is an error, tlie dough be- 
fore their introduction having run into the mucilaginous or putrefactive fer- 
mentation." 

But as many do and will continue to use alkalies, we will give some of 
the most approved methods. 

" For making prepared flour that can be used at leisure, to each quart of 
flour add one teaspoonful of saleratus and two of pure cream of tartar, and 
what salt is required ; mix them thoroughly together while dry, and set 
aside for use. Flour prepared in this way will last three months, for the 
reason, the flour keeps the chemicals separate from each other; it can then 
be wet up in the usual way and baked at once. Use this prepared flour for 
bread, biscuit, or any kind of sweet cake or pan-cakes, but do not mix the 
pan-cakes until you want to use tliem. 

" The best method for making bread with sour milk and saleratus is to 
add to each pound or quart of flour one heaping teaspoonful of saleratus and 
what salt is required ; mix tliem well together ; which is best done by pass- 
ing it all through a sieve. Then add as much sour milk as will make 
the dough the usual thickness. Mold it in small loaves, and bake at once. 
If the bread should be a little yellow, put in less saleratus next time. For 
biscuit, it should be molded quite thin. Very little shortening is required ; 
it should be baked in a hot oven ; and, if baked quick, the steam will help 
to raise the biscuit." 

It is contended by the advocates for this bread, that " being free from all 
yeasty particles, it is more digestible and not so likely to create flatulence or 
turn acid on weak stomachs as fermented bread ; and when of the finest 
quality, it is beneficial to those who sufler headache, acidity, flatulence, 
eructations, a sense of sinking in tlie pit of the stomach, distention, or pains 
after meals, and to all who are subject to gout or gravel. It is also useful 
in many afiections of the skin. 

" These remarks apply to both varieties of the bread, but especially to the 
brown, which is further invaluable to all who are liable to constipation 
from torpidity of the colon, or large intestines — the common infirmity of 
the sedentary — and of tliose who have been accustomed to oatmeal diet in 
their youth. 



378 DOMESTIC ECOXOMT. [Chap. IV. 

" But the advantages of llie process are not limited to matters relating to 
health. It is valuable because bread can be prepared by it in the short 
space of half an hour, thus saving much time and labor. It is valuable, also, 
because the materials are not perishable, and may be rendered available in 
])!aces and at times when yeast and other ferment is not -within reach — as at 
sea, for example, or in country retirements ; and it is still more valuable as 
i-egards economy. The cost of the chemicals is counterbalanced by that of 
the yeast, salt, and alum, otherwise employed ; but were it not so, they 
would form an altogether unimportant item in the j^rice of bread ; while by 
their use a saving is eficcted in the flour of not less than 13 per cent^ ,- In 
the common process much of the saccharine part of the flour is lost b}' being 
converted into carbonic acid and spirit, and thus waste is incurred solely for 
the purpose of getting carbonic acid to raise the dough. By the new method 
waste is avoided, and the gas obtained in a manner equally efficacious. 
And it is a striking instance of the successful application of chemical phi- 
losophy to the common arts of life, for fermentation destroys a part of the 
flour or meal, so that 280 lbs., which make 360 lbs. of bread by fermenta- 
tion, give 380 lbs. by the new process." 

399. Soda vs. Yeast, and Bread without Yeast.— Without taking any part 
in the controversy about the healthiness or unhealthiness of soda bread, we 
will give extracts from the opinions of its advocates as follows : 

" Soda is a caustic alkali in its iinconibined state. It is the base of com- 
mon salt. In this form it is daily taken into our stomachs with food, and 
also administered regularly to domestic animals by the careful husbandman. 
Let us remember that notwithstanding the chlorid of sodium has been used 
from time immemorial by man, and always eagerly sought after by wild 
animals, it has also met opposers among ultra hydropathists. It is therefore 
not so astonishing that the bicarbonate, whicli is what is used in cookery 
and of recent introduction, should flnd'many opposers. 

" Potash is an alkali extracted from wood ashes by percolation, and for 
culinary purposes is combined with two equivalents of carbonic acid, and 
sold under the name of saleratus. The chemical natures and physiological 
efl'ects of the two bicarbonates are so nearly identical that I shall not keep 
up the distinction in treating of them, though from the fact that the bicar- 
bonate of soda is dryer and more easily reduced to powder, it is preferable. 

" To secure the desired effect of bicarljonate of soda, it is necessary to use 
it in connection with some acid which, by combining with the alkali, sets 
free the carbonic acid, in form of gas, at the time of baking. Sour milk, 
which contains lactic acid, is best. The lactic acid, having a stronger affin- 
ity for the soda than the carbonic acid has, combines with it, forming 
lactate of soda, a neutral salt, possessed of no caustic property whatever ; 
while the gas, disengaged, fills the bread with minute cells and thus renders 
it light and palatable. 

" In the absence of sour milk, tartaric acid or cream of tartar should be 
used. If tartaric acid is used, tartrate of soda results ; a harmless substance 



Sec. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION. 379 

even in considerable quantities, and by no means unpleasant to take in 
■warm days in the form of an effervescing draught. If cream of tartar is 
used, the product is tartrate of soda and potassa, or Rochelle salts, ■which, 
in ounce doses, is known to be one of our mildest saline purgatives. 

"A hearty eater -will lake only a few grains of any of these salts at a 
meal, and these readily pass off through the excretions of the body, or enter 
upon their physiological offices in the gastric fluids — the bile or blood. 

"These bicarbonates, used -n'ithout an acid, render bread unpalatable; and 
this of itself ■n-ould prevent persons from using them to a hurtful extent. 

"Instead of being a curse to the ■^vorld, the introduction of the bicarbon- 
ate of soda has been a great blessing in banishing lard, in a great measure, 
from our biscuit. That the large quantity of grease necessary to make good 
short biscuit of superfine flour renders bread in a high degree indigestible, 
■will be universally admitted. Make biscuit according to the following 
formula, and you have an article altogether superior iu point of digestibility 
and flavor to those in which lard is used as the only shortening. 

" liule 1. Flour, two poupds ; fine Indian meal, a teacupful ; bicarbonate 
of soda, a heaping teaspoonful. Thorougldy mix these dry, and make up 
with new buttermilk, or if the milk is very sour, add water sufiiciently to 
make it about like new buttermilk. The soda must be neutralized, and, in 
iising milk, judgment on this point must be exercised. 

" Hide 2. Flour and meal as above ; rub together dry a teaspoonful of 
soda and two thirds as much tartaric acid. Mix this dry ■with the meal aiul 
flour, and make up with water. 

" Hide 3. Same as Xo. 2, except use a teas^'ooonful of cream of tartar in- 
stead of the tartaric acid. 

" A very small quantity of lard or butter may be used with advantage to 
the taste, but it is not essential. These ingredients added to corn bread 
make a wonderful improvement on the old-fashioned hoe-cake. That this 
bi-ead is healthier tlian yeast bread there is no doubt. 

"A healthy stomach, especially in winter, when the system is in a vigor- 
ous condition, may take yeast in considerable quantity and digest the meal 
before the process of fermentation has time to take place. But not so with 
weak stomachs, or healthy ones in the heat of summer, because yeast is the 
deposit formed in fermenting liquids, and has the property, when added to 
solutions of starch or sugar, even in exceedingly small quantities, of excit- 
ing the vinous fermentation in the whole mass, and may, and often does, do 
it, in the stomach as well as in bread." 

But the sweetest, most nutritious, most wholesome bakers' bread, we 
believe, that ever was made, is that first brought into general use in New 
York in 1861, by the establishment of a large manufactory for its produc- 
tion, which used over forty barrels a day, when working in full force. This 
bread is called " unfermented," yet it is as light as any good home-made 
bread, which it very much resembles. 

The following is the process by which it is made light without yeast : 



380 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV, 

"Tlie best superfine flour, -with a due proportion of pure water, passes 
from the bin, through a large iron pipe, into a huge, hollow globe of cast- 
iron, lined with tin, in which revolves an iron shaft with polished steel arms, 
which mix and knead the doug'i. 

"During this operation pure carbonic acid gas is conveyed from the gas- 
ometer into the globe by a powerful force-pump, and is incorporated uni- 
formly into the whole mass. Every ingredient is in definite proportion, and 
the most perfect accuracy is thus insured. By the pressure of the gas the 
dough is tlicn forced through a valve into baking-tins, and in an hour and 
a half, from flour in the bin, it is beautifully baked bread. No hand of man 
touches it in the whole process. All is done by the iron hands of machinery 
and the power of steam. No chemical change M-hatever occurs in the flour. 
All its elements — the starch, the gluten, and sugar — are retained in their 
original proportions and purity, and the result is the best and sweetest bread 
in existence. By the old process a little of the starch is always converted into 
dextrine — a species of glue — giving the bread a dark color, and sometimes 
sodden texture. To remedy this, alum is generally used, and the bread there- 
by further vitiated. Perfect cleanliness in the manufacture of bread has 
not been possible heretofore. It is by this process. 

" Bread made at home has been the purest that could be had, for the ves- 
sels were carefully looked after, and the air was generally free from dust 
and decomposhig particles, but none could tell what impurities contaminated 
the yeast, which, Avhether it came from baker or brewer, was necessarily 
more or less mixed with foreign substances. Home-made bread was the 
cleanest we could have, but was not perfectly pure ; while with the most 
watchful supervision and most careful cleanliness, bakers' bread, made in 
the ordinary way, can not possibly be entirely clean." 

Another advantage unfermented bread has over all other bakers' bread, is 
its remarkable keeping quality. It has been eaten with great satisfaction 
when twelve days old. 

"William Lounsberry, commissary of the 20th Regiment, New York State, 
which had been served with this bread while in the city and on the march 
to Washington, speaks of it in the following terms : . 

" Tlie bread has been on our table every day since we left, and is con- 
sidered by all a great delicacy. It loses none of its flavor by its age, but, 
for me, it really seems to improve. 

" It is sweet, light, and very palatable. I consider it, in many respects, 
the best bread I ever tasted, in addition to its power of retaining its excel- 
lence so long, the virtue which gives it its inestimable value. I wish I could 
be the means of informing a much larger number than I am able of its in- 
estimable merits." 

We have spoken of this method of making bread, not because it will help 
families to make better bread, but to show what improvements have been 
devised to make bread upon a large scale. The process would be a good 
one for the army and navy, and in all large towns. It is proper to say, 



Sec. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION. 381 

however, that the bread is not a universal favorite. Habit so vitiates tlie 
taste, that there are people wlio love sour bread, and also bread tliat smells 
and tasjes rank of yeast. To us it is not agreeable nor healthy. Tiiis " nn- 
ferniented bread" is patented by Elislia Fitzgerald and James Perry, New 
York. 

400. Other SubslitutPS for Yeast— Chemicals iti Bread.— A substitute for 
creain of tartar has been discovered by Prof. E. N. Ilorsford, which he 
tliiiiks far preferable to use with soda in bread. Ho says of it : 

" All these considerations led me to the conviction that, if it were possible 
to prepare phosphoric acid in some form of acid phosphate of lime, such 
that, after its action with moist carbonate of soda, it would leave phosphate 
of soda (a constituent of the blood) and phosphate of lime (an essential con- 
stituent of food), and confer upon it the necessary qualities of a dry, pulver- 
ulent acid, the end would be so far attained as to justify a practical experi- 
ment in domestic use. 

" I succeeded in producing an article in condition to meet the wants of 
the problem. I then introduced it into my family for use in all forms, as a 
substitute for cream of tartar for culinary purposes. When many months 
of daily use had assured me that my theoretical views were sustained by 
practical application, I gave it into the hands of friends, whose prolonged 
experience fully confirmed my own. It has been in constant use in my 
family now for more than four years ; and in the form of yeast powder, 
during this time, it has been produced and consumed in all parts of the 
country to a very large extent, settling, in the most satisfactory manner, all 
questions as to its serviceability and healthfulness. 

"The article is prepared according to instructions furnished by myself, as 
the result of long-continued experiment, and it will be produced of invari- 
able purity and strength equal to that of cream of tartar."- 

Of the same purport, and having a, direct reference to this case, are the 
views of Dr. Samuel Jackson, professor of the institute of medicine in the 
University of Pennsylvania : 

" Your substitute for cream of tartar for the raising of bread is a decided 
improvement. The tartaric acid is not a constituent of the grains from 
which flour is made ; it is not a nutritive principle, and often disagrees with 
the alimentary organs. The phosphate of lime, which is the principal in- 
gredient of your preparation, is an essential constituent of all grains. It is 
further an important nutritive principle; and recent experiments have 
proved it is an indispensable element in the formation, not of bones only, 
but of all the animal tissues. A deficiency of the phosphate of lime in food 
is a common cause of ill-health, of defective development, and retarded 
growth in children. In the conversion of wheat into flour, the phosphate 
of lime is rejected with the bran ; and, in consequence, this necessary cle- 
ment of nutrition, contrary to the arrangement of nature, is not obtained 
from our fine wheat bread. Your preparation, while it makes a light, sweet, 
and palatable bread, restores to it the phpsphate of lime which has been 



382 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

separated fioin tlie flour, and thus adapts it as an aliment for tlie mainten- 
ance of a healthy state of the organization." 

Other cliemists and physicians of acknowledged high character and stand- 
ing have given similar opinions. ^ 

If raising bread by yeast is properly conducted, it is quite unobjection- 
able ; but if, as is often the case, fermentation is allowed to proceed too long, 
acetic and lactic acids are formed, and some of tlie complex nitrogenous 
substances arise from the decomposition of the plastic bodies of the flour, 
and are incorporated in the bread. 

Yeast bread is never good unless the fermentation is arrested by baking 
at just the right time. Ordinarily, this right time is a period of short dura- 
tion, and probably not one loaf in one hundred is raised and baked when it 
should be. Tlie circumstances which modify the time in which the fermenta- 
tion may take place are so various, that it may occur in thirty minutes or 
twelve hours. The sponge requires constant watching, and this, in the mul- 
titudinous duties of the kitchen, it is not always possible to secure. Then 
saleratus or soda, to sweeten tiie sour sponge, is the resort of the cook ; and 
the result is an unpalatable and xmwholesome loaf, unworthy the name of 
bread, and is really unwholesome food. 

A correspondent of the Country Gentleman recommends the following 
formula for nnfermented bread: 

"Take of flour 3 lbs., bicarbonate of soda 9 drachms, hydrochloric acid, 
specific gravity I.IG, 11 drachms. About 25 oz. of water will be required 
to form the dough. First mix the soda and flour as thoroughly as possible ; 
which is best done by sliaking the soda in flne powder from a sieve over the 
flour with one hand, Avhile the flour is stirred with the other, and then 
passing the mixture once or more through the sieve. Next pour the acid 
into the water and difi'use it by stirring them well together, avoiding the use 
of any metallic utensil that the soda miglit come in contact with. Then 
mix the dough and water so prepared as speedily as possible. The dough 
should be speedily put into a quick oven. This manner of making bread is 
a great improvement, and will prove advantageous, compared with tlie fei- 
meiiting method, and the quality also will be found vastly superior to the 
antique ' leavened bread,' particularly for dyspeptics, as it has this advant- 
age, that it never sours on the stomach. By this method bread can be made 
in two hours, and it saves both time and labor. The ingredients are simple, 
and cost little. Fermentation always destroys more or less of the flour, be- 
sides otherwise injuring it for the purposes of assimilation. 

"A large proportion of the bread used in some families is scarcely more 
than an active form of yeast, which produces in the stomach a new fer- 
mentation and a host of disorders. And then we witness, of course, the 
blue vapors, which under diflferent aspects are as ruinous to the welfare and 
peace of a family as are those of a distillery. If the proportions of acid and 
baking soda directed to be used are thought to be too great, they may be 
varied at discretion. 



Seo. 23.] THE BREAD QDESTIOK. 383 

" In bread-inaking the only purpose served by fermentation is the genera- 
tion of carbonic acid to raise tlie dough, and to effect tliis a quantity of yeast 
is mixed with the flour. But the game purpose is gained by mixing a 
quantity of carbonate of soda with the flour, with a corresponding propor- 
tion of hydrochhjric or muriatic acid, and bread so formed is more nutri- 
tious and economical." 

Common salt always should be added, not only because it is palatable, 
but because it has a chemical effect upon the flour, so that that of inferior 
quality assumes an appearance above the reality. This is proved in what is 
called " salt-rising Iread," which alwaj's looks whiter than the same flour 
made with yeast. Salt also has the efl'ect to make flour take up and retain 
more water in the bread. Alum has the same effect as salt in a stronger 
degree, and its use by bakers is dishonest, because it is much more delete- 
rious tlian salt to the human stomacli. 

Sulphate of copper is another deleterious ariicle in bread, but it can only 
be used in small quantities, without great danger, and produces the same 
results as alum in a still greater degree. 

Carbonate of magnesia, used at the rate of 20 to 40 grs. to the pound of 
flour, produces effects similar to the alum or sulphate of copper, and good 
scientific autliority has pronounced it harmless, or at least preferable to soda. 
Other authority says its inaptitude to become entirely soluble makes it 
highly objectionable. 

Probably the safest mineral substance that can be used in bread is lime, 
as recommended by Liebig (394). 

To prepare this lime-water, mix a quarter of a pound of slaked lime in a 
gallon of pure, soft water or filtered rain-water, and cork it tight in bottles. 
The water will dissolve ^loth of its weiglit of the lime, and the balance will 
settle to the bottom, leaving the water transparent, which may be used at 
the rate of 5 lbs. to 19 lbs. of flour, and then fresh water may be added to 
the lime until all that is soluble is used up. The quantity of lime taken into 
the system is so minute that it is believed that it is not only not deleterious, 
but positively beneficial. 

401. Prof. Youmans' Opinion of Chemicals in Bread.— Speaking of the use 
of various chemical substances for yeast, Prof. Youmans says : 

" The class of substances tlius introduced in the bread are not nutritive 
but medicinal, and exert a disturbing action upon the healthy organism. 
And although their occasional and cautious employment may perhaps be 
tolerated on the ground of convenience, yet we consider their habitual 
use as higlily injudicious and unwise. This is the best that can be said of 
the chemical substances used to raise bread, even when pure ; but as com- 
monly obtained, they are apt to be contaminated with impurities more 
objectionable still. For example, the commercial muriatic acid which is 
comtaonly employed along with bicarbonate of soda, is always quite impure, 
often containing clilorine, chlorid of iron, sulphurous acid, and even ar- 
senic, so that the chemist never uses it without a tedious process of purifica- 



381 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

tion for his purposes, which are of far less importance than its employment 
in diet. While common hydrochloric acid sells for three cents per pound 
wholesale, the jjurified article is sold for thirty-five. Tartaric acid is apt 
to contain lime, and is frequently adulterated with cream of tartar, which is 
sold at half the price, and greatly reduces its efficacy ; while cream of tartar 
is variously mixed witli alum, chalk, hisulphate of potash, tartrate of lime, and 
even sand. Sesquicarbonate of ammonia is liable by exposure to the air to 
lose a portion of its ammonia. It is lience seen that the substances we 
employ are not only liable to injure by ingredients which tliey may con- 
ceal, but that their irregular composition must often, more or less, defeat the 
end for which they are intended. "We may suggest that in the absence of 
tests, tlie best practical defense is to purchase these materials of the drug- 
gist rather than the grocer. If soda is desired, call for the bicarbonate of 
soda ; it contains a double cliarge of carbonic acid, and is purest. Soda- 
saleratus is only the crude, impure carbonate — soda asli. The cream of tartar 
siiould appear white and pure, and not of a yellowish tinge. Carbonate of 
potash in its crude state ajipears as pearlasli ; in its more ])uri}ied form it is 
saleratus. Crude soda is kuown as sal-soda or soda-saleratus ; refined and 
cleared of its chief impurities, it forms carbonate and bicarbonate of soda. 
All tliese compounds have the common alkaline or burning property, wliich 
belongs to free potash and soda, which is lowered or weakened by the car- 
bonic acid united with them. The potash compounds are the strongest, 
those of soda being of tlie same nature, but weaker. Yet the system, as we 
have just seen, recognizes essential differences between them ; one pertains 
to the blood and the other to tlie flesh. According to the theory of their 
general use for raising bread, they ought to be neutralized by an acid, mu- 
riatic, tartaric, acetic, or lactic, tlius losing their peculiar properties and be- 
coming salts. These changes do take place to a certain extent, and the sa- 
line compounds formed are much less powerfid and. noxious than the un- 
neutralized alkalies ; their effects are moderately laxative. Yet, in tlie 
common use of these substances, as we have stated, the alkali is not all ex- 
tinguished ; much of it enters the system in its active form. Pure, strong 
jDotash is a powerful corrosive jjoison, disorganizing the stomach and dis- 
solving its way through its coats quicker, perhaps, than any otlier poisonous 
agent. When the alkalies are taken in small quantities, as when there 
is an excess in bread, they disturb healthy digestion in the stomach by neu- 
tralizing its necessary acids. They are sometimes found agreeable as pal- 
liatives when there is undue acidity o-f the stomach ; and, on the other 
hand, they may be of service in the digestion and absorption of fatty sub- 
tances. It is alleged that their continued use tends to reduce the propor- 
tion of fibrin in the blood. Cases are stated where families have been poi- 
soned by the excessive employment ot saleratus." 

402. Baking Bread— Heat of the Oven— Quality of Flouro— The heat of the 
oven, besides being equally diffused, should continue regular. The heat is 
right when flour sprinkled on the oven-bottom turns brown gradually, and 



Sec. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION". 385 

too hot if the flour chars Wack directly ; for then it will produce a thick 
crust, often burnt, while the interior of the loaf is underdone. The crumb 
is cooked at tlie boiling-point — 212 degrees — and might be done in a steam- 
chamber as well as an oven, but for the crust, which we all love so well that 
we are not willing to dispense with it for any more economical mode of 
cooking than the oven. 

The heat of the oven swells a M-ell-raised lump of dough to about double 
the size by the expansion of carbonic acid gas, and by steam arising from 
the moisture in the loaf, and by the vaporizing of alcohol, distilled out in 
the process of baking, to an amount equal to about one quarter of one per 
cent, of the weight of bread. A well-raised loaf of bread is more than half 
cavities. The loss of weight in baking depends upon the quality of the 
flour and size of the loaf. A one-pound loaf will generally require 1 lb. 6 oz. 
of dougli. A three-pound loaf requires 3 lbs. 12 oz of dough. A six-pound 
loaf requires 7 lbs. of dough. This shows that it is the most economical 
to bake large loaves. 

If you wish to prevent baking a hard crust, you can do so by rubbing the 
loaf, after it is shaped for the oven, with a little lard, just enough to varnish 
the surface. The crust, however, if not burnt, is always eaten with satis- 
faction, its agreeable bitter taste being preferred by many persons. 

The crust, which is dry and crisp upon new bread, grows soft and moisi 
after a day or two. Some housewives always wrap tlieir loaves in wet cloths 
when taken from the oven, to prevent the crust from continuing to get dryer. 
There is no need of this, because the moisture of the crumb soon softens the 
crust, and frequently leaves the crumb too dry. AVhen this is the case, re- 
turn the stale loaf to the oven in company with a dish of hot water. 

The average quantity of water in well-baked wheaten loaves is about 
forty-five per cent. The best flour contains six to ten per cent, of water. 
The reason that spring wheat flour makes moister bread than winter wheat, 
is because it contains more gluten, and that being once thoroughly wet in 
mixing the dough, is retentive of the water, even after it has lost its tougii, 
adhesive qualities, in passing from dough into well-baked bread crumb. A 
portion of the starch of the dough also retains water by being converted by 
the baking process into gum. The loaf will retain much more moisture, 
and consequently be better bread, if it crusts over immediately upon its 
being placed in the oven, as it is then in a measui-e impervious to wafer, and 
shuts in all that the interior of the loaf contains. 

403. The Effect of Kneading. — Good bread can not be made by merely 
mixing flour and water and yeast. The mass must be kneaded so as to 
be sure to bring every grain of flour in contact with its equivalent grain 
of water, and so as to diff'use the yeast uniformly throughout the mass, 
or else the residting gas will be liberated in excess in one spot and not at all 
in another. This is seen in badly-kneaded loaves in the large holes they 
contain, and in a crust that easily detaches from the crumb, as though it had 
been lifted up by internal force. Tlie air-cells in a well-kneaded loaf are 



386 DOMESTIC EOOSTOMY. [Chap. IV. 

fine and uniform tliroughout the mass, and all will be formed at about tlio 
same time. If the flour and yeast are decidedly good, and the kneading 
decidedly bad, the bread will not give satisfaction. On the other hand, 
good kneading, good moldins;, and jrood baking, will make a second or 
tiiird-rate quality of flour pass almost equal to the best. 

■tOi. Preparations of Wheat and Other Substances for Breadi — There are 
many things which may be used to mix with white wheat flour, or as sub- 
stitutes for it. A baker in Paris has tried a suc'cessful experiment to reduce 
the cost of bread by mixing rice flour with that of wheat. He puts in one 
part of rice to live of wheat flour, and the economy efiected readies the veiy 
considerable figure of one sou in the two-pound loaf. The government has 
had the bread examined by competent persons, and has authorized the sale 
of it at a less rate than fixed by the police. The demand is such that the 
baker can not sujiply it. Neither the nutriment nor the taste of the bread 
wou4d appear to be affected by the presence of the new ingredient. 

The greatest advantage of mixing rice fiour with wheat flour is to enable 
the loaf to retain more water, and make a moister bread. 

Bread made of wheat meal, as is proved by the chemical experiments of 
Prof. Johnston, aflbrds much more nutriment than that made from superfine 
flour. These experiments show us that 1,000 lbs. of wheat meal, or the 
wheat ground coarsely, and the hulls or bran portion sifted out by using a 
common ineal-sievc, contain the elements of — Muscular matter, 156 lbs. ; 
fivt, 28 lbs. ; bone material, 170-354 lbs. 

Wiiercas in fine flour are found only of — Muscular matter, 130 lbs.; fat, 
20 lbs. ; bone material, 60-210 lbs. Leaving a balance in favor of the 
former of 14-4 lbs. in 1,000 lbs. of the real elements of food convertible by 
assimilation into muscular flesh, fat, and bone. 

Now, as bread ranks among the chief, if not as the chief substance de- 
signed for the nutrition and support of the human frame, the above facts 
ought to have weight, in a pecuniary point of view, as an argument against 
the exclusive use of superfine flour. 

Unbolted M'heat meal for bread is in high favor with many, and we think 
every family should use it a portion of tlie time. In mixing the dough of 
this meal, do not make it quite as stiff as you would white flour, and you 
must be careful that it does not sour in rising, as it will do so sooner tliati 
bolted flour. It also requires a hotter oven and longer baking, and the crust 
is more apt to bum. 

Rye flour mixed vcith wheat flour enables the loaf to hold more water. 
The objection to it is its darker color and rye taste. 

Indian corn meal is also mixed with wheat flour, for the same jiurposo as 
rye flour, and if pure white corn is used, it does not aff'ect the color of the 
loaf, and makes vcrj' sweet bread. 

Of mixing potatoes we have fully treated (394), and recommend farmers 
to grow some of the very white fleshed, dry sorts, for tliis purpose. 

A French process uses ninety per cent, of the wheat making white bread. 



Sec. 23.] THE BREAD QUESTION. 387 

The wheat is ground into fine M'lieat flour, Bcventy-four per cent. ; brown 
meal, sixteen per cent. ; bran, ten per cent. The meal is then mixed quite 
thin willi water and the necessary yeast added, and this is used to mix the 
white flour into a dough, M-hich is baked as usual wlien light. The bread 
is declared to be greatly improved, being less likely to sour, and is light, 
sweet, and nutritious, 

405. Corn Breadi — Although Indian corn is a more universal crop than 
wheat, corn bread is by no means in universal use. The reason is in some 
measure to be accounted for in the inborn love of fermented bread which 
the meal of this grain will not make. Tlie use of "leavened bread" has 
been thought by some to come in part from the early notion that it created 
a distinction between Christians and Jews. The former always use leavened 
bread — at least the Protestants do, in their sacraments — and the Jews have 
their holy "feasts of unleavened bread;" so that eating unleavened bread 
as a constant practice has been said to be an uncliristian act. It was also 
the daily food of the heathen, and in early times, when the first settlers of 
the country were very poor, corn bread Avas the only kind ; and the use 
of it now may call up reminiscences of painful poverty. It is also the only 
bread of slaves, and it may be looked upon as a badge of servitude. At 
any rate, the poorest classes of the Northern States make the least use of 
corn bread. Yet it is tlie very thiog tliat tlicy should eat, because it is 
nutritious, healthful, and economical. In Northern cities, corn meal fur- 
nishes scarcely one per cent, of the bread food, and not one per cent, of that 
is made into bread. In the farming regions of the northeastern States pure 
corn bread is only seen occasionally upon the farmer's table, though bread 
made of a mixture of about two parts of corn meal and one of rye meal, 
familiarly known as "ry'n'-injun," is still extensively \ised. (See 393.) 

A much better mixture is one part rye meal, two parts corn meal, and 
four parts fine wheat flour. The rye and corn are mixed with yeast, quite 
soft, and set to rise, and after getting very spong}', the wheat flour is worked 
in, and the mass allowed to get light before it is put to bake. 

At the South, corn bread is almost the only sort ever seen upon the tables 
of many families who rank upon a par with the mass of Nortliern farmers. 
All eat it there and are content, both master and slave, and those who are 
hired, or sit at the table as gnests. If a farmer at the North should attempt 
to feed his laborers exclusively upon corn bread, there would probably bo a 
revolt, particularly if a majority of them were Irish, whose only bread in 
their own country was potatoes. 

Such laborers have yet to learn that corn bread gives more working force 
than liread of fine wheaten flour. The latter gives the most brain food, and 
is best for growing children ; but Indian corn, either in the form of bread, or 
many of the other forms in which it comes to the tables of those wlio know 
how to cook it, furnishes the laborer with a greater proportion of power 
than any other grain, and its value should be better known, and it then 
■would be more used as an article of food. 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

Perhaps the reason why the use of corn hread is going out of fashion in 
tliis region, whioh is in the very center of the great corn helt, may he fonnd 
in tlie fact tliat so many liouseholds are now served by cooks who Avere not 
horn in a corn-growing country, and who seem incapable of learning tliat 
corn meal is not fit to eat in a semi-raw sta:e. If they make it into mush, 
they only scald it. If they mix it into bread, they insist npon its being done 
as soon as it is heated through. Learn, then, that corn meal can not be 
cooked too much — it seldom is enough. Tlie best corn bread we ever ate 
was from meal well kneaded with nothing but water and a little salt, and 
then made into lumps about the size and somewhat the shape of a man's foot, 
and raked in the embers just like potatoes to roast, and there allowed to 
remain and cook all night. The next best corn bread is the old-style johnny- 
cake, mixed in the same way, and patted about three-quarters of an inch 
thick npon a board, and roasted before an exceedingly hot fire. 

The next best are the " corn-dodgers" of the Soutliwest, mixed like the 
first^ and baked in an iron bake-pan, standing on hot coals, with hot coals 
on the lid. These dodgers are usually of two to four pounds weight, and 
when brought hot to the table are certainly good Ijread. They are much 
eaten cold, but we can not recommend them in that condition, only as being 
infinitely better than the half-baked corn bread common at the North. 

All the improvements of corn hread ever attempted by adding other 
ingredients have failed, to our taste, to produce an article equal to a well- 
baked ash-cake or corn-dodger. 

Remember the three grand secrets about making good corn bread : never 
to grind your meal \evy fine, always to have it fresh ground, and never fear 
baking it too much. All corn bread should be cooked a long time. The 
negroes often bury the dough in the hot embers all night. 

One of the most common objections to the use of corn bread is its sup- 
posed indigestibility. On account of this character, which it has obtained, 
as we think, unjustly, it is avoided by many people who are of a dyspeptic 
habit. We think there is a mistake in ascribing this character to corn bread 
indiscriminately. If Indian corn meal is not thoroughly cooked, it is indi- 
gestible — more so, perhaps, than any other grain. But snch bread as that 
above described as ash-cakes or corn-dodgers, we do not believe indigestible. 
AVe have often eaten corn-cakes, made purposely for a severe affliction of 
indigestion, and found them better than any other kind of bread. These 
were made of meal and water and salt only, and patted out into the size 
and thickness of Boston crackers, and most thoroughly baked in a quick 
oven. See Section XXIV. 



Seo. 24.] 



SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD. 



389 




SECTION XXIV.-SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD, IN GREEN AND DRIED 
CORN, POP-CORN, HOMINY, AND PREPARATIONS OF AVHEAT 

OW truly lias bread licen denominated "the staff 
of life!" For it there is no substitute; though 
some of the excellent preparations of food treated 
of in this section may be considered substitutes, 
but they are only partially so ; yet they are 
■worthy of our especial attention, because, as 
articles of food, all over America, they hold a high 
rank; and a notice of them seems fitting in connec- 
tion with the bread question. Each one of the 
articles named in this section furnishes wholesome 
and economical food, and some of them should be 
better known in every farmer's family. 

400. Green Corn, or Roasting Ears.— Eoasting the 
ears, is the primitive way of using Indian corn. It 
is the first use that the early settlers of America made of it, because that was 
the mode in which they found the Indians preparing it. The quality of the 
corn grown for eating while in its milky state, has been much improved 
since Captain Smith took his first meal with Pocahontas, on the banks 
of James River, in 1607. Certainly there can be no richer vegetable 
food than the best quality of sugar corn, such as every farmer should 
grow, when simply boiled, or when made up in that Indian dish called snc- 
co-tash. And if any farmer doubts the value of this green corn, as winter 
food, when carefully preserved by drying, or in sealed cans, we think he 
would be convinced, if he could dine at our table for a month in midwinter, 
where he would find it was one of the regular dishes. We have just made 
a hearty meal of this and another preparation of corn, directly to be noticed. 
It is almost a substitute for bread and meat. It is useless to advise any 
native American farmer's family to cat green corn, but it is not useless nor 
improper to urge nine tenths of tliena to use a better variety. And we do 
most earnestly ask every family to preserve enough by drying to give the 
family a dish of it two or three times a week, cooked by boiling in plain 
soft water two or three hours, and until nearly all the water is absorbed or 
evaporated, and then season with salt and butter. If a little saleratus is 
added at first, it will become tender with less boiling. Some like it dished 
up with milk or cream. It is also excellent stewed with beans (succotash), 
seasoned with a piece of moat, and it is very good in soups. 

407. How to Dry and Cook Swert Corn. — AYhen the corn is in good condition 
for eating, the grains being fully grown, boil a quantity of ears just enough 
to cook the starch, and let them cool and dry a few hor.i-r, ;ind then shell or 



390 DOMESTIC ECONOMT. [Chap. IV. 

cut oflp the grains and spread tlieni in the suii lill dried. The best way to 
dry the corn is to nail a piece of cloth of very open texture on a frame; say 
two feet wide and five feet long, will be a convenient size to handle. If the 
corn is spread thinly upon this cloth it will diy' quickly without souring. It 
should be covered with a piece of mnsquito nctling to keep off the flies. 
Another person gives the following directions for drying sweet corn. 

"As soon as the corn is fit for the table, husk and spread the ears in an 
open oven or some quick drying-place. When the kernels loosen, shell the 
corn as soon as you can, and spread it upon a cloth to dry in the sun, or on 
paper in a warm oven ; stir it often that it may dry quickly and not over- 
heat. Dried in this way, the kernels remain whole, are sweeter, and retain 
more of the natural flavor by drying faster. When all dried, expose it to 
the wind by turning it slowly from dish to dish ; the wind blows ofl" all that 
troublesome white chaft*." 

Another plan has been highly recommended and a machine invented to 
facilitate tlie operation ; this is to bore out the pith of the cob and then com- 
pletely dry the corn on the cob and keep it there till wanted for the table, 
when it may be shelled first or boiled as it grew. 

Directions for cooking dried sweet corn are very simple. Wash and put 
it in warm water to soak several hours ; then in the same water boil it for 
a half hour. Just before taking it uj), add some sweet milk or cream, pep- 
per and salt to the taste, and a little sugar if it is not as sweet as would be 
agreeable. Sometimes a bit of soda as large as a pea in a half pint of corn, 
while soaking, makes it more tender, and corrects any stale taste which it 
has acquired by long keeping. 

This is a good dish with meat, dressed with gravy, or it may be eaten M^ith 
sauce as a dessert dish. It is good enough, eaten any way, to be, and it 
should be, upon every American farmer's table. 

408. Hulled foru, or Lye Homiuy, is another primitive form of preparing 
an excellent substitute for bread. In the form of " tortillas," it is the almost 
universal bread of Central America. We look upon hulled corn as one of 
the luxuries of American farm life, yet not one in ten of farmers' families 
ever enjoy it. It is particularly acceptable in the spring of the year, when 
old vegetables are on the decline, and new ones have not yet come into use. 
When the farmer burns wood, a wiiite lye may be made in a few minutes, 
or cobs may be burned and ashes used to make a lye, into wli'cli put the corn 
to be hulled, which should be large, white-fliut corn, and let it remain until 
the hull will slip easily, and then rinse it thoroughly in cold water, rubbing 
it with the hands or stii-ring it with a stick till all the hulls are washed ofl'. 
Feed the hulls and chits which come out to the i)igs or hens, and boil the 
corn for yourself until it swells to tliiee times its original size, and is as sot't 
as bread. You may prepare and boil a gallon at once for six persons, and 
what is not eaten at first may be warmed over just as you would potatoes. 
Those who have no wood ashes or cobs to make weak lye of, may hull coin 
by using a teaspoonful of saleratus to a quart of corn, in water enough to 



Seo. 24.] SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD. 391 

cover it. In either case the lye inTist be made hot after the corn is put in 
to loosen the hull ; and if the lye is not carefully washed from the corn, it 
will taste nnpleasantly. 

409. Samp, or Dry Hominy. — This is another and most valuable prepara- 
tion of corn, and an excellent, wholesome, economical substitute for bread. 
It is an article that no family, desirous of practicing economy, can do without. 
It is a very cheap, healthy, nutritious food. It usually costs only half the 
price per pound of flour, and contains no moisture, while the best of flour 
holds from twelve to sixteen pounds of water in a barrel. In point of econ- 
omy as human food, one bushel of hominy is equal to ten of potatoes, for 
which it is an excellent substitute, and is almost as universally liked as po- 
tatoes, and at the South it is more freely eaten ; while at the JSTorth it is 
seldom seen, except by a few persons in cities. By hominy, we do not mean 
a sort of coarse meal, but grains of white corn from which the hull and 
chit or eye have been removed by moistening and pounding in a wooden 
mortar, or patent hulling machine, leaving the grains almost whole, and 
composed of little else but starch. 

4rlO. How to Cook Hominy. — The process is very simple to those who know 
how. As but few do, v/e give the formula of practice in our own family : 
Wash slightly in cold water, and soak twelve hours in tepid, soft water ; 
then boil slowly from three to six hours in the same water, with plenty more 
added from time to time, taking care to prevent burning. Do not salt 
while cooking, as salt or hard water will harden the corn ; so it will peas or 
beans, green or dry, and rice also. When done, add butter and salt ; or a 
better way is to let each one season to suit the taste. It may be eaten with 
meat in lieu of vegetables, or with sugar or syrup. It is good, hot or cold ; 
it is good frequently warmed over, for it is like the old-fashioned pot of — 

" Beau porridge hot, or bean porridge cold, 
Bean porridge best at nine days old." 

So is hominy; it is good always, and very wholesome, and like tomatoes, 
onl}' requires to be eaten once or twice to fix the taste in its favor. 

In New York this article is called samp, and the name hominy is given to 
corn cracked in a mill, and winnowed, and sifted, and numbered according 
to its fineness. We add a few of the ways in which hominy may be used. 

IIoiiiNY BeeakfjVSt-CL\kes. — Mash the cold hominy with a rolling-pin, 
and add a little flour-and-milk batter, so as to make the whole thick enough 
to form into little cakes in the hand, or it may be put upon the griddle with 
a spoon. Bake brown, eat hot, and you will declare you never ate anything 
better of the batter-cake kind. 

IIoMiXY Pudding. — Prepare as for breakfast-cakes ; add one egg to each 
pint, some whole cinnamon, sugar to suit the taste, and a few raisins, and 
bake like rice-pudding. A little butter or chopped suet may be added. 
Serve hot or cold, with or without sauce. 

IIoiiiNT Salad. — To a pint of cold hominy add a small onion, a quarter 
of a boiled chicken, or about the same quantity of lobster, chopped fine, to 



392 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

which some add a small pickle. To he dressed with sweet oil, mustard, 
pepper, and vinegar. It is a very good suhstitute for green salads at seasons 
when the latter can not be obtained. 

HomNY AND Milk, hot or cold, is as much better than mush-and-milk as 
that is better than rjemeal porridge. 

Hominy and Beans. — Mix equal parts of cold baked beans and hominy 
together, and heat up, and you will have an excellent dish. 

Soft Hominy Beead. — One spoonful of boiled hominy, cooled ; a small 
lump of butter, one egg, half a pint of wheat flour — mixed with milk to the 
consistency of cream. Bake a half hour in a hot oven. 

Hominy Waffles. — Two spoonfuls of hominy, a small lump of butter, 
two eggs, one quart of wheat flour. Thin with milk to the consistency of 
very thick cream. Bake in waffle-irons. 

411. How Hominy is Made. — The primitive way of making hominy was 
beating the corn in a mortar, in a considerable mass together, so as to rub 
off the hulls by attrition of tlie grains, w'ithont breaking them. Nearly 
forty years ago, in floating down the Ohio Eiver of a still evening, we first 
heard the music of the hominy mortars, which filled the air, as the voices of 
tiie negroes kept time to the strokes of the pestles, preparing a favorite food 
for their masters as well as themselves. But of late years the ground hom- 
iny, or cracked corn, has in a great measure driven the old hominy mortar 
out of use. Negro hominy is cooked by soaking and boiling until it 
becomes gelatinous, and then, when cold, if cut in slices and fried in a 
little fat, is often eaten in preference to any other bread. Hominy is also 
made by mechanical means, one of which is a shaft armed with files, 
revolving in a case with the corn, which makes a very nice article. 

At the South, negroes prefer hominy or corn meal to wheat flour, pound 
for pound. Corn is ground very coarse, and frequently eaten, hulls and all, 
in preference to sifting. Few would be willing to live upon that alone. It 
would not be good economy to do so. It would be good economy for us all 
to use more Indian corn meal, and it would not only be economical, but 
healthy, to cat more hominy. 

We will add here several good receipts for cooking corn meal, as substi- 
tutes for wheaten bread : 

412. Virginia Corn Bread. — Dissolve one tablespoonful of butter in three 
and a half pints of boiling milk ; in this scald one quart of Indian meal ; 
when cool, add a half pint of wheat flour, a little sugar, a teaspoonful of 
salt, and two eggs well beaten ; mix well together, and bake in two cake- 
tins well greased or buttered. 

413. The St. Cliarles Hotel Indian Bread. — Beat two eggs very light, mix 
them with one pint of sour milk (or butter with sweet milk will do), then 
add a teaspoonful of soda or saleratus, then stir in slowly one pint of Indian 
meal and one tablespoonful of melted butter ; beat these well together • 
bake in a common cake-pan, in a quick oven. The bread can be made very 
good without eggs. 



Sbo. 24.] SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD. 393 

414. Musb, or Hasty Pudding. — Stir into a half pint of cold water enough 
Indian meal to make a thick batter ; put this into three or four quarts of 
boiling water over the fire ; after this has boiled ten minutes, stir in a 
dessert-spoonful of salt, and sifted meal until it is quite thick ; let it boil 
from one to two hours, stirring it often to prevent its burning. 

415. Fried Mush. — Mush to be fried should boil a little stiffer, with a half 
pint of flour, say, to two quarts of mush ; put the mush in an earthen dish 
dipped in cold water; let it stand until perfectly cold; then cut it in slices 
half an inch thick, and fry them brown on both sides in a little butter or 
pork fat — lard will do with a little salt. 

416. Indiau Cakes. — To a pint of mush add milk or warm water to make a 
batter, and flour enough to make the cake hold together ; two or three eggs, 
two spoonfuls of molasses or sugar, a little nutmeg or lemon, to suit the 
taste ; bake on a griddle or in an oven. 

417. Baked Indian Pudding. — Into one quart of boiling milk scald ten 
tablespoonfuls of Indian meal ; when cold, add a teacujjful of molasses, a 
piece of butter the size of an egg, a teaspoonful of salt, also of ginger and 
cinnamon ; bake in a pudding-dish from one to two hours, in a cook-stove, 
or longer if in a brick oven. When done it has the appearance of brown 
bread. 

418. Pop-forn— Its Uses as Food— It makes Delicious Puddings.— We can 
not close this section upon substitutes for bread without bringing to the notice 
of fiirmers a new preparation of Indian corn, original with the author, but 
highly approved by a very large number of persons to whom the new dis- 
covery has been made known. It is as much a pleasure as it is a duty to 
tell farmers how they can grow and prepare upon their own farms a substi- 
tute for rice, farina, tapioca, sago, etc., for culinary purposes — something, in 
short, that shall be as good as either of the above substances for the use of 
the good housewife, to make a pudding — a pudding that is not a mere 
adjunct of a dinner, but a real substantial addition to it; as hearty as one 
of corn meal ; more wholesome than that, more toothsome, and equally cheap ; 
so that it is within the reach of all, both rich and poor; and as I think it a 
valuable discovery in the preparation of food, I am anxious that everybody 
should enjoy the benefit of my discovery. 

" Necessity is the mother of invention." It was so in this case. It was 
discovered that a pudding could be got up in an impromptu manner, upon 
an emergency, in a farm-house, when the ingi-edients in most common use 
were exhausted. 

For years popped corn had been an almost daily dish, all the family and 
all visitors liking it very much ; but we had never thought of reducing it to 
meal, and applying it to culinary purposes, until one winter day, when a 
pudding was wanted, and it was not convenient to obtain any of the ordi- 
nary substances nsed for that purpose. To the cook's suggestion that corn 
meal might be borrowed, the mistress of the house replied : " No, no — my 
father would rather go hungry than live by borrowing. Besides, I dou't 



394 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

think there is time to make a eorn-meal pudding; it requires four good 
hours to cook it sufSciently, otherwise it always has a raw taste; for corn 
meal is never good unless cooked a great deal. I think you will have to 
give up the pudding, but I will ask my father." 

So she did, and he said : " Let us have a pop-corn pudding." 

" Oh, it will, I fear, be a waste of time and material, aud prove a great 
failure." 

"No matter; there is as much to bo learued by failure as success. Let 
us try." 

So we did. A pint of pop-corn was put through the operation, and it 
made sixteen pints of popped corn, which was first crushed with a rolling- 
pin on the kitchen-fable, and then ground in the coflfee-mill into a coarse 
meal, which measured eight pints. It is easiest crushed by putting it in a 
bag. We have since procured a large-sized coffee-mill, that grinds the corn 
without first mashing it. The difficulty was, that it was so light it would 
not feed regularly into the grinding-plates of the mill. We grow the corn 
for popping; it is a small, white, flint grain, upon small cobs, and quite 
prolific in its yield. It is popped in a small popper made of woven wire, 
and takes perhaps half an hour to pop and grind a pint. 

419. How to make a Pop-Corn Pudding. — Mix five pints of the pop-corn 
meal with full four pints of sweet milk, and set it where it will warm 
slightly, and soak an hour or two. Then let it cool, and add two eggs, 
sugar, raisins, spice, as you would to a rice-pudding. Let it be set on a hot 
stove and boiled a few minutes, stirring it several times to get the meal well 
mixed with the milk, because it inclines, from its great lightness, to float, 
and if baked without stiri-ing there will be a brown crust on top and custard 
at the bottom. It should be baked about an hour, and served hot, and will 
be eaten with great satisfaction — satisfaction that a new ingredient for a 
delicious, rich, wholesome pudding has been discovered — one always at hand, 
easily prepared, and one that has never failed to gratify the taste of all who 
have tried it. 

The cost of such a pudding to a farmer is the cost of the sugar, raisins, 
and spice — the milk aud corn I count at nothing. "What should I count the 
cost of five eighths of a pint of corn and four pints of milk, which, if not 
eaten upon the table, would go to the pigs? The eggs would sell possibly 
for four cents, and the things bought cost as much more, in a pudding that 
fed eight hearty people. Let us then eat pudding — good, rich pudding — as 
much as we can at a meal, at a cost of one cent each. It is cheap ; try it, 
and you will say it is good. 

420. Pop-Corn Griddle Cakes. — ^^Another use for this pop-corn meal is for 
griddle cakes. To my taste, they are quite equal to rice cakes, cooked in 
any way that rice is, and are much heartier. In fact, there is no stronger 
food for a laboring man than any of the preparations of corn in the way I 
have indicated. At the same time, its digestibility is unquestioned. 

421. The Philosophy of Popping Corn.— The philosophy of the advantage 



Seo. 24.] SUBSTITUTES FOR BREAD. 395 

of thns preparing corn is -worthy of our attention. Of all the cereals, Indian 
corn requires the greatest action of fire to fit it I'or food. It is full of essen- 
tial oil, and that needs to be cooked, and it can only be done by a very high 
heat or a long-continued moderate one. If long continuotl, the other con- 
stituents of the corn are sometimes injured, and so are the ingredients added 
to the meal. If not well cooked, any article of food prepared from corn, 
however palatable, is not so digestible as wheaten bread. ]N"ow, in pop- 
ping corn, it is subjected to a very high heat, which thoroughly cooks the 
oil, and fits the corn at once for food — a food that almost everybody loves, 
and so will everybody love the various preparations of food from meal made 
of popped corn, for it may be eaten without fear by the dys[ieptic, and it 
will be eaten with satisfaction to appease hunger. 

As we kuow that corn and corn meal, properly kiln-dried, will keep a long 
time, we may saiely argue that meal prepared by a still more perfect system 
of fire-drying, will kecji an indefinite length of time, or just as long as we 
wish. If ground and packed in barrels, the pop-corn meal will keep better 
than corn meal or flour, or even whole grain. 

422. Uulled Wbeat, Wheaten Groats, and Boiled VHieiiU—JIuUed wheat is 
another excellent substitute for bread. It can be hulled by lye, or by any 
of the mechanical means used for hulling corn or rice, one of which is to 
run it through millstones, set just far enough apart to rub oflf the husks. 
It is cooked by simply boiling, and is eaten in the various ways that we have 
mentioned for hominy. 

Wheaten Oroats, or "grits," as they are usually called, are coarsely- 
ground wheat— as coarse as it can well be ground. This is also a substitute 
for bread. It is cooked by boiling in plain water, as hominy or hulled corn 
and wheat should always be, until all the water is absorbed. It is eaten both 
hot and cold, or warmed over, and it does not require as much cooking as any 
jjreparation of Indian corn, and it is both palatable and healthful. 

Every family, whether I'ich or poor, or in town or country, should make 
it a i-eligious duty to use more corn meal, oatmeal, Graham flour, hominy, 
and cracked wheat for bread, in preference to fine wheat flour, both for 
health and economy. Look at the relative retail prices per pound of these 
articles, and see which will give the most nutriment for the least money ; 
not which will afford you the most fashionable bread. 

Boiled tuheat is another simple form of preparing an excellent substitute 
for bread, particularly at harvest-time, while the grains are not as hard as 
afterwards. It should be carefully selected, and cleaned, and washed, and 
then soaked several hours, and boiled in the same water until some of the 
grains crack open. It may be eaten with meat, or as a dessert, with syrup, 
sauce, or milk. 



396 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 




SECTION XXV -EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 

NDER this head, which really means selecting 
choice extracts from books that we read, we intend 
to gather \ip a great nvimber of useful things, and 
concentrate them here for easy reference in a some- 
what miscellaneous order. 

We will open the section with a most valuable line 
of advice, selected from a letter of an excellent house- 
wife to her daughter, when about undertaking the 
responsibilities of housekeeping. She says : 

423. "Always Buy Good Articles, notwithstanding 
the first cost is more, in preference to cheap or low- 
priced sorts, which are generally the most uneconomi- 
cal ; and sometimes low-priced articles of food prove 
detrimental to health. Make it a point to read every- 
thing that comes in your way about clomestic economy. 
You can not learn too much. Keep a little memorandum-book, with alpha- 
bet pages, and make it a rule to store up excerpta from all you read, for 
future use. It will prove to you a lasting source of useful knowledge. 
Frequently j^ou need only make a reference in your memorandum where to 
look for what you want. No head is large enough for a storehouse of all 
that a good housewife will at some time want to know." 

42i. Economy of Farm-house Lights. — This is a very important question for 
the consideration of farmers' wives, who may find that it will not always be 
good economy to burn their own tallow. Certainly not, if it can be ex- 
changed for a light-producing substance which will save the hard, unplea- 
sant labor of candle-making, and at the same time afford a much better and 
a pleasanter light. Unfortunately, we have no standard of comparative 
cost of tallow — the almost universal source of farm-house light — with fluid 
substances. E. N. Kent, of the United States Assay Office, tells us, in the 
following table, which is the most economical as regards cost of oleaginous 
substances for light. 

425. Cost of Oils for Light Compared : 

Moforini. T„™„TT.o,i Eelail Price of Oil Cost of an Equal 

*''"""'''• Lamp Used. per Gallon. Amount of LighU 

Kerosene oil Kerosene $1 00 $4 10 

Camphene Camphene 63 4 85 

Sylvic oil Rosin oil 50 6 05 

Rape-seed oil Mechanical 1 50 9 00 

Whale oil Solar 1 00 12 00 

Lard oil Solar 1 25 17 00 

Sperm oil Solar 2 25 26 00 

Burning fluid Large wicli 87 29 00 

426. Cost of Oil and Candles Compared. — Dr. Ure gives the comparative cost 
of an equal amount of light per hour from the following substances : 



Seo. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 397 

"Carcel lamp, with sperm oil, lid. ; wax candles, 6d. ; spermaceti candles, 
5id. ; stearic acid candles, 4id. ; molded tallow candles, 2id." 

427. Economy of Kerosene Oil. — From the foregoing it will be seen that 
kerosene oil is the least expensive of all fluid light-producing substances; 
and as it is now refined, and burnt in improved lamps, we believe it to bo 
a very agreeable substitute for tallow candles, but whether cheaper or not 
can only be determined by actual experiments in different households, com- 
paring the cost per gallon with the value per pound of tallow, and the light 
produced or the light required. As a general thing, farm-house lights are 
Tery inferior, and many a bright pair of eyes has been dimmed in conse- 
quence. It is on this account that this question of light should be more 
discussed and experimented upon. Do not continue to use candles, or any 
particular form of lamp or kind of oil, Ijecause you have long been in that 
practice, if tliere really is something better. 

428. How to Improve Caudles. — If you do use home-made candles, pray 
purify the tallow, and do not mix lard with it, though you may add a little 
alum, and never use your candles any sooner than you would soap — until 
they are at least six months old. Pack them in bran, and set them away in 
a cool, dry place, and see how nnich they imjjrove by age. 

It is M'ell to mix beef and mutton tallow, but the proportion of the latter 
should be small, because it sometimes gives off a disagreeable odor. All 
good tallow is white, firm, and brittle, and dipped candles can only be made 
of it in mild weather. Be careful to use nothing but fine, Avhitc, clean cot- 
ton yarn for wicking. 

429. Lard— How to Make and Keep it Sweet.— The lard of a hog of about 
a year old, fattened upon corn, and carefully rendered and packed in stone 
pots or sound oaken firkins, and kept covered close, will keep in a cool cel- 
lar just as long as any farmer's wife wants to keep it. Lard must be thor- 
oughly cooked in rendering, to keep sweet. 

A cooling-room attached to the ice-house is an excellent place to keep 
lard in summer. But remember that lard will never keep well in any place 
if it has been insufficiently cooked. 

430. Rice and Sago should both have a clear, fresh, white appearance 
when you purciiase. Eice with the largest whole grains is the best. Rice 
is remarkable for being the richest in starch, and most deficient in oil, of all 
the cultivated grains. Old rice is apt to be infected with weevil. 

The small, white sago, called pearl sago, is the best. The largo, brown 
kijid has an earthy taste. These articles, and ground rice, tapioca, etc., 
should l^e kept in boxes or jars closely covered. 

431. Spices, Cocoa, and Cliocolate. — Spices should never be purchased by 
a farmer's family in a ground state. They are frequently adulterated, and 
always lose strength as soon as ojjcned. 

Nutmegs sometimes are kept in store until stale. Fresh ones can be se- 
lected by pricking with a pin at the stem end, when, if good, a drop of oil 
will ooze out. 



398 _ DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

Cocoa shells are apt to be musty from long keeping. Never purchase a 
large quantity until you have tried a sample and jiroved it fresh and swcef. 
Cracked cocoa k generally the best. Some that is carefully put up in 
papers keeps well. Chocolate is often adulterated so that it makes a nau- 
seous beverage. Do not buy but a single cake until you prove it good. 
Both these articles are made from the cocoa beans, which grow \ipon small 
trees, cultivated for the purpose in Central America and other tropical lati- 
tudes. The beans are bitter and astringent, and are roasted like coffee to 
prepare them for use. They contain much more oil or fatty matter than 
coffee berries. It is rated in an analysis by Lampadius over 53 per cent, of 
the substance. The substance containing the aroma of the bean is given at 
16.70 per cent. The shells are the dried fleshy pulp that surrounds the 
beans in the pods. 

The cracked cocoa is the broken roasted beans. Chocolate is made of the 
beans, ground with hot rollers, and made into a paste with sugar, and sea- 
soned with vanilla and spices, and if not adulterated, makes a wholesome 
beverage, but it is next to impossilile to find chocolate that is pure. 

432. Coffee, as it comes to us, is the half of a dried bean which was inclosed 
in a pnlpy berry that grew somewhat like a cherry upon a tree naturallj^ ten 
to thirty feet high, but kept pruned low in coffee plantations, which are to 
be found in most tropical countries. The best variety of coffee comes from 
Mocha, in Arabia. The llferry is small and round, and the odor and flavor 
very agreeable ; it bears a high price. And next to it is the Java coffee, a 
large, pale yellow berry. The Brazilian, commonly called Rio coft'ce, is the 
sort in most common iise. The berry is of medium size, greenish color, and 
appears rusted with specks of gray. It is not a fine flavored coffee, having 
a good deal of acridness, but it is in favor with farmers generally, because 
" it goes farther than mild coffee." All coftee improves by age if kept dry. 
It should be roasted very evenly, of a light brown color, and used very soon 
afterward, as it loses value every day after it is i-oasted, and after it is 
ground it will become almost worthless by a few days' exposure to the air. 
Roasted coffee should always be carefully kept in a closed canister, separate 
from all food, as it rapidly absorlis odors. Roasting coffee in a room will 
always disinfect it of bad effluvia. It also imparts its own odor to other 
things, such as tea, butter, and bread. 

In roasting coffee, first dry it gently in an open pan until it changes 
color, and then cover the pan and scorch it rapidly without charring a grain. 
The term, " burning coftee," implies a great error in its preparation, or ig- 
norance of its character. Roasting renders the grains of coftee brittle, and 
makes the matter that it is desirable to extract more soluble in hot water, 
and produces as great a chemical change as fire does upon corn meal or any 
other article of food. 

The peculiar aroma of coffee as it comes to the table, which gives it the 
flavor and stimulating effect ascrilied to it, is never found in coffee grains 
before they are roasted. But if it is lurnt, this flavor is destroyed, and 



Sko. 25.] EXCEPvPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 399 

iu its place we have a bitter, acrid, tannic acid taste, which produces py- 
i-osis in the stomachs of those wlio use it largely. 

Never allow pepper and cofiee to come in contact. The two should not be 
kept in the same pantry. 

The best water for a decoction of cofiee is that with a slight alkaline tinc- 
ture, and it has been recommended to add 40 grs. of dry soda to a pound 
of cofi"ee. It is certainly true that some of the springs of the Kocky Mount- 
ains, which are so alkaline as not to be drinkable, make good coffee. So do 
wells that will not make good tea. 

Never buy ground cofiee. Besides the fact that it loses strength, it is 
almost universally adulterated. Peas are largely used for this purpose, and 
beans, corn, dried carrots, turnips, chlccory, and several other substances are 
also employed. 

433. Tea— its Value as Foodi— That tea has a value as food, we can not 
doubt. Long before its use among European nations, the Chinese had set- 
tled this question to their satisfaction. If it is not of itself food, it seems to 
help us to assimilate other things. It certainly is a favorite beverage with 
all who are accustomed to its use, and so far as health is concerned, we be- 
lieve it is certainly harmless, if pure, as the best black teas generally are. 
Tlie green teas, either from the nature of the article, or from something 
added in curing, have a much greater etiect upon the nervous system than 
the black teas. Pekoe and Oolong arc the name^of two of the best varieties 
of black tea. Gunpowder and Imperial arc the two best green teas. 

434. How lo Make Black Teai — Black tea must be boiled some minutes 
— thirty is betler than less — in a close vessel, to get the fragrant aroma and 
all the vegetable extract that adds value to the delicious beverage we get 
from a well-made cup of good black tea. 

Never use hard water for tea Filtered rain-water makes good tea. 
Never steep it in lukewarm water, and never let it come to the table at that 
temperature. The true aroma of tea is never obtained except when it is 
boiling hot. Tea should never be exposed to the air. Keep all ground 
spices, and also ground coffee, carefully excluded from the air. 

435. Su^ar and 3Ioiasses> — For most purposes refined sugars are the 
most economical. In buying raw sugar, select none but the cleanest sorts, 
such as the best New Orleans, or Santa Cruz, of a liglit straw color, coarsely 
crystallized. White Havana sugar is not as clean as white Brazil sugar. 
Select bright, light-colored molasses. Never buy the thick, dark-colored, 
srgar-house syrup. Its thickness does not indicate sweetness. For the 
table, the real " golden syrup" of the sugar-refiners is not only the best, but 
most economical. We make an excellent table syrup every year of maple- 
sugar dissolved in boiling water. 

436. Knowtedfi^e for the Kitcheiii — Here are a few simple rules for the kitchen 
that may be usefully remembered : 

Oranges and lemons keep best wrapped close in soft paper, and laid in a 
drawer with linen. 



400 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

Bread and cakes should be kept in a tin box or stone jar. 

Salt codfish should be kept in a dry place, where the odor of it will not 
affect the house. The best kind is that which is called dun, from its peculiar 
color. Fish skin, for clearing coffee, should be washed, dried, cut small, and 
kept in a box or paper bag. 

Soft soap should be kept in a dry place in the cellar, and should not be 
used till three months old. 

Bar soap should be cut into pieces of a convenient size, and left where it 
will become dry. It is well to keep it several weeks before using, as it 
spends fast M'hen it is new. 

Cranberries will keep all winter in a firkin of water in the cellar. 

Potatoes should be put into the cellar as soon as thej^ are dug. Lying 
exposed in the sun turns them green and makes them watery. Some good 
housekeepers have sods laid over barrels of potatoes not in immediate use. 
To prevent them from sprouting in the spring, turn them out on the cellar 
bottom. 

To thaw frozen potatoes, put them in hot water. To thaw frozen apples, 
put tbeni in cold water. Neither will keep well after being frozen. 

437. Storing Butter and Cheese.— The most economical, and, to our taste, 
the best table butter is that which is packed in September and October for 
tlie next winter's use. If well made, in a soft-water region, there is no 
difficulty about keeping butter sweet in a temperate climate, if properly 
niaiJf. Never keep butter and cheese together, except it is in a very cool 
room, and then not in close contact. 

If cheese is rich and good, it always feels soft under the pressure of 
the fingers. Even if kept until quite old, it does not become horny. Be 
careful not to select a horny cheese. That which is very strong is neither 
good nor healtliy. To keep one that is cut, tie it up in a bag that will not 
admit flies, and hang it in a cool, dry place. If mold appears on it, wipe 
it oft' with a dry clotli. 

438. Keeping Sweet Potatoes, — One who is a successful grower of sweet 
potatoes in quite a nortliern latitude— near 42 degrees — gives the following 
as his metliod of keeping them over winter. He says : 

" I use dry sand to put them up in ; it does not matter how the sand was 
dried — in a kiln, a log heap, or in the sun — if it is dry, that is all that is 
required. I prefer drying it in a log heap, as it costs at least four times less, 
and is just as good. And a family that has a little room with a stove in it, 
may keei? a box or two, with eight or ten bushels in them, without any in- 
convenience of consequence. The boxes must be raised a few inches from 
the floor, and they must not be less than four inches from the wall. Fill the 
boxes with potatoes, and then jiut in dry sand until they are covered. 

" I have knoM'u them kept well in Ijuckwheat chaff. In order to keep 
potatoes with success, there must l)e a thermometer kept in the room. The 
mercury must not sink below 40 degrees ; if it does, the potatoes will chill 
and rot ; and it must not rise al)ove GO degrees, or they will grow." (See 565.) 



Sec. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 401 

439. Preserving Eggs. — Tlie following receipt is of such easy application 
that all housewives should try it, and satisfy themselves whether it is all that 
its author claims for it : 

" Dissolve some gum shellac in a sufficient quantity of alcohol to make a 
thin varnish, give each egg a coat, and after they become thoroughly dry, 
pack them in bran or sawdust, M'ith their points downward, in such a man- 
ner that they can not shift about. After you have kept them as long as you 
desire, M'ash the varnish carefully off, and they will be in the same state as 
they were before packing, ready either for eating or hatching." 

440. Beans — How to Cook fhenii — "Few people know the luxury of baked 
beans, simply because few cooks properlj^ prepare them. Beans generally 
are not cooked half long enough. Tliis is a sure method : Two quarts of 
middling-sized white beans, two pounds of salt pork, and one spoonful of 
molasses. Pick tlie beans over carefully, wash them, and add a gallon of 
boiling-hot soft water; let them soak in it all night; in the morning, put 
them in fresh water, adding a teaspooiiful of saleratus, and boil gently, till 
the skin is very tender and about to break. Take them up dry, put them 
in your dish, so as to have the beans fill the dish nearly to the upper edge ; 
turn in boiling water till the top is just covered ; bake with a steady fire 
four or five hours. Watch them and add more water from time to time, as 
it dries away. This is an old-time ISTew England Saturday-evening dish." 

441. Tomatoes— Various Methods of Preserving and Using them.— There is 
no way to preserve tomatoes for winter use so good as drying them. It is 
easily done tiius : Scald, and peel, and stew to a gelatinoiis mass, and spread 
upon earthen plates, and dry in the sunshine or in a slow oven. It will then 
resemble dried stewed pumpkin, or the pulp of peaches dried in the same way. 
"When wanted for use in winter, a portion of this dried tomato is soaked first 
in cold water, and that is graduall}' warmed till the whole becomes a ho- 
mogeneous mass, more or less thick, according to the quantity of water used. 
It may be eaten as a sauce M-ith meats, or, by adding sugar, as a sweet- 
meat, or in place of currant jelly with venison and mutton, or as a subsn- 
tuto for cranberries with roast turkey. It is an excellent and a cheap 
sauce. 

Tomato Chowder. — To one bushel of green tomatoes add one dozen green 
peppers, 12 common-sized onions, one quart of grated horseradish, one cup 
of ground mustard, one ounce of cinnamon, one ounce of cloves, whole. The 
tomatoes, onions, and peppers chop fine. Put the tomatoes and onions in a 
vessel over-night, sprinkle a little salt over them, and in the morning drain 
off the water, put all together and boil them in clear water until tender, tlicn 
di-ain the water from them, mix with the above-named spices, pack in ajar, 
and pour scalded vinegar over them. 

Another way is to take green tomatoes, cut a small piece off the stem ind, 
and also from the other side ; tlien lay them in a pan. Sprinkle with salt, 
pour boiling water on them, and let them stand ten minutes. Pour the 
water off and serve them in the same inanner again ; then pour boiling wa- 



402 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

ter on them without salt, and let them stand a few minutes. Chop them up 
fine, putting in some cabbage, horseradish, and ])eppers ; and when all 
chopped, put on salt, pepper, and vinegar, and they are ready to pickle in 
crocks. This makes an excellent relish with meat. 

Tomato Catchup. — Scald ripe tomatoes just sufficiently to allow you to 
take olf the skins ; let them stand for a day, covered with salt; strain thom, 
to thoroughly remove the seeds ; then to every two quarts add three ounces 
of cloves, two of black pepper, two nutmegs, and a very little Cayenne pep- 
per and salt ; boil the liquor for an hour ; let it cool and settle ; add a pint 
of the best cider vinegar : bottle, cork, and seal tight, and keep it always in 
a cool place. 

ANornEE Way. — Take a bushel of tomatoes and boil them till soft ; 
squeeze theni through a fine wire sieve, and add half a gallon of vinegar, 
one pint and a half of salt, two ounces of cloves, quarter of a pound of all- 
spice, two ounces of Cayenne pepper, five heads of garlic, skinned and sep- 
arated ; mix together and boil about three hours, or until reduced to about 
one half ; then bottle, without straining. 

Tomato Sauce. — One peck of tomatoes, one ounce of cloves, one ounce 
of cinnamon, one cpiart of vinegar, four pounds of brown sugar, two table- 
spoonfuls of salt, and the same of ground black pepper. Feel the tomatoes, 
and boil until very tender. Drain them from the juice. Now boil the 
sugar, spices, etc., in the liquid until it is thick as syrup ; return the fruit 
into this syrup, and stew until the mass is a jam, and it keeps well any 
length of time. This may be used to flavor the following sauce : 

442. Picnic Saucei — Beat the yelks of four eggs perfectly ; mix with the 
eggs a tumbler of jelly, four large tablespoonfuls of brown sugar, four large 
tablespoonfuls of mustard stirred into a batter with vinegar ; to these ingre- 
dients add a teacupful of butter and two tumblers of best vinegar. Stir all 
together carefully ; set the vessel in which you have mixed the sauce in a pot 
of boiling water and cook until it tliickens and the egg is done ; stir in a 
little salt and half a teaspoonful of Cayenne pepper and as much tomato 
sauce as will give it a pleasant flavor. 

443. Muslirooms, and tlieir Uses and Production. — It has been published 
that some of the great producers of mushrooms near Paris, M'ho grow them 
in artificial caves, can produce at the rate of eighty quarts a day upon an 
acre of surface, which would give an annual crop of 29,200 quarts. Allow- 
ing the actual crop only one fourth of this quantity, it would be a very val- 
uable one, as the average market price in New York is 25 cents a quart. 
Say 7,300 cpiarts for the product of an acre, at 25 cents, this would be 
$1,825 a year. The construction of artificial caves, however, is so ex- 
jiensive, that mushrooms are not likely to be much cultivated by farmers for 
family use, though many of them will continue to collect such as are pro- 
duced spontaneously about the homestead ; and to enable them to do so 
without danger of getting hold of other plants of the agaric family that aie 
poisonous, we give the following rules to distinguish the edible mushrooms 



Sec. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 403 

from toadstools. "Without giving the boianical characters, we notice some 
of the marks by which they may be distinguishod: 

First. Tlie mushroom has no bad smell. The skin on the top of the 
mushroom will readily jjeel off. The gills or plates on the under side of the 
mushroom are of a white and pinkish or rosy liue, and though turning 
brownish. by age, yet never of that lurid brown of the toadstool. When 
sprinkled with salt and allowed to stand a few hours, the mushroom gives 
out juice, but the toadstool becomes dry and leathery. If all these charac- 
ters are united in the specimen it may be safely eaten, otherwise it should 
be rejected, as it would be better to throw away acres of good mushrooms 
than to eat one of the poisonous toadstools. 

Secondly. Muslirooms which grow in marshy, shady places, and in thick 
forests where the sun has no access, are in general to be regarded as pos- 
sessing dangerous qualities ; their substance is softer, moister, and more 
porous than that of mushrooms used for the table. They have likewise a 
more disagreeable and dirty-looking appearance. Those which have a 
dusky hue, and change color when cut, or show a gaudy or many very dis- 
tinct colors, particularly if they have been originally covered by skin or ex- 
hale a strong and unpleasant odor, ought not to be eaten. Those which 
have short bulbous stalks, or fragments of skin adhering to the surface, or 
which grow rapidly and corrupt cpiickly, should also be rejected. It has 
been generally supposed that poisonous mushrooms lose their deleterious 
qualities, but this is a rule to which there are many exceptions, and which 
ought therefore to be very cautiously admitted. 

If you wish to grow mushrooms, procure some of the spawn from a gar- 
dener, and make a bed of light loamy soil, mixed with manure from horses 
fed upon grain ; it will produce these plants when the temperature is right, 
which is about 50 or 55 degrees Fahi-enheit, in dry, calm, summer weathei-. 
A cave cellar, or natural cave, or recess in the rocks, is a good place to make 
a mushroom bed. 

44:4. Drying Rliiibarbi — Rhubarb, when well prepared, will keep good for 
an indefinite period. The stalks should be broken off while they are crisp 
and tender, and cut into pieces about an inch in length. These pieces should 
then be strung on a thin twine, and hung up to dry. Rhubarb shrinks in 
drying more than any other plant, and when dry strongly resembles pieces 
of soft wood. When wanted for use, it should be soaked in water all 
night, and the next day stewed over a slow tire. None of its properties 
appear to be lost in drying, and it is equally as good in winter as any other 
dried fruit. 

Another plan is to cook it first; for this get the Linnjeus rhubarb. It is 
larger, more tender, and better flavored than any other, requires less sugar 
by one fourth, and has no skin to be taken off. Do not attempt to peel it, 
but cut in pieces as long as the ihickness of the stalk, and put them with 
your sugar in an earthen dish without water; cover it to retain the flavor, 
and place it in an oven and cook till quite tender, without stirring or break- 



404 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

ing the pieces. If too mucli cooked, it assumes a disgusting stringy appear- 
ance, and loses all fruity character. The rosy color of the stalks will give 
your dish an attractive appearance, and the dyspeptic will find in it a power- 
ful aid to digestion. 

This, if thinly spread upon plates, and dried in the sun or a slow oven, 
just as the pulp of peaches or stewed pumpkin is sometimes prepared, will 
keep as well as pumpkin, if packed away iu thick paper bags or boxes, and 
kept in a dry place. 

Rhul)arb has within a brief period, quite within our memory, become 
generally diffused, and is now looked upon as a family necessity rather than 
a luxury. There are several varieties : Gaboon's seedling is the largest, but 
is rather coarse and not so high flavored as some others, of which we may 
have more to say under the head of the garden. We will only speak here 
of one or two methods of preserving the good qualities of the stalk by dry- 
ing. For drying whole, the Victoria is one of the best varieties. Other 
sorts contain too much woody fiber. 

445. Facts about Pork and Bacon— How to I'lirc and Keep Hams. — The best 
and most solid pork is made by rapid feeding of pigs in autumn, which have 
been kept growing, but not fat, all summer. Hogs that are kept fat through 
the summer are most apt to afibrd soft pork, which shrinks in the pot. 

One writer says that—" Pigs should be wintered upon two ears of corn 
a day, fed very regularly, one at night and one in the morning, keeping 
them in a warm, close pen, without water, and they will hibernate in good 
condition upon this small amount of feed. If watered or fed with liquid 
food, and kept in the cold, much of the food is expended in keeping up 
animal heat. The pigs should be in good condition when put up, and must 
be well bedded to enable them to keep warm." 

446. Dry-Salting Baconi — Hams, or any part of the pig designed for bacon, 
we think, should never be put iu pickle ; they are decidedly better salted 
dry. 

Our practice has been to weigh both pork and salt, giving six pounds of 
fine salt to one hundred pounds of pork. First sprinkle about one fourth 
of an ounce of saltpeter, finely pulverized, upon a ham or shoulder, 
and then rub it well over with salt, and pile up the pieces in some dry 
room, just as you would pile up a lot of stove-wood. It should be over- 
hauled once, and the spare salt rubbed on fresh-looking spots, and the pile 
I'econstructed so as to allow the air to come to all parts. It will completely 
salt in as many days as a ham weighs pounds. 

For pickled pork, it is advantageous to salt it in bulk, before packing in 
barrels. Nothing will drain off" from meat thus salted, but just what should 
drain away. "When your pork is ready to go into the barrel, pack it as tight 
as you can force it in, and then fill the barrel with brine; not salted water, 
but brine, which is water saturated with salt. Pork thus cured will keep 
longer than we can calculate. 

447. English and Irish Mode of Curing Bacon.— The Irish Fa7vner^s Gasette 



Sec. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES, 405 

gives the following directions: "Singe off tlie liair, and scrape tlioroughly 
clean ; when cut up, rub the flesh side well with common salt, and pack the 
pieces on top of each other on a tray with a gutter round it to catch the 
brine ; once every four or five days the salt should be changed, and the 
flitches moved, placing those on top at the bottom; five or six weeks of this 
treatment will suffice to cure the bacon, when it may be hung up to dry, 
first rubbing over with coarse bran, or any kind of sawdust except deal ; 
if smoking be preferred, hang in a chimney; if not, in a dry, airy part 
of the kitchen, not too near the fire. We are not acquainted with the 
Limerick mercantile process ; the Wicklow is similar to that given above, 
and practiced by farmers there," 

An English recipe says : " For four hatns, take two ounces of saltpeter, 
two quarts of molasses, one quarter of a pound of pepper, half an ounce of 
cochineal, and about three pints of fine salt. If the hams have been in salt 
pickle, the salt will not be needed. Pound the saltpeter and cochineal, then 
put all these ingredients together, and rub the hams thoroughly with the 
pickle, turning them every day." 

-148. A Good Pickle for !Iams> — It depends partly upon how hogs are fed, 
but more upon the manner of curing than anything else as to the quality of 
hams. They can be made almost as delicate as tender chicken. For curing 
hams in pickle we have tried and approve the following compound of 
articles: To 100 lbs. of hams use 8 or 9 lbs. of rock-salt, 2 oz. of saltpeter, 
2 lbs. of white sugar, 1 quart of best syrup, 4 oz. of saleratus, and 1 oz. of 
allspice. 

These materials are boiled and scummed, in ten or twelve gallons of water, 
and the hams packed in a barrel, and the brine put on cool, adding water 
if necessary to cover the hams. None but a new oak barrel should 1)C used. 
Scald the barrel and cool it before putting in the hams. Let them lie three 
M'ceks, and then take them out and air them twenty-four hours ; put them 
liack again three weeks, i:nd then take them out and dry them tiioi'oughjy 
before smoking, which is done in an airy smoke-house, with cobs and maple 
or hickory chips. It is then a most delicious article of food. In smoking, 
be careful to keep your hams cool ; never allow fire enough to heat the 
meat. 

449. Preserving Hams lor Family Use. — To keep hams through the summer, 
hang them in a dry, cool room, and draw a loose cotton bag over them, and 
tic it tightly around the string tiiat holds the meat. This must be done 
before flies come in the spring, and it will keep them away. We have kept 
hams prepared in this way till over three years old, and they were as much 
better than new ones, as ripe old cheese is better than one a day old. The 
best hams that wo have in this country are from hogs fed upon beech-nuts ; 
but hams of hogs fatted upon corn are much better than those from what 
are generally known as mast-fed hogs. 

450. How to €«ok a Ham. — Never put a ham into a kettle of cold water, 
and be equally careful never to put one into boiling water. First let the 



406 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

water become lukewarm ; then put in the ham. Let it simmer or boil 
lightly for four or five hours — five is better tliaii four — then take it out and 
shave off the rind. Rub granulated sugar into the whole surface of the 
ham, so long as it can be made to receive it. Place the ham in a baking- 
dish, with a bottle of champagne or prime cider. Baste occasionally with 
the juice, and let it bake an hour in a gentle lieat. A slice from a nicely- 
cured ham, thus cooked, is enough to tempt a Jew. 

451. Sausage-Makisia;. — All the lean scraps of pork that accumulate in cut- 
ting up the pigs, whether for bacon or pickled pork, will be most economi- 
cally used if made into sausage meat. But do not attempt this work unless 
you have a good sausage-meat cutter; and if you wish to stufi'tlie meat into 
cases, you should have a combined cutter and stuffer, so as to do the work at 
one operation. Cut the pork into small pieces, and divide it in jtarcels of 
about a quart, upon a clean table, to which the cutter should be fastened. 
Mi.\ your seasoning of salt, sage, thyme, cloves, pepper, and a little sugar, 
if 3'ou like it, with your meat, and then put it through the cutting-machine, 
thus nicely blending the seasoning with the meat, which passes directly into 
the cases, and finislies the jol) witli great expedition. 

452. The Value of Pork in DacOQ. — If Imcon sides should range at 13 cents 
per pound, shoulders at 10 cents, and hams at 15 cents; and prime j)ickled 
pork at $18 per barrel, mixed pork at $10, and rumps at $14 per barrel, we 
would advise all small farmers, who have a limited force to feed, and a 
limited purse to empty, to buy the rumps ; they are about eight inches of 
the small end of the backbone, with the tail cut oflT, and consisting of a due 
proper; ion of fat, lean, and bone, and are the cheapest meat diet that can 
possibly be purcliased by plant ers for tliL'ir people. 

453. How to Cure aud Cook Corned Beef.— For a pickle, to every 100 lbs. 
of beef, take five lbs. of salt, a quarter of an ounce of saltpeter, and one pound 
of sugar; dissolve in sufficient water to cover the meat. Do not get your 
meat too salt, for it makes it tough and tasteless. Do not allow it to remain 
over two weeks in the first brine, for it takes up all the blood that was in the 
meat, and consequently ought to be drained ofi', as the meat will be much 
more likely to be injured than it will when separated and replaced with 
fresh-made brine : but more especially in warm weather. In this way it will 
keep with just sufficient salt to season it. In the second place, tlie cooking 
is of just as much importance as the corning; it should be boiled at least 
four hours, or until it can he cut and eaten as readily as a piece of soft 
bread. Not one half of the domestics cook their meat long enough. Try it 
once and you will see the difference. Meat prepared in this way can be 
eaten with a relish, and is easily digested, giving nourishment and strength 
to the body. But fried meats, or meats half cooked, can not be properly 
masticated or prepared for the action of the stomach, and are among the 
most indigestible articles of nourishment. Some persons are always in too 
much of a hurry or too lazy to chew their food, thereby favoring their teeth 
and throwing the respon ibility upon the stomach. Frequent abuses of this 



Sec. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 407 



important organ develop disease, and the individual is said to have dyspep- 
sia with all its attendant evils. Therefore, spare not the cooking ; you 
will have the less chewing, and greater advantage of tlie food. 

45J^. Italian Mode of Cooking Scrap, or Coarse Portions of Beef.— A very 
economical and most savory and delicious dish can bo made with two or 
three pounds of chuck steak, or cheap parts of beef, which infinitely surpasses 
the tasteless, insipid, common eating-house stuff", called "beef a la mode." 
Cut the steak into pieces of less than two inches square ; season with black 
pepper and salt, put them into a saucepan with a full half pint of cold 
water on the fire, and as soon as it boils up, remove it from the fire and set 
it wliere it would simmer for two hours and a half, until perfectly tender. 
"While simmering, tie up in muslin a bunch of sweet herbs, composed of 
knotted marjoram, winter savory, and a little thyme, and take it out just 
befoi'e tlie dish is served. Of course, the stew must occasionally be shaken, 
as all others are; remember, however, the fat must not be skimmed off"; the 
more fat there is, the better the stew. The dish is of Italian origin, and is 
eaten by Italians with plain boiled macaroni and Parmesan cheese, or with 
a salad, and with either is a dainty dish. 

455. Pressed Beef. — This is another excellent way of nsing up the cheap 
parts of fresh beef, or even that which is corned by the receipt given in No. 
453. Boil any ragged scrap pieces, with not too mnch fat, until the bones 
will freely separate from the meat, which pick off and pack in any strong 
dish, and add such seasoning as you wish of salt, pepper, spice ; some add 
a trifie of molasses or sugar, and press the whole into a c;ike, just as those do 
who make " head-cheese" from that portion of pork that is better prepared 
in this way than any other. 

456. Useful Little Things for Uousekecpers. — " The truest economy begins 
in little things." And so we give a dozen of them in a bunch to conclude 
our "excerpta of knowledge for the kitchen." 

Mahogany Stain. — Take four ounces of red sanders, one pound of fustic, 
and an ounce of logwood, and boil them in half a gallon of water for one 
hour; then apply it warm with a brusli or sponge; when dry, ajjply var- 
nish. With this you can renovate old furniture. 

A Cheap Refeigekatok. — "Two tin pails, soldered one into the other, the 
space between them filled with charcoal, in small pieces (not necessarily 
dust), with the cover arranged in the same way, will keep a small quantity 
of ice a very long time. Three inverted tea-cups, or something made for 
the purpose, should support the ice to keep it out of the water. Next to 
putting the ice in a tin pail and wrapping it in a blanket, this is the 
simplest ice-keeper we know of, and it is entirely philosophical and ef- 
fective." 

To this we add the recommendation of putting this tin pail, with the ice 
in it, with a hole as big as a pin at the bottom and dripping-pan under it, 
in a chest or close-shutting closet, the air of which will bo cooled, with the 
provision placed in it. 



408 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

This, of course, is only a substitute for a good refrigerator, but will be 
found much better than none, and can bo made fur almost nothing, by any 
man with Yankee gumption. 

To Make Tough Meat oe Fowl Tender. — One or two tablespoonfuls of 
sharp vinegar put into tiie water when set to cook M'ill do this, and in no 
way impair the flavor of the stew or soup. Veal to roast is much improved 
by being rubbed all over with vinegar and allowed to remain two or three 
hours before cooking. Fifteen minutes to the pound is the received rule for 
roasting and boiling meats, and ten for fish. 

How TO Use Salt. — Beef or mutton should not have a bit of salt put 
upon either when first set to roast ; just before serving, baste the meat, sprin- 
kle fine salt slightly over it, dredge flour on, and let it brown up. Poultry 
must be covered with sweet lard and salt — a tcaspoonful of salt to two of lard 
— before roasting. 

To Prevent Metals feoii Husting. — Melt together three parts of lard 
and one of rosin powder. A very thin coating applied with a brush will 
preserve Kussia-iron stoves and grates from rusting during summer, even in 
damj) situations. For this purpose, a portion of black lead may be mixed 
with the lard. The efl"ect is equally good on brass, copper, steel, etc. 
The same compound forms an excellent water-proof paste for leather. 
Boots, when treated with it, will thereafter take the nsual polish when 
blackened, and the soles may be saturated with it without soiling the floor, 
as it does not rub off. 

Seeds and many other things are best kept in wooden boxes. By a new 
patent contrivance, boards are cut about one eighth of an inch thick, of suit- 
able length and width to bend into forms for the sides of a round box, the 
largest holding about a peck, and eight others, smaller and smaller, to form 
a nest. Tlie ends are fastened together with some kind of glue, and the bot- 
toms are fastened in by a rim of tin bent over the corner ; and the lids are 
made in the same way, so that the ends may be of stuft' but little thicker 
than the sides. The tin corners are great protectors against mice, as that is 
the only part of a circular box likely to be gnawed into, and this makes 
them quite safe for seeds and better as well as cheaper than tin boxes, and 
a decided improvement upon the old-style circular wooden boxes which have 
bottoms made of a half-inch board, so as to nail it in. We should think that 
half bushel and smaller measures, made up on the same plan, with iron in- 
stead of tin corners, would be first-rate. 

Unpleasant Odoes arising from boiling ham, cabbages, etc., are com- 
pletely corrected by throwing whole red peppers into the pot, and at the 
same time the flavor of the food is improved. Pieces of charcoal will pro- 
duce the same efi'ect. 

A Good "Wat of Eoasting Apples. — Select the largest apples; scoop 
out the core without cutting quite through ; fill the hollow with butter and 
fine, soft sugar; let tliera roast in a slow oven, and serve up with the syrup. 

Hodge-Podge. — Cut two pounds of mutton into small pieces, and put them 



Seo. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 409 

in a stewpan with three quarts of water and a tablespoonful of salt. Set it 
on the fire and let it come to a boil; tlien set it where it will simmer an 
hour; keep it well skimmed; then add one carrot, two turnips, two large 
onions cut into small pieces, and half a dozen lettuce-heads, and let the 
whole cook quite tender. Skim off" all the fat, and serve either v/lth the 
meat in the soup or separately. A pint of green peas boiled in the soup will 
be found to be a great addition. 

IIaie-Beushes are best cleaned by wasliing them in sal soda or saleratus 
water, which removes all the oily coating. 

Sage and all other herbs for family use should be cut when the plant is 
budding for blossom, and dried in the shade, and tlien stored in thick paper 
bags, and there is no better place for them than hanging from the garret 
rafters. 

To Clean Knives. — Take a potato, cut in halves, and dip the cut part in 
brick-dust and rub the knives, the potato affording just enough moisture. 

Foe Cleaning Tainted Baeeels. — Put one peck of charcoal and one tea- 
cup of saleratus into each barrel, fill them up with boiling water, cover tight, 
and let them stand until cold. 

457. Vermiu-Ufinsdies — Mollis, Bugs, AntSi — Moths are driven away, it is 
generally believed, or rather the miller that lays the eggs is, by any strong 
odor; so that furs or vv^oolens, packed in a chest of camphor-wood, or of 
cedar, or sassafras, or with the shavings of those woods, or with gum-cam- 
phor, or tobacco, snuff, or pepper, are preserved from the ravages of these 
posts. After moths commence eating, they pay no regard to the presence of 
camphor, cedar, or tobacco; in fact, I think «they enjoy the latter, if any- 
thing else than humanity can. The superiority of pepper to camphor, as a 
preventive of moths eating furs, consists in the fact that, while the eggs will 
hatch among camphor, there is something in the aroma of pepper which 
destroys their vitality. Woolens may be safely stored in a close linen bag 
if often looked after. And probably looking after is the best of all the 
]treventives, for moths never work where they are frequently disturbed. 
But if articles are packed in linen bags, they should be taken out and aired 
once a month during summer. 

Before packing away furs, they should be well beaten, to dislodge the 
moths that, despite the most scrupulous care, may be deposited in them. 
But the dreaded and inconvenient taking up and beating carpets will not 
always insure success; but one who has tried it, says: "I conquered 
them wholly in this way — I took a coarse ci-ash towel and wrung it out of 
clean water, and spread it smoothlj' on the carpet, then ironed it dry with a 
good hot iron, repeating the operation on all suspected places, and those 
least used. It does not injure the pile or color of the carpet in the least, as 
it is not necessary to press hard, heat and steam being the agents ; and they 
do the work eftectually on worms and eggs. Then the camphor will doubt- 
less prevent future depredations of the miller, by placing a few little crumbs 
under the edges of the carpets without moving them." 



410 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

Patchouli is recommended as a preventive of moths. Sachets de patch- 
ouli are made of cotton-wool, among wliich a few grains of the powdered 
patchouli leaves are mixed, and folded in paper. Placed among clothes, 
they are said to drive away moths. In Hindostan, patchouli is used by the 
M'omen for scenting their liair, and it is also mixed with tobacco for the 
hookah. In this country the patchouli leaves, it is said, will retain their 
scent if dried in the dark by being placed singly in a drawer, and turned 
daily for a fortnight. The Arabs dry the leaves and stuff pillows and mat- 
tresses with them, believing that they prevent contagion and prolong life; a 
belief which attaches among the ignorant to sage and oth.er odoriferous 
plants. As a scent, patchouli is used by perfumers chiefly for mixing with 
other aromatics. 

Benzoin is used in the museum of the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, to 
keep the moths out of the skins of the animals. 

Tallow packed with clothes is also a moth preventive. But after all, fre- 
quent shakings are the best preventives of all injuries by moths or mold. 

Bugs may be killed with alum. Make a solution of alum, as strong as 
water will dissolve, and apply that hot to places infested with bugs of any 
sort, in bedsteads, closets, or trees and plants, taking care not to apply it so 
as to kill tender plants, and the bugs will take a strong dislike to the 
locality. You may brush it in cracks and crevices of floors, ceilings, or 
walls of a room, or in the holes and nesting-places of these small vermin in 
trees. 

Corrosive sublimate is excellent for bugs and ants. For bedsteads it may 
be mixed with soap. For ants, with lard and sugar, through Avhich draw 
woolen yarn, and fix it in cracks infested with ants. 

458. Rat RemedirSi — Chlorid of lime has frequently proved a sure thing 
to drive rats away from any place infested by them. An ounce of it, scat- 
tered in the place where they come to feed, or wrapped in a bit of muslin 
and put in their holes, where it acquires dampness, produces a gas that is 
not offensive to man, but is to the rats. If chlorid of lime is moistened 
with muriatic acid, and placed in a drain, vault, or cellar, and closed from 
the air a little wdiile, the rats will depart, because it will be death to remain. 
This is also a good disinfectant, and will for a time remove the eflHuvia of a 
dead rat. One application of dry chlorid of lime to rat holes has driven 
them away for a year. K ihey return, a renewal of it will start them again. 

Cats are the best rat-traps that we have found after many years' ex- 
perience, and next to cats, the chafF-trap. This is best made Ijy partly filling 
a large, smooth kettle with water, and then covering with a few inches of 
chaff. The first rat that gets in makes a great outcry, which brings others 
to share his fate. 

The best food with which to mix poison for killing rats is pumpkin seeds. 
Wet them, and sprinkle on a little arsenic, which will adhere to the seeds. 
Thejr will be eaten liy rats and mice, while cats, fowls, etc., not being fond 
of such food, will not meddle with them. "Wherever poison is put for these 



Sec. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 411 

troublesome pests of the fann, water should be near by, so that they may 
eat, drink, and die outside of their holes and liiding-plaees. Musk-rats, 
which are often troublesome pests upon some farms bordering creeks or 
ponds, may be poisoned witli arsenic upon pieces of parsnep or sweet apjile. 
Gunpowder, flashed in rat-holes, is said to be good to drive them away from 
tlie premises. 

459. Disinfectants and the Value of Disinfecting. — Nothing conduces more lo 
promote the health of a family than pure atmosphere. It can be kept so 
only in dwellings properly constructed for ventilation. From sitting-room, 
dining-room, and bed-rooms we have air flues that have a strong draught 
out of the top of the house, and the kitchen is largely furnished with venti- 
lation. In all unventilated rooms of the house, and in sick chambers, odors 
at times accumulate so as to need disinfecting, while cellars, sinks, out- 
houses, and stables often need it. Coflee roasted in a room, solution of cop- 
peras sprinkled about, or cloths wet in it and hung up; chlorid of lime 
moistened, each acts quickly as a disinfectant. The odor of a dead rat can 
be allayed at once by moislening an ounce of chlorid of lime with a tea- 
spoonful of muriatic acid. But no one should breathe much of the gas it 
engenders. 

There is a considerable difi'erence between a deodorizer and a disinfectant. 
The former either merely removes or disguises a foul odor; the latfer changes 
the character of the matter which creates the elfluvia, and prevents it from 
sending forth disease. Fresh slaked lime and charcoal dust are very good 
deodorizers, but their disinfecting powers are not equal to some of the salts 
of manganese, which, when they combine with pestilential fluids in sinks 
and drains, give out at the same time a considerable quantity of pure o.xygen 
to refresh the atmosphere. The manganate of soda, or potash, has recently 
been tried in London with much success in deodorizing and disinfecting the 
water of the river Thames, and its use in our cities during dry weather may 
be of great benefit. It is applied by dissolving it in warm watei-, and pour- 
ing it into the sink or drain to be disinfected. 

M. Herpin, of Paris, in the Journal de Pharmacie, recommends dried 
and pulverized plaster of Paris, mixed with rather more than one fifth of its 
weight of powdered charcoal, as a cheap and most efl'ective disinfecting 
mixture. It entirely removes the noxious emanations from decomposing 
organic matters, fixing the ammonia, and forming a valuable manure. 

Prof. Nash, of Amherst College, gives the following formula for making 
what may be termed home-made chlorid of lime : 

"Take one barrel of lime and one bushel of salt, dissolved in as little 
water as will dissolve the whole; slake the lime with the water, putting on 
more water than will dry-slake it, so much that it will form a very thick 
paste; this will not take all the water; j)Ut on, therefore, a little of the 
remainder daily until the lime has taken the whole. The result will be a 
sort of impure chlorid of lime, but a very powerful deodorizer, equally 
good for all out-door purposes with the article bought at the ajjothecary's, 



412 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

and costing not one twentieth part as much. This should be kept under a 
shed or some out-building. It should be kept moist, and it may be applied 
whenever offensive odors are generated, with the assurance that it -vrill be 
eftective to purify the air, and will add to the value of the manure much 
more than it costs. It would be well for every farmer to prepai'e a quan- 
tity of this, and have it always on hand." 

How much more sensible it would be for the city authorities to use this 
mixture, wliich concentrates effluvia, instead of quicklime, which d-issipates 
it through tiie air and into everybody's lungs ! 

To prove how quickly the air of a sitting-room becomes impure, place in 
it a pitcher of iced water, and in a few hours it will have absorbed from the 
room nearly all the respired and perspired gases of the room, the air of 
which will have become purer, but the water utterly filthy. This depends 
on the fact that the water has the faculty of condensing, and thereby absorb- 
ing all the gases, which it does without increasing its own bulk. The colder 
the water is, the greater its capacity to contain these gases. At ordinary 
temperatures a pint of water will absorb a jiint of carbonic acid gas and 
several pints of ammonia. This capacity is nearly doubled by reducing the 
temperature to that of ice. Hence water kept in the room awhile is always 
unfit for use, and should be often renewed, whether it has become warm or 
not. And for the same reason, the water in a pump-stock should all be 
pumped out in the morning before any is used. That which has stood in 
the pitcher during the night is not fit for coffee water in the morning. Im- 
pure water is injurious to health as well as impure air, and every person 
should provide tlie means of obtaining it fresh and pure for all domestic uses. 

4G0. Soap-Making and Washing.— Wood ashes made from any hard wood 
will make soap. Pine ashes are nearly worthless. Beech, maple, birch, and 
hickory are among the best sorts for leaching. Put sticks and straw in the 
bottom of the leach-tub, 25acked close, and four quarts of lime to a barrel of 
ashes, which wet and pound down as you put in, and then put on water 
slowly two days before you let the lye run, and it will come strong, but 
should be boiled still stronger before you put in grease. Bones, rinds, 
gristle, and hard scraps must go into very strong lye, and will then soon be 
eaten up, all but the earthy part of bones, which skim out and save for the 
grapevines and pear-trees. Make the soap strong of grease as well as lye, 
and do not use it till very old, and it will be very good. It should be of a 
salvy consistence. 

To make soap with potash : Use the best quality of "first sorts" of pot- 
ash, in the proportion of si.x pounds of potash to seven pounds of grease, for 
a barrel of 40 gallons. Break up the potash into small lumps and dissolve 
24 lbs. in two pailfuls of hot water. It dissolves rather slowly when the 
potash is good. AV'hen dissolved, put the solution into the kettle, and add 
the grease quite warm, and stir the mixture together ; allow it to stand all 
night, if convenient. In the morning apply a moderate heat until the mix- 
ture appears ropy ; then fill up with cold water. Cost, sa}' 6 lbs. of potash, 



Sko. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 413 

36 cents ; 7 lbs. grease, 28 cents — 64 cents for a barrel of soap. Another re- 
ceipt says : 

" One hundred pounds of good soap for $1 30 : Take six pounds of potash, 
75 cents ; four pounds of lard, 50 cents ; quarter of a pound of rosin, 5 
cents. Beat up the rosin, mix all together well, and set aside for five daj's ; 
tlien put the whole into a twelve-gallon cask of warm water, and stir twice a 
day for ten days, at the expiration of wliich time you will have about one 
hundred pounds of excellent soap." 

The following is considered a valuable aid to the washerwoman, by one 
who has tried it. She says : 

"Take one pound of sal soda and half a pound of unslaked lime; put 
them in a gallon of water and boil twenty minutes; let it stand till cool, 
tlien drain off and put it in a stone jug or jar. Soak your dirty clothes 
all night, or until they are well wet through, then wring them out and rub 
on plenty of soap, and to one boiler of clothes well covered with water add 
one teaspoonful of the washing fluid. Boil half an hour briskly, then wash 
them thoroughly through one, suds, and rinse well with water, and your 
clothes will look better than the old way of washing twice before boiling. 
This is an invaluable recipe, and I do want every poor tired woman to 
try it." 

Another one says : " Take two pounds of soda ash, two pounds of hard soap, 
and ten quarts of water ; cut the soap fine ; add all together, put into a kettle, 
and bi'ing to a boil, then take it ofiT the fire and stir until nearly cool. Put 
your clothes to soak the evening before you wash. In the morning, wring 
out, boil them in water, to which is added nearly a pint of the compound 
to every pailful. Wash out in the same water and rinse, and your washing 
is done." 

461. Washiug Machines have been contrived, patented, made, and sold and 
discarded almost as numerously as "patent churns." We have tried a good 
many. The churns have all been given up for the old dasher, and notwith- 
standing washing was " made easy," the old wash-board still holds its place, 
'though some washing machines are worthy of commendation as assistants in 
tlie laundry. None will do all the work. Perhaps our lady readers will say 
that we ought to tell them which to buy. We can not do it. The latest 
experience of our family is decidedly in favor of Doty's New York machine, 
" improved," which acts upon the plan of a cloth-dresser's fulling-mill, and 
is very easily worked. The " Metropolitan washing machine" is the pound- 
ing barrel improved by springs that make it work easy. It is useful for 
heavy work. Clothes AVeingers are worthy of the highest commendation. 
They are the most important of all household labor-saving machines. They 
are made of diflerent forms, but the principle in each is the same, being con- 
structed to attach to the edge of a wash-tub, and contain two elastic rollers 
wiiich are turned by a crank with one hand, while with the other the washer 
picks up one end of a garment and holds it to the rollers, through which it 
passes rapidly and falls into a clothes-basket a great deal dryer than any 



414 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

woman could wring it with all her strength and ten-fold more time. These 
machines cost from $5 to $10, according to size, and are very simple in con- 
struction, very effective, and look as though they would be very durable, 
and are certainly very great labor-saving machines, and one should be in 
every famil}^, and we are doing a public duty in making them as exten- 
sively known as any other fact for farmers. With a Metropolitan washing 
machine and a clothes-wringer, or, rather, a clothes-squeezer, which has 
been several years in nse in the author's family, washing-day is no longer 
one that is dreaded. With these, washing is made easy. 

462. Soft Wateri — No woman can wash with any satisfaction unless she 
has soft water. It is for this that we have treated so fully npon cisterns — 
333, 334, 335. Hard well water can be softened with lye, potash, or soda. 
We have seen a statement that a well of hard water was permanently cured 
by putting four feet of coarse gravel in the bottom, where the water oozed 
in through the blue clay. We recommend that a space at least a foot 
wide behind the wall should also be filled with gravel as high as the water 
comes in. 

As Ieoxing follows wasliing, we say : If your flat-irons are rough, rub 
them well with fine salt, and it will make them smooth ; so will rubbing 
them with a waxed rag. Be sure to use them hot. 

463. Beds and Beddingo — There is no article of household furniture of so 
much importance as the bed. It is the place where exliausted nature enjoys 
recuperation, and all that art can do to make it comfortable at all seasons 
of the year, should be done, particularly in the farmer's home, where the 
nature of the labor is so exhausting. We are so much opposed to featlier 
beds, that we have not had one in the house for many years, and we never 
sleep more comfortably than we do at home upon hard mattresses. We 
think that feather beds ought to be done away with, esj^ecially in warm 
weatlier. For spring, summer, and fall, husk beds ouglit to be in use in 
every familj', and would be if lietter known. There is no better time for pro- 
curing husks than when the corn is being harvested, and the husks will be 
much nicer and cleaner when corn is cut and shocked, and not become so 
dry and weather-beaten. A good husk bed will last from twenty to thirty 
years. Every farmer's daughter can supply herself with such beds against 
time of need at a trifling expense. 

'No one who has not tried them knows the value of husk beds, which is 
such that some persons think that straw and mattresses would be entirely 
done away with if husk beds were once tried ; that they are not only more 
pliable than mattresses, but are more durable, and the first cost is but little. 
To have husks nice they may be split after the manner of splitting straw for 
braiding. The finer they are the softer will be the bed, although tliey will 
not be likely to last as long as when they are put in whole. Tiiree barrels 
full, well stowed in, will fill a good-sized tick, that is, after they iiave been 
split. The bed will always be light, the husks do not become matted down 
like feathers, and they are certainly more healthy to sleep on. 



Seo. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 415 



46i. Home-Madc Mattresses of Hair and Wool. — Hair mattresses can also be 
made in every farmer's family of very good quality out of pig's hair, which 
should bc-cleaned in the same way that fine wool is cleaned of all its gummy 
dirt. See 129. Where sheep are kept, a great deal of good material for 
mattresses can be saved from taglocks and clippings of wool, which can be 
cleansed with but little trouble by placing them some days in a basket in a 
running stream, or even by soaking in still water. The filth dissolves with- 
out injury to the wool. The cardings of horses and bullocks, if saved and 
cleansed, will soon accumulate enough for a mattress ; for one of twenty 
pounds on the top of a husk one will make a luxurious bed. There is no 
secret about making a mattress. Holster the edges upon one of the sides, 
and lay it flat on the floor or a broad table, and fill in the material evenly 
of an equal thickness all over, and then sew on the top and lift the mattress 
upon two or three narrow strips of boards supported at the ends upon tables, 
benches, or barrels, so that you can stitch through and through with a long 
needle which you can buy for such work, using strong, smooth linen twine, 
with a cloth button under the loop of each stitch. 

Cotton makes a soft, pleasant mattress when new, but it soon mats to- 
gether, and vv-e do not esteem it a healthy material for beds or bedding, ex- 
cept for sheets and light quilts. Beech leaves make a very good mattress, 
clean, sweet, and wholesome; they are best when gathered by hand from 
green trees. Straw, too, is alwaj^s much better cut in a green state and dried 
in the sun, and rye straw is the best kind. 

The best vegetable material ever used for mattresses, and almost equal to 
hair, is the long moss which grows upon forest trees, covering them as with 
a gray beard in several of the " Confederated States." It requires to be 
macerated in M'ater until a thin cuticle peels off" Ly washing, or by drying 
and beating, leaving the black, hairy-looking threads of the interior, which 
are very tough and durable. 

405. How to Make Bed Comforters. — The best bedding ever used is linen 
sheets and blankets for summer, and cotton sheets and blankets for winter. 
But as all can not have blankets, we will tell them how to make led com- 
foiiers. It may be new to some readers that nice, warm bed comforters can 
be made without the labor of quilting. 

Make two calico spreads, old or new, and tack one in a quilting-frame, if 
you have one, and if not, spread it on the floor and lay on four pounds of cot- 
ton batting, and then the other spread, and tack through and through with 
a darning-needle and tie tight over a piece of bright colored cloth, or yarn, 
or wool, in squares of a foot, and you will have a neat-looking warm article 
of bedding. Two persons can make five of them in a day. 

4G6. Improvement iu Quilting-Frames. — And why not improve quilting- 
frames? They need it. The old ones are about as awkward contrivances 
as ever were conceived — always in the way when in use, with their long 
arms sticking out all over the room long after they had ceased to be useful. 
What man ever looked upon these necessary implements of household econ- 



-A6 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

omy witli any satisfaction ? He looks every time he comes into the house 
with an anxious eye at the progress of the work, " hoping the confounded 
long-armed quilting-frames will get out of the way some time." Now, for 
the special benefit of such nervous gentlemen, some good soul out in Mich- 
igan has invented a quilting-machine that has no arms to stick out in the 
way. " Necessity is the mother of invention," and this inventor, we sup- 
pose, lived in a log-cabin only sixteen feet square, which, as it contained two 
beds and a cooking-stove, had no spare room to set up tlie quilting-frames 
on four chairs ; so he contrived a machine something like this, as near as 
we can understand the description : Frame four legs together like the frame 
of a kitchen table, with side pieces nine feet long, dropped five inches below 
the top of the legs, and end pieces two and a half feet long. Now take some 
scantling, two or two and a half inches square, and round them with inch 
round tenons upon each end to work in sockets in the top of the legs. Upon 
one end of each of these rollers have a little ratchet wheel and catch, and 
nail a strip of cloth along one side of each to which to tack the edges of the 
quilt. When all ready, roll it all but the two and a half feet wide strip 
upon one roller and tigliten the catch ; now quilt that side and roll upon the 
other roller and so on till finished. The side pieces should be made to go in 
with a key, so that the frame can be taken down and packed away at any 
time, even with the quilt half finished, as it can be rolled up snug. It is a 
simple piece of domestic machinery, but would add to the comfort of many 
a household. 

407. Carpets and Carpet Sweepers. — Iveep a broom exclusively for carpet 
sweeping. Never use it for any other purpose. Every one knows that the 
daily dust arising from sweeping carpets causes a permanent injury to fui'ni- 
ture, books, pictures, and the lungs. It is an old but good way to sprinkle 
the floor first with damp tea-leaves, and then sweep with a bristle brush ; 
but latterly we have found it much easier and more convenient to use one 
of the new revolving carpet sweepers, which takes up the dust and puts it 
away in a box so it does not rise without using any moistening application. 
They are especially suited to libraries, offices, cabinets, and parlors. 

The most economical carpet, probably, is a good, stout American ingi-ain, 
which will cost about two dollars a square yard. If you are buying a 
carpet for durability, choose small figures. A farmer should never grudge 
the money to cover one room, at least, with a first-rate carpet, aud 
cheaper ones for sitting-rooms, bed-rooms, and dining-room, if one is set 
apart for the latter purpose. There is no furniture that adds so much to 
the comfort of a house at the same cost as carpets. Tiiese is no labor better 
bestowed about a house than giving the carpet a thorough shaking and 
beating in a hot, dry day, upon the clean grass, at least once a year. 

You need not hesitate to wash a carpet with strong soap-suds, with a 
brush, as it lies upon the floor, using clear water afterward, and drying it 
by ironing upon coarse towels spread over the wet spots. 

468. Removing Staios — Beef-Gall. — There is no better substance than the 



Seo. 25.] EXCERPTA OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE FOR HOUSEWIVES. 417 

very cheap article — upon most farms — of beef-gall to take out stains upon 
carpets, as well as many other things. 

The clarified gall of the ox is also much used by scourers for renovating 
the delicate colored silks and satins. In its natural state it contains green- 
ish coloring matter, and is then only applicable for restoring the brightness 
of dark materials. It is de-colored thus : Take one pint of gall, boil and 
skim it, then divide into two parts ; to one half pint add half an ounce of 
salt, to the other add half an ounce of powdered alum ; each part is to be 
heated till the additions are dissolved; then pour into separate bottles, and 
allow them to stand in a quiet place, and clear for a month or eight weeks, 
even longer if not bright. The clear portions of both are then to be poured 
gently ofl" the sediments and mixed together ; the coloring matter coagu- 
lates and falls, from which the transparent gall is finally separated by filter- 
ing through blotting-paper. In this state it will keep any length of time 
with its qualities unimpaired, and free from odor. 

If the stain upon silk or satin is produced by an acid, such as from fruits, 
and that upon black or dark colors, the best re-agent is liquid ammonia (strong 
hartshorn) rubbed in till it disappears. For plain and figured silks, of 
delicate colors, we can not give a general rule, and therefore leave them 
to be operated upon by the professional degraisseurs. To obliterate grease 
spots from white silk or satin, we may pi-oceed as directed for colored silks; 
but fruit, ink, and glove marks require a different treatment. These marks 
are generally removed by dampening the part with oxalic acid dissolved in 
water ; about the eighth part of an ounce in a wine-glassful of water is strong 
enough. The common salts of lemon in water also answer well. Coff'ee- 
stains, mud-splashes, etc., will mostly give way to the use of soap and water. 
Curd soap should be applied for this purpose. 

For grease spots upon cloth and all kinds of woolen goods, soap and water 
may be used without fear, provided it is well washed out afterward. Ful- 
ler's earth or powdered French chalk, made into a paste with water, and 
laid upon the part, is, however, the best application, to be brushed out when 
dry. 

Paint marks are removed with turpentine, the smell of which may be 
quickly dissipated by hanging the article upon a line in the air. 

Silk articles should not be kept folded in white paper, as the chlorid of 
lime used in bleaching the paper will probably impair the color of the silk. 
Brown or blue paper is better; the yellowish, smooth India paper is best of 
all. Silks intended for dress should not be kept long in the house before 
they are made up, as lying in the folds will have a tendency to impair is 
durability by causing it to cut or split, particularly if the silk has been 
thickened by gum. Thread-lace vails are very easily cut. Articles of vel- 
vet should not be laid by with any weight upon them. If the nap of a thin 
velvet is laid down it is not possible to raise it up again. Hard silk should 
never be wrinkled, because the thread is easily broken in the crease, and it 
never can be rectified. The way to take wrinkles out of silk scarfs and 



418 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

handkerchiefs is to moisten the surface evenly with a sponge and some weak 
glue, and then pin the silk with some toilet pins around the selvedges on a 
mattress or feather-bed, taking pains to draw out the silk as tight as possible. 
When dry, all the wrinkles will have disappeared. It is a nice job to dress 
light-colored silk, and few should try it. Some silk articles should be moist- 
ened with weak glue or gum-water, and the wrinkles ironed out by a hot fiat- 
iron on the wrong side. 

To Take Grease Out of Silk.- — Hub a lump of wet magnesia over the 
spot ; when dry, brush off the powder, and no grease will be seen. It may 
be applied to other stuifs. Tliis is an old and well-tried remedy ; but there 
is a newer and better remedy, but not so thoroughly proved — this is ben- 
zine, the most complete substance to cleanse all fabrics that we have ever 
seen. 

O.x-gall and turpentine are both good to take out grease. If turpentine 
be employed, it should be distilled, and perfectly free from rosin. The 
preparation called scouring-drops is pure turpentine, perfumed with essence 
of lemon. Either of these substances may be applied with a piece of 
sponge, or with a remnant of the same material that is being cleaned. 
When the grease spot is large, the greater \>&Yt may be removed, in the first 
instance, by the application of blotting-paper and a hot iron. 

Use a piece of zinc to stir your glue, or keep a small piece of zinc in the 
bottom, and it will — so we read — prevent it from acquiring that unpleasant 
odor common to glue. Where glue is always to be heated with steam, a 
zinc glue-pot is recommended. 

The presence of cotton in woolen fabrics may be easily recognized by the 
following tests : 

When boiled for twenty minutes in a solution of nitrate of mercury, the 
woolen fibers acquire a red color, but the cotton fibers remain colorless. 
When the fabric is boiled with caustic soda solution (sp. gr. 105), the wool 
dissolves, but the cotton is only slightly affected. Picric acid also stains 
wool yellow, but has no action on cotton. 

There are five pounds of pure sulphur in every 100 pounds of wool. 
Hence silverware, wrapped up in fiannel, or any other woolen stiiff, will 
turn black. 

A bit of glue, dissolved in skim-milk and water, will restore old crape. 

Ribbons of any kind should be washed in cold soap-suds, and not rinsed. 

A hot iron, held over varnished furniture, will take out grease spots. 



Sec. 26.] 



DOMESTIC WINES. 



419 



SECTION XXVI.-DOMESTIC WINES, CIDER, AND PRESERVES. 




EULES FOE DOMESTIC WINE-MAKERS — HOW TO PRESERVE CIDER SWEET PRE- 
SERVING FRUITS FOR WINTER. 

^OlVrESTIC WINE, as usually manufactured, is ra- 
ther a cordial than a wine, and is entirely inferior 
to good grape wine ; but when properly made, it 
will be a very healthful beverage, particularly for 
summer drink, when fully diluted with water. 
We recommend to those who have the means, 
to manufacture curraut wine; and let it be pure cur- 
rant wine, using nothing but currants, water, and 
sugar, without alcohol. 

There is no great difficulty in making good curraut 
wine. White sugar only should be used. The better 
the quality of the sugar the better the wine will be. 
The idea that any sort of sugar will do for wine is 
pretty well expiloded. 

It is now also said that white currants make a much 
nicer wine than the red currants, but that is according to fancy. 

While we admit that the true wine must be made from the grape, still, 
for the want of a more appropriate name for beverages made from fruits 
other than tlie grape, we call them wines. These domestic wines may be 
made from the currant, rhubarb, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, and 
gooseberry, of passable quality. Inferior but drinkable wines may be made 
from parsneps and many other roots. 

In the manufacture of all domestic wines, the great mistake is in the use 
of sugar of an inferior quality ; double-refined is not sutficiently pure to 
manufacture either of these wines of the best quality ; treble-refined sugar 
should be used ; that of inferior kind contains gum, and after the fermenta- 
tion this gum becomes fetid, and its disagreeable odor has to be overcome at 
the expense of the odor of the fruit, and therefore it should never be used. 

Brown sugar, no matter of how good a quality, will not make wine, for 
when fermented, that portion which is like molasses in flavor, if separated 
from the sugar, as in the process of refining, becomes a rank rum, and not 
sufficiently delicate as the preserving alcohol of the result. When grapes 
are fermented, the sugar or saccharine matter is not converted into rum, but 
into an undistilled brandy of an unobjectionable flavor. 

In making small-fruit wines, alcohol should never be added; a sufficient 
quantity will be produced by the fermentation to preserve the product, and 
any further addition injures the quality and arrests the fermentation. When 
alcohol is added, these wines do not improve at all by age. 



420 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

The common practice of racking cider has caused many to rack fruit 
wines, which some wine-makers tell us is all wrong. They say : 

""VVheu the proper amount of the juice of a fruit, and treble-refined 
sugar in solution, is placed in a barrel witii the bung loose, in a cellar of 
even temperature, fermentation will readily commence, and will proceed 
until the sugar, or a portion of it, is converted into alcohol, when it will 
cease. The buffy coat which rises to the surface will then settle and at- 
tach itself to the cask ; the bung should then lie driven in, and in six months 
the wine may be drawn off and bottled. No alcohol will be necessary to 
keep it." 

Let these general rules be observed, and the following special directions 
pursued, and domestic wine may be made in any farmer's family of almost 
any kind of small fruits. 

The directions given in 469 are from George H. Hite, of Morrisania, near 
New York, who is one of the most successful domestic wine-makers of our 
acquaintance. 

469. Cow to Make Currant and other Wines. — "The currants should be 
perfectly ripe M'hen gathered ; they should bo stemmed and washed before 
pressing, which should be done as thoroughly as possible with a 12-inch 
cider press. Ascertain the amount of juice thus obtained, and then add 
that amount of water to tlie pumice, and incorporate the M'ater, and pum- 
ice well togetlier : let it stand a few hours, and press it again. By this 
process an additional quantity of juice, though not so strong, is obtained; 
then mix the first pressing with tlie second, and weigh a gallon of it, and 
whatever it falls short of 10 pounds to the gallon, add enough of good re- 
fined sugar to make it weigh 10 pounds, and so on of the rest. I would here 
remark that an additional amount of sugar added to the above will make a 
sweeter Avine, and perhaps more suitable to the taste of many. 

" It would be rather an expensive business to those who have but few ber- 
ries to make currant wine from the first pressing of the currant alone, as it 
requires one bushel of currants to produce a little over three gallons of pure 
juice. The red currant pure juice weighs eight and a half pounds to the 
gallon. The white currant juice comes almost within the wine-maker's rule, 
weighing nine and a quarter pounds to the gallon. The way in which I 
make currant wine is, to use the pure juice alone or without much water, 
and I find that I can readily command three dollars per gallon for it, 
whereas the other would be dear at one dollar per gallon, and not much of 
a wine at that. 

*' Elderberry wine is made in the same way as first stated, adding about 
half water in the way of re-pressing the pumice, etc., as, if it is made without 
the addition of too much sugar, it resembles claret veiy closely. 

" Black currant wine is made in the same way as the elderberry, only the 
berries should be scalded before pressing, and if carefully managed in the 
fermentation, will resemble the Rhine w.ines. 

"When the juice, sugar, and water are well incorporated by stirring to- 



Sko. 26.] DOMESTIC WINES. 421 

getlier until the sugar is dissolved, it is then placed in an open tub in a tem- 
perature of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit, there to stand a few daj's until tlie 
froth and impurities rise to the surface, which must be removed as often as 
they accumulate ; and when the liquid becomes limpid and somewhat trans- 
parent, then it is put in a clean barrel, filling to within five or eight inches of 
the bung. A tube, somewhat in the shape of a siphon, or more in the shape 
of an ox-bow, made of glass, is inserted into tlie bung about two inches, and 
made air-tight by means of small wedges of wood and wax, etc., the other 
end passing into a pail of water to the depth of three or four inches. This is 
done to prevent the oxygen of the air penetrating the fermenting mass, and 
also to retain much of the finer aromatic essences which are so essential to 
fine-flavored wines. 

" A great advantage is also gained thereby in rendering it less necessary to 
keep watch over the fermentation as pursued by some in keeping the barrel 
bung full by replenishing with some of the juice standing near at hand, 
which becomes pricked before fermentation has ended, rendering it in tlie 
end little less than sweetened vinegar. No admixture should be attempted 
after fermentation has commenced, and if the temperature of fermentation is 
kept at about GO or Co degrees Fahrenheit for about six weeks or two 
months, it will be ready to remove the tube. Then fill the barrel full of the 
sort made in a separate vessel for that purpose, and put the bung in 
moderately tight for a few days, and after that drive it in tight until about 
December, when tlie wine must be racked ofi' from the lees, the barrel rinsed 
with hot and cold water, and when drained quite dry, insert into the bung- 
hole a small cup, suspended by a wire, containing one onnce of spirits of 
wine or alcohol, ignited, and kept there until the barrel is well fumigated, 
during which the bung must not be closed. Then return the wine again and 
keep it there for three months, when the same process is repeated. If it is 
done a third time it will be all the better. It is now finished, and can be 
kept for any length of time, either in bottles or wood, slowly improving 
by age. 

" Grapes may be made into wine in the same way as first mentioned above, 
with this difference, that when the pumice is to be re-pressed, sugar dissolved 
with grape-juice (by heat) must be added to the water that is mixed with 
the pumice, and stand a few hours before the second pressing. It must con- 
tain the same proportion of sugar and water as is found in the natural juice 
of the first pressing, all of which is mixed well together and fermented as 
above. But if the grapes are left on the vine until they are quite ripe, say 
until they have received the effects of a white frost, and carefully selected, 
the good from the bad, and thoroughly pressed and fermented as above, 
without the addition of eitlier sugar or water, you will have wine worthy 
of the name. It is true we can not have so great a quantity of juice, but 
what we have is good." 

We add several other formulas for making currant wine, as follows : 

First. " Gather your currants when fully ripe; break them in a tub ; press 



422 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

them through a sifter; strain through a flannel bag, and measure the juice. 
Add two gallons of water to one of juice, and three pounds of New Orleans 
sugar; stir till dissolved. Strain through a hair sieve, then a close tow 
linen bag, and afterward a flannel one. The juice must not stand all 
night. The cask must be sweet and clean, never used for beer nor cider, and 
if new, well seasoned. Do not fill your cask too full, otherwise it works 
out at the bung, which is injurious to the wine; make a quantity over and 
above to fill up the cask. Lay the bung on the hole to prevent flies from 
creeping in. In three or four weeks bung up, leaving only the vent-hole 
open till done working ; rack oflP, if wanted for present use, but it is best to 
leave it on the lees till spring, or it may be left for two years without dam- 
age. When you draw off the wine, bore a hole so it may run oflf clear of 
the lees. Some put in spirits, but I do not think it advisable. Do not put 
in more than one third juice, for that would render the wine liard and un- 
pleasant ; nor too much sugar, as that would deprive it of its pure vinous 
taste. It improves by age." 

Second. A sample which was very clear, and at two years old of a deli- 
icate, fine flavor, was made by the following rule: 

Take two quarts of juice, two quarts of water, and three pounds of refined 
sugar ; mix and let it stand two or three days; skim every day, then strain 
through gauze, and put into the cask and let it stand one year ; then bottle, 
and you have an excellent wine. 

Another sample, made with one quart of juice, three quarts of water and 
one pound of sugar, was a very pleasant drink, but would not keep as long 
as the other. 

Third. " Before pressing the juice from tlie currants, pass them oetweeu a 
pair of rollers to crush tliem, after which they may be placed in a strong 
bag, and they will part with the juice readily by light pressure, sucli as a 
common screw or heavy weights. .To each quart of juice add three pounds 
of double refined loaf sugar — single refined sugar is not sufliciently pure — 
then add as much water as will make one gallon. Or, in other words, sup- 
pose the cask intended to be used to be thirty gallons; in this put thirty 
quarts of currant juice, ninety pounds of double refined sugar, and fill the 
cask to the bung M'ith water ; roll it over until the sugar is all dissolved. 
This will be told by its ceasing to rattle in the barrel. Next day roll it 
again, and place it in a cellar where the temperature will be sure to be 
even. Leave the bung loose for the free admission of air. In the course of 
one or two or three days, fermentation will commence. By placing tlie 
ear to the bung-hole a slight noise will be heard, such as may be observed 
when carbonic acid is escaping froin champagne or soda water. Fermenta- 
tion will continue for a few weeks, converting the sugar into alcohol. As 
soon as this ceases, drive the bung in tightly, and leave the cask for six 
months, at the end of which time the wine may be drawn oS perfectly clear, 
without any excess of sweetness." 

Fourth. Take one quart of juice, three pounds of sugar prepared as above, 



Seo. 26.] DOMESTIC "WINES. 423 



and water enough to make a gallon ; leave it in tlie cask one year, then 
draw off and bottle. 

470. Elderberry Wine. — 'We have tasted of a wine inado fron; elderberries 
by Alfred Speor, in New Jersey, that certainly had some excellent qualities. 
After preparing the juice, like that of currants, he requires four years to 
ripen it. His statement is : 

" First year, it is kept in large casks, with valve bungs to allow the gas 
to escape, and at the same time prevent the oxygen of the atmosphere from 
coming in contact with the wine. 

" Second year, racked to small casks, and moved to another building. 

"Third year, drawn off in bottles and piled away in stacks, which arc 
tlien completely covered with saud, kept at one certain temperature the 
year round. 

" Fourth year, they are dug out, the wine decanted in fresh bottles and 
laid away, being kept in another temperature until the end of this year, 
when they are sealed, labeled, and packed ready for shipping. 

"The principal part of the whole operation is the management .of 
the temperature in the rooms and cellars. Each year, as the wine is 
drawn off into other vessels, it is moved to a building kept at a dif- 
ferent temperature from the previous year, M-here it is kept uniform during 
the whole time by means of cool vaults or stoves, as the case and season 
require. 

" So that after four years it becomes unchangeable, and ready for market 
in any climate. 

"It is made from the juice of cultivated elderberries, which are made to 
grow nearly as large as the smallest-sized grapes, and pure without the ad- 
dition of alcohol or spirits in any form." 

471. Wiue from Rhubarb Stalks.— Ehubarb M-ill yield five times as much 
per acre as grapes, but care should be taken not to use the stalk too close 
to the leaf, as it will impart a peculiar flavor to the wine. Take a thirty- 
gallon cask, put in sixteen gallons of rhubarb juice, ninety pounds of sugar, 
and water to fill the cask. Nothing but the best refined sugar sliould be 
used if the best results are desired, and it is still better to dissolve the sugar 
and boil it, with the addition of a spoonful of sulphuric acid to every five 
or six gallons, before mixing it with the juice. This must be allowed to get 
cold before using. 

Another formula says: "Trim off the leaves, and grind and press the 
stalks in any cider-mill. To each gallon of juice add one gallon of water 
and six pounds of refined sugar, and fill the casks, leaving tlie bungs out. 
A moderately cool cellar is the best place to keep it. Fill up occasionally, 
either from juice kept on purpose or with sweetened watei-, so that the im- 
purities which rise to the surface while fermentation is going on, may be 
worked off. "When sufficiently fermented, which will require from one to 
two or more months, bung tightly, and let it remain till winter, when it may 
be racked off into other casks, or bottled. Some persons refine it before 



424: DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

bottling, by putting into each barrel two ounces of isinglass, dissolved iu a 
quart of wine." 

Cahoon's seedling yields the greatest quantity of juice. Mr. Gaboon's 
method of making wine is to mi.x equal quantities of water with the juice 
of the stalks, and to each gallon three and a half pounds fair quality of New 
Orleans sugar, lilling the barrels quite full, and refining with isinglass, 
and allowing the wine to remain till spring, when it is bottled. By adding 
or diminishing the quantity of sugar, it will vary the strength of the wine 
iu the same proportion. The pure juice, without water, makes a very strong 
wine by using four pounds of sugar to each gallon. Mr. Gaboon estimates 
that 2,500 gallons of wine can be made from an acre planted with his seed- 
ling. Sold at from $3 to §4 a gallon, this would yield a return of $5,000. 

Tlie fault of the above is the unrefined quality of the sugar. Well-made 
rhubarb wine will cease to ferment iu about eight weeks, and then it should 
be corked tightly, and kept one year undisturbed before bottling. In three 
years it M'ill become like a dry sherry wine. 

472. Bottling aud CorkSi — Use none but strong, heavy bottles, and look to 
your corks if you would have your wine keep. One of the greatest mis- 
takes made by those who are new beginners in wine-making is the using of 
poor corks ; they do not reflect that the common cork permits the air to 
reach and destroy the wine. Besides this, a poor one can not be drawn 
without breaking, and thus injuring the flavor of the wine. If wine-makers 
would desire to have their wine keep well and taste well on opening, let 
them never use any but the very best velvet corks. The use of the best 
quality will more than doubly pay by securing the wine from spoiling, and 
retaining the flavor, which is often lost by a bad cork. 

Bottles should always be stored upon their sides, or in racks, with the 
corks down. If poor corks are used, they must be covered with sealing-wax. 

473. Wiae of Grapes> — Most of the wine made iu this country is barely 
drinkable; what is called pure juice of the grape is often but little, if any, 
better than very poor sour cider, and is not generally palatable to the com- 
mon taste. In a trial of wine that I attended, a number of first-rate judges 
of wine finally settled upon a specimen of currant wine, as superior to any 
of the sweetened specinaens of grape juice; yet the concoctors of it label it 
" pure juice of the grape," " fit for sacramental purposes and for the sick." 
They insist that fermentation of sugar does not produce alcohol. They are 
mistaken ; fermentation produces it, and distillation separates it. This 
sugared wine is not pure — it is one fourth alcohol. Much of the imported 
wine is sugared. Some of the best wine can not be imported; we can not 
move from place to place the very best wines made of pure grape juice. 

These sweetened beverages all lack one very essential element of wine, 
and that is the gout, which all genuine grape wines possess. Unfortunately, 
with very few exceptions, American grapes have proved so deficient in 
grape-sugar, that they would not make wine without adding cane-sugar, 
which makes rum instead of brandy, which is the true spirit of wine. Some 



Seo. 26.] DOMESTIC WINES. 425 

of the best ■wine-makers of the country now believe tliat they have dis- 
covered, iu the Delaware grape, one that will make wine equal to the best 
European varieties. Some Cincinnati Catawba is a good substitute for 
Khine wine. Some good wines are made in California. 

474. How to Make Grape Wiiiei — For the benefit of those who may wish to 
do a little in the way of domestic wine-making, we will give a few simple 
rules, such as are followed by wine-makers on a small scale : 

Mashing the Gkape. — There are various methods of mashing the grape 
now used by the more careful wine-makers. Previous to the mashing, 
however, when first-rate wine is to be made, the bunches are carefully ex- 
amined, and all unripe and rotten berries are plucked off and thrown away ; 
then the grapes are thrown into a tub and mashed by tramping with the 
feet, or bruised with a club, or crushed by passing between two large 
wooden rollers, which are far enough apart to allow the seeds to pass with- 
out being broken. The seeds, if mashed, would give a bitter taste to the 
wine. To tramp grapes, wear India-rubber boots. 

Pressing the Geape. — The pressing of the mashed berries is a simple 
process, like the pressing of cheese, or apples for cider. The grape-press is 
usually made to hold about 150 lbs. of grapes at each pressing. If white 
wine is to be made, the grapes are pressed as soon as mashed ; but if red 
wine is wanted, the whole mass is left to ferment for six or seven days, in 
which time the juice takes the dark color of the skin. 

Fekmentation. — -The juice for white wine, as it comes from the press, is 
put into pipes measuring 140 gallons, about 115 gallons of juice being put 
into each cask, leaving one fourth of it empty. The bung-hole is left open, 
and in two or three days the fermentation begins, and its force is over in 
three or four days. The wine-maker then proceeds to fill up the casks, 
gradually pouring in six or eight gallons at a time, so that the casks arc 
tilled iu the course of three or four days more. The casks should be filled 
up before the strength of the fermentation is over, so that the dirt or scum 
may be borne up to the bung-hole and there thrown out. 

Racking. — The vigor of the movement being over, the bung-hole is closed 
and the wine is left for a period varying from four weeks to three months. 
It is tiien drawn off through a cock placed a couple of inches above the bot- 
tom of the pipe, taking care not to disturb the sediment at the bottom. 
The clearer wine is poured into a clean cask ; that filled with sediment is 
filtered through a doubled cotton cloth, and is then mixed again into the 
first drawing, or it is used without filtration in making brandy. About 
one twentieth of the juice as it comes from the press falls down as sedi- 
ment. The process of transferring wine from one cask to another is termed 
" racking off." 

After the first racking, the new cask is completely filled, the bung closed, 
and the wine is not disturbed till March or April, when it begins to feel a more 
lively fermentation, for that process never ceases entirely. "When the vine 
sprouts in March or April, and when it blossoms in June, and the grape 



426 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

ripens in September, the new wine ferments ; and at those times the bungs 
must be raised, and care must be taken not to disturb the barrels. Between 
times, when there is no perceptible fermentation, the wine should be racked 
off two or three times in a year, and at the end of a year and a half it is 
clear and good, but it continues to grow better with age. The red wine is 
treated in precisely the same manner, except that it is allowed to ferment 
before pressure. Immediately after the pressure the wine should be placed 
in as cool a cellar as can be obtained in the country, and should be kept 
there always. This cellar should have no moldy matter about it, no vege- 
tables or salt meat in it, nor anything that can corrupt the natural sweetness 
of the air. 

Red and White Wine. — Brandt. — All the white wine made in this man- 
ner resembles hock or sauterne ; the red wine may be made to resemble 
claret, burgundy, or port. When the berries are jjicked early, the red 
wine is like claret, but has more body ; if the grapes are left upon the stem 
until they are nearly dry, they give less juice, but the wine has a much 
stronger body, and rivals port in strength. 

The method of making champagne is held as a secret, and we shall not 
attempt to describe it fully. The main facts, however, are that the wine is 
bottled about six months after pressing ; it is again re-bottled in eight 
months more. The bottles are laid down upon their sides in racks, and 
a large per-centage of them are broken by the activity of the fermenta- 
tion. 

The refuse of the press and all the sediment of the new wine may be used 
in making brandy, which is obtained by distillation in the same manner as 
whisky is distilled from maize or potatoes. For every hundred gallons of 
wine about twenty-five of brandy are obtained. 

475. Wine of TomatoeSt — We have no experience 'of wine from this fruit, 
but a lady writes us from Iowa as follows : 

" Are you aware what very excellent wine can be made from tomatoes ? 
I tried it on a small scale last year, and find it serves as good a purpose for 
using in sickness and in cooking as the compounds of nauseous drugs usually 
sold for wine. Many who have tasted it were unable to tell it from grape 
wine. If people will use wine, it is certainly well to have it free from 
poison, and tomatoes are so abundant that it could be afforded cheaply. 
If vinegar can be made from it, it will be a blessing to the West, where 
we have such horrible compounds under that name. The recipe : One 
pound of white sugar to a quart of juice, and similar treatment to cur- 
rant wine." 

476. Blackberry Cordial. — This is not wine, though an article called black- 
berry wine is often made in the same way that wine of other small fruits is 
made, and is a very good beverage ; but this is what the name implies, 
blackberry cordial, and it should be provided in every family, particularly 
where there are growing children ; it is such an excellent remedy for chil- 
dren troubled with diarrhea and all other diseases of the bowels generated 



Seo. 26.] DOMESTIC WINES AND CIDER. 427 

in the Spring season. To ni.ake it, to two quarts of blackberry juice add one 
pouod of loaf sugar, half an ounce of nutmeg, lialf an ounce of cinnamon, 
pulverized fine, quarter of an ounce of cloves, quarter of an o\ince of allspice, 
finely pulverized, and a handful of raisins. Boil all together for a short 
time, alid when cold, add one pint of fourth-proof French brandy. Black 
currants also treated in the same way make an excellent cordial. See 472. 

477. Cider— Preserving it Sweeti — Tlie following is the plan recommended 
by Professor Horsford, of Cambridge, Mass. : 

" "When the cider in the barrel 'is undergoing a lively fermentation, add 
as much white sugar as will be equal to half or three qirarters of a pound to 
each gallon of cider, and let the fermentation proceed until the liquid attains 
the right taste to suit ; then add an eighth to a quarter of an ounce of sul- 
phite (not sulphate) of lime to each gallon of cider in the cask ; first mixing 
the powder in about a quart of the cider, and then poiiring it back into the 
cask and giving it a thorough shaking or rolling. After standing bunged 
up a few days for the matter added to become incorporated with the cider, 
it may be bottled or used from the cask." 

Do not mistake sulphate of lime — which is a natural production, and 
known as plaster of Paris — --for sulphite of lime, which is a manufactured 
article, and is worth by the barrel about thirty-three cents a pound, and by 
the cwt. thirty-seven and a half cents, and by the single pound fifty cents. 
It has been of late years much used by sugar-makers to prevent fermentation 
of cane-juice, and in our opinion it will be found more eflfective as a pre- 
ventive of fermentation in cider than an arrester of it after it has proceeded 
nearly to completion. 

We kept cider on tap that was treated as above for six months, which 
appeared to possess exactly the same degree of acidity as it had when first 
treated, but it had an unpleasant sulphur taste. 

Using Heat and Bottling. — ^The following is the formula : Fill bottles 
with sweet cider and set them on a board in a flat-bottomed boiler with cold 
water, which heat to the boiling-point until the cider begins to run over, 
but not to boil so as to alter its flavor ; then cork and seal just as fruits are 
treated, and the cider will keep equally well. 

Condensed Cider is the name of a new article first made by Gail Borden, 
Jun., in 1863, using the same process wliich he inveoted for condensing milk ; 
that is, boiling it in vacuum with steam-pipes, reducing the cider direct from 
the press to a stifl" jelly, which will keep as well as any fruit-jelly made by 
domestic process. For transportation it is put up like the condensed milk, 
in tin cans. It is reduced to its original condition by adding as much water 
as it had parted with. It is, probably, the best plan ever devised for keep- 
ing cider sweet. 

478. — Oiling Cider. — "When a barrel of cider is tapped, it grows hard ; that 
is, more and more acid, until it gets too hard to drink, if it is kept long on 
tep. Tliis is occasioned by the air, which fills the cask above the cider as 
fast as it is drawn out. The air can not be excluded, even if the cask were 



428 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

air-tight, because the cider ■will not run from the tap if there is no air to 
press it out. If cider is exposed long to air, it M'ill become vinegar. In 
fact, the way to make vinegar of cider is to expose it to the air as much as 
possible. To prevent tlie cider on tap from becoming acid, it is recom- 
mended, as soon as one or two gallons are drawn out, to pour in the bung-hole 
about half a pint of clear sperm oil, or sweet oil if it is preferred. It should 
be warm when poured in, and it will spread in a thin coat over the surface, 
and keep spreading as the cider is drawn down, and thus exclude the air, 
without giving any taste of oil to the cider. 

This plan of preserving cider is worthy of further attention. We have 
faith in it from knowing that oil-casks are the best we know of for storing 
cider, imparting no flavor, and keeping it sound as bottled cider for years. 
Sperm-oil casks are moi-c valuable for cider-casks than for any other purpose. 

479. Filtering €idert — Cider is very much improved by filtering. This 
should be done when the first fermentation is over, by racking it off into 
clean barrels. A good plan for a filter is the following : 

"Take a square or round wooden box, made of inch pine plank, three 
feet in diameter, and one foot four inches deep. Make it with a bottom 
perforated with numerous one-quarter-inch augur holes, over which should 
be laid coarse hemp bagging. Now fill in the box for eight inches with 
pieces of charcoal — animal charcoal is the best — about nut size, and on the 
top of this place a four-inch layer of clean washed sand, and cover all with 
coarse hemp bagging, and you have a cheap and good filter. Any num- 
ber of such filters may be used, according to the quantity of cider to 
be operated upon, and the cloth can be frequently washed without dis- 
turbing the sand and charcoal. Before any cider is filtered through, pass 
a stream of clear water into the filter for fifteen minutes, so as to remove 
any fine, loose particles of charcoal that otherwise would be mixed with 
the cider." 

4S0. Aerifying fider. — If cider, when it first comes from the press, could 
be filtered, and the clear liquid allowed to fall from an upper story in a thin 
stream into a large tub in the story below, or, if feasible, to continue falling 
from one to another through several stories of a building, it would become 
greatly improved, and we are assured by one who has tried it, that it may 
be bottled at once \vithout any further fermentation, and it will remain in 
its sweet or slightly acidulated state, and when at a year old it is uncorked 
it will sparkle like champagne wine. 

The grand secret of having a cider equal to pure wine is in checking any 
further fermentation. If the cider is left to itself, the acetous fermentation 
follows — the sedimentary matter at the bottom of the cask rises, and the 
liquid becomes muddy — this, acting as yeast, produces a second and more 
violent fermentation, resulting generally in hard cider. 

By straining out the crude and useless matter from the liquor, the liability 
to excessive fermentation is greatly lessened, and so it is by fumigating 
casks with burning sulphur as well as aerifying. Kemember, however, that 



Seo. 26.] CIDER, VINEGAR, AND PRESERVES. 429 

this airing process must be confined to cider Avliile quite new. If fermented 
cider were treated in the same way, the result would be vinegar. 

"When cider is kept tightly bunged up, it changes little and very gradually ; 
bottled, it changes none at all, except a certain improvement by age whicli 
takes place. 

Air will at once begin to change the alcohol into vinegar if it comes in 
contact with it, and this will make the best cider hard and sour before 
long. 

481. Vinegar — How to Make it. — If you have cider that "won't turn to 
vinegar," just try the following plan : Fill a barrel, tub, box, or any other 
clean vessel, with clean shavings, or small twigs of any sweet wood, such as 
maple, birch, beech, etc., and wet them with vinegar, if you have it, and if 
not, cider, or even warm water will answer. This barrel must bo full of 
holes, sides and bottom, and set over a larger vessel, to catch the drip as it 
leaches through. The cider is to be conveyed to the leach by any con- 
venient method. A good way is to put it in a pail, set on the barrel over 
the shavings, and carry it over the edge by siphons, made of rags, or cotton 
lamp-wicking, or a hank of cotton yarn. These conductors should be cut 
long enough to reach from the bottom of the pail or pan used, up over the 
edge, and down an inch below the bottom. This gradual emptying of the 
pail, and trickling down through the filter, exposes the liquid to the atmos- 
phere, and that is what is ■wanted to make vinegar. If the first operation is 
insuflieient, let it be rejjeated, and good strong vinegar will be the result. 

CuEEANT ViNEGAE.— " Last year," writes a lady, " for trial, I took fourteen 
pounds of currants, mashed them as for wine, put them into a tub with two 
or three pails of water, stirring it two or three times a day. After standing 
several days, I strained or pressed it, and with molasses enough to make it 
as sweet as new cider, I had ten gallons. I put it into a keg, and did not 
open it till December, when I found it to be as good vinegar as was ever 
made." 

Blackberry vinegar may be made in the same way ; or, if yon arc making 
wine, do not throw away the seeds and skins after drawing ott" the must. 
Pour warm water over these until they are entirely covered, and let them 
stand in an open vessel three or four days. Then draw off the liquid and 
let that stand until the acetous fermentation takes place. A small quantity 
of coarse sugar or molasses will hasten the process. In this way a most 
excellent article of wine vinegar may be obtained by many who have not 
the means of making cider vinegar. 

482. Preserving Fruits for Winter Use. — "We have already given a plan in 
337 of a fruit-drying house, and have recommended preserving various kinds 
of fruits by drying for winter use, and now we give some directions for 
various other preparations for preserving fruit, cooked and uncooked. 

Apples keep best in a dry, cool room, just above the freezing-point. If 
headed in barrels, apples will keep in a room where water would freeze 
quite solid. They will not keep Avell in a warm cellar where cabbage. 



430 DOMESTIC ElUNO.MY. [Chap. IV. 

turnips, or any strong-smelling substances are stored, for tliey absorb the un- 
pleasant odor. If packed in straw or chaff that becomes dainjJ and musty, 
they will spoil. 

4S3. Grapes— How lo Keep Thenii — ^Thci-e are three easy ways that will 
serve the purjiose in some degree — that is, it will preserve them sonie»weeks 
into the winter in a tolerable state of freshness. The first is to hang up the 
bunches separately by the stems in a dry room, barely warm enough to pre- 
serve fruit from freezing. The next is to pack the bunches, each separately, 
in absolutely dry sawdust, of some sweet wood, in layers, in a box or cask. 
The other is to pack the bunches separately between la^-ers of clean cotton 
fiber or batting. In each case the fruit should be kept in a dry, cool room, 
and, wlien packed in cotton, the room may be so cold that it would freeze 
water, yet will not injure the grapes. Care must be taken that the fruit is 
dry and clean, and that there are no decayed, mashed, or imperfect grapes 
on the bunches. 

Another direction says : 

" In gathering grapes for keeping fresh, they should be allowed to hang 
on the vines until fully ripe, and then gathered with care to avoid bruising. 
The fairest bunches should be chosen to put away, and M-ith a pair of small 
scissors all defective and bruised berries should be cut off. They should 
then be placed in boxes well ventilated, and remain for a few days, when 
they should be packed in boxes holding six or eight pounds each. It is not 
important that the box be tight ; it is better that it should not be. These 
siiould be put in the coolest place in the house, where the air is dry. On 
the ap])roach of freezing weather they may be removed to upper shelves sus- 
pended in the cellar, or in any dry room where the temperature is as near 
the freezing-point as possible. 

" "While grapes may be grown "in such profusion and with so little labor, 
it is a little remarkable that a supply for every household in the country is 
not secured, not only in the regular season of them, but to last until spring. 
There is no trouble in keeping grapes through the winter as fresh as wheu 
they are first gathered." 

484. Preserving Fruit io Air-Tight Caus and Boltles.— The modus operandi 
of putting up fruit so as to preserve it in a fresh state without cooking, dry- 
ing, or packing in sugar is not yet fully understood by all farmers' families, 
though largely manufactured for sale by many persons in cities ; and many 
contrivances have been invented for sealing up cans, some of which are 
very convenient ; but the same thing can be accomplished with bottles 
corked and sealed according to these directions. 

It is a business that can not so well be done in families as in large manu- 
factories, where everything is arranged for convenience ; but still, with a 
little experience and careful attention, every family can save enough of the 
various fruits of the season to furnish their tables with a great delicacy 
during that portion of the year when they can get nothing of the kind. 
The whole secret consists in expelling the air from bottles or cans by heat, 



Sbo. 26.J PRESERVING FRUIT IN AIR-TIGHT CANS. 431 

and then sealing up the contents hermetically. If the article to be pre- 
served is peaches, select such as you would for sweetmeats, and pare and cut 
them so that they can he put in the bottle, and you must do this with tlio 
least possible delay, or they will be colored by the atmosphere. Some per- 
sons who want ihem to retain their natural whiteness peel them under wa- 
ter. When the bottle is full, cork it tight and wire down the cork with 
very little projecting above the glass. "When you have bottles enougli to 
till a kettle, such as may be most convenient, put them in and boil wilh the 
water all around up to the nozzle for about fifteen or twenty minutes, ©r 
until tlie bottle appears to be full of steam, the atmosphere having been 
forced out through the cork. As soon as the bottles are cool enough to 
handle, dip the corks in sealing-wax, so as to cover them quite tight. An 
additional precaution is used by some in putting tin-foil over the wax. 

Another plan is to cook the fruit slightly in a kettle, and then put it into 
cans or bottles, and pour hot syrup of sugar in to fill up the interstices, and 
then cork and seal, the heat of the fruit and syrup answering to expel the 
air. But the less they are cooked or sweetened, the more natural will be 
the taste, like fresh fruit when opened. We have eaten peaches a year old 
that we could not tell from those sugared ten hours before. 

Tomatoes are very easily preserved, and retain their freshness better than 
almost any other fruit. The small kind only are used. Scald and peel 
them without breaking the flesh. Bottles should hold about a quart only, 
because when once opened, the contents must be used up at once. Bottles 
made on purpose, with large throats and a ring on the inside, are the best, 
and bottles are better than cans for all acid fruit. The cans, however, are 
more easily secured by solder than the bottles by corks and wax, as the air 
is let out through a small puncture after the large opening is soldered up 
and cans heated, and that hole stopped with a single drop of solder. 

Every article of fruit will keep fresh if the air is exhausted and the bottle 
sealed tight. The least particle of air admitted through any imperfection 
of the sealing will spoil the fruit. If tlie air could be driven out without 
heat, there would be no need of any cooking, and only just enough siiould 
be given to expel the air and not change the taste. Many jaersons prefer 
to add syrup made by about one pound of sugar to a quart of water to all 
suitable fruits. Green corn, beans, peas, tomatoes, pie-plant, currants, 
gooseberries, cherries, plums, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, are the most 
common things put up in this way. They add greatly to the pleasures of 
the table and to the health of those who consume them — in that respect 
quite unlike the common preserves. 

We have known fruit for pies init up in three-quart cans by partially 
cooking in an open kettle in a syrup just sweet enough for use, and putting 
the fruit in the cans hot and soldering immediately. It kept thus perfectly. 

Some fruits keep much better and with less heating than others. Peas are 
among the hardest articles to keep, they contain so much fixed air. 

We advise every family in the country to try this plan of putting up 



432 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

fruits for winter use on a small scale this year, and if successful, enlarge 
upon it next year 

A new mode, to us, of canning fruit is recommended as follows : 
" Take a common wide-mouthed crock or jar of any size ; prepare the 
fruit in the usual way ; fill the jar and tie two waxed cloths tightly over 
tlie mouth. The jar must not be very narrow-mouthed in proportion to its 
size. A common, straight, stone gallon jar is of good proportions. If the 
mouth is too small, the cloths can not follow the surface of the fruit down 
in a cold time. The cloth must touch the fruit at all times, and if the 
mouth is wide it can rise and fall with the weather. In order to have the 
jar very full, it is well to let the fruit cool down a little below 212 de- 
grees; then fill up with more fruit just before putting on the cloth. The 
clotlis may be of the common muslin, but they must be soaked in melted 
wax. The wax should be beeswax chiefly ; a little rosin and tallow will 
help it." 

485. Dry Susar-Preserving. — Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cher- 
ries, and peaches can be preserved in this manner : Lay tlie rijie fruit in 
broad dishes, and sprinkle over it the same quantity of sugar used in cook- 
ing it. Set it in the sun or a moderately heated oven until the juice forms 
a thick syrup with the sugar. Pack the fruit in tumblers, and pour the 
syrup over it. Paste writing-paper over tlie glasses, and set them in a cool, 
dry place. Peaches must be pared and split, and cherries stoned. Pre- 
served in this manner, the fruit retains much more of its natural flavor and 
hcalthfulness than when cooked. The paper which is usually pasted over 
jars of preserves is porous, and admits air. To render it perfectly impervi- 
ous to air, apply the white of an egg with a brush to the paper before cover- 
ing the jars, overlapping the edges an inch or two. 

486. Dry Pressure Preserving. — By submitting vegetables to a powerful 
pressure, they have been prepared in France so that they have been kept in 
a dry state many months. Cabbages, beets, parsneps, peas, apples, etc., are 
divested of all moisture by a powerful hydraulic press, and thus are packed 
in small compass for use of men on ship-board. They are a tolerable sub- 
stitute for fresh vegetables, but as unlike them as bull beef is to tender 
lamb. Upon such a voyage, however, as that of the Grinnell expedition, 
where the ships were frozen up nine months, a taste of such food as this 
would have been not only palatable, but extremely beneficial to health. We 
understand it is not expensive. 

487. Currant Jelly< — As currant jelly is pleasant and useful to both the 
sick and the well, we give the following directions for making it of excellent 
quality, which retains the beautiful crimson color of the currant much bet- 
ter than that made by the old mode: "Squeeze the juice out of the cur- 
rants, strain and measure it, put it in a porcelain or very well-cleaned cop- 
per or brass kettle, and boil it until the scum ceases to rise ; then, without 
taking the juice off the fire, stir in one pound of well-refined sugar to every 
pint of juice, and as soon as the sugar is fully dissolved^which will be 



Seo. 26.] PICKLES AND PRESERVES. 433 

in less than a minute — take it off and pour it into the vessels prepared to 
receive it." 

Cider Jelly. — Boil three quarts of cider just from the press till it is re- 
duced to one. Skim well, and add not quite one quart of white sugar. Boil 
fifteen or twenty minutes, and strain through a coarse linen cloth into your 
jelly glasses. 

488. Pickling Cucumbers, Melons, Tomatoes, Peaches.— The great art in 
making good pickles is to have good vinegar. The best vinegar for pick- 
ling is made of sound cider. As good vinegar is not always at hand, the 
best way is to prepare a brine strong enough to bear an egg. When the 
tub is full of pickles, allow tlie brine to cover them ; then cover them over 
with cabbage-leaves, and a board and weight to keep them in the brine. For 
use, freshen in warm water, and put them in a bright brass kettle, with 
vinegar enough to cover them, and scald them fifteen or twenty minutes ; 
put them in jars, and pour hot vinegar over them ; flavor them with 
cloves, mace, black pepper, an onion or two, and a little horseradish and 
ginger. 

For Peach Pickles. — Stir two pounds of white sugar into two quarts of 
the best cider vinegar. Boil it ten minutes, skimming it well. Have ready 
some large, fully-ripe peaches ; rub them with a clean flannel to take off" the 
down, and stick four cloves into each. Put them into glass or whitewaro 
jars, rather more than half full, and pour on them the vinegar lioiling hot. 
Cover them closely, set tliem in a cool place, and let them rest for a M-eek. 
Then pour off the liquid, and give it another boiling. Afterward pour it 
again on the peaches; cover them closely, corking the jars and tying leather 
over each, and put them away till wanted for use. Instead of cloves you 
may stick the peaches with blades of mace, six blades to each peach. If 
you find a coat of mold on the top of a jar of pickles, remove it carefully, 
and do not throw away the pickles, as they may still be quite good be- 
neath. 

489. Apples, how Preserved, and their Use. — Where apples abound, as they 
do in a- large portion of the l^orthern States, they should be found in some 
form upon every farm-house table at nearly every meal. Several very 
choice sorts can be kept through the winter up to tlie time when apples 
come again ; and where they abound, there is really but little occasion for 
preserving small fruits, as indicated in preceding paragraphs. Apples, 
when first taken from the tree, if laid in a heap eighteen inches in depth, 
and covered with a cloth, or a little straw, Avill soon sweat and become quite 
moist ; then the cover or straw should be taken off, and the apples suffered 
to dry as suddenly as possible. Then packed in liarrcls and kept till tliey 
sweat again, and finally dried, repacked, and stored in proper situations, they 
will always be ready for furnishing some of the best sweetmeats at short 
notice that a farmer can enjoy, for they furnish liealthy food. 

Apples brought to the table raw should be only such kinds as can be eaten 
after sweet things, as pastry and custards, hence all intensely sour apples. 



434 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

however grateful at other times, are not fit for the dessert. There is almost 
an infinite number, and among them our best varieties, whieh do not come 
within this stricture, though some of the choicest for culinary purposes are 
too sour for the dessert uncooked. 

The efl'ect of heat on many apples is quite noticeable. Baked apples are 
always liked. "We are not surprised when a tender apple bakes soft and 
delicate, but when one tough and corky loses all these cliaracteristics, and 
surpasses in delicacy even the other, as is often the case, we appreciate bettor 
the chemical action which heat induces. Sweet apples, free from decay, 
worms, or gnarly spots, scrupulously cleaned and placed in pans, and baked 
in a slow oven till fully done, are excellent. The apples should shrivel and 
dry away very much, and the skin should not be broken so as to let the 
juice out. The sweetness is thus concentrated, and they are three times as 
good as if simply baked through. 

Sour or tart apples may be baked much quicker ; the juice, instead of be- 
coming viscid and thick by heat, is apt to flow out, or the steam splits the 
skin and lets it out, and it is likely to burn to the pan. Baked tart apples 
should be eaten with sugar, or they may be baked with sugar. Tart apples, 
washed, placed in a ])an with a little water, and sprinkled over well with 
sugar — or the same, cored and the holes filled with sugar — or pared as well 
as cored, and spice added with the sugar, are delicious. Some use one or two 
cloves to each apple, or a bit of cinnamon with some lemon-peel ; otliers grate 
nutmeg or sprinkle cinnamon over the ajjples in the pan. 

To our taste, plain baked apples, or slightly sugared if very tart, is the 
very best preparation of this valuable fruit for the table. 

Apple Ccst^vkd. — To make the cheapest and best every-day farmer's apple 
custard, take sweet apples that will cook soft, pare, cut, and stew them ; 
when well done, stir till the pieces are broken ; when cool, thin with milk 
to a proper consistency, and bake with one crust, like a pumpkin pie. Egg-^ 
may be prepared and added with milk, though it will do without. Ko 
sweetening is necessary. It may be seasoned with any kind of spice to suit 
the taste — the less the better. 

Kaw Apples and Milk. — A tender sub-acid, or sweet apple — the latter 
preferable — pared and sliced thin into a bowl of milk, for breakfast or sup- 
per, is a great luxury to some persons at any time of the yeai" ; and it is not 
less healthful than grateful to the palate. 



Sec. 27.] 



HYGIENIC. 



435 



SECTION XXVII.-HYGIENIC. 




PEEPAEATION OF FOOD FOB THE SICK EEMEDIES FOR POISONS, BITES, AND 

STINGS. 

[E will not tire the reader with nostrums under this 
title ; we simply ask attention to a very short section 
upon matters of great importance to those who are 
suffering, and which come properly under the head 
of this chapter. All of our readers who have, 
while recovering from sickness, asked, " What shall 
I eat?" will appreciate all that is said in the next 
paragraph. 

490. Food for the Sick and Dyspeptic— Sickness 
occurs in every family, and during convalescence 
the appetite is sometimes so delicate it needs a good 
deal of pampering. In some families there is always 
an invalid, who can not eat the every-day food of 
those whose apiietites are strong. To such, some of 
the following hints may be very acceptable, and equally acceptable to some 
who are not sick. 

What shall I eat ? How often this question is asked by the sick, or those 
with delicate appetites! ISTature demands food, but the appetite does not 
crave it, and the mind of the feeble invalid can not fix upon anything that 
he will relish. 

It may relieve such sufi'erers to point out a few suitable articles of food, 
such as are easily prepai-ed and usually tempt delicate appetites. 
Here is one peculiarly New Englandish : 

" Cut some codfish in bits the size of a pea, and boil it a minute in water 
to freshen it. Pour off all the water, and add some cream and a little 
pepper. 

"Split and toast a Boston cracker, and put the above ujion it. Milk and 
a little butter may be used instead of cream. 

" Ham or smoked beef may be prepared in the eamo way. For a variety, 
beat up an egg and stir it in, instead of cream, or with the cream. 

"These preparations are also good for a relish for a family breakfast 
or tea." 

Another exrellent dish for sick or well, and economical withal, is made 
by taking a few cakes of pilot-bread and soaking them till partially soft, 
after breaking them into mouthfuls, in just water enough to be all absorbed ; 
then cut a slice of fat salt pork into very small pieces, fry it crisp, pour it 
over the bread, and heat the whole in a stove or oven, or in a spider. 



4:36 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

Another plan is to pour over the bread a sweetened butter gravy, or wine 
sauce, or the juice of stewed fruit or preserves. All are good. 

A very excellent food for delicate stomachs may be made by sweetening 
water, cold or hot, with refined sugar, and crumbling into it stale bread. 

Bread and cider used to be a favorite food in Yankee land in old times. 
Sweeten the cider, and crumb into it toasted bread. 

Sometimes a piece of codfish or a slice of fat salt pork, roasted upon 
live coals, will tempt a convalescent appetite when nothing else will answer. 

In making porridge of corn or oatmeal, bo careful to cook it well. Do 
not think it done till it has boiled an hour. 

nice gruel does not need so much cooking. It should not be given to a 
person of constipated habits. Simple boiled rice is a delicate food for the 
sick. 

Arrowroot, tapioca, farina, and corn starch are all of the same character — 
liighly concentrated food. A good gruel may be made of either, and fla- 
vored with sugar, nutmeg, lemon, or whatever would be agreeable. Stale 
bread, very dry, crumbed and made into a gruel, is perhaps the most di- 
gestible. Stale bread, toasted very dry and brown, and then steeped in wa- 
ter a long time, makes a good drink for the sick, and furnishes considerable 
nourishment. 

In all cases of sickness, wlien the appetite craves fruit we would give it, 
ripe and fresh in its season, or preserved and cooked in the most simple 
manner. Apples for the sick should always be roasted. So should po- 
tatoes. 

If the friends of the sick possess a little skill and neatness in the prepara- 
tion of dishes, the patient need never say, " What shall I eat ?" 

The following is well relislied by some aj)petites, but we doubt its di- 
gestibility : Shave a good crisp head of cabbage as fine as possible ; add a 
tablespoonful of horseradish to each quart of shaved cabbage ; let one pint 
of vinegar come to a boil ; have ready three well-beaten eggs with a little 
salt ; pour tlie eggs into the vinegar and stir until cooked ; then pour it 
over the cabbage and set it away, as it is better when cold. This will keep 
some days, and is always ready. 

Roasting a Chicken may be thought a very simple operation, but, 
in our opinion, not one in ten of modern housekeepers can do it to per- 
fection. First, because they have no conveniences. The abominable cook- 
ing-stove has spoiled many a dish, and none more so than this of a roast 
ciiicken, which never has been and never will be roasted to perfection in 
any other way than tied up by the legs swinging by a string before a wood 
fire, dripping its gravy into a pan in whicii there is a little cream jvnd a 
lump of butter, with which tlie roast is to be basted from time to time until 
the skin is brown and flesli tlioi'oughly cooked. It is tliis cooking in the 
open air that gives it the peculiar richness. If a chicken must be roasted or 
baked in a stove-oven, it should be done with the oven door open. With 
some stoves it can be much better done in an open pan set down before the 



Sko. sr.] BYGIENIC. 4X7 

grate. All holes in the body of a fowl should he sewed up as tight as pos- 
sible — not merely drawn together, but tight. 

A badly cooked fowl should never be set before an invalid, or one whose 
digestion is naturally weak. The following makes a nice dish for a delicate 
appetite : 

Lay half a dozen crackers in a tureen ; pour enough boiling water over 
them to cover them. In a few minutes thej' will be swollen three or four 
times their original size. Now grate loaf sugar and a little nutmeg over 
them, and dip on enough cream to make a nice sauce, and yon have a 
simple and delicious dessert that will rest lightly upon the stomach, and it 
is easil}' prepared. Leave out the cream, and it is a valuable reci2)e for 
" sick-room cookery." 

Lemoxade.— Three lemons to a pint of water makes strong lemonade ; 
sweeten to taste. This is a cool, refreshing, pleasant, and salubrious bev- 
erage for invalids. 

Mead. — Three pounds of sugar, five gills of molasses, three pints of wa- 
ter, three ounces of tartaric acid, one ounce of sarsaparilla. Stir it over the 
fire till at the boiling-point. "When cold, bottle and cork tight. Add the 
supercarbonate of si>da when you drink it. 

Ginger Beee. — Two gallons of boiling water, two pounds of crushed 
sugar, one and a half ounces of bruised ginger, one ounce of cream of tartar, 
one lemon, two tablespoonfuls of yeast. Mix all together (except the yeast) 
and let it stand over-night ; then add the yeast ; strair and bottle it ; tie 
down the corks. In twelve hours it may be drank. 

Beef Tea is very nourishing if rightly prepared. Take perfectly lean 
parts of fat beef, cut it into cubes half an inch square, and soak it some hours 
in cold water, and then boil all together for an hour. You may improve 
this by adding a toasted cracker to each bowlful. 

Tiie following formula is given by Liebig : Half a pound of fresh, lean beef, 
cut small in one pint and a third of pure water, witii four drops of muriatic 
acid and half a small spoonful of salt, to stand an hour cold, and then strain 
without squeezing. It may then be cooked and taken hot or cold 

Mutton or ciiiekcn tea should be made according to the first of the above 
directions, and rice may be added, if not intended solely for drink. 

491. Cautions about I'rcsfrving Health.— The art of preserving health is of 
more conseqn(*nce than all the prescriptions tor pampering sick appetites. A 
great deal of sickness might be avoided by forethought. There is always 
some cause to produce sickness, and that cause may frequently l)c removed 
by a few hours' labor. 

Stagnant water in the cellar is a great breeder of disease. Let tlicre al- 
waj's be a fj-ee passage of air through the cellar by taking out the windows, 
so that the air can circulate freely and keep it healthv. 

If there are stagnant ponds near your dwellings, they should be drained. 
Kemove, as far as you can, every cause of disease ; be temperate and regu- 
lar in all your habits ; avoid exposure, and be careful of what you eat. 



4:38 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

492. Poisons. — There are numerous poisons lurking unsuspected about 
many dwellings that tend to produce sickness. Among other poisons, we 
enumerate — 

Oxalic acid used in solution for cleaning brass and removing stains fi-om 
linen, is a virulent poison. Lime forms an insoluble compound with it, and 
proves the best antidote when it has been taken into the stomach. 

Among vegetable poisons we find the mountain laurel {ludim'a latlfolia), 
and the dwarf or sheep laurel {K. augustlfoUa). These not only are eaten 
by animals, but the leaves are mistaken by children for wintergreen, and 
we have known serious cases of poisoning to result. 

Poison sumach {Rhus venenata) and poison vine or poison ivy (7?. toxico- 
dendron) produce excessive irritation of the skin, and even blistering from 
contact with most persons, and some are so sensitive that the odor only of 
the first or its smoke in burning produces most painful results. The M'ild or 
poison parsnep has a similar efl'ect upon some persons, and some very del- 
icate skins are afl:'ected by the garden parsnep. Tlie efl'ect is hightened 
when the leaves are covered with dew ; when dried, they may be handled 
with safety. 

Water hemlock {C'lcuta maculata) is a virulent poison. From the form 
of its inflorescence and the aromatic odor of its seed and root, it is some- 
times mistaken for sweet cicely {Myrrhis odorata) by children. Pains 
should be taken to extirpate it wherever found, as also to prevent the spread 
of a similar plant, a foreigner, poison hemlock {Conium maculatum). 

Among poisonous garden flowers we have the larkspur, monkshood, and 
foxglove. 

Opium, the product of the poppy, in some form, either as laudanum or 
elixir, is a very frequent means of poisoning. Tliese medicines are too pow- 
erfid to be trusted in ignorant hands, as the yearly record of fatal accidents 
sadly attests. 

The green color on wall paper and on cards attached to various dry 
goods, often contains arsenic, a single square inch having enough to destroy 
a child. Green wall paper is unfit for use, especially for sleeping-rooms. 
The exhalation from such walls has been known to sicken the occupants. 

[The frequent use of poisonous colors wpow candy or children's playthings 
indicates the need of the utmost caution on the part of parents. The red, 
green, yellow, and blue colors may all be harmless, but fatai cases of poi- 
soning and the examination of chemists prove that the grossest ignorance or 
the deepest depravity prevails with some makers and venders. 

Copper in all its forms is poisonous. Acid or greasy food allowed to stand 
in copper or brass vessels, readily corrodes them, and proves their unfitness 
for such uses. The metallic or brassy taste of the articles usually aflfords 
reasonable warning. 

Common black M'riting-ink, made of nutgalls and iron, is not poisonous, 
but the blue ink has a diflerent composition, and is so in a greater or less 
degree. Indelible ink and also hair-dyes having nitrate of silver as the es- 



Seo. 27.] HYGIENIC. 439 

sential ingredient, are poisonous. Corrosive sublimate used in alcohol as a 
bedbug poison should never be kept in families, as it has been the cause of 
very many accidents. 

Phosphorus, an ingredient in friction matches, is a deadly poison. Too 
mucli caution can not be used to keep them away from small children, who 
will put anything in their mouths. The free use of warm water will not 
only fiivor the vomiting which may ensue from the action of the poison it- 
self, but as a diluent it may serve to weaken its power and render it com- 
paratively harmless. Common table-mustard is a very prompt emetic. The 
dose is a teaspoonful of dry mustard ; stir this in a tumbler of water and 
drink at one draught. It is quick, sure, and as agreeable as any emetic. If 
some does remain in the stomach, it does no harm. In a few cases some an- 
tidote may neutralize the poisonous substance in the stomach, but the main 
dependence must be in removing immediately its contents either by an 
emetic or, better, by the stomach-pump. Vegetable acids, as vinegar, are good 
antidotes to many of the vegetable poisons, yet no rules can be given upon 
which it would be safe to rely without medical assistance. 

493. Bee Stings and Mosquito Bites. — We have often cured the poison of 
bee stings, and relieved the pain almost instantly by an application of spirits 
of hartshorn (liquid ammonia). If that is not convenient, wet the skin and 
apply powdered saleratus or sal soda, which effects upon some persons in- 
stant relief. The same things may be applied with success to mosquito bites 
upon children or others, where they are particularly poisonous. Some- 
body has published a statement that, if a pieCe of raw beef is placed in 
a room infested with mosquitoes, they will all suck the beef and let folks 
alone. 

494. Snake Bites and Remedies. — ^The most virulent and fatal of all poisons, 
excepting always the poison of bad ventilation, comes from snake bites, 
which occur occasionally in some of the new settlements of our country. 
We have known death to supervene in several cases for want of a little 
knowledge of remedies ready at hand. One remedy is to drink whisky, or 
any spirit, as soon as possible, sufficient to produce insensibility. Another 
remedy is to kill a chicken, or any other animal, and cut it open and apply 
the warm flesh to the wound, holding fast, and renewing it when it loses the 
animal heat. Another is a i^oultice of equal parts of raw onions, tobacco, 
and salt, mashed together, moistened with whisky, and bound on tight and 
frequently renewed. Sweet or olive oil, we know as a very valuable 
remedy, taken in half-gill doses, and cloths bound upon the bitten spot 
soaked in oil. We earnestly recommend a trial of the following remedy : 
Wet a bunch of lint with a teaspoonful of chloroform, and lay it on the 
bite, and cover it with a watch crystal, a wine-glass, or a tumbler, pressed 
down so as to exclude the air, and hold it there fifteen to thirty minutes, 
which will probably raise a blister, and prove so painful that the pain of the 
poison will not be felt. 

495. Hydrophobia — Cure of Mad-dog Bites. — A Leipsic — Germany — journal 



4i0 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

gives the following, said to have proved many times a sure remedy for the 
bite of a mad dog : 

" Take immediately warm vinegar or tepid water, wash the wound clean 
therewitli, and then dry it ; then pour upon the wound a few drops of 
hydrochloric acid, because mineral acid destroys the poison of the saliva." 

Bkazilian Mode of Cure. — We have seen it stated that the bites of rat- 
tlesnakes and mad dogs and stings of scorpions are cured in Brazil by the 
use of spirits of hartshorn. It should be applied immediately, if possible, 
and the wound kept Met by cloth application or continual sponging, and 
doses of the spirits diluted, taken into tlie stomach three or lour times a 
day. It is said that the spirits of hartshorn has a chemical affinity for the 
poison virus, and absorbs and decomposes it, and thus renders it harmless. 
If this is the case, then ammonia in any form would have tlie same effect. 
At any rate the remedy is simple and easily tried, and should be tested. 
We have faith in it, knowing it to be an excellent remedy for a bee sting. 

496. Remedies for Loclijaw, Felons, and Clccrsi — We have heard a great 
deal about the medicinal value of a poultice made of grated beet-roots, and 
now we find the following statement, which we consider worthy of attention, 
the remedy is so easily applied : 

" A young lady ran a nail into her foot, which produced lockjaw of such 
a malignant character that her physicians pronounced her recovery hope- 
less. An old nurse applied a poultice of pounded beet roots, renewing it 
often, and the result was a complete cure." 

A good remedy for a felon is made of common soft soap and air-slaked 
lime, stirred till it is of the consistency of glazier's putty. Make a leather 
thimble, fill it with this composition, and insert the finger therein, and our 
informant says a cure is certain. This is a domestic application that every 
housekeeper can apply promptly. 

A fig heated as warm as it can be borne, and cut open and applied to 
almost any ulcerated sore, and renewed as it cools, is recommended for boils 
and similar affections as one of the best remedies. It may be applied to an 
ulcerated tooth. 

497. Remedy for a Tight Finger-Ring. — If it can not be removed by such 
mechanical appliances as inserting a stout thread under it and pulling upon 
it, nor by thin strips of metal, then chemistry must be resorted to, and the 
strength of the ring destroyed, so that it can be easily broken. This is done 
by rubbing it with quicksilver, which has an affinity for pure gold, and 
makes it brittle. 



Sec. 28.] 



THE D.VIRY. 



441 



SECTION XXVIII.-TnE DAIRY. 




EUTTEK-MAKING, AS PRACTICED BY FIEST- CLASS DAIKTIIEN — CTTEESE AND 
CHEESE-MAKING. 

(E can not teach all who need to be tanght the 
perfect art of butter-making, which is one of the 
useful arts that but few households possess. In the 
great butter market of New York, we find that not 
one tenth is really first-rate ; and probably more 
than one half is sold from one to three cents a 
pound below the first price, while tons are sold 
every year at the price of soft grease, and used for 
other purposes than food. What a loss to the pro- 
ducers! In hopes to aid this class, we have em- 
bodied in this section directions for making butter, 
as practiced by some of the best butter-makers in 
the country. Among tliesc.we may name A. B. 
Dickenson, Hornby, Steuben Co., N. Y. ; Jesse Car- 
penter, of Elmira, K". Y. ; John T. Norton, of Farmington, Ct., and others. 
498. First Requisites iu Butter-Making. — A. B. Dickenson says : " One of 
the first requisites iu butter-making is care that all the utensils of tlie dairy 
are kept dry and sweet ; that the milk-room is well ventilated, of a proper 
temperature, free from dampness and the unpleasant smell generated by 
moisture ; tbat the cream is not allowed to stand too long iipon the milk, 
nor after it is skimmed ; that it be churned at a proper temperature, tlic 
operation being neither hurried unduly or carried too far ; tbat it should be 
salted with the nicest salt obtainable, not injured by the addition of sugar 
or saltpeter, and that all the buttermilk Ije properly and efiectually removed. 
"The utmost moisture which should be found in thoroughly worked but- 
ter is a very slight dew, and it should be of such firm consistency as to slice 
down, hardly dimming the brightness of a knife-blade. No butter is prop- 
erly made unless it will bear these tests. 

" For depositing the milk, when strained, the tin pail of the capacity of 
about twelve quarts is preferable to any other kind of vessel. It is sufii- 
ciently large to fulfill all the requirements in that particular, while its su- 
periority over the shallow pan — which is considerably used — is too palpable 
to admit of doubt. 

" No first quality of butter can be made either in November or August. 
While the one is too cold with frost-bitten grass, the other is quite too 
warm, and without ice it is impossible to make first quality of butter. Be 
careful in washing butter to handle it with a ladle, so as not to affect the 



442 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

grain ; then put it away in some sweet, cool place out of the reacli of any bad 
odor wliicli it might absorb. When it has stood long enougli to get its 
proper rich color, work it over and lay it down and keep it witli the same 
degree of care. It would spoil in sixty days in a common farm cellar, 
where meats, fish, and vegetables are kept. 

" It would be a much easier task to teach a man to make a watch than how 
to make the first quality of butter, as it is the most sensitive and the most 
liable to injury of all the eatables extracted from the vegetable kingdom. 
It is so sensitive as to partake of everything that can affect it that it comes 
in contact with — as onions, carrots, parsneps, turnips, fish, or anything else 
that would make it unpalatable, either in tlio butter or the milk before 
churning. Not only so, but the butter partakes of everything the cow eats 
or drinks, and the longer it stands after being made, the more perceptibly 
will the unpalatable things on which she fed make themselves manifest. By 
this it Avill be seen that the most important tiling for first quality of butter 
is the food for the cow. K^either from roots of any sort or kind, nor grain 
of any description, can first quality of butter be extracted. It must be from 
something that imparts a sweeter and finer flavor. The cow must give good 
rich milk, as first quality of butter can not be made from poor pale milk, 
for it lacks the essential quality of good butter." 

Rest and quiet are as important to a butter-producing cow as good food. 
She should never be dogged, beaten, driven on a run, nor have her quiet in 
any way disturbed. 

499. Churning, Washing, and Coloring Butter. — In spite of all the patented 
improvements, the old dasher churn still holds its position, not oiily in fam- 
ilies, but among dairymen. The following are A. B. Dickenson's directions 
for churning milk and working butter : 

" The churn should be as nearly straight up and down as possible, as the 
dash should'stir all the milk every stroke it makes, so that the butter in the 
churn should all come at the same time. If the milk is too cold, the only 
safe way to warm it is to place a pail of milk in a large boiler of warm wa- 
ter to bring it to the exact temperature, which is about 55 to 60 degrees — a 
few degrees warmer in cold than warm weather. As soon as the butter has 
come and gathered, take it immediately from the churn in its warm state 
and put it in a large wooden bowl, which is the best vessel for the purpose ; 
then put it in cold, soft water ; then commence pulling the butter over with 
the ladle in so gentle and careful a manner as not to affect the grain, for as sure 
as that is injured at the washing or working, the butter becomes oily and 
can never be reclaimed. Every particle of milk must be washed out, and 
then season with the best Liverpool salt. Set the bowl away until the next 
day, and when sufliciently cool, work the mass thoroughly, but not so as 
to make it oily, and on the third day pack it away if it has assumed the 
right color. Examine it well before packing, and be sure that no milky 
water runs from it, for if packed with the least drop, you will hear from it 
next April. 



Sec. 28.] THE DAIRY. 443 

" If your spring or ■well is liard water, save ice from streams, as lime never 
congeals with ice. Save rain-water, and then with ice you will have soft, 
cool water to wash your butter, without whicli you can not get the milk 
out without injuring the grain. Soft water is as indispensable to wash but- 
ter as it is to wash fine linen. Washing butter is not positively necessary 
if it is to be used within a few weeks. 

"The idea of coloring butter with anything after it is made is as absurd 
as painting rye bread white, with the expectation of making it taste like 
wheat." 

Jesse Carpenter says : " The milk in the churn, when fit for churning, 
should indicate C-± degrees Fahrenheit, and should be agitated with a move- 
ment of the dush at not less than fifty strokes to the minute. Less motion 
will fail lo divide properly the butter from the milk. "When done, the 
butter sliould be taken from the churn and thrown into a tub or a small 
churn partly filled with water 42 to 44 degrees Fahrenheit, and the butter- 
milk forced out with a small dash. It should then be put into trays and 
washed until the water used ceases to be the least discolored with butter- 
milk. It is then ready forsaking, which done, carry the trays immediately 
to the cellar. Use one and a quarter ounces of salt to the pound of worked 
butter. Three or four hours after the first salting, stir with a ladle and put 
it in the form of a honeycomb, in order to give it the greatest possiWe sur- 
face exposure to the air, which gives color and fixes the high flavor. 

" Butter, when well manufactured, while standing preparatory to pack- 
ing, is composed of granulated particles, between which are myriad.-; of in- 
finitesimal cells filled wtili brine, which is its life. At this period it should 
be touched with a light hand, as too much and too careless working will destroy 
its granular and cellular character, and reduce the whole to a compact and 
lifeless mass, with an immediate loss of flavor, and a certain and reliable 
prospect, if packed, of a rapid change of its character from indifierently 
good to miserably poor butter. It should never be worked in the tray 
while in a dry state, or all the ill results just alluded to will be realized. 
As a general rule, after the butter has stood in the trays twenty-four hours, 
and has been worked three or four times as directed, it is ready for packing. 
After the firkin is filled, it should stand a short time, and then should be 
covered with a clean piece of muslin, and tlie whole covered with brine." 

Mr. H. E. Lowman, a neighbor of Mr. Carpenter, states the following 
fact about his butter, which is a strong one in favor of washing butter : 

"Mr. Carpenter for the last twenty years, besides fiittening the calves to 
the customary age of four weeks, has averaged a fraction over two firkins 
to the cow per year. He has had butter stand in packages in Ids cellar for 
one year and a half, and open then with a. flavor so fresh and sweet that 
the very best and most critical judges and buyers were deceived one year 
in its age, none even suspecting it to be the product of a former year. He 
never has, during that period, failed to reach in New York market the 
highest figure representing the maximum market for Orange County butter. 



444 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

and latterly he has very often exceeded the very highest market from i to 
21 cents per pound." 

Butter is judged by its color, aroma, taste, and consistency. Its color 
should be a delicate pale straw, not approaching white, and yet perhaps that 
is better than the deep orange tint, almost always a sure indication of ex- 
traneous coloring matter. Tiie peculiar smell of good butter is easily rec- 
ognized. The better the quality the more delicate this aroma; while, as the 
quality degenerates, about in the same proportion does the smell vary, until 
it becomes positively oifensive. This fragrance is dependent very much on 
the process of manufacture. Orange County dairymaids make " Orange 
County butter" wherever they follow the same processes. The taste of the 
butter will betray any inattention to the proper care of either the milk, 
cream, or the vessels in which they are kept. So will the addition of any 
foreign matter, such as impure or too much or too little salt, sugar, or color- 
ing matter. A certain amount of salt is necessary to bring out the true 
flavor of butter in its greatest delicacy. In texture or consistency, a greater 
diflference is seen than upon any other point. Some are firm, leaving no mark 
upon a knife after being thrust into a lump, with hardly enough moisture to 
dim its brightness, while other lots are soft, leaving greasy streaks upon the 
blade, and large drops of an opaque liquid oozing from the newly cut 
surface. The existence of either of these signs gives sure indication of an 
imjjerfect, if not bad, process of making. 

500. Number of Quarts of Milk for a Pound of Butter.— The number of 
quarts of milk required to make a pound of butter varies very widely. By 
many trials in England, it is found that one pound of butter requires from 
fourteen to sixteen quarts of milk ; that is about oue ounce from a quart, 
varying with the feed and the season. Although it may be true that the 
milk of a majority of the cows in this country would require an equal number 
of quarts to make a pound of butter, yet thei'e are cows that will give a 
pound to four quarts of milk. Col. Jaques, of Massachusetts, and Maj. 
John Jones, of Delaware, both had a " cream-pot" breed of cows which we 
saw a few years ago produce this result. But we believe that it requires an 
average of fourteen cpiarts to a pound, and that is why farmers prefer to sell 
their milk where it brings over two cents a quart. At that rate a milk- 
dairyman can not even afford to make his own family butter ; he can buy it 
from a farmer, who can not sell his milk, at a rate more economical. 

"William Buckminster, flf Framingham, Mass,, in 1855, exhibited a Devon 
cow for premium, as the best butter-maker, with satisfactory proof of the 
following yield of milk : 

" In June and July last she filled a common milk-pail, at night, as full as 
any dairymaid would wish to carry. And on June 17 her milk weighed, morn- 
ing and night, each 34i pounds ; June 10, morning and night, 34| pounds ; 
June 19, morning and night, 34 pounds ; June 20, morning and night, 323 
pounds; June 21, morning and night, 32f pounds; June 22, morning and 
night, 30i pounds ; June 23, morning and night, 30^ pounds." 



Seo. 28.] THE DAIRY. 445 

He also certified at the tinae she was oflered, in October, that four quarts 
of her milk, -when fed on grass only, and that of an ordinary pasture, pro- 
duced one pound of the finest yellow butter. "This cow," he says, "is one 
of the six cows owned and bred by me, whose milk has repeatedly yielded 
one pound of butter from four beer quarts. Her keep through the autumn 
of the three years of her milking has been grass feed only, no grain, or 
roots, or corn stover having been given her." 

This is the richest milk of any but Alderneys, and above their average. 

William S. Lincoln, of Worcester, Mass., produced from one cow, owned 
by him, in the spring of 1858, eighteen pounds of butter a week ; and cows 
that produce fifteen or sixteen pounds a week are not uncommon in that 
State. The " Oaks cow" yielded her owner nineteen pounds a week at the 
best, and nearly 500 pounds in the course of the season. These are extra- 
ordinary cases, it is true ; but if one cow can do it, others can. 

Now, if these are facts — and who can dispute them ? — ^what are we to 
think of the quality of judgment, sense, or economy of men who will keep 
cows on their farms ibr the sole purpose of making butter, at an average of 
one pound to fourteen quarts, when they could have cows that would give 
a pound from less than half that quantity? Let this fact be thought of, that 
it does take fourteen qtiarts of milk for a pound of butter, which might be 
made from four quarts. While this is a fact, it is not to be wondered at 
that Orange County farmers have quit making butter, notwithstanding the 
high reputation it had attained, and prefer to send their milk to New York 
from every farm within reach of the river or railroad. If the milk averages 
two and a half cents a quart when sold, anc^ it would take fourteen quarts 
to make a pound of butter, it would make the first cost of the butter thirty- 
five cents a pound, besides all the labor of its manufacture. 

Tlie Iloriicsteud says : " Mr. Coil, of Norwich, keeps two cows which, in 
the best of the season, furnish four quarts of milk daily for use, and make 
nineteen pounds of butter a week. The writer also thinks that an improved 
style of milk-room would be quite as likely to increase the yield of butter 
as an improved breed of cows. If only an additional pound a week from 
each cow could be secured in this way, it would be a matter worth looking 
into by our farmers, and would greatly increase the yield of butter in the State." 

Think of it, farmers, in every State. An additional pound of butter a 
week to each cow ! What would be the aggregate ? Can anybody tell ? 
Can anybody think of the'Vast amount, and that it- would be all clear profit? 
And it is just as easy as it is to do right instead of wrong. 

Good cows, sweet feed, and pure water are the first of all requisites to 
the numufaeture of good butter. Good cows, that proper color and right 
consistency be secured ; sweet feed and pure water, that no flavor be im- 
parted to the milk which would render the butter unpahrtable. Dependent, 
however, as the quality of the article is upon the cow and the goodness of 
the food, a proper degree of care and skill on the part of the dairy woman is 
of much greater conseouence. 



446 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

Undoubtedly butter can be worked so as to keep sweet without washing ; 
so can wheat be cut witli a sickle, and thrashed with a flail, but they are not 
great labor-saving machines. 

With successful butter-makers the churning occupies about half an hour. 
By increasing the temperature of the cream, it could be done in one half 
the time, but the quality of the butter would be much reduced. In winter, 
to facilitate the rising of the cream, the earthen pans for holding the 
milk are riused in hot water before use, and warm water is applied 
around them, not to heat the milk, but for a time to maintain its original 
temperature. 

When llie temperature of the dairy is less than fifty degrees Fahrenheit, 
the milk will not ripen for churning, and in such case should be removed for 
a time to a temperature of fifty-five degrees. The sudden warming of the 
milk will not always enable it to yield up its butter readily. 

One butter-maker says : " Carefully conducted experiments prove that 
more butter is obtained fi-om a given quantity of milk, when set in pans 
partly filled, than when full." This is in opi^osition to the theory of A. B. 
Dickenson. 

A French chemist declares that butter may be made without churning, by 
the use of a filter, made of white felt, in the form of a bag, in the four 
corners of which are inserted porous strings, like candlewick, to hasten off 
the fluid portion of the milk. The bag being suspended by the lour corners, 
from twcnty-fonr to thirty hours, the contents of the filter will be found to 
be of the consistence of " smear case" (soft cheese). This solidified cream 
is then placed in a linen bag, tied tight, and the bag kneaded like a roll of 
dough. In a few minutes the mass grows liquid, and the butter and butter- 
milk are separated. 

One large butter-maker says: "I use a horse-power churn, of a capacity 
sufiiciently great to make one hundred and twenty pounds of butter. I 
always try the temperature of my churn before putting in the cream. If 
below fifty-five degrees, I raise it to that point with warm water, and keep 
the cream as near that point as possible. As soon as the cream is in the 
churn I start the horse, and keep him moving at a steady gait until the but- 
ter is broken, or begins to gather in small lumps. Opposite the opening 
through which the cream is poured into the churn is an inch hole, which is 
stopped with a plug. When the butter is formed as above stated, I open this 
hole and draw off all the l)uttermilk, then start the horse again, and keep 
him going until I gather the butter into a solid mass. This accomplished, 
it is taken from the churn and put into a tub prepared for it. I then weigh 
the whole mass, and transfer it to the butter-worker, when it is worked over 
twice, after which I add one dessert tablespoonful of the very best dairy 
salt to every pound. I again work it well, so as to incorporate the salt 
thoroughly. It is again weighed into pound lumps and printed. The 
human hand is never allowed to touch the butter, nor is water ever used to 
wash it." 



Sec. 28.] 



THE DAIRY. 447 



Of course it is sold immediately ; if it is to be kept, we think it must bo 
washed. 

501. Butter Affected by Food of Cows.— Tlie quality of all butter is so 
greatly affected by the food of the cows, that no one can make good butter, 
althou'j'h he lias good cows, if their food is poor. In summer, there is nothing 
better than clover pasture. At any rate, the pasture must atibrd sweet grass, 
running water, and trees for shade and rest. A cow should be selected for 
her quiet disposition, as much as any other quality, for a butter-making 
cow; for milk alone, this is not so important. If she has vicious propen- 
sities, she can not be cured by viciousness. In winter, clover hay, cured in 
the most perfect manner, is better for butter than any otlier hay. To this 
add slops once or twice every day, composed of bran, shorts, cut potatoes, 
corn meal partially cooked, and salt, and an occasional handful of bone 
meal, lime, ashes, or charcoal-dust will be found advantageous. Carrots 
are always good for a butter cow. Nothing should ever bo given her that 
is not sweet enough for you to eat yourself. And even that is not always 
good food for a cow, as turnips, cabbages, and onions are considered good 
food for the table — they are not for the stable, if sweet milk is an oliject. 

Then she must be kept in a clean, sweet-smelling stable, warm and dry, 
but ventilated. The same stable should be nsed in summer for milking, 
after which the cows may be allowed to sleep out, if it is such weather that 
they can lie upon the ground in comfort ; and if not, keep them in until after 
milking in the morning. Every cow should know her own stall as well as 
a man knows his own bed, and they will soon learn to be \inwilling to eat 
or be milked anywhere else. Food and care of the cow, and perfect quiet 
and comfort for her in every respect, are the first requisites in making good 
butter. 

A stable can bo kept sweet enough to lodge in by the daily use of plaster, 
charcoal, prepared muck, or an occasional sprinkling of dilute sulphuric acid 
or solution of copperas. 

It is necessary for a full flow of milk to maintain a continual supply of 
albuminous ibod, while in the latter period of fattening, such kinds of food 
are superfluous, and only tend to 'enrich the manure heap There is one 
leading feature in his practice, to which the utmost importance is attached 
by Mr. Ilorsefall — an English dairyman — the maintenance of the condition 
of his cows giving a large yield of milk. This is done by the addition of 
bean meal in greater quantity to those yielding the most milk He refers 
also to the effect of clover upon the supply of milk as known to all dairy- 
men, the dry material of which is nearly as rich in albumen as beans, and 
the inference is drawn that " albuminous matter is the most essential ele- 
ment in the food of the milch cow, and that any deficiency in the supply of 
this Vv'ill be attended with loss of condition, and a consequent diminution in 
the quality of her milk." lie is of the opinion that "you can increase the 
proportion of butter in milk more than that of casein or other solid parts." 
Kayte-cake seems more efficient for this purpose than linseed-cake, the oily 



448 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

matter in this seed more nearly resembling that in butter than that of flax- 
seed. He also says : " It seems worthy of remark that a cow can yield a 
far greater weight of butter than she can store up in solid fot. Numerous 
instances occur where a cow gives off two pounds of butter per day — four- 
teen pounds per week — while half that quantity probably would not be laid 
on in fat if she was fed for that purpose." 

These " English notions" are worthy of American attention. 

502. Butter Afiected by the Packages. — It is one of the greatest mistakes 
that butter packers make, to put it up in bad packages. Let it be taken for 
an incontrovertible fact that, as a general thing, a dairy of butter of uniform 
quality may be packed, one half in rough, untidy casks, and the other in 
neat, sweet-looking firkins, of suitable and uniform size, and that half will 
outsell the other at least ten per cent. The purchasers of butter, by the 
single package or by the hundred packages, are always influenced by the 
outside api^earance. One of the reasons why Western butter sells at a price 
generally under tlie market is because it comes in bad order. How can 
people e.xpect first prices for butter in mottled rolls, packed in a dry-goods 
box or a flour barrel ? Such butter, when it arrives in New York, is de- 
nominated " "Western grease," and sells at a price corresponding with its 
name. 

503. When to Skim Milk. — The right time to skim milk is just as the milk 
begins to sour in tlie bottom of the pans. Then the cream is all at the 
surface, and should at once be ren)oved, with as little of the milk as pos- 
sible. Tliat housewife, or dairymaid, who thinks to obtain a greater quan- 
tity by allowing the milk to stand beyond that time, labors under a mistake. 
Any one who doubts can try it. Milk should be looked to at least three 
times a day. 

50i. Alderney Cows and Alderney Butter.— It is our matured opinion that 
the Alderney cow is the only one for a fiimily, where but one is kept, and 
where rich milk and sweet cream are a leading oliject. (See 47, 48, 49.) 
There is no doubt of the fact, that this breed of cattle is superior to any other 
for making butter of rich flavor to the taste, and with a peculiar sweet 
aroma. We have thoroughly tested butter made from Alderney cows, by 
John T. Norton, of Farmington, Conn., and have submitted it to tlie sight, 
smell, and taste of some good judges of butter, who, without hesitation, ]iro- 
nounced it as unlike as it is richer than any other kind they have ever tasted. 
We kept it some weeks exposed to an atmosphere that M-ould soften ordinary 
butter so that it could not easily be handled, and yet this remained almost 
as firm as though just from a cool dairy-room. There can be no mistake in 
its natural superiority and good keeping qualities over butter made from 
cows of other breeds. This fact is as well known in England as the fact 
that Southdown mutton is superior to that of other breeds of sheep. And 
the fact is beginning to be known here, for we have heard of Alderney but- 
ter selling in market, in places where it is well known in this country, at 
double the price of good butter of common stock. This much for the in- 



Sec. 28.] THE DAIRY.' 449 

formation and benefit of those wlio do not Isnow tliat there is a very great 
dilierence in breeds of cattle for butter as well as for beef. For the latter 
purposes the Aldernejs are certainly superior to the Durhams. Ilerefords, 
Devons, Ayrshires, or natives. 

Anotlier good quality of the Alderneys is, that they will live upon house- 
slops or garden or yard clippings, or upon short pastures. 

Mr. Norton says: "I live on one of the old worn-out farms of Connecti- 
cut, which I am trying to improve;" and we say, upon such a farm he finds 
it not onh^ pleasant for his own nse to keep Alderney cows, but profitable to 
make butter from them for the Hartford market. Our reconnneudation, 
however, is not for dairy purposes, but strictly for private family use, and 
for that we do consider this small breed of cows most valuable. There are 
persons, however, of experience, who believe the Aldernej-s valuable for 
dairy farms. 

T. M. Sfonghton, of Greenfield, Mass., says: "Alderney cows are not 
only good for private family use, but actually the best for a large dairy. 

" My experience has been with a herd of cows imported by Mr. Jonathan 
Bird, of Belleville, N. J., from the island of Jersey, and selected with par- 
ticular regard to their milking qualities. The herd came under my care in 
1856, with the request from Mr. Bird that I should give them the same care 
and feed as my native and Ayrshire cows, keeping a careful account of their 
product by measurement and weight, so as to be able to determine M'hether 
they arc a profitable breed for butter-making. The following statement is 
oflered as an answer to ' What is a good cow V 

'• Cow No. 1 calved in Januarj^, 1S51 — came into my care last of May. 
In June, she made lOi pounds of butter per week; in July, 10| pounds per 
week; in August, 9i pounds per week; in the month of September, 30 
pounds; in October, 28 pounds; and two weeks in November, 12i pounds; 
and calved in December — making 198i pounds in five months. 

"No. 2 calved in September, 1851, and through the month of October 
made 14i pounds of butter per week ; in June following she made 12 pounds 
per week; in August, 6 pounds per week ; and calved early in October — 
making 317 pounds of butter for the year. 

"No. 3 was a three-year-old heifer, calved in September, 1856. In the 
month of October, made 11 f pounds per week; in June following, 8h 
pounds per week; in August, 4 pounds per week — making 267 pounds for 
the year. 

"No. 4 was a heifer two years old; calved in March, 1858. From the 
1st of April to November she made 200 pounds of butter. Greatest yield 
per week, lOj pounds ; and made 7 pounds per week in September. 

"No. 5, a heifer eighteen months old; calved in March, 1858. In the 
five months following she made 108 pounds of butter. 

"Tiie above five are an avei'age of the ten milking cows. Their feed has 
been pasture only in the summer months, with hay and two quarts of corn 
meal and lye middlings in the winter months. From the above statement 



450 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

it -will be seen that the cows which have come to maturity will make 300 
pounds of butter per year under favorable circumstances. Alderiiey butter 
sells in the different markets of the country for from forty to fifty cents pur 
pound. The best dairies of New York and K^ew England do not average 
over 200 pounds per cow (native and Durham). The average price of their 
butter is not over twenty-five cents per pound. 

" One of the most important peculiarities of the Alderney cow is her uni- 
formity of quantity, making nearly as much butter at the end of eight 
months after calving as at four. Tlie objections urged against the Alderney 
cow are, that she is a voracious feeder, lean, awkward in appearance, and 
will make but little beef when old. 

" Admitting the Alderney cow to be a pretty sharp feeder, it can hardly 
be expected that a cow will make from ten to fourteen pounds of first-rate 
butter by simply standing in a cold stable, and looking at a haymow, or by 
shirking round a stack of swamp hay. That she is inclined to be lean is an 
evidence that she is a good milker; for a cow that secretes fatty matter can 
not secrete good milk at the same time, without being fed too high for the 
permanent good of the cow. If she is ugly»lo look at she is a good one to 
go, for she will be M'orth $100 when six months, especially if a heifer. And 
after being milked twelve or thirteen years, producing over 3,000 pounds of 
butter, it is of no great consequence whether she makes 600 or 900 pounds 
of beef." 

505. Heatiug New Milk> — The Dairymaii^s liecord gives the opinion that 
the heating of new milk to near the l)oiliiig-point just after it is drawn from 
the cow, is preferable to allowing it to stand for a time before heating, and 
thinks both butter and cheese are improved in flavor by so doing, '' because 
the animal odors which are objectionable would be expelled," and goes on 
to say that " tasteless and leathery" cheese is caused by manufacturing 
under too liigh a temperature rather than from high heating before manu- 
facturing. 

506. Dust and Fly Covefs for Milk-Panst — To keep dust out of milk-pans, 
make hoops of ratans, or ash wood, a little larger than the tops of the pans, 
and stretch over and sew on them some thin cotton stuff that will not stop 
the circulation of the air, but will keep out the flies and mites, and when the 
milk is cool, lay these covers over the pans. To keep out flies, use mosquito 
netting or wire gauze instead of cloth. The wire gauze is a fine thing to 
cover all windows in fly-time. 

Some inventive Connecticut genius has contrived a portable, ventilated 
milk-closet, which, from the description, we should think a very good thing, 
but presume that any ingenious wood-worker could get up one a little dif- 
ferent in form to answer the same purpose ; and we I'econnnend all fami- 
lies who keep but one cow, to provide themselves with such a c6nvenieut 
ventilated milk-closet; or one that will let fresh air in and foul air out, and 
keep the milk safe from pestiferous insects and vermin. 

The following item shows the benefit of keeping milk cool : " In sending 



buc. 28.] THE DAIRY. 451 

milk to market, tliougli it left tlie dairy peifectly sweet, it was often found 
curdled on delivery to customers. To remedy this, the cans were covered 
with thick cotton cloth, and this was wet with salt water. In this way the 
difRcnlty was entirely oliviated." 

507. Necessity and Value of a Family Dairy Room. — Every farm-house 
should have a room for milk, solely devoted to that, and nothing else. In 
very dry soils this can be made easiest and best in the cellar, provided it 
has a chimney ventilator of ample dimensions running to the top of the 
house, wliich can be easily made when building, and no milk-room is perfect 
without such ventilation, and in our opinion the cause of bad bntter is as 
much in the want of a suitable place to stand tiie milk, and a cool, sweet 
room to store the butter, as in the process of manufacture. It is all import- 
ant, also, that the milk-room should be of an imvarying temperature, so far 
as it can be kept so without extra expenditure over the profitable advantage, 
xin attachment to the ice-house is the best place for storing butter. The fol- 
lowing is a good plan for a family dairy -room : 

Build very convenient to the kitchen, but not adjoining, an eight-inch "wall 
brick building, eight feet by sixteen feet inside, with a door in one end and 
a window in the other, and arch it over ten feet high in tlie center, and plas- 
ter it all over outside with water-proof cement. The top should be covered 
with a coat of asphaltum, if to be had, or else with sand and tar. Give the 
inside a coat of hard-finished plaster, and paint that well, so that it can be 
washed. Where there is a good chance for drainage, the walls may be 
dropped two feet-below the surface, or the whole built into a hillside, in 
which case there can be no door nor window in one end, but there can and 
must be a large chimney ventilator. Make the floor of cement or flag- 
ging-stones, and, if not too expensive, use stone shelves, built in the wall. 
The outside is to be banked up with earth and sodded over so as to form 
a grassy mound, forming, in fact, a sort of cave cellar. A retaining wall 
must be built each side of the door-way, and a shed over it, with wire- 
screened windows in the door for ventilation, the sash being hinged to swing 
down and fasten to the lower half of the door. Such a room will keep milk 
sweet and of even temperature, and is not more expensive than a good 
frame building. 

The place where the milk is set, churning done, or butter stored, should 
be absolutely sweet, clean, and deodorized of every smell. Water — cold 
water, and its liberal application — is an essential about the dairy house, and 
outside of it ; upon everything ever used, hot water, soap aud sand, and hard 
hand-work, to make absolute purity, are the essential requisites to produce 
good butter. Every woman should assure all the "men-folks," and often 
repeat it to them, that no woman can make good butter if the cows are not 
provided with suitable food. Recollect, food and shelter — airy, roomy, 
clean stables, summer and winter; none of your milking in the road, among 
the hogs ; setting milk for cream where the air is scented with hog-pen efflu- 
via, or any other but that of roses, mint, and new-mown hay. 



452 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

Food is the first, purity tlie second, temperature the third requisite in 
making sweet yellow butter. 

The best way to make dairy slielves is to use sti-ips sawed one by two 
inches, and set so that the pans will stand upon their edges, or else place 
them wide enough apart to receive the bottom of the pan, having cross 
strips nailed in to support the sides, so that the pans would only touch at 
ibnr points, and so cause the milk to cool quickly, and save labor in keeping 
the shelves clean ; for a pan of warm milk set upon a flat shelf in a room a 
little damp, or when the shelf has just been washed, will generate mold — 
certainly more than when set on strips, as here recommended. 

A Mr. Motley, of Massachusetts, has a dairy-room in the cellar of his house, 
and arranged to be ventilated by an area window, which is covered Avitli 
wire netting. The floor is cemented, and of course kept scrupulously clean. 
Plain, broad wooden shelves around the four sides of the room hold tlie j)ans 
of milk. A marble-top table, standing in the center of the apartment, is 
used for working the butter, and preparing it for market. The milk is 
churned in one of the well-known Crowell " thermometer churns," of a 
capacity of thirty gallons. A small /lir-tight wood stove is used to insure 
an equable temperature in winter. About 100 pounds of butter are made 
weekly, which is sold to gentlemen in Boston at fifty cents per pound. It 
is put up in neat quarter-pound rolls, prettily stamped, and sent to town in 
tin boxes, fitted with shelves inside- to keep the layers of rolls separate. 
As to the delicious quality of the butter, that is proved by the price. 

508. How to Make Winter Diittcr,— If cows are fed with roots, meal, or 
even whole corn, which, by-the-l)y, is only to be tolerated when corn is 
worth less than twerity-five cents a bushel, there will be no complaint of 
poor white butter, unless the fault is in the churning or the keeping of the 
milk. Milk, in winter, should be kept about the same temperature as in 
summer-time, and should not be allowed to stand unskimmed merely because 
" it is taking no harm." Take off the cream, and if not enough for an im- 
mediate churning, let it be kept cool and sweet till enough is accumulated, 
when, if it is necessary to sour it, it may be put in a warm place and done 
all at once. "When put into the churn, it should be at a temperature of 62 
degrees, and if kept at that, yellow butter will be got in thirty minutes by 
churning moderately, if your cows have had a little salt every day. 

509. Butter Colored to Order.— Are the butter-eaters of New York aware 
that butter, so far as color is concerned, is made to order as much as their 
boots, hats, and coats? We assure them that sucli is the fact, as is well 
known to all dealers, and should bo known to all consumers, and by them 
wholly discountenanced. Our present notice of the fact arises from Iiear- 
ing a woman bitterly denouncing the grocer who sent her " white butter." 
After she had selected some "nice yellow" butter, at two cents higher price 
per pound, and retired, the grocer asked us to test the samples. We found 
the rejected white butter as sweet and fresh as could be desired, and worth 
twenty per cent, more than the other, according to our taste. The other, 



Sec. 28.] THE DAIRY. 453 

however, was pretty to look at. It was of a deep yellow hue, but we at 
once declared that it was made so by aniiatto. " Yes," said the grocer, 
"you are right. That butter was made to order for me for just such cus- 
tomers as that woman, who do not know good butter by the taste — they 
judge only by looks. It actually cost me two cents a pound less than the 
other. You saw how I sold it." 

A butter-maker, writing to the author about " coloring butter to order," 
says : 

" We think you Kew Yorkers possessed of remarkable tastes, if you really 
prefer butter made yellow to order instead of that of a natural color, though 
perfectly sweet. If it is the color instead of the rpiality that you care.for, 
we shall have to solicit a sample of the shade desired, and order more dye- 
stuff. "We shall have to make butter for home use and for city use, as no 
one in the country will eat colored butter in winter except as the milk . 
colors it. There is but very little in the country at this season (hat an- 
swers tlie orders from the city, except such as has been fixed up to suit j'our 
market." 

Now, butter-eaters, you hear how yellow butter is made " fresh from the 
cow" in winter, and how much you pay for the privilege of eating " anuatto 
and other dyestuffs." 

510. Rules for Salting Batter. — First, none but the very purest rock-salt, 
or manufactured salt, prepared especially for the dairy, should ever bo used. 
An experienced Scotch dairyman says: 

"Take the best crystal salt, wash it, dissolve, strain, settle, and turn off; 
boil it down in some perfectly clean iron vessel, skim as boiling ; when 
stirred ofl" dry, it will produce fine salt, -white as the drifting suow, which, 
if stirred up in a glass of water, will produce no sediment, and will be dis- 
tinct from any mineral or other possible impurity." 

Three experienced dairywomen in Berksiiire County, Mass., give the fol- 
lowing rules for quantity : 

" No. 1. A teacupful of salt to six pounds of butter. 

"No. 2. One pint of salt to fifteen pounds of butter. 

" No. 3. An ounce of salt to a jjound of butter." 

Salting the cream before churning has been advocated as a good 
practice. To every quart of cream, as it is skimmed and put in the pot to 
accumulate until sufficient for churning, add a tablespoonful of salt. It 
is stated that the time of churning is very much lessened by salting the 
cream. 

511. Packing and Preserving Cutter. — A patent has been granted to W. 
Clark, of London, England, for a new method of treating butter. The but- 
ter is worked in the usual manner, and is then placed between linen cloths 
and submitted to severe pressure, which removes the whey and water. It 
is then covered with clean white paper, whicli has received a coating on 
botli sides with a preparation composed of the white of eggs and fifteen 
grains of salt to each egg. Tlie paper is dried, and then heated before the 



4:54 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

iire or with a hot iron just before it is applied to the lumps of butter. It is 
claimed that butter treated in this way will keep two months without salt 
in a cool cellar. Any ordinary cheese-press, or the presses accompanying 
the portable cider-mills, now common, will answer the purpose. Pressing 
removes the w^ter, and the prepared paper excludes the air. 

Earthen jars, made of the size and shape of a fifty-pounds tub (not a 
fii-kin), and put in a wooden tub, made to fit, with a head in each end, are 
reconunended as an improvement for packing butter. If desirable, the 
wooden tub may be made large enough to fill with salt between the two, or 
can be made close. The heads should be made close to the butter-pot in 
either case. Butfer jDacked in this way will keep sweet any length of time, 
if well made, while in the present mode of packing, in nine cases out of 
ten, it will taste of the tub after being packed two months. The first cost 
of the two is about one dollar, and after being sent to market, they can be 
returned a distance of 300 miles at a cost of about thirty cents. We fear the 
expense of this improvement will jn-event its general adoption, though we 
can perceive no reason to doutt its efficacy. 

There is no doubt that if butter could be rendered absolutely pure, it 
would keep, if excluded from the air, as well as sweet-oil. That it is hardly 
ever pure may be shown by a sample melted, and put in a bottle, to stand a 
few hours in a warm place, when the oily part will float upon the top of 
water or other impurities it may contain. 

512. How to Cool Butter without IcCt — The following plan of cooling but- 
ter is founded upon the scientific principle of cooling a body by evapora- 
tion. Fill a deep plate or fiat dish with water, and in that set a trivet, such 
as are often used upon the ironing-table, to hold a plate of butter above the 
water. Cover the butter-plate with a porous, earthen fiower-pot that must 
have its edge immersed in water, and a cork in the hole in the bottom. 
Now dash water uj^on the pot, and repeat several times as it evaporates 
during the day, kecjiing it in a cool place, and at supper-time you may 
bring your butter to the table as delightfully firm as you would from an 
ice-house. 

513. Milking by Machinery. — If anything lias been or may be invented to 
relieve woman from tlie tiresome labor of milking, it will be hailed with in- 
tense satisfaction. AVe therefore chronicle the fact of the recent invention 
of a milking machine. The manner of its construction is simple enough. 
It consists of two diaphragm putnps made of tin and India rubber, so ar- 
ranged as to be easily taken apart for washing. The teat-cups are made 
tapering to fit any size, and attached by flexible joints, so as to be spread 
apart to suit wide-spreading teats, or those more contracted. It is possible 
that it will prove a very useful invention. If so, we presume that farmers 
will hear more of it. 

The machine is attached to a pail, and set on a stool under the udder, the 
four teats inserted in four tubes, and the pump operated, and the milk drawn 
and conveyed by a conductor into the pail, the inventor says in a maivel- 



Sec. 28.] THE DAIRY. 455 

ously short time — say three minutes for an ordinary cow ; milking entirely 
clean, without injur}' and to her advantage, as it is beneficial to have the 
work done quickly, and the machine is intended to do it quicker than it is 
possible by hand. It is said also that cows gently stand this machine milk- 
ing; the contrivance is ingenious, and will work. Its practical utility we 
can not vouch for. 

514. How to Make Cows give Down. — We have often heard that one man 
could lead a horse to water, but two could not make him drink. The great 
mistake of most people in the management of hoi-ses, cows, and even men, 
is trying to make them do things by force instead of milder means. The 
best way to make a cow give down is to coax her. Patience and perse- 
verance will generally overcome the difficulty and effect a cure. We have 
seen cows that had been trained to being fed Avhen milked until they would 
only give down when bribed to do so. Strapping up the fore leg of a cow 
with a strap slipped over the bent knee so that she can not walk until 
milked, will sometimes cure her refractory disposition. If a cow will not 
give down by gentle means, it is of no use to try to make her do it. 

515. Milk Farms— Product, Price, Proflt. — Milk for Cities— foudeased Miik. 
— The entire business of many farmers, near cities, is producing milk for sale. 
It is sent by railway more than 100 miles. The average value upon I lie 
roads that supply New York may be three cents a quart, ranging about as 
follows, as a general thing: for five months, at 2 cents; one month, 2i cents ; 
two months, 3 cents ; four months, 3i cents. Freight will average two 
cents a quart, besides a great loss of cans. It costs the farmer most to pro- 
duce milk in April. The cost of winter feed, 5 lbs. of meal and 15 lbs. of 
liay per day. The annual average product of good cows would be fCO each. 
If cream only is sold, say 10 quarts per Aveek at 15 cents, and 9 lbs. of 
" skim cheese" at 8 cents, will make a cow yield $2 22 per week. 

The yield of milk of extraordinary cows has been, for one, 15 i quarts a 
day for 150 days; for another, li^ quarts a day for six months, sold at 3i 
cents a quart, producing $107, from one cow, fed on grass and meal. 

The income of an Illinois cheese and butter dairy, owned by Mr. Savory, 
of Do Kalb County, is given as follows, in a poor, dry season : 10,500 pounds 
of cheese, at 10 cents, $1,050 ; 500 pounds of butter, at 14 cents, $70 ; 50 
calves, at $1 50, $75 ; whey and sour milk (estimated), $50 ; total income, 
$1,245. Dr. : 50 cows — to getting 100 tuns of ha}', $150 ; care, milking, etc., 
$200; two hired girls, 30 weeks, and board, $180; interest on cash value of 
cows, $100. Total cost, $630— $24 per cow; and taking value of feed and 
labor into account, was perhaps as profitable as a New York milk farm. 
See 1 41, etc. 

Condensed Milk. — There is one metiiod of sending milk to the cities, 
lately adopted, that will enable farmers living beyond the limit of shipping 
fresli milk, to send it to market. It can bo done upon the same principle as 
associated cheese dairies. See T[ 518. Tlicre are two modes: the product 
of one, called " condensed milk," resembles rich, thick cream ; the other, 



456 . DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

called " concentrated milk," resembles and is composed in part of dry, white 
sugar. The former has nothing added, but much taken away. 

The process of condensing milk was invented by Gail Borden, Jun. (him- 
self an octogenarian). The first manufactory was established at Burrville, 
Litchfield Co., Conn., if we remember rightly, about 1854:-55, and is still in 
successful operation, conducted by "Wm. Borden. Another establishment 
has since been started at "Wassaic, Dutchess Co., N. T., on the Harlem Rail- 
road, 85 miles north of JSTew York. This is conducted by the inventor him- 
self, whose residence is at that place, where parties desirous to commence 
similar operations can obtain the necessary infornjation. The jaroduct of this 
invention furnishes to residents in cities who have a taste for pure milk all that 
they can reasonably desire. The process of condensation not only separates 
the water from the more solid elements of the milk, but absolutely frees it 
from all impurities, even including the unpleasant odor that is usually com- 
bined with the milk of cows, and which sometimes, when they are unhealthy, 
is exceedingly oflTonsive. Samples of milk from all the dairies are constantly 
subjected to tests to indicate the quality and detect impurity. As it is brought 
in from the farms, it is emptied through fine strainers into tin cooling vats. 
These must be placed in running water or cooled with ice. The first process 
in the operation of condensing milk is to free the natural milk of all its animal 
heat; and during this cooling, if there is any sediment that was not removed 
by the strainers, it is found in the bottom of the vats and rejected. The milk 
is then heated by steam nearly up to the boiling-point. This brings up a very 
small per-centage of cream that makes butter. The milk is now ready to com^ 
inence the process of condensation, and is drawn by an e.xhaust-pipe into a 
steam-boiler heated by coils of pipe which raise the temperature to a given de- 
gree, converting the water into vapor which fills the upper part of the boiler 
from which it is pumped oflf ; and as it is discharged into the air, it gives out 
a fetid odor almost equal to the swill-milk of New York. This punipmg is 
continued until this odor is exhausted, and until so much of the water has 
been separated from the milk, that when it is once cooled again it has the 
appearance of thick, smooth cream. It is then packed in cans for transporta- 
tion ; and we see no reason why milk could not be put up in this way upon 
the prairies of Illinois as well as the pastures of Dutchess County. 

For many purposes the condensed milk is used in the same condition ; for 
ice-creams, eating upon fruit, and many culinary purposes, it is delicious. 

When milk is desired in its ordinary condition, add water until the con- 
densed milk is thoroughly combined with it, and it is like good, rich, fresh 
milk, except that it has lost a little of that piquancy which is found in some 
" pure milk " and which some city people seem to relish. 

The advantages to the farmer of this invention he will readily understand. 
A milk-condensing factory established in any neighborhood, as it may be 
wherever tliere is a j^ure stream of M-ater, would prove as great a conveni- 
ence as a grist-mill, and more advantageous, because he can sell his grain 
in the rongh state, but can not dispose of his milk unless it is converted mto 



Sec. 2R.] the DAIRY.— CHEESE-MAKING. 457 

some condensed product. Tlic advantage of selling milk instead of convert- 
ing it into butter or cheese, every farmer can calculate for himself, upon the 
basis that it will require four quarts of milk for one pound of cheese, or 
fourteen quarts for one pound of butter, taking the average product of cows 
and average process of manufacture. If intended for a condensing factory 
in the immediate neigliborhood, the fanner would be enabled to carry the 
milk directly from the stable. 

Another advantage would bo gained in the saving of cans, many of which 
sent to cities are lost in spite of all the care of the owners. The establish- 
ment of such factories will open up new fields of industry in many parts of 
the country, adding wealth, comfort, and happiness to farmers' families. 
We urge them all to consider the subject, and comi^are with other products 
of the dairy this new one of condensed milk. 

516. Cheese — How to Make It. — ^The following directions are given by Ed- 
win Pitcher, of Martinsburg, N. Y., a noted maker of good cheese : 

" The way to make a mild, rich, good-flavored, sound cheese is to work 
the curd carefully, so as not to start the white whey, or, in other words, 
work out the cream ; second, cook it well ; salt even, and enough to make it 
good flavored ; press it well, and keep it cool and dry when made. A 
neglect in part will spoil the whole. We set our milk 86 degrees, as nearly 
as we can, and put in rennet enough to bring the curd in half an hour. 

"We use a cheese-cutter. Cut the curd carefully over once, and then let 
it stand fifteen or twenty minutes, till the whey begins to rise ; then work it 
tine with a cheese-cutter; then put hot water enough under the tin vat to 
raise the heat to 90 degrees. Stir often, so as not to let it pack down. We 
then dip off about one third of the whey, and increase the heat to about 
102 degrees, and keep it at that heat till it is well cooked, keeping it fine all 
the time. When it is done, it will fall apart in the hand like wheat. We 
dip out of the tin vat (when it is cooled down to 90 degree?) into a sink, and 
when the curd is dry put in a teacupful of salt curd, enough to make fifteen 
pounds after it is pressed. If the curd is a little too soft, put in a little more 
salt to harden it. We cool in the vat, in hot weather, by putting in cold 
water under the vat, to 90 degrees, before dipping out. I think it hurts the 
cheese very much to dip it out too hot. 

" My cheese-room is plastered, and I let down my windows from the top 
in hot weather, and I have a ventilator in the center overhead. The floor 
is matched and made tight, so as to shut up the room in cool weather, with 
seven trap-doors to let in the air when necessary. I think it essential, 
in making good cheeses, to keep them cool. The cheese-room should never 
be over 75 or 80 degrees, and it is better not over 70 degrees. I use cold 
water on the floor, and a large piece of ice in a pan on the counter if the 
weatiier is too hot. Keeping cool is a great cure for almost everything. It 
saves cheese from fermenting and becoming strong. You can not very well 
cook your cheese too much in May or June, and you must be sure and keep 
your rennet sweet." 



458 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 

A first-rate cbeese-maker of Herkimer County, N. Y., gives the follow- 
ing as her practice : 

" I set the milk at 90 degrees, in spring and fall, and 8G degrees in hot 
weather. Heat np tliree times — first 90 degrees, then 95 degrees, and last 
100 degrees. I put about one tcacupful of salt to sixteen pounds of curd, 
and use much care in breaking it ui^ and working ; cutting at first with a 
dairy -knife of four blades, and using the knife Avitb one band during the 
whole operation, taking particular care not to scpieeze the curd in any way, 
but pass one hand imder, and lifting gently, and letting it fall off the hand 
and between the fingers, and with the other keep the knife in motion in the 
curd, cutting it as fine as possible by tlie time it is ready for salting. 

"Thought and care are essential in all the various operations. Intense 
interest and anxiety are necessar}^ in order to do all tliese things well, for 
they influence the texture, flavor, and quality of the cheese. 

" Rennet. — The stomach of the- calf should be taken when empty (no 
curd in it) — care taken not to get dirt on it — and, without rinsing or wash- 
ing, salted inside and out with one teacupfiil of salt to a reimet, and placed 
in an earthen dish. It should lie in the salt two days, then be stretched 
and dried upon a stick in the form of a hooj?. When dried, take it oil" tlie 
stick, and place it in a tight sack for use. Those prepared one season are 
not to be used till the next. 

" When rennets are to be used, put three in an earthen vessel ; then take 
two gallons of water, put one cpiart of salt in it, boil and skim, and cool till 
milk-warm. Tlien pour it upon them, and in one week the liquor will be 
fit for use. One teacupful of it will curdle the milk of two milkings from 
fifteen cows, fit to break up in forty minutes." 

An experienced cheese-maker of Warner, N. II., gives her method as 
follows : 

"I first scald the tub, then strain the milk into it as soon as brought from 
milking. Next put in sufiicient rennet, the quantity depending upon the 
quality to fetch the milk to a curd in from forty to sixt^- minutes. The curd 
is then dipped carefully into the basket for draining until the next morning. 
The morning's milk is prepared in the same manner (after the thorough 
scalding of the tub). The curd, when formed, is dipped in with that of the 
previous evening; then left to drain, with an occasional stirring with a knife 
or slice. I prefer a knife, as it is not so likely to injure the curd. When 
sufficiently drained, which it will be by nine or ten o'clock if properly at- 
tended to, I tie together the ends of tlie cloth, and liang in the cellar until 
the succeeding day, when the curd of that day is prepared in the manner of 
the previous day's curd. It is now ready for scalding. I pour boiling hot 
water, at the rate of one gallon for ten pounds of curd, into the tub ; next 
slice in the curd from the basket, handling it carefully, so as not to disturb 
the white M'hey. The curd is next brought from the cellar and sliced in the 
same manner. It is put in lastly, for being older it does not require as much 
scalding as the newer curd. I now let it stand from five to ten minutes. 



Sec. 28.] THE DAIRY.— CHEESE-MAKING. 459 

from the time the last slice is dropped in, then dip back into the basket, curd 
and water together, to drain. I check and stir it up with the knife four or 
five times, when it is ready for grinding. The mill is placed upon tlie 
cheese tongs over the tub ; tlio curd is then sliced into the mill and ground, 
wlien it is ready for the seasoning, which consists of a common-sized teacup- 
ful of rock-salt and one teaspoonful of saltpeter for every twenty pounds of 
curd. It is thoroughly mixed — not squeezed —with the hands. It is then 
ready for pressing, which is done gently until night, when the cheese is 
turned, cloth changed, and put back to pressing with sufficient weight, where 
it remains until the next cheese is ready for the press." 

We find in the best large clieese-dairies of this country, that where the 
cTird is scalded by steam, that the right temperature varies among different 
cheese manufacturers; thus Mr. O. S. Cumings, of Trenton Falls, N. Y., 
scalds to lOi degrees; Mr. A. Coon, of Russia, from 108 to 110 degrees ; Mr 
W. Buck, 102 to 101 degrees; and Mr. S. N. Andrews, 100 to 102 degrees. 

517. Englisli fIseesc-Makias. — The method of heating the milk by the ap- 
plication of steam to the cheese-vat, is a great improvement over the English 
method. So is the method of separating the curd from the whey by strain- 
ing it through a clotfi much more expeditious. In Cheshire the whey is re- 
moved by pressing down a flat-bottomed pan gently on the curd in the 
cheese-tub and allowing it to fill. When the curd is thus partially freed 
from the whey, it is again gently broken and allowed to settle and sep- 
arate and the whey is boiled out slowly, the curd being placed on one 
side of the tub, which is slightly raised, and a board is placed on the curd 
with heavy weights on top to press out the whey. 

The curd is then cut into pieces six or eight inches scpiare, and again 
pressed with heavier weights. When as much whey as possible is removed 
in this way, the curd is placed in a vat and gently broken. It is then put 
under the press and a slight pressure applied at first, which is gradually in- 
creased till no more whey can be pressed out. To facilitate the flow of the 
whey, the cheese is pierced "with skewers. This preliminary pressing occu- 
pies four or five hours. The cheese is then taken out of the press, broken 
up again very fine, salted, put up in the vat again, and pressed under a 
heavy press for three or four days, clean and dry cloths being put round the 
cheese as the old ones become wet. 

This is a tedious process, and we think some of the operations of the 
American process might be adopted in England with advantage. The es- 
sential point of difference is the scalding ; this renders less salt and less 
pressing necessary. There can be no doubt that the preserving action of the 
salt is greater in proportion to the absence of whey in the cheese when it is 
applied ; and it is for this reason that the Cheshire dairymen press their 
curd before the salt is added. Many people prefer cheese made by the 
English process. 

51S. Cheese-Making by Assoriated Interest in manufactories. — This system 
was originated, we believe, by Jesse Williams, of Rome, Oneida, Co., N. Y., 



460 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 



somewhere about the year 1850. Since that time it lias been greatly extended 
in Central and Northern New York, and considerably in Northern Ohio. It 
is like the manufacturing of any other farm produce, except that this is 
usually carried on upon joint account of the producers of the raw material. 
The success of this mode of cheese-making has now become fully cstablislied. 
It not only lessens the expense of manufacture, but improves the quality of 
the cheese. The establishments vary greatly in size, using the milk of from 
one hundred to fourteen hundred cows. The business has become so im- 
portant that regular organizations have been effected, both in New York and 
Ohio. To enable our readers to consult with those already engaged in the 
business we give the following list, naming the owner or superintendent and 
location of a number of establishments represented in a convention held at 
Rome in January, 1864:. This list, though representing only a portion of the 
dairy interest, shows how the subject has affected the minds of farmers in 
the central part of New York. 



Names, Factories located. Cows. 

Hugh Quinn Oneida Co 527 

Williams, Adams & Dewey . Oneida Co 350 

G. W. Davis Oneida Co 380 

F. Clark Oneida Co 350 

Hiram Brown Chenango Co . . . COO 

James Rathburn Oneida Co 707 

Cliarles Rathburn Oneida Co 125 

J. W. Brooks Oneida Co 320 

G . E. Morse Madison Co G50 

J. Greenfield Oneida Co 300 

D. Ellis Warren, Mass. . . 600 

Isaac Shell Herkimer Co. . . . 600 

A. Anstead Oneida Co 500 

J. G. Coates Oneida Co 300 

Henry Hill Oneida Co 500 

G. W. Wheeler Oneida Co 200 

Gold Creek Factory Herkimer Co. . . COO 

Ccrllins' Factory Erie Co 1,000 

New Woodstock Factory. .Madison Co. . . .1,200 

F. Smith Oneida Co 575 

Crosby & Huntington Oneida Co 510 

G. B.Weeks Oneida Co G40 

H. L Rcsc Oneida Co 1,000 

B. F. Stevens Lewis Co 800 

T. Tillinghast. Cortland Co BOO 

Kenny & Frazer Cortland Co 1,400 

Rome Cheese Manuf. Ass . Oneida Co 624 

Wright & Williams Oneida Co 550 

Whittaker & Curry Oneida Co 500 

D. ITiomas Oneida Co 500 



Names. Factories located. Cows. 

L. M. Dunton Lewis Co 800 

Asel Burnhani, Jr Chautauque Co. 500 

Hanck, Wilcox & Co Chantauque Co. COO 

Clear Spring Factory; Chautauqua Co. COO 

A. L. Fish Herkimer Co £00 

Sehnser & Davis Fulton Co COO 

Caydatta Cheese Factory . .Montgomery Co. (iOO 

West Eaton Factory Madison Co 6(J0 

Miller, Fowler & Co Oneida Co 800 

R. U. Sherman Oneida Co ISO 



Jerome Bush Lewis Co.. 

A. S. King Oneida Co. 

S. Allen Oneida Co. 



700 
2P0 
500 

Alfred Buck Oneida Co 470 

Brown & Co Madison Co 800 

F. A . Norton Madison Co 500 

S. Conan Madison Co COO 

Savory & Coventry Madison Co CC(J 

Kirkland Cheese Co Oneida Co 80() 

J. L. Dean Oneida Co 300 

Colosse Cheese Factory .... Oswego Co £00 

Harvcv Farrington Herkimer Co . . . 470 

J. H. "Hiibb.ird Oneida Co 400 

David Yourdeu Oneida Co 150 

Ezra Barnard Oneida Co 220 

Asa Chandler Oneida Co 270 

X M. Farnhara Lewis Co 897 

David W. Wilcox Oneida Co 750 

Levi Tanner Oneida Co 950 

E. S. Bennett Oswego Co 250 



PLATE XIV. 

(Page 461.) 

This picture illustrates the subject upon which the chapter treats, 
where it is placed as a sign is sometimes shown, to indicate the 
things within. It is the sign of the garden. In it were grown the 
cabbage, corn, cucumbers, turnips, tomatoes, pumpkins, potatoes, 
beets, carrots, parsneps, egg-plants, ornamental gourds, onions, and 
so on of all the rest. It indicates some of the subjects of this chap- 
ter, but not all. It would require a large picture to do that. So, 
after taking a glance at this, look well at every one of the next 
hundred pages. Every paragraph about " The Garden and its 
Fruits" has a deep interest to every reader. The picture is only a 
sort of wayside resting-place for the weary reader's eye. It is to 
amuse and lead the traveler on to more substantial fare. 



r 




CHAPTER V. 

THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. 



SECTION XXIX.- 



-PLEASUllE AND PllOFITS OF GARDENING- 
AND HISTORY OF VEGETABLES. 



-ORIGIN 




T is an error, and one that prevails to a considerable 
y extent, to suppose that all labor bestowed upon a gar- 
den is so much " labor lost." Many farmers pass through 
a long life without ever having anything M'orthy of the 
name of garden — a name which signifies: "1. A piece of 
ground appropi-iated to the cultivation of herbs or plants, 
fruits and flowers. 2. A rich, well-cultivated spot or tract 
of country ; a delightful spot." 

And colloquially, in the Northeastern States, a garden is 
a spot not always delightful — where all the potatoes, beets, 
turnips, cabbages, onions, etc., grown for family use, are 
planted. It also includes a small patch of strawberries, a 
row of currants along the fence, and sometimes a few flowers. 
Often, however, it is as destitute of the latter as it is of all 
the other attributes of a "delightful spot;" yet the vegetable garden is one 
of the necessities of life that no farmer can afford to do without. As a gen- 
eral rule, the garden of a farm should be in the form of a parallelogram, 
running north and soutli, with orchard trees and shrubbery at the north end 
and a grass-plat at the south end, and everything should be planted in long 
rows. This admits of plowing the ground, with a place to turn at each end, 
both in breaking up the soil early in the spring and in after cultivation. It 
is just as well to have a row of beets twenty rods long as to have twenty 
rows of one rod — indeed, much better, because you can do more in one hour 
in deepening the soil sufficiently for beets with a stout horse than a man can 
in a day with a spade. Even in a spaded garden, the old fashion of raising 
beds and deepening alleys has come to ns from Europe, particularly Ireland, 
where there may be a necessity for the practice ; there is none here. It be- 
longs to the same family of antiquated notions as hilling up Indian corn. It 
is a foolish notion. 

Although a garden should be rich, it must not be made excessively so 
with stable manure. We believe a continuance of any one kind of manure 
to excess will render a soil unfit for crops in general. For an over-rich gar- 
den soil the best remedy is lime, and the best way to apply it is in the form 
of "lime and salt mixture," which is made by dissolving salt in water until 



462 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

it will dissolve no more, and then using that brine to slake lime. A busliel 
of salt may thus be mixed with throe bushels of unslaked lime and the mix- 
ture applied at the rate of 30 to 100 l)ushels of the slaked lime per aero. If 
the lime after slaking is kept in a pile under a shed, the outward portion 
effloresces, and it may be raked off and put away in barrels as it accumu- 
lates. The lime is then in the best piossiblo condition for use. 

Of the profits of gardens there can be no doubt. Any one who is fa- 
miliar with the operations of the market gardeners near large cities, knows 
that the business is more j^rofitable than ordinary farming. There is no 
reason why many other persons should not enjoy similar profits. 

There is not one village in ten in all (he Eastern States that is large 
enough to support a locomotive butcher that would not support a good 
market garden from (he first year of its establishment, the produce being 
sent around to the houses in the same way that the butcher sends his meat. 
Of course, all the waste or refuse of the garden must be fed to the cow, 
pig, and poultry, and of course the owner would grow wealthy faster than 
the owner of a large farm cultivated in the ordinary way. 

The great secret of success in market gardening lies in the succession 
of crops. Heavy manuring, thorough cultivation, and a good market arc 
of course important adjuncts, but all of these will not give maximum re- 
sults without the gardener's skill in keeping the ground fully occupied ; and 
in that, more than in all other things, is where not only gardeners, but 
farmers, fail. They keep too much unoccupied land, allowing a grain crop, 
oats, for instance, to be followed by a crop of miserable weeds more wortli- 
less than it is easy to imagine, for they are more exhausting than the grain, 
and of no use to man, animal, or soil. Land should never be left idle. In 
a well-arranged market garden one thing succeeds another so rapidly that 
one row of the first crop is off to day and its successor growing in its place 
to-morrow. The owner can not aflbrd to wait till all is off, because by 
planting one after the other, he has the ripening crop for sale in the same 
order, and thus secures the whole value of the manure. 

The work in a market garden properly begins in autumn. There are 
several vegetables that must be started at this season, and all the ground 
should be manured either then or during the winter. Much of the success of 
the garden pecuniarily depends upon having its products a little anticipate 
the usual season. Potatoes early in the season are worth two dollars a 
bushel. Three weeks later they are down to a dollar or less. There is a 
like falling off from most other articles, though hardly anything fails to re- 
turn a paying price. 

Spinach is sown in September and October to furnish cuttings in April 
and May. Cabbage is sown about the same time to furnisli plants for the 
cold frame, which are kept through (he winter, transplanted in April, and 
furnish heads in June. They are put into the frame in tows very near to- 
gether in November, and when the winter sets in, are covered with boards, 
removing only in mild weathci- and increasing light and heat as spring ad- 



Seo. 20.] PLEASURE AND PROFITS OF GARDENING. 463 

vancc'S, imlil the open ground is in condition to receive them. These are 
called cold-frame plants, and furnish heads about two weeks earlier than the 
hot-bed plants started in March. The best varieties for this early crop are 
the Earl}- York and the Wiiinigstadt, which makes a very solid head of ex- 
cellent quality. 

Lettuce is also sown in the fall, and with a little protection keeps well 
through the winter. About the first of March operations commence witli 
the hot-beds. These are prepared with various quantities of manure, ac- 
cording to the heat required. The beds are generally from four to six feet 
wide, for convenience in attending to the plants. They are covered with a 
sash about three feet wide, the glass being not more than seven by nine. 
In these beds a great variety of plants are forwarded — cabbage, tomatoes, 
peppers, egg-plants, and other early plants. 

The whole ground is covered as soon as it is sufficiently warm, and ar- 
i-anged so as to allow a succession crop. In the first course come radishes, 
spinach, lettuce, cabbage, potatoes, ])eas, turnips, corn, kohl-rabi. 

Early potatoes are off in time for late cabbage ; early radishes in time for 
celery, sweet corn, or cabbage. Early peas are always followed by a crop 
of something that will ripen before frost. Early corn may be followed by tur- 
nips, or by spinach for spring, which will be off in time for tomatoes. Beets 
are followed by celer}', and pej^pers arc transplanted among the heads of let- 
tuce a week or two before they go to market ; or squashes or cucumbers are 
planted. Quassia chips, steejjed in hot water, and that sprinkled upon the 
vines, are fonnd to be eflicient protection against bugs. Carrots form a good 
succession crop to the onions. Tliey are sowed between the rows about the 
middle of June. Two crops, and sometimes three, are always grown from 
the same plot of ground in a season. Nothing but ignorance of these facts 
prevents a great many small owners of land in the vicinity of small towns 
from establishing market gardens for the supply of those who can not, or at 
least do not, grow a supply for themselves of the most common sorts of gar- 
den vegetables. It is a fact but little appreciated, that a very large portion 
of those who have lived all their lives upon a farm, and made its cultiva- 
tion their oidy business, are utterly incompetent to manage a garden — that 
is, a garden intended for supplying any market with vegetables. 

Illustrative of the pleasures and profits of gardening, we insert a report 
of a visit of the author to tha garden of an avtlst, to show what an un- 
professional gardener may do upon a little spot of ground. Geo. H. Ilite, 
of Morrisania, lives upon a village lot, and is by profession an artist. Not 
an artist in gardening — not one who professes or pretends to practice horti- 
culture upon a scientific or artistic plan. Nor do I mention his garden as a 
model of taste and skill which may be imitated by the wealthy at great ex- 
pense. I mention it rather as the garden of a mechanic, and just such a one 
as a great many mechanics or professional men might have if they would — 
if they only knew how. I mention it full of hope that it may be the moving 
cause toward inducing other men who have daily employment, as this one 



464 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

has, at some trade or profession, to devote a little time, some money, and a 
great deal of sound common sense in the cultivation of the little half-acre 
plats that we often see surrounding village residences, which are mere ex- 
amples of the utter uselessness of land except to enable the owner to show 
how bari'cn and worthless he can make it. There is no need of this idle use 
of land. There is no reason why every owner of a village lot should not 
revel in all the luscious fruits of tlie season, and treat himself and liis friends 
to an occasional bottle of wine, equal to any that he could purchase for a 
couple of dollars, just as Geo. II. Hite is now able to do, free of expense; 
for his garden j^ays its own way, and a little more, of all cost of cultivation, 
leaving him iii the enjoyment of its delicious fruits, fresh from tlie earth, or 
their products preserved to continue almost as fresh throughout the winter. 
And he is not by profession nor early education a gardener, being a native 
of a State less noted for its horticultural skill and fruits tlian for its pro- 
ductions of great corn crops, great bullocks, great men — physically and in- 
tellectuall}'. Mr. Ilite is a Iventuckian, and some of his early years were 
spent in painting portraits in Louisiana. Tlien he came to Now York, and 
during otiier years acquired fame as an artist upon ivorj'. Then, some years 
ago, like a sensible man, lie began to ci'eate a home for liis old age, wlien it 
comes ; it is only in the blossom now ; and tliat home I have visited, and I 
wish I could take every one who hears or reads of it with me to learn what 
an artist has done, and what a mechanic, a lawyer, a doctor, or anybody 
else might do in a garden upon a village lot. Will tlie sluggards who sigh 
after an abundance of fruit, and envy tliose who have, yet take no steps to 
have it themselves, believe me when I tell them that in this garden there 
are grapevines of such extent, luxuriance, and fruitfiilness, that several bar- 
rels are required to hold the juice of the surplus of the crop? Tlie fruitful 
arbor that extends some fifty feet from the rear of the house, affords a de- 
lightful shady spot, which, independent of the fruit, is well worth its cost. 
Isabella grape wine, five years old, with no addition whatever to the juice 
of the grape, is excellent. Strawberi-ies grow to jierfectiou in this garden ; 
and as a cultivator of currants, Mr. Hite excels. Not merely a few basket- 
fiils for family use, but bushel after bushel, red, white, and black. The ber- 
ries of the true red Dutcli variety are upon the average as large as the cherry 
currants under ordinary cultivation ; and as for productiveness, no state- 
ment can convey an idea. To believe, you must see. And this is the result 
of pruning. True, Mr. Hite follows the Scriptural injunction about a bar- 
ren tree, to " dig about and dung it,"' with all of his trees, and vines, and 
shrubs, and flowers, and table vegetables ; but with the currant the secret 
of success is pruning. "Keep no old wood," is his injunction. Every 
branch that has borne three crops must be cut away at the ground, having 
been twice shortened in, by which the short fruit-spurs on the new M-ood 
are always loaded, and the bunches growing close to the canes, so that they 
look like ropes of red berries. To commence with a single plant, cut it 
away close to the ground, to induce several vigorous shoots, instead of one. 



Sec. 29.] ORIGIN" AND HISTORY OF GARDEN PLANTS. 465 

growing tree-shaped. Next spring shorten all these canes, and let the fruit 
grow below and new shoots above, and next spring shorten these again. 
Some of Mr. Kite's three-year-old plants are now five or six feet high, so 
loaded with fruit that they have to be trained to stakes, which, by-thc-by, 
is the true way to grow currants. !Next spring these vigorous, fruitful 
branches, all that are three years old, will be unsparingly cut away. It is 
the secret of success. Meantime, new shoots come up in successive order 
to taho their place. I have no doubt of the fact that currant bushes thus 
treated, of the sour sort that are now growing neglected along many a gar- 
den wall, untrimmed in half a century, may be made to afford a field crop 
of more than two hundred bushels per acre of superior size and flavor tc 
those grown in the ordinary waj-, and that the cost of production will be far 
below twenty-five cents a bushel. The annual pruning would be the great- 
est part of the labor, and, in the vicinity of this city, the wood cut away 
would be worth nearh' the cost of cutting ; and in the country, where stone 
chimneys and brick ovens are still fashionable, the brush, when well sea- 
soned, would make superior oven wood. Besides what I have said of this 
garden, there is much more to be learned from it, and that where it blos- 
soms now, nine or ten years ago was a wilderness of wild bushes, blackber- 
ries, and rocks, and that ho who has said " jiresto, change !" is not a magician, 
but a very humble individual, with no more power to produce such change 
than the most humble one of the mighty multitude who have an idea above 
the gutter, with a will to work that idea out in the rich productions of na- 
ture improved. 

Besides the fruitful grapes I have alluded to, Mr. Hite has others, prin- 
cipall}' of the Delawares, now growing beautifully; and so satisfied is lie 
with the advantages of growing superior grapes, that he dug up a fruitful bed 
of strawberry -plants to make room for more Delaware grapevines, which 
he thinks will be the greatest wine-grape in America. Some of the surplus 
products of his little plot of ground afforded the owner one year $iOO in 
cash, which was more than enough to pay for hired labor and manure. Tliis 
should encourage others to go and do likewise. I would have gone to this 
man for my miniature portrait, but who would think of going to an artist 
to learn horticulture? Yet I have learned, and in my opinion others niav, 
from very unexpected sources. Let us try. 

519. Origlu and History of some Common Garden Vegetables,— The history 
of some of our fruits and vegetables is, in many respects, extremely cui-ious. 

"The artichoke, we find, was so highly esteemed in Rome, that an arbi- 
tary law was enacted to prevent commoners from eating it." 

This statement shows the importance of calling all plants by their botanical 
or scientific name, since we can not tell whether the writer means the 
IlcliantJms ivberosvs (Jerusalem artichoke), M'hich is a plant of the sun- 
flower species, or the artichoke which somewhat resembles a thistle the 
Cynara scolyrmis, which grows the edible part at the top instead of the 
bottom. 



466 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V- 

The plant used for flavoring, called hasil, Avbicli now stands so lilgli that a 
London alderman would spurn a basin of turtle made without it, was, 200 
years before Christ, condemned by Chrysippus as an enemy to the sight and 
a robber of the wits. Pliny says they sowed the seeds with maledictions 
and ill words, believing that the more it was cursed the better it would 
prosper. 

Lettuce appears, from an anecdote related by Herodotus, to liave been 
served at the royal tables of the Persian kings, five or six hundrea years 
before the Christian era, but they only knew one sort, M'hicli was a black 
variety. This esculent has been greatly improved by cultivation as well as 
cabbage. We can remember when a head of lettuce would have been a 
great curiosity, and the heads of cabbage fifty years ago were very unlike 
merchantable cabbage-lieads of the present day. 

Hint ajipears to have been used formerly for other purposes besides 
making mint-juleps, which produce a disease which, in ancient times, mint 
was used to cure ; for Pliny says, at a consultation of j^hysicians in his 
chamber, it was decided that a chaplet of pennyroyal was better for gid- 
diness and swimming in the head than one of roses. 

According to Ovid, mint was used by the ancients to perfume their tables, 
by rubbing the leaves upon them before serving the supper; and mush- 
rooms, both edible and poisonous, were known to the ancients. They were 
considered, when good, a great dainty \i\(\\ the voluptuous Komans ; and 
one of the poisonous sorts Avas used by Agrippina to destroy lier husband 
Tiberius Claudius. 

Mustard, it will be recollected by Bible-readers, was cultivated in Syria 
at the time of our Saviour, as it is mentioned in one of his beautiful parables 
as being the least seed that was sown in the field. 

Garlic and onions must have been in high favor as food at a very early 
daj', since it appears that the Egyptians worshiped garlic, and were said to 
wish that they might enjoy it in Paradise ; though the Greeks held it in 
such abhorrence, that they regarded those who ate it as profane. The Ro- 
mans gave it to their laborers and soldiers to strengthen them, and to their 
game-cocks previously to fighting them; and the Israelites, while in tlie 
wilderness, lamented the deprivation of these stimulating roots, to which 
tliey had become so accustomed in Egyj^t. In this country, onions are eaten 
by all classes, and in New York city, we have noticed, are greatly esteemed 
in winter by the very poorest classes, particularly the dissipated. They are 
not generally considered unhealthy, though no dyspeptic should ever touch 
garlic or onions in any shape, particularly raw. 

Parsnej)s were held in high esteem by the Emperor Tiberius, who im- 
ported them annually into Rome from Germany, probably because they 
grew much better in tliat colder climate, as they are greatly improved here 
by remaining in the ground to freeze during winter. 

Parsneps contain a large proportion of sugar; beer is made from tliem in 
the north of Ireland, and wine, closely approaching the malmsey of Madeira, 



^0. id.] ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF GARDEN PLANTS. 467 



is made from the roots. Marmalade, made -with parsneps and a small 
quantity of sugar, is said to excite appetite, and to be a very good food for 
convalescents. 

Parsley was cultivated, as it is now in gardens, in the time of Pliny, and 
appears to have been highly esteemed as a seasoning of food. 

liadishes were so highly esteemed by the Greeks, that they made them 
of gold to offer at the shrine of Apollo. If these were made of the size that 
radishes are represented as growing in those days, we certainly should prefer 
the counterfeits to the real ; for it is stated that they grew to the weight of 
forty or fifty pounds. Probably they were an entirely different article from 
our radishes, and perhaps were a culinary vegetable. 

Beets were made for the same juirpose of silver, which shows the com- 
parative estimation in which they were held. With us it is quite the 
reverse. 

7'iir/iij>s, too, do not seem to ha\o becu highly esteemed, since Apollo 
only got wooden turnips, while he got gold radishes aud silver beets. This 
was souiewhiit owing to climate, undoubtedly, for we have observed that 
turnip.s arc not es'eemed in llie cotton States, except for the tops to be used 
as greens. 

Thijmc was planted in Greece, and thence imported into the Roman 
H.alcL on account of its value as pasture for the honey-bees. 

Water-cress was esteemed as ^ stimulating article of diet, as well in olden 
time as at present, and was often eaten with salad to counteract its effects, 
which were thought to be chilly. An old writer says : 

" Water-cress is one of the most wholesome of our salad-herbs, and one of 
the oldest in use. Its qualities are -warm and stimulating, the reverse of 
nearly all other raw vegetables. Xenoiihon recommended it to the Persians, 
and the Romans gave it to those whose minds were deranged. Hence the 
Greek proverb : ' Eat cress, and have more wit.' It is an excellent anti- 
scoibutic ; and a salad so easily produced, and so important to the health of 
townspeople, can not be too highly recommended. The daily supply at 
Covent Garden, London, is about 6,000 bunches, but it is said if twice as 
many more bunches were brought in they would be all sold." 

C-ahhage appears to have been used for food from a very early period, 
and few vegetables have undergone greater improvements, from the original 
sea-kale to the large drum-head cabbage, some of which have heads almost 
as solid as turnips, and of twenty pounds weight. Germany, of all other 
countries, grows cabbage for food most abundantly. It is considered a 
necessity for every family to have a barrel or more of sour-kraut, which is 
uiade by cutting the cabbage-heads into small shreds, with sharp knives or a 
machine, which is i>ackcd in barrels with a little salt, and sometimes a flavor 
of spice, and in this way it keeps (we can not say sweet) in an eatable con- 
dition all winter, and is usually stewed and eaten with vinegar, in place of 
other vegetables, with meat. 

Asparagus is another sea-plant, very much improved by cultivation. The 



468 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

first time we hear of this vegetable is in tlie time of Cato the Elder, two 
hundred years before Christ. The Emperor Augustus was very partial to it; 
and at Eavenna it grew to such a size that three heads weighed a pound. 
Mr. Grayson, of Mortlake, near London, has produced one hundred heads 
that M'eighed forty-two pounds, jserhaps the largest ever known in Great 
Britain ; and hundreds of acres around the metropolis are devoted to its 
cultivation. The small heads are sometimes cut into pieces and boiled, as a 
substitute for green peas. Medicinally, it is considered diuretic, and is said 
to promote the appetite. It is considered antiscorbutic, and very good in 
dropsical cases, but is avoided by those having tiie gout. The most extra- 
ordinary virtue is that ascribed to it by Antoine Mizold, who says: "If the 
root is put upon a tooth that aches violently, it causes it to come out without 
pain." Our modern dentists will, we are sure, thank us for this infonnation, 
if it is true. 

Asparagus and cabbage arc botli benefited by the use of salt for manure. 
For asparagus, there is no danger of using too much salt. It may be used 
in a crude state, or dissolved, or in com2:)ost. 

Carrots, we are told, originated, or at least, were first cultivated for food, 
in Holland. Tliey are not only nutritious, but the pectic acid which they 
contain has the eflect to gelatinize oilier food, lience they are used in soups, 
making them richer. There is no root grown by farmers of quite as much 
value for stock as carrots. They are ver^j, nutritious food for oiu' tables, 
simply boiled, and only require a little practice to be much liked. Tlie 
white carrot is sometimes boiled, and maslied, and used in bread. The 
foliage of carrots is truly beautiful, and we read that, in the time of Queen 
Elizabctli, it was common for ladies to use the fresh, green leaves as orna- 
ments of their head-dresses. 

Potatoes have a history so wrapped in obscurity, that no one can tell for 
a certainty where they originated. Their adoption, as a general article of 
food, dates back only to a comparatively recent pei'iod ; that is, since tlie 
settlement of America, yet they are now considered an indispensable article 
upon almost all the tables of rich and poor in all countries where the 
potato flourishes, as it does in the northern United States and England and 
Ireland. 

The potato-plant {Solaniim tuherosum) is said to belong to a family 
of poisonous plants, and an extract, powerfully narcotic, may be made 
from the leaves and stalks, and a weak spirit is often distilled from 
the roots ; and a pretty good starch is made, both in a domestic way 
and in large manufactories, from potatoes, with which sago is often 
adulterated. 

Potatoes make good yeast, and they are often used for making sizing; 
and the water in which potatoes are boiled is good to wash any fabrics in 
that are liable to fade. 

Excellent as potatoes are for food, sad experience has proved that it will 
not do for any nation to rely upon them. This reliance brought famine, 



Seo. 29.] HISTORY OF GARDEN PLANTS. 469 

misery, starviition, and death to Ireland, and disappointment to a great many 
who have lost entire crops from the potato-disease. 

Salad-jilants have long been cultivated and eaten by the rich as a luxury, 
and l)y the poor as a necessity, or rather, in many cases, more as an agree- 
able economic article of food. In all cities and large manufacturing towns, 
the laboring class are everj year becoming greater consumers of lettuces, 
radishes, and celery, and find benefit from their use. This kind of food is 
grown to great perfection, and is very largely consumed in France, Belgium, 
and Holland — more so than in this country. 

Salsiftj is a plant that should be known more extensively than it is, be- 
cause it affords an excellent article of food. Its roots grow like parsneps, 
and the cultivation is similar, but they have quite a different flavor, and on 
account of a real, though slight, resemblance in smell and taste to oysters, 
it is often called vegetable oyster-plant. 

The greatest resemblance to oysters is, wlien the roots, which have stood 
all winter in the ground, are dug in the early spring, boiled and mashed and 
mixed with butter, and cooked and served hot, like oyster batter-cakes. 

Oh'a is another valuable food-plant not much known and cultivated, ex- 
cept in market gardens in the Northern States, though it is considered an 
article of prime necessity at the South, being largely used by black and 
white. The negroes make a ver^' favorite dish with oki'a and bacon, called 
gumbo, and we have eaten gumbo in New York, but it is very rare. The 
principal use of okra here is in soups. The seed-pods are the part used, 
either green or dry. Tliey give the soup a mucilaginous character. The 
bark of the okra plant is very fibrous — as much so as hemp, and more 
tough. 

Sweet corn (see 541), as it is now grown in a great majority of the gardens, 
affords one of the cheapest and richest luxuries that America etijoys. In 
the latitude of this city it is fit to eat in July, and continues in condition for 
tlie table, with a little extra attention, till late in October. There are 
several varieties, some of which are noted for keeping fresh very late in the 
season. Tliere is no dish more universally liked than sweet corn while in 
the green or milky state, and every family who have the means of growing 
it should provide for a succession of crops during the season, so as never to 
be without it, because no food can be produced cheaper, and none is more 
nutritious, palatable, and wholesome. 

We might go on to great length with this history and description of garden 
plants, and at last should hardly know where to stop without breaking off" 
abruptly ; so we do it here, to go more into particulars of garden cultivation 
of proper vegetables, plants, fruits, and flowers. 



470 



THE GAEDEN" AND ITS FEUITS. 



[Chap. V. 




SECTION XXX.-GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 

'UR plan of treating lightly a great variety of sub- 
jects will not wan-ant ns in giving a complete 
"Young Gardener's Assistant." That can be 
ught in a separate volume, and it is a valuable book, 
it we shall give a little information about all the 
incipal kinds of culinary vegetables usually cultivat- 
by farmers, or which should be cultivated by them, 
which wo trust will be found useful. In treating upon 
some of the same things under ficld-cultul-e, in the cliapter 
devoted to " The Farm and Its Crops," wo shall probably 
give some further information, which may be useful to 
those who only plant a garden. And so will what we say 
here be \isefal to those wlio wish to grow vegetables upon 
a large, as well as upon a small, scale. 
520. The Brassica Family— Propagating and Saving Seedi— This family of 
plants, which includes all that are near enough related to tlic cabbage to 
hybridize with it, is the most universally cultivated of any variety of culi- 
nary vegetables. In planting out cabl)age, cauliflower, broccoli, turnips for 
seed, great care should be taken to set each kind by itself, at considerable 
distances apart, to prevent hybridization, and no seedsman must keep bees, 
for they are the greatest hybridizers in nature, carrying the pollen from one 
blossom to another, and mixing the two together indiscriminately. All tlie 
difierent varieties of cabbage, such as Flat Diitcli, Savoy, Drumhead, mix 
very readily and spoil each variety, or else by one chance in a score of 
millions, produce a new variety ■\vhieh may be worth cultivation. As a 
general rule, however, all farmers who raise their own seed should try to 
keep the varieties separate. This may be done in most cases by setting out 
the seed-stalks in diflFerent fields. It is not necessary to confine them to the 
garden. Where there is any great inconvenience about keeping the sorts 
apart, you had better plant only one sort for seed, and buy seed for all 
other sorts you may wish to cultivate. Do not try to grow your own seed, 
if it will cost you twice as much as it would to buy a small paper of a pro- 
fessional seedsman. The principal advantage in growing your own seed is 
to select carefully the very best and throw away all others, and unless you 
do that, you had better not grow any. To grow good cabbage and turnip 
seed, select the very best roots to plant, and then select the best seed 
branches. 

A correspondent wants to know if turnip seed, harvestea from roots 
that were left out over winter, will produce good turnips if sown for a 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 471 

crop. " My neighbors," says the writer, " tell me it will not produce tur- 
nips, but charlock." 

"We do not believe that it will change in a single season, but we do know 
of one instance where such seed was sown, and it produced turnip-tops and 
seed, but few bulbs of any value ; and we believe that if the seed of these 
bulbless jjlants had been sown again and again, the whole semblance of 
turnips except the tops would have been lost. And this being the fact, why 
may we not believe that the reverse will be the case, where the most perfect 
bulbs are selected for propagation ? 

521. Cultivation and Value of the Turnip Crop.— The value of the ruta- 
baga turnip for stock-feeding (see 880) seems to be almost universally con- 
ceded, while the common flat turnip appears to be under a cloud of J^reju- 
dice in this country. We have, however, strong faith, from personal exjie- 
rience, in its value as winter food for horned cattle and sheep. There is 
great difference in the value of the several varieties. One of the best is the 
Eed Stra]), which grows well up out of the ground, and all the upper part of 
the bulb is of a rich plum red. This sort, if sown upon good land, grows 
rapidly and solid, and such turnips always keep the best and afford the 
most nutriment when fed to stock, and every vacant spot in the garden 
may thus be profitably occupied. 

For garden culture, turnips should be sown at three periods : first, as 
early as the ground is dry and warm enough for the seed to vegetate ; 
second, about the first of June; and the third, after the peas have ripened, 
and in all other vacant spots from which a first crop has been removed. If 
seed is sown as late as the middle of October, or, according to latitude, as 
late as it M'ill grow bulbs the size of pigeons' eggs, and these are covered 
over M'itli a mulch of coarse manure, straw, or leaves, and the mulch raked 
off very early in the spring, you will get a fine crop of sprouts for early 
greens, and sometimes the bulbs will grow again so as to be good eating. 
Remember, never save seed from such roots. 

522. Protection of Turnips from Insects. — The young plants are liable to 
suffer from the attack of certain insects, especially the turnip flea, or beetle 
— called in England " the fly." As a protection against such enemies, we 
recommend the following recipe : Mix one tablespoonful of sulpihnr with a 
pint of blood-warm water to half a pound of seed ; let it soak a few min- 
utes, then pour off the water and mix the seed with ashes or plaster. 
"Whether this would afford any protection against grasshoppers, could be 
determined by trial. 

There has been lately offered in market a new preparation of " attenuated 
coal-tar," that is, coal-tar mixed with a dryer, making a granulated sub- 
stance resembling gunpowder, which is said by those who have used it to 
be a good preventive of insects. We know that the scent of coal-tar is of- 
fensive to most of the farm-pest family. A board-fence painted with coal- 
tar appears to act as a protector of fruits trained alongside of it. Ofcl-tar 
mixed witli dried loam in the form of a powder should be tried as a pre- 



472 THE GARDEN AND ITS FEUITS. [Chap. V. 



veiitivc of insects on the young turnips. In this form the expense would be 
very trifling. It may answer for all other garden plants just as well as the 
more expensive preparations sold for the same purposes. 

523. The Kohl-Rabi— Its Character aud Use.— This relative of the turnip 
and cabbage is comparatively a new garden plant, but one much approved 
by all who are acquainted with it, and extensively grown for the New York 
markets. It appears to be a cross between the cabbage and turnip, growing 
with a bulb like the latter, which has the outward appearance of a cabbage- 
stalk, with leaves like ruta baga. These bulbs, cooked, have more of tiie 
flavor and general character of cabbage than turnips. Those who are not 
acquainted with them should procure seed and give them a trial. They are 
largely grown in England as a field-crop for stock, the seed being planted 
by drills, four pounds per acre, and produce twenty-five tuns. For garden 
culture, pursue exactly the same course as Avith cabbage. 

524. Cabbage Cultivation, and Value as Food. — Almost every famil}- cul- 
tivates cabbage in the garden as an article of food, for which purpose we 
look upon it as of very little accouut. ~Wq know it is relished by a very 
large portion of the laboring class, and that class alone should eat it, as it is, 
particularly when cooked, one of the most indigestible articles of food ever 
taken into the human stomach. Eaten raw, in small quantities, it is more 
digestible, and serves very well as a relish in place of other green food at 
seasons when the garden does not aftbrd a supply. 

We recommend the cultivation of cabbage in all gardens, even where the 
family do not care to grow it for the table, because a plant can be stuck in 
here and there to fill up Avaste places, and if the plants are not wanted by 
the family when grown, the cows will be very glad of them after the grass 
is frosted in autumn. If cabbage is wanted for very early use, the plants 
must be started in cold frames in autumn, and kept covered up all winter. 
Such plants are much more hardy than hot-bed plants started in spring. 
Seed may be sown, as soon as the ground is warm enough, in garden beds, 
for ear]3- cabbage, but for such as are wanted for winter use, seed sown late 
in May or June, or even in July, will be early enough to set where peas and 
early potatoes have been harvested. Cabbage requires a strong soil, and will 
bear heavy manuring, except with hog-pen manure. That, it is pretty well 
settled, causes the disease known as " club-foot" in cabbage. This whole 
order of plants delights in bone-dust as a fertilizer and bones j)i"epared as 
superphosphates are still better. 

The distance between the plants when set out varies from one and a naif 
to three feet. A moist, cloudy day is the best time for transplanting, and 
it is well to dip the roots before planting in a composition of black mold 
and a little soot, made into thin mud with the addition of liquid manure. 

Cabbages may be headed in winter by setting them with their roots in 
good rich earih, just as they grew, and covering the tops so that they will not 
free^ This may be done with a roof of boards, hay, or dirt, or brush and 
rails and straw covered Avith dirt, with little air-holes. Cabbage grown in 



Seo. 30.] GARDEN" CULINARY VEGETABLES. 473 

this Avay is blanched, sweet, and tender, and will pay much more than the 
cost of thus arranging the late stalks wliich failed to form heads in the fall. 
The work should be done just before the ground freezes, and at first only 
slightly cover the tops. 

The heads can be kept very sound and clean, and convenient for daily use 
in winter, by packing them in wet moss in barrels or bo.xes, which should 
be kept in a room where the temperature is just above the freezing-point. 

The'easiest way that we ever j^ut up cabbages for winter use was as fol- 
lows: Lay two common fence rails, or two poles on the ground, side by 
side, about six inches apart, and as you pull up the cabbages, lay them 
down, with the heads resting upon the poles and the roots on the ground on 
each side, at right angles with the poles. If you take off the loose leaves 
for feed, lay a thin coat of straw over the heads, and then throw up the dirt 
from each side, so as to cover the heads about si.x inches deep, and form a 
smooth mound, shaped like a winrow of hay. 

Of the kinds of cabbage, we recommend the " Bergen," for its large size 
and value for fodder. The " Fawn-colored Savoy" is more delicate for the 
table. " Eed cabbage" grows with very liard, small heads, and is esteemed 
for pickling. It is not as sweet or palatable as other sorts to our taste. A 
kind called "Tliousand-headed" is mucli grown in some gardens for eating 
green. It is a coarse variety. The " Green Curled Kale" is also grown for 
greens. It does not head. So is the kind called " Brussels Sprouts." Tlie 
earliest variety of cabbage is the "Early York," or "Early Wakefield." 
Three other early varieties are called, "Early Sugarloaf," "Early Drum- 
head or Ba*tersea," and " Early London." 

A new variety, lately introduced, is called "Stonemason." It originated 
with J. J. H. Gregory, of Marblehead, Mass. It grows a large, ricii head 
on a very short stump. The " Marblehead Mammoth" is another new 
variety, introduced by Mr. Gregory, which grows heads tiiat weigh thirty 
pounds each. There is a new kinU called " Pomerain," which grows heads 
sliaped like the Red Dutch, that is, conical, though much larger, and re- 
markably solid. 

525. Cauliflower is a delicate vegetable of the brassica family, the edible 
part being the fiower-buds, before they shoot up to seed. Cultivators have 
succeeded in forming these into a very compact mass of several pounds' 
weight. This is done, first, by using seed of the very best variety and culti- 
vating in very rich ground ; and second, by carefully tying up the leaves 
around the heads, to make it grow compactly. A heavy, moist, fresh loam 
is the best soil for cabbages and cauliflowers. 

The way the Dutch obtain cauliflowers, famous for size and delicacy, is as 
follows : 

" In the autumn they dig deep some ground that has not been manured ; 
at the beginning of May they sow the large English cauliflower upon a bed 
of manure, and cover it with straw mats at night. When the young plants 
are three or four inches high, they harrow the ground that had been pre- 



474 THE GARDEN AND ITS FKUITS. [Chap. V. 

pared the autumn before, and with a -wooden dibble, eigliteen inches long, 
they make holes about ten inches deep, at proper distances apart, and on 
large them hy working the dibble round till the hole at the top is about 
three inches in diameter. Thej immediately fill these holes with water, and 
rejjeat this three times the same day. In the evening they fill them with 
sheep-dung, leaving only room enough for the young plant, which tliey very 
carefully remove from the bed of manure and place in the hole witii a litlle 
earth. Directly afterwards they give them a good watering, and as soon as 
the sun begins to dry them, water them again. Furthermore, as the plants 
grow, they dig round them, and earth them uji in rows. "Wiien the head is 
forming, they pinch ofi' some of the lower leaves of the plant, and use them 
to cover the young head." 

526. Broccoli is nearly allied to cauliflower, and though inferior in quality 
is much cultivated. One of the secrets of growing cabbage is frequent hoe- 
ing, and in case of drought, watering. The ground can not be stirred too 
frequently, and it is well to hoe when the dew is on, if you are a little care- 
ful about getting dirt on the plants. 

Although cauliflowers are a little more diflicult to grow than cabbages, 
we have no doubt they are much more nutritious and digestible as food. 
We have said more about the cultivation of the brassica family in gardens 
than we shall of any other, because the various sorts may be grown in a 
great measure as a second crop, or to fill up waste places, and therefore it is 
economical, because it affords such a great quantity of food. 

527. Carrots, Beets, Parsueps, Salsify, and Horseradish. — All these plants 
require one grand feature in their cultivation, and one which mtiny farmers 
neglect. It is a perfect trenching of the earth, not less than two feet deep, 
and far better if it is three feet. They all succeed best on a rather light 
loam, not too sandy, which was manured the previous year with old manure. 
If desirable to continue planting the same plat with these roots, let them 
come in rotation, and use no manure that is not in a very pulverulent con- 
dition. Guano, at the rate of three or four hundred pounds per acre ; super- 
phosphate, at the rate of five hundred pounds j)er acre ; lime, at the rate of 
fifty bushels per acre ; \inleachcd ashes, at the rate of ten to twenty bushels 
per acre, are all good fertilizers for root crops. All these roots are apt to 
grow pronged and ill-shapen in fresh-manured ground, as they always do in 
ground badly spaded or plowed, unless prepared by the very best kind of 
surface and subsoil plowing. 

528. Carrots, for early use, may be sown as soon as the ground is dry. 
For winter use, the last of May or first of June in the latitude of New 
York. They are best preserved for winter use in dry sand. The best early 
variety is Early Horn ; the best for winter, or stock, is the Improved Long 
Orange, though some prefer the Altringham. The large, white, Belgian 
carrot has been cultivated here, but the j-ellow is still the favorite. 

529. Beets should be sown very early for greens. The Early Flat Bas- 
sano" or Early Blood Turnip-Beet will produce food soonest; but for win- 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULIJT.UJY VEGET^IBLES. 475 

ter, we prefer tlie Long Blood Beet or Smooth Long Dark-red. The last 
should not be sown till near the first of June. If it matures early, the 
top part, which grows out of ground, is very woody. Always soak beet- 
seed twenty-four hours, and then roll it iu plaster, ashes, dust, or meal, to 
dry it for handling while planting. An ounce of seed will plant a row one 
hundred feet long. 

530. Parsueps should be sown early, and may be left where they grow 
till the ground is wanted for a second crop. The soil must be trenched 
and rich, or manured deep below the surface, to grow good parsneps. An 
ounce of seed sows a row two Imndred feet long — five pounds an acre. 
The Long Smootli is the best variety. Parsneps are excellent food for 
stock. 

531. Salsify, or Oyster Plmit, should be sown early in spring; an ounce 
of seed to a row thirty feet long. Like parsneps, they are improved by 
standing all winter where they grew. 

Horseradish, is a plant of the genus Cachlearia, which is a sort of scurvy- 
grass, and is unknown to, or, at least, iincultivated by many farmers. Its 
sharp, pungent root is very agreeable to most persons as a seasoning to 
meats, and it is considered a healthy excitant of appetite. It is easily 
grown from cuttings in any deep, rich soil, even a mucky one that is quite 
wet. It is best after standing out all winter. In the vicinity of cities it is 
extensively grown as a market crop, and is very profitable. For family use 
a few plants will suffice. 

532. Onion Culturei — There are three principal sorts of onions grown from 
seed produced on the top — the red, yellow, and white. There is a kind 
called Early Red, and the large "Wetliersfield Bed ; the latter grows the lar- 
gest, and is best for field culture. The Danvers yellow variety is mild fla- 
vored, early, and keeps well, and is preferred, where best known, to the 
Yellow Dutch, Mdiich is known in some places as Strasburg or Silver-skin. 
The White Portugal onion is the mildest, and good to grow for family 
use, but requires great care to keep it over winter. In some parts of the 
country scarcely any but top onions are grown. This kind produces 
miniature onions on the top of the stalk, which are set to grow bulbs for 
use. Onions require a rich sandy loam, highly manured with thoroughly 
rotted compost, deeply and finely worked and rolled, and the seed sown, one 
ounce to a row fifteen feet long, in drills fourteen inches apart, and the 
plants left standing four inches apart. Unlike most other things, onions do 
best upon the same plat year after year. Wood ashes, applied as top- 
dressing, make one of the best fertilizers that can be given to an onion bed. 
To prevent the ravages of the onion maggot, which of late years has proved 
so destructive, it is recommended to sow poppies with the onion. 

533. Peas— Choice Kinds and Cultivation.— The following are the best early 
peas in their order: Daniel O'Bourke; Early Princess; Early Emperor; 
Prince Albert ; Early Kent. The following are dwarf varieties : Tom 
Thumb ; Bishop's Early Dwarf, quite prolific and early ; Bishop's New Long 



476 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

Podded, productive and good quality ; Dwarf-blue Imperial, liighly recom- 
mended as a summer pea. Tlie following arc larger sorts, and are highly 
recommended : Champion of England ; Fairbeard's Nonpareil ; Champion 
of Scotland ; Eugenie ; Napoleon ; Missouri Marrowfat ; Large White Mar- 
rowfat, a late sort ; Blackejed Marrowfat, an excellent kind, worthy of gen- 
eral cultivation ; British Queen, very prolific, long podded, and fine fla- 
vored ; to which add the sugar pea, with edible pods. 

Judging from the little attention paid by many farmers to the cultivation 
of garden peas, we suppose they look upon them as luxuries, only to be in- 
dulged in by a few, except in very small quantities. In this they are quite 
in error. There is nothing grown that is more nutritious and wholesome, and 
much more attention should be paid to their cultivation, so as to have a full 
daily supply, early and late. The first planting should be made just as soon 
as the ground can be worked in spring, upon ground well manured the year 
before, or else with very fine old compost or guano in the hill, but not in 
contact with the seed. In small gardens, or where ground is scarce for early 
crops, plant potatoes and peas together. Land can not be too rich for peas, 
but if it is the richest of crude manure, more vines than seed will grow. 
Ashes and plaster upon peas while growing, when a few inches high, will 
help them remarkably. Plant in double rows, a foot apart, so as to set 
bushes between. The largest sorts require four to six feet between the lines, 
and we have found it advantageous to put them wide apart and plant a row 
of potatoes between. You want a pint of seed of the dwarf sorts, in a 
double row, fifty or sixty feet long. The large growing sort will take a pint 
to a hundred feet. 

Pea-bugs injure but do not destroy the germination of seed peas. It is 
recommended to keep theaa in sealed bottles, and if a piece of gum cam- 
phor as large as a pea is j^ut in, it will destroy all bug life. One writer 
recommends planting peas five inches deep early in the spring to prevent 
the weevil. He plants beets at the same time between the rows of peas. 
Another writer recommends fall planting, or any time during winter when 
there is no frost in the ground. 

534. Beans for the Garden — Good SortSi — ^Ye recommend careful atten- 
tion to the cultivation of garden beans, because they furnish such good, 
cheap, palatable food. The following half dozen sorts are the best that we 
can name of the dwarf or bush variety, which give edible pods, called snap 
or string beans : 

The Early Valentine grows excellent, long, tender pods. Early Yellow 
Six-weeks is very productive. Early Mohawk is not only prolific, but hardy. 
The Early China is an old favorite ; it is a white bean, with red eye. Tlie 
Thousand-to-One sort is also an old and very popular kind. As young 
bean-plants are easily killed by frost, you must not plant them till that 
danger is past and the ground is light and warm. A pint of seed will plant 
a drill eighty feet long. Cover lightly without manure, and never hoe when 
the vines are wet, but stir the soil very often, and use plaster and ashes. 



Seo. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 47 T 

Of pole-beans, the Early Dutch Case-knife takes the lead. It is early, 
prolific, and good green or dry. The pods are sometimes eaten, but can not 
be reconiiuended. The pods of all the Cranberry beans are good. The 
" Horticultural Cranberry or Wren's Egg" grows in beautifully red-striped 
pods, is of a light red and cream color, speckled, of medium size, and very 
good, both in the pods and shelled. The White, or Marrowtat Cranberry, 
is very tender and nice, but is a shy bearer. Tlie old Eed Cranberry is more 
prolitic and hardy, but the pods are less tender, and beans not so delicate in 
flavor, but it is a valuable sort to rely upon. The beans grow of good size, 
roundish, and deep-red color. 

535. Lima Beans are a distinct order of plants from the o'diers, and more 
difficult to cultivate, as thoy require a longer season of warm weather, and 
if jilantod liefore the ground is warni, are apt to rot, and each seed requires 
to be handled separately and put in the ground with the eye downward to 
insure their coming up. 

The best manure for Lima beans is superphosphate of lime. Tiiey grow in 
long, flat, rough pods, and the vines are such great climbers, that they would 
go to the top of poles thirty feet high. The best way is to use poles five or 
six feet high, and pinch back the vines, or train them horizontally. To get 
an early start, set each bean in a piece of sod two inches square, and place 
these sods in a shallow I30X in the kitclien, and keep tliem well watered till 
it will answer to set the beans out around the poles. 

53G. faiiforuia Beans. — A variety of beans new to the Atlantic States, in- 
troduced from California, has been highly recommended. A letter, written 
by L. Korris, Windsor, Ashtabula County, O., says of it: 

" This bean is of medium size, of a peach-blow color, and very prolitic. 
It requires only one, or at most two plants in each hill, as it produces many 
lateral vines. It is a short runner, only from tliree to four feet in hight. I 
find by planting them with corn, one bean in each hill answers the purpose 
well. By cooking these beans in the following way, they constitute a 
savory dish, and need only to be tasted to be appreciated : Having cleaned 
the beans, put thena in cold water ; add a little salt, and boil uuiil done, but 
not so much as to have the beans crack oj)en. Have ready a frying-pan, 
with some lard, whicii heat until it nearly boils; then take tlie beans out 
with a skimmer and put them into the frying-pan and fry them until they 
absorb nearly all the fat ; then add about a pint of the bean liquor (of which 
you must reserve a plenty); then boil, or rather fry, a few minutes, stirring 
it gently ; but be sure the liquor does not all boil away, as it is this wliicli 
gives the beans such a delicious flavor. They are now ready for the table." 

537. FlowerinjC Beans are growm almost exclusively for ornament, and are 
known as '"Scarlet runners" or "White runnei's," being great climbers, and 
profuse in beautiful flowers, and not very prolific bearers. It is a mistake 
to suppose these beans are not edible ; they arc so, but not of such delicate 
'flavor as to be recommended for that purpose ; they are very ornamental, 
and may be planted to climb a pole in a showy spot in the garden, or near 



478 THE GAEDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

the house trained to trellises, or climbing strings np the house side, around 
windows, or along a piazza front. 

538. Asparagus. — But few farmers have this delicious, early spring vege- 
table in perfection, because they do not know liow to cultivate it properly. 
It is a perennial plant, which, if once well set, produces its crop of tender, 
rich shoots, j-ear after year, with very little annual cultivation. It may Lc 
started from seeds or roots, which should be set in a deeply-trenched bed, 
well drained, and made just as riph as rich can be, and heavily salted. 
Every autumn, cut off the tops, and cover the bed with a thick coat of 
manure, salted ; and in the spring, fork up the ground lightly, before the 
sprouts start, mixing in the manure, and if any of it is unrotted, lay it as a 
mulch between the rows. Lime and ashes are both excellent for surface- 
dressings. There are three varieties of asparagus — the Large Green .Purple 
Top, or Giant ; the Improved Ghent ; and Common Green — though some 
contend that the difference is more in cultivation than anything else. The 
common kind is certainly improved in size by higli cultivation. 

In May, 1860, a Mr. Fecks, of Oyster Bay, L. I., exhibited, to the 
American Institute Farmers' Club, specimens of a giant asparagus, grown 
at Oyster Bay, originated from seed at Matinicock, L. I., the bed of which 
is now over thirty years old. Some of the stalks were nearly an inch in 
diameter. He stated "that he had about four acres, which he called only a 
' small patch,' because other persons had more than twice as much, and he 
liad been told that one man near Jamaica has seventy acres. His beds are 
made upon good potato-land, plowed deep, and highly manured with stable 
or hog-pen manure. At one year from seed, the plants are set in rows four 
feet apart, and fifteen or twenty inches apart in the rows. We trench four- 
teen inches deep, with manure at bottom, which is covered with three inches 
of soil, and the roots set, and the trench filled gradually during the summer. 
In cultivation, we plow off the earth and put manure in the furrows abund- 
antly. My bed is so near the level of salt water that the tide rises upon it 
at very high water, and the yield is $300 an acre. We do not cut it much, 
if any, the first two years. We put fifty loads of manure per acre, and five 
hundred pounds of guano. Some growers use 1,500 pounds of guano per 
acre. The bunches of sixteen stalks weigh four pounds. The best asparagus 
is that which grows above ground. The white is always tough. We some- 
times have bunches with eight inches of tender green." 

It is a mistaken notion to cut or try to eat the white part of asparagus 
stalks. None but the tender green part is fit to eat. An article now be- 
fore us has the following sensible remarks upon this subject. The writer 
says : 

" The stalk is generally cut about four inches long, often not more than 
two or three inches, and from one third to one half the length is white, 
showing it grew below the surface of the soil ; this part is always tough and 
bitter, and unfit to eat. In truth, it is never eaten, so that fully one half of 
the weight of a bunch of asparagus, purchased in the market, is a dead loss. 




Seo. 30.] GAEDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 479 

If the stalk be cut four inches long, and two inches below the earth's surface, 
about one inch and a half of the top part is fit for nse — no more. Aspara- 
should never be cut till it is five or six inches out of the ground. I 
1 let it grow ten or twelve inches highj. When five or six'inchcs liigh, 
Fshould be cut about a half inch above the ground ; but when ten or twelve 
inches high, it should be cut six or seven inches above the surface of the 
earth ; or, if it be cut near the ground, all the bottom part should be 
rejected. 

"After cutting it, take a sharp knife, and commencing at the lower end, 
feel your way along toward the top, till you come to where it is perfectly 
tender, then cut it off, throwing away the lower part. 

" It is only the green, tender part that is above the ground that is sweet, 
healthy, and nutritious, or fit to cook and eat. The white, tough, and bitter 
part, that grows below the earth's surface, is not half as good as corn- 
stalks, and should not be allowed to be sold in any market in the civilized 
world. 

"For private families, asparagus-beds should be made at considerable ex- 
pense, and with much care. Four or five dollars will make a bed that will 
amply supply, for many years in succession, a family of eight or ten per- 
sons, if properly taken care of. To make a first-rate bed for that number in 
a family, make it about five feet wide and twenty feet long. Dig out the 
ground two and a half feet deep, and fill up with chips, sawdust, tan, or 
sticks of wood, packed close together, five or six inches from the bottom. 
Then put in five or six inches of the strongest stable manure, and fill up to 
the top with manure and dirt, about half-and-half. 

"The bed is now fit to plant. Put your roots about ten inches apart, each 
way, over the entire bed, and then cover them about three inches deep with 
the richest soil to be had, and sow evenly over the whole a peck of common 
salt and a peck of ashes, mixed together. Asparagus is a marine-plant, re- 
fpiii'iiig salt and alkalies for fertilizers, which should be supplied every 
spring to make the plants flourish. 

" Keep the beds clean of weeds and well manured, and for this quantity 
of ground you will have a rich and abundant supply for eight or ten in 
a family, every day, if desired, from about the first of April till the last of 
June. The yield will be ten times as much as could be obtained from the 
same numljer of square feet planted in peas or beans. There is not, among 
all the green vegetables brought to market, another so productive, palatable, 
nutritious, and healthy as this plant. 

" AVhere it is raised for market, a warm, rich, vegetable mold should be 
selected. A sandy loam is better than clay." 

539. Oeleryi — ^This is another good vegetable for early spring, when there 
is a longing for something green or fresh from the garden, which is but little 
known to farmers in general. It is a hardy biennial, grown from seed sown 
in the spring, which will produce seed the second year. For the table, the 
stalks only are used, and generally raw, though good cooked, and to make 



480 THE GARDEN AND ITS FEDITS. [Chap. V. 

them tender and palatable, are grown in a peculiar way, which blanches and 
makes them crisp, tender, and pleasant to the taste, being aromatic and 
slightly pungent, sweet, and agreeable to all who are accustomed to eating 
them. There are several varieties in cultivation, some of the best of which 
are named as follows : White Solid, Seymour's Superb White, Cole's Crystal 
White, Cole's Superb Eed, Dwarf White French, Incomparable ; tliis is a 
dwarf sort, of a short, stiff, close habit, growing crisp, solid, and white, and 
keeps juicy and perfect longer than some other sorts. Laing's Mammoth 
Red is the largest sort, and is highly esteemed in England, but not as much 
60 here as Nonesuch, which is said to possess an excellent flavor, and keep 
well in spring witliout seeding. Mead's Improved White is a new American 
variety, getting into good repute. Celery-seed should be planted early in 
spring, and covered shallow in rich, mellow soil, beating the earth down com- 
pactly over the seeds with the back of a spade. When tlie plants are three 
iuclies high, tliin them out to four inclies apart, and keep them clear of weeds 
till six inches high, and tlien transplant into trenches about a foot deep, first 
fillhig them half full of fine manure, well mixed with soil, and set the 
jilants six inches apart, first shortening roots and tops. As they increase in 
size, draw in tlie sides of the trencli, and continue to earth up, keeping the 
stalks and leaves all drawn close together, so the tops only show a few inches 
above the ridge. There is no better fertilizer tlian salt for this plant. 
Sprinkle the ground eacli time before earthing up, and take care each time 
to hold the stalks together, so that no dirt will fall into the center of the 
bunch. An ounce of celery -seed will produce some five thousand plants. 
Both in tlie plant-bed and in the trenches, celery will drink up a great deal 
of water or liquid manure. Some recommend keeping the plants in the 
trenches constantly saturated with water, tinctured with guano, or strong 
manure and salt. If keiit constantly moist, the earthing-up process may be 
deferred till late in the fall. One says : 

" Late in autumn the whole bed is covered with forest loaves, a foot or 
foot and a half thick, with a few cornstalks to prevent their blowing away. 
From this bed tlie celery may be readily obtained at any time, fresh, sweet, 
and crisp, during the winter." 

Another covers the ridge with coarse manure, so it will not freeze ; and 
another takes up the plants, and packs them in an upright position in a 
trench three feet wide, and covers the whole with coarse manure. This is 
only necessary where the plants are required in winter for market purposes. 
For family use, a few can be kept in wet moss, while the ground remains 
frozen. As a general I'ule, we believe the blacker tlie earth that celery is 
grown in, the whiter will it blanch. Some jiorsons blanch with boards, set 
up against the ]ilants, covered with charcoal-dust. A writer in the Garden- 
er s Chromch, London, recommends the use of sawdust, which he finds an- 
swers the purpose better than any otiier material, especially for late croj^s 
to be kept during the winter. He says : 

" Having had some trouble in keeping late celery from rotting, where the 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 481 

soil was very retentive and damp, and the plants earthed up in the nsual 
manner, I nsed sawdust, and found that it answered perfectly. Last winter 
all the late celery was earthed up witli sawdust, and it kept quite sound till 
April, and no slugs or insects attacked it underground, the heads being very 
solid, clear, and crisp, and well ilavorcd. I had some doubts that the saw- 
dust from resinous trees might give the celery a disagreeable flavor, but on 
trial I found this not to be the case. Before the late severe frost occurred in 
October I had just finished the earthing up of all the late celery with sawdust, 
and I find it is now wonderfully fresh, the frost not having penetrated far 
through the surface to the hearts." 

Another corresiJondent recommends charred earth in preference to saw- 
dust, "as it will not only answer the purpose as well, but will allow the 
rain-water to percolate more freely to the roots of the plants, and be of in- 
finite service to a soil of a damp, i-etentive nature." The sawdust, he thinks, 
will induce an injurious growth of fungi in the soil. 

5i0. Chiccoryt — ^Tliis is a garden plant, scarcely' known to American 
farmers, though extensively grown in England, 'and within the last ten 
years it has become a favorite article of growth and consumption. It grows 
somewhat like carrots, and its cultivation is similar, and its principal use is 
to furnish a substitute for coffee, or an article to mix with it, as it is to a 
great extent with all that is sold in a burnt and ground state for the pur- 
pose of reducing the price, or if sold at the price of j^ure coffee, giving the 
manufacturer a larger profit. 

The carrot-like roots of the chiccory are washed, scraped, and cut into 
small pieces, and kiln-dried, and then roasted and ground like coffee. To 
give the chiccory an oily appearance like coffee, lard is put in the roaster at 
the rate of two pounds to a hundred of dried roots. It is colored with Ve- 
netian red, or logwood and mahogany dust, where the chiccory is to be sold 
nearly pure for " pure coffee." 

Although not much grown here, we believe some coffee roasters in New 
York know its value to them, and import it in considerable quantities. No 
doubt it may be profitably cultivated, not only for sale or use as a substi- 
tute for coffee, but for a good forage crop in the tops. Sow it in April in 
drills a foot apart for hand hoeing, just as you sliould carrots, on rich, deep 
soil, on such ground as would produce a good carrot crop, and harvest in 
autumn. Some grow the leaves blanched, to use as a salad, by taking up 
the roots in autumn and trimming off the tops, and setting the roots in sand 
in a dark cellar, M-hen young blanched leaves start out. The roots live over 
winter like parsneps, but, like them, are tough and stringy the second year. 
The leaves resemble dandelion, and tops and roots have a delicate bitter 
taste, and are slightly aromatic. For a forage crop, the tops grow very 
rapidly and thick, and may be cut four or five times. The roots, too, are 
very good for stock. We recommend its cultivation in gardens, in a small 
way, until it^ value is well tesfed. 

5il. Com in the Garden. — There are several varieties of sweet corn suitable 



482 THE GAEDElsr AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

for early and late use. "We -will mention a few, and advise all fanners to 
select such an assortment as will serve to give tliem ears fit for the table 
through the longest season possible. The earliest may be started in hot- 
beds, and transplanted as well as any other plants, or it may be planted, as 
we have recommended for early beans, in square bits of sod, or in small 
pots kept in the house, where it is warm and constantly moist. Smith's 
Early White is a dwarf variety, which may be planted for the first yield in 
hills only two and a half feet apart. Darling's Extra Early sweet corn is 
thought by some to produce ears the earliest of any variety ; and the Early 
Eed Cob is also a very early sort, growing short ears, eight or ten rowed, 
which fill well out to the end. The Early Tusearora is a large variety, and 
matures early, but not as much so as the dwai-f sorts. It is eight rowed, 
with broad, white grains, and remains fit for boiling a long time. This sort 
requires a very rich soil. For the main crop, the kind known as Large 
Sweet is perhaps the most productive ; and for very late eating, Stowell's 
Evergreen or Burr's Mammoth Sweet should be planted in rich hills, three 
and a half or four feet apart, as late as the middle of July. "We have seen 
it yield well, planted late in August, by protecting the hills with stalks of 
the early sorts tied around them. It is also kept good till December by 
cutting or pulling up the hills and setting them in a dry cellar or out- 
building. Both of these late sorts grow ears with twelve to eighteen rows, 
large grains on white cobs, and very bushy stalks. There should be a 
planting of corn for family use every fortnight from April to August. 

"Where land is scarce, we recommend planting corn and potatoes in the 
same hill. The corii will be just as good as though no potatoes were there, 
and if the stalks of the corn are cut away as soon as the ears are mature 
enough to boil, the yield of potatoes will be a fair one — in our experience 
just as good as hills alongside without corn. 

542. Early Gardea Potatoesi — It is quite important to farmers to know 
what are the earliest sorts of potatoes, since they are the most staple food 
article grown as garden vegetables, and we therefore name some of the most 
approved varieties. "\Ye have always found the nutmeg potatoes the earliest 
of any, but objectionable on account of their general small size, and because 
they do not yield well. There is a sort called '•Mammoth Nutmegs," which 
grow larger and yield better. The Nutmegs have a very smooth skin, light 
yellow, with M'hite flesh, and keep well, but are good for nothing for winter 
use. The Early June is a good potato, and more productive. The Extra 
Early AYhite is said to be productive, and capable of producing a very early 
crop. Tlie Early ."Wendell and Early^ Carpenter are both spoken of by those 
who grow them as the best early variety known. We have been well satis- 
fied with the Buckeye as an early growing potato, but it did not keep well 
with us. The Dykeman is not as early as some others, but answers first-rate 
to mature a week or two later. Either of these niay be grown to g:eat ad- 
vantage in the garden, and we reconmiend fftat all of them should be tried, 
and proved which is best for each particular locality. 



Seo. 30.] 



GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 



483 



543. Cucurbita — GourdSi — The family of cucurlita, embracing everything 
from gourds to cucumbers, appears in an ahnost countless variety of forms, 
under some of which it is to be found in almost every garden. In our 
youthful days, almost every family raised a few gourds, and very conve- 
nient things they were, not only for water dippers, but holders of a great 
many little articles. "We used them for storehouses of small seeds. At the 
South, and in some of the new portions of the West, gourds are still grown 
to a considerable extent, and when we traveled through most of the South- 
western States between 1840 and 1850, we should have thought something 
was lacking if we had not found a pail and one or more drinking-gourds at 
some convenient spot about the house — generally on the front piazza, where 
every traveler could help himself to a drink of water. Often, too, on visit- 
ing the springs by the roadside or in the plantations, we have found the in- 
dispensable gourd hanging to a tree. They are grown of all sizes, from a 
gill to a gallon ; and one kind that grows without the elongation for a 
handle we have seen of the capacity of half a bushel, and the shell so hard 
that they would last many years for dry storage. In Texas, a variety with 
a depression in the middle, and bulb of equal size at each end, is frequently 
used to carry water on horseback, it is so convenient to lash to the saddle. 
A little drinking-gourd, as hard as wood, and almost white, holding about 
a third of a pint, was given lis by a lady in Mississippi, which accompanied 
us during many thousand miles of journeying, and out of which we had 
many a sweet drink of water from roadside springs. No one thought it 
worth while to steal a gourd from the wagon, while a tumbler, tin cup, or 
earthen mug would probably have disappeared the first night. We heartily 
commend this good old fashion of growing gourds to the attention of all 
farmers. It will save many a dollar used up in tin cups and dippers, and 
costly, fragile glass and earthenware. 

544. CucumberSi — These rarely fail if planted in hills made as rich as it is 
possible to make them, six or eight feet apart, leaving only two or three 
plants to run to vines from each hill, and sometimes that is too many. Tlie 
ground must be kept free of weeds in all the stages of growth of vines, to 
insure a good crop. A very good way to raise a few early cucumbers for 
family use is to fill a barrel or larger cask with hog-pen or other rich ma- 
nure, Qpvered with sand, and set it in the grass-plat, near the house, where it 
can be watered every day — no matter how often. Wo have seen a good lot 
of cucumbers grown by earthing over the ash-leach and letting the vines 
hang over the sides. This also requires frequent watering, for that is the 
great source of all great garden productions. Without it, high manuring is 
worthless. 

Perhaps the earliest variety' is one lately introduced, called the Early 
Russian. It is prolific, and matures for the table ten daj's sooner than the 
Early Cluster, or Early Frame, or Short Green. The Early White-spined 
sort is considei-ed best for the table. It is larger than the other early sorts, 
straight, smooth, and dark green. For pickles, there are several good sorts : 



484 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

the Long Green Prickly ; Long Green Turkey ; Stockwood Eidge ; and 
Carter's Long Kidge. 

For early use, cucumbers may be planted in sods inverted in a box that 
can be taken in and out of the house, according to weather, until it is -warm 
enough to set them in place. You can not make the hills for cucumbers 
too rich. Some market gardeners divide the hills in quarters, and plant one 
fourth at a time, a week apart; so that if one planting fails, anotlier will 
succeed. The plants should be hoed freqtieiitly, and the bugs watched care- 
fully. Seed improves by age ; an ounce will plant a hundred hills ; though 
as they are planted on Long Island for market, an ounce would be needed 
for a dozen hills. The market gardeners put in such a quantity of seed, 
that the bugs are not able to eat all until some get too big for them. 

545. Musk-MelollS should not be planted till the earth gets warm, and 
then in hills dug deep and made rich with well-rotted manure. It is a good 
practice to pinch out the bud of the main shoot as soon as half a dozen 
rough leaves are formed, as that causes lateral branches, and makes the fruit 
set earlier. Light, dry, sandy loam made rich, and a dry, hot atmosphere, 
if the plants are kept moist, will grow fine melons. We think the Green 
citron, a small, rough green skin, roundish form, the best sort. The Pine- 
apple and Jenny Lind are similar, and excellent. The Nutmeg melon 
grows larger, with rough skin and greenish flesh, aromatic and sweet. 
Skillman's Fine Netted looks as though the green melon was bagged in a 
brown net, and is a very fine melon, and ripens early. The Christiana is a 
yellow-fleshed sort that ripens very early. It is a Massachusetts seedling- 

546. Water-Mclons, though grown in all the Nortliern States, never come 
to such perfection of excellence as they do in warmer climates. Here they 
should be planted in May in light, dry ground, and the}' often do best upon al- 
most pui"e beds of sand, having hills prepared by digging out large holes and 
filling them with manure, and covering it with soil. If the plants are wa- 
tered witli a solution of two pounds of Peruvian guano in a barrel of water, 
their vigor will be much increased. It is a great object to get them forward 
as fast as possible. A very successful grower of water-melons upou the gra- 
nitic soil of Westchester County, N. Y., says : 

"I dig a hole three feet wide and three feet deep or more, and fill it with 
cow-yan-d manure early in the season — say 1st of May, and cover tlijn with 
light soil, six or eiglit inches deep, before planting the seeds. For musk- 
melons I manure with well-decomposed manure, sown broadcast and worked 
into the soih I would also work in a little of this fine manure in the top 
of the water-melon hills." 

The vines fruit better if the leading shoots are frequently pinched back. 
Water-melon hills should be ten feet apart in rich, sandy loam or artificially 
enriched sand. Six or eight seeds to. a hill, not over an inch deep, in fine, 
black soil, over any amount of lich manure, will produce vigorous vines. 
The varieties of water-melons are almost innumerable. Tiie Mountain 
Sweet and Black Spanish are pur favorites. Cut-worms and bugs are the 



Sec. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 485 

greatest pests of all vines, and the best of the many remedies in our opinion 
is file cheapest, -which is simply inclosing the hill as soon as planted with a 
board box six or eight inches high, drawing tlio earth np a little around the 
outside. It has been found unnecessary to cover the top with thin muslin 
or flakes of cotton batting, except for the "[Mirpose of keeping the earth 
Avarmer. These boxes should be made about a foot square, and tapering 
enough to admit packing them in nests to stow away as soon as the plants 
are large enough to allow of removing their wooden walled protection. 
Other seeds maybe protected by such boxes against scratching hens, as they 
will seldom, if ever, get inside to do mischief; and so long as hens do not de- 
stroy seeds or plants, or fruit in a garden, they are useful, for they «at up 
thousands of worms and bugs. 

Other melons should be planted and treated as we have said of water- 
melons ; and of all the various sorts of musk-melons, the small green melon 
that looks as though covered with a fine flaxen netting is the best, to Our 
taste, though we have great hopes that the new Persian melon, that grows 
as big as the old musk-melon, will prove as rich as its first fruits indicate. 

Great care is necessary to save melon seed pure. Vines of cucumbers 
and melons never should grow near to each other. Let the truth be ]-e- 
membered, that the varieties of all this family will mix, and that seedlings 
seldom improve either sort, and that the best always suffer by the contact. 

Bees are great mixers of the pollen of flowers, and they can only be pre- 
vented by getting up earlier in the morning than the bees. Select a number 
of female blossoms which have opened during the night. They may be 
known by growing on the end of the young scpiash, melon, etc., while the 
male blossoms (" false blows," as they are often called) have no fruit. Scat- 
ter tlie pollen of the male blossoms upon the stamens of the female ones, and 
carefully cover the latter with millinet, or anything which will protect them 
from the visits of the bees. A piece of cotton cloth, or even a scpiash leaf, 
kept in place by a few clods of earth, will answer a good purpose. "When 
the blossom withers, the covering may be removed, and the fruit marked by 
a colored string tied loosely around the vine. 

547. Melons Started in the House. — It is recommended by one who has 
met with success, to fill some small open baskets with earth and start the 
plants in them by artificial heat. Suitable baskets to hold a pint may be 
made for half a cent each of bark or willow twigs, or split stufi', or even 
shavings, or old, worthless strawberry baskets may be used. Perhaps straw 
baskets would answer, and be very cheaply made. Anything that will 
hold the dirt until the plants are large enough to set out, will answer the 
purpose, and then the baskets and all the contents are j^hmted in the hills. 
The object in using baskets is not to disturb the roots of the plants, as they 
are very tender, and do not bear transplanting. Any other tender plant 
may be grown in the same way. 

548. The Apple-Pie Melon. — L. Norris, of "Windsor, Ashtabula County, 
O., says: "The apple-pie melon, with good. cultivation, will attain to 40 or 



486 THE GARDEN AND ITS; FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

50 lbs. each, and if gathered carefully when ripe, and kept in a dry, cool 
place, will keep sound a year, and will always ]irove a good substitute for 
fruit for pies or sweetmeats. To use, peel oif the skin, take out the pulp, cut 
fine, and stew three or four hours, when the substance will resemble stewed 
green apples ; to ■which add aiigar and lemon-juice, and it will make pies 
that can not easily be told from those of apples." 

Another cultivator says : " This melon attains a large size ; I have grown 
specimens the past season, eighteen inches in length, weighing from 30 to 
40 lbs. Tliey are cylindrical in form; color, when ripe, a golden tint, very 
solid, and flesh close-grained ; color of seeds, a dark green or blue ; ripens 
in September, and will keep sound and good, it is said, for two years, but 
we have not as yet tested their keeping qualities. They prove hardy and 
of easy culture, and I consider this melon a valuable acquisition. We have 
tested tlie quality of them for pies, and find them very delicious. To pre- 
pare one for cooking, peel and cut up the melon small, taking out the seeds 
and soft pulp. Put the pieces in a preserving kettle with just enough 
water to keep them from burning, and stew over a tolerably brisk fire for 
three or four hours, or until the whole is reduced to a soft, pulpy mass, free 
from lumps, and thoroughly done. You have then a substance resembling 
green apples stewed, and by adding a little sugar and lemon-juice to it, and 
making it with crust in the usual way, it is impossible to tell it from a fresh 
apple-pie. If you desire a pie like pumpkin or custard of the melons, stew 
as above directed, but omit the lemons, and bring the pulpy mass to the 
proper richness and consistency by the addition of sugar, milk, and eggs. 
Little of either of these ingredients will be found necessary — only sufficient 
to give the melon color and flavor." 

549. Squashes — Summer aud Wiuter Varieties. — The varieties of squashes 
are so numerous, that almost every neighborhood has some favorite. The 
most universal one is the Boston Marrow, and next the Hubbard squash ; the 
last the best, but being a newer variety, has oidy become generally known 
within a few years. They are both medium-sized, and are extremely rich 
food for winter use, simply boiled and eaten as a table vegetable, as a 
substitute for sweet potatoes, or for pies and other cookeries. The form of 
the first is ovate, pointed, witli thin, salmon-colored rind, and flesh of deep 
orange color and fine-grained ; keeping all winter. Average weight, six 
to eight pounds. The Hubbard is a better substitute for sweet potatoes 
than the other. It iias a hard shell, and is an excellent kind to keep 
through the winter. It grows about the same size as the Marrow, and is 
immensely prolific. The Lima Cocoanut is a variety much esteemed by 
some as a winter squash ; it grows large, oblong, of a bluish color, very fine- 
grained, and sweet. The LTonolulu, a new variety, is said to excel all others 
in productiveness, fine flavor, and good keeping qualities. A large, almost 
white squash, which we have grown several years, we like full as well as 
either of the above for pies, and it is more hardy, and sure to produce a 
good crop in all situations. The flesh is sweet and rich, but not as fine- 



Sec;. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 487 

grained as tlio. others, but it grows three or four times larger, with a smooth, 
jiolished skin, the color of white wax. In size of fruit and vines, it is more 
like piniipkiiis than ordinary squashes. Among all new varieties, we should 
not forget the old Crookneck. It is a squash of good eating and keeping 
quality, and not so delicate in its growth as some others. There is also a 
crook-necked summer squash, which is considered by those who have grown 
it, the largest, the very best of all the summer varieties. It is early, pro- 
ductive, and one of the kind called bush, or non-running sorts. Its color 
is yellow, and has a warty skin, and hard shell when ripe. The Early 
White, scolloped, a bush variety, wo have grown with satisfaction as to its 
eating qualities, though we thought it a shy bearer. The hills for squashes 
should be highly manured with well-rotted stable manure or compost, but 
not with anything very putrescent, which will give off ammonia and kill 
the young plants, which are very tender. The seeds must not be planted 
while there is any danger of frost, as a very slight degree of cold will kill 
the vines while new. The use of salt in manure must be avoided with all 
the eucurhita family, but plaster may be used to great advantage both as a 
fertilizer and bug preventive. 

550. Egg-Plants. — ^These garden plants are not as much grown in Northern 
gardens as in Southern ones, because they can rarely be brought forward 
early enough in the spring without the aid of artificial heat, as the young 
plants are very tender. If you have no hot-bed, sow the seed as early as 
possible in a sheltered, warm, dry situation, and protect the young plants 
with hand-glasses or boxes, or some covering in cold nights, until tliey are 
three or four inches high ; and when the weather has become steadily warm, 
transplant them into very rich^ mellow soil, setting the plants two and a 
half feet apart. A fourth ounce of seed will produce more plants than any 
family wants. The earliest variety is called Long Purple, and grows a 
plum-colored fruit of several pounds' weight, M'hich those who are accustomed 
to eating it, call delicious. There is a sort, called Large Oval Purple, that 
grows larger than the above, and is perhaps preferable for general culture. 
The early and late sorts may be distinguished while growing by the stems. 
The earliest grows smooth and the others prickly. There are two sorts 
grown for garden ornament— one red and the other white— of much smaller 
size than the sorts generally grown for cooking. 

5oL Salad-Plants — Lettuce. — Lettuce is the principal salad-plant cultivated 
among farmers, and so far as our observation extends, the poorest varieties 
are most in use, and rarely made to jiroduce semi-solid heads, such as we 
often see in the city market, almost large enough to be mistaken for cab- 
bages. The best sort for early spring use, sown in open ground, or for hot- 
bed forcing, is the Early Curled Silesia, because it makes a strong growth 
of yellowish-green tender leaves, which are very good eating as soon as they 
are large enough to pick, and will afterwards form loose heads. Do not pull 
up the young roots, but pick off the leaves, or clip them from the roots with 
a pair of scissors, and others will soon grow. The Early Tennis Ball is 



488 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

esteemed one of the best varieties which form heads. Kecollect that some 
sorts of lettuce will not head, with all your care, but the leaves may be made 
more tender by tying them up, so that they will grow blanciied. One of the 
best sorts of non-heading lettuce is the Ice Cos, the leaves of M'hich are 
brittle, growing long, narrow, and dark-green, and of somewhat an icy ap- 
pearance. 

There are also four other sorts of Cos lettuce — the Paris Green, Paris 
White, Florence or Golden, and Spotted Cos — each of which you will 
be told is best by the person who grows it, and no other. The hardiest sort 
is the Brown Dutch, which may be started in autumn, and slightly protected 
60 as to endure winter, and grow early in spring. It will form a loose head, 
but is not generally grown for heads, but for the early young leaves ; the other 
sorts being preferable to it for heading. One of the largest varieties is called 
Large India ; it is less curled than the Silesia, and the leaves are whiter, 
slightly edged with pink. This kind endures the summer heats well, and 
forms large, round heads, which cut solid and crisp. There are several 
other sorts, but what we have said of these is enough to show that there is a 
great variety in this family of garden plants. 

To grow good lettuce, the ntmost care must be used in preparing the 
ground. The soil should be made as fine as the seed, and as rich as good 
garden mold can be. The seed should be sown every fortnight from Feb- 
ruary to June, to get a succession of young plants. The ground must be 
kept loose between the rows,«and it pays well to water with guano in a weak 
solution. 

An ounce of lettuce seed will grow plants enough for half a dozen families. 
It would require a bed about ten by twelve feet to sow an ounce of seed, 
and it would produce some 5,000 plants. . 

552. Mustard is often grown for salad, the white or yellow seed variety 
being very good for that purpose. It should be sown in the fall, or it may 
be started in spring, in a hot-bed or warm southern exposure, in rows 
six inches apart, and no matter how thick in the rows, as it is to 
be cut when two inches high. The black seed kind is often sown for 
greens, as well as to grow seed for use or sale. It ripens seed in July or 
August. 

553. Nasturtium! — This is another salad plant, when very young, though 
generally grown for its fruit, which is used for pickling. The pods are 
gathered before they ripen for this purpose, and some use the fl.ower-buds, 
esteeming them as good as capers. The orange-colored flowers are also used 
for garnishing dishes. For salad, sow the dwarf variety early in spring, in 
drills an inch deep, along borders of beds, so that what is not cut for salad 
may grow for ornament. 

554r. Garden-Cress. — This is a favorite salad plant, and in this character 
only the seminal plants are used. It is very hardy and prolific, and may 
be sowed once a week, from the opening of the ground in spring until the 
close of the season. Old rich garden soil is the most congenial to it, but 



Sko. 30.] GAEDEN" CULINARY VEGETABLES. 489 

any lands of fine textnre will, if properly pulverized and enriched witli 
putrescent nianure, produce a good crop. 

Do not mistake this for the plant more known as poppergrass than it is 
as cress. Tiie article we allude to grows annually from seed or from roots, 
forming compact bunches of twenty or tliirty stalks, which grow a foot high, 
and bear smooth succulent leaves and an npriglit stem full of seed-pods, souie- 
thing like turnip. It is very apt to seed itself, and may become trouble- 
some if care is not taken with it. It is so hardy that it keeps partially 
green all winter, under a very sliglit covering, and its greatest value is, that 
it affords sometliing green very early in spring. 

555. Water-€ress {iSis)/mbi'iu77i nasturtium) can be easily grown from 
seeds or roots, wherever there is a stream or spring in the ground near tlic 
house. It grows best in situations where the roots are always in water, and 
in winter the whole plant is overflowed, and it particularly delights in pure 
water, clear and cold, such as runs in th« little spring-brooks. If you hap- 
pen to have one that does not freeze, you may have water-cress at any time 
during winter. It is started by sowing the seeds or setting the plants in a 
suitable spot for its growth. After it once gets fixed as a habitant of any 
[)]acc, it requires no care in its cultivation. 

55(J. Endive, a plant of the chiccory species, is often cultivated for a 
winter salad, thougli more used in stews and for garnishing tables. The 
Green Curled is the hardiest sort, growing beautifully curled leaves, dark- 
green, which are tender and crisp when young,- and much esteemed as salad 
by some persons, and are considered wholesome. The French use the Bata- 
vian Endive iu stews and soups. It is a broad-leaf sort, which grows not 
much curled. This, when very young, is eaten as salad, but is not as good as 
cither the Green or White Curled. The seed is sown late in the spring, or even 
middle of summer, for fall use, and the leaves are blanched for use by tying 
the outer leaves over the inner ones. An ounce of seed will sow a bed eight 
by ten feet. 

557. Turiiip-Sprouts, grown under a straw mulch, are blanched and tender, 
and make a delicate, sweet salad, and may be had early iu the spring with 
a little care. 

558. Okra. — Under the head of "History of Some Common Garden 
Vegetables" we have told the uses of this plant. Its consumption has in- 
creased so much in New York since its introduction a few years since, that 
one market gardener of our acquaintance grew seven acres of it last year 
(1860), part of the crop selling green and part dried. There is no plant 
grown in the garden that affords cheaper food than okra. The pods, iu soup, 
make it mucilaginous and nutritious. There is a dwarf okra plant which 
does not grow more than two or three feet high, and is very prolific of 
branches and pods, that for this latitude will be a valuable improvement 
over the large kind, which grows five or six feet long. Kipe okra seeds are 
sometimes used as a substitute for coffee. It is doubtful whether they are 
as good as the seeds of asparagus. 



490 THE GAKDEN AND ITS FKUITS. [Chap. V. 

Okra seed should not be jdanted till the ground has become warm in 
spring, and may then be treated much like Indian-corn in all its cultivation, 
and grows "well in soil suitable for corn. 

559. TomatoeSi — The rapidity ^yith which this vegetable has been brought 
into almost universal use is well-nigh beyond belief. It is quite within the 
memory of middle-aged people that it was grown only because its fruit was 
ornamental, and by many supposed to be poisonous. Its common name in New 
England was " Love Apple," though no one loved it. Now there are not 
many families that do not esteem tomatoes as much as any garden vegetable, 
and gardeners are constantly making eiforts to produce new varieties of im- 
proved quality. Let no one suppose he has got the best sort until he has 
tried several others. There is more dilierence in the quality and value for 
food of tomatoes than there is in potatoes. "We will name a few of the best. 
We have grown a very large yellow tomato, which we prefer over all others, 
because it is less acid, and the meat aj^pears to have more of the food prin- 
ciple in it than any of the red ones, unless it is one called Fejee Island 
Tomato, which we think identical with one called "Perfected," and said to 
have been introduced by C. Edwards Lester. It is a very large red sort, 
and very good eating, and a little finer grained than one called the Large 
Mammoth Red. The poorest tomato in existence is the one almost univer- 
sally grown for the New York market. It is of medium size, smooth, round- 
ish, with a tough skin, and sour, hard meat, frequently very hollow, partially 
filled with seeds and sour water, and being generally gathered in a green 
slate, is no more fit to eat than the vines it grows upon. It is grown be- 
cause it bears transportation better than the good sorts, and it will sell to 
people who do not Icnow how to appreciate a good tomato. As a general 
rule, to select good sorts of tomatoes for cultivation for family use, choose 
those which grow uneven-shaped rather tliau smooth, such as you can pull 
apart without cutting, the lobes separating with a glistening fracture. If you 
wish to have some ripen earlier than the large sorts, you may choose a round, 
smooth, n}edium size, called Early Apple Tomato. For pickles and pre- 
serves there is a sort known as pear or fig tomatoes, being about the size and 
shape of figs. There is a small yellow sort, grown for preserving, and so is 
the sort which grows about the size of potato-balls, and as round and smooth. 
A distinct variety, called AVinter Cherries (see 675), grows with a husk 
about the size of large cherries, and is much liked by some to eat out of 
hand. Care must be taken to prevent the difi'erent sorts of tomatoes from 
mixing, else, if you have a choice kind, you will be apt to lose it, as the in- 
clination is to run down rather than up the scale of improvement. 

The cultivation is very simple. In warm latitudes they are >self-propagat- 
ing. In this latitude, where the family has no hot-bed, the seed should be 
sown for early use in boxes or pots, in February and March. The seeds sown 
in boxes, if kept in a warm room, in the light of a window, will grow healthy 
plants, which, when two inches high, may be pricked out and set single in 
pots, and carefully nursed till aU danger of frost is over, in some warm, 



Seo. 30.] GARDEN CULINAEY VEGETABLES. 491 

sheltered situation, where tliey can grow out-doors. To hasten the first 
fruit, pincli off all shoots above the first formed ones as soon as the tomatoes 
are the size of cherries. Afterwards cut ofl' most of the leaves, to let the 
sun have its full force xipon the fruit ; you will thus get a small crop several 
weeks ahead of the ripening when planted out at the ordinary time and left 
to the natural course of growth. To have really good tomatoes, fit to be 
eaten in a raw state, which certainly is the most delicious form in which 
they can'be eaten, you must have a good sort, and grow them on good land, 
and select the first fruit, and trim the vines so that the sun shines upon it, 
and let it become fully ripened before it is gathered. It should always 
be eaten while fresh to get its full value. Then it is both palatable and 
wholesome. 

If tlie seed bo sown in May, in good rich soil, of a warm nature, with a 
sufliciency of old, well-rotted manure, there will rarely be any danger of 
failure. Wlien the vines begin to show leaves, they should be provided 
with a trellis, or tied to stakes fixed in the soil, to keep the fruit from being 
injured by coming in contact with the dirt. 

There is, however, a new sort lately introduced, called " Tomato de Lays''' 
in France, and with us, the Upright or Tree-Tomato, that requires no sup- 
port. Its stem is two feet high or more, and so remarkably strong and stiff", 
that they are nearly self-supporting — a highly commendable quality. It 
branches less than the common Great Ked Tomato, is less leafy, does not 
want so much pinching, does not bear so freely, but its fruit is larger and 
more regularly formed. 

Medicinally, the tomato is in high repute. Dr. Bennett, a professor of 
medicine of good standing, has published the following opinion of its good 
qualities : 

" 1. That the tomato is one of the most powerful deobstruents of the Ma- 
teria Mcdica, and that in all those affections of the liver and other organs, 
where calomel is indicated, it is probably the most eflective and least harm- 
ful remedial agent known in the profession. 

"2. That a chemical extract will be obtained from it which will alto- 
gether supersede the use of calomel in the cure of disease. 

" 3. That he has successfully treated serious diarrhea with this article alone. 

" 4r. That when used as an article of diet, it is almost a sovereign remedy 
for dyspepsia or indigestion. 

" 5. That persons removing from the East or ISTortli to the South or West, 
should by all means make use of it as an aliment, as it would in that event 
save them from the danger attendant upon those violent bilious attacks to 
which almost all unacclimated persons are liable. 

" 6. That the citizens in ordinary should make use of it either raw, cooked, 
or in the form of a catsup, with their daily food, as it is the most healthy 
article in the Materia Alimentariar 

Prof. Rafinesque, of France, says: "It is everywhere deemed a very 
healthy vegetable, and an invaluable article of food." 



492 



THE GARDEN" AND ITS FRUITS. 



[Chap. V. 



Dunglison says : " It may be looked iiison as one of the most wholesome 
and valuable esculents that belong to the vegetable kingdom." 

A writer in the farmer's Begister says : " It has been tried by several 
persons with decided success. Tliey were afflicted with chronic cough, the 
primary cause of wliicli, in one case, was supposed to be a diseased liver; in 
another, diseased luugs. It mitigates, and sometimes effectually checks, a 
fit of coughing." 

The method most commonly adopted in preparing this fruit for 'daily use 
is to cut them in slices, and serve with salt, pepper, and vinegar, as you do 
cucumbers. 

To stew tomatoes, remove them ripe from the vines, slice up, and put them 
in a pot over the stove or fire, without water. Stew them slowly, and when 
done, put in a small piece of good butter, and eat them as you do apple- 
sauce. Some add a little flour-bread, finely crumbed, or a couple of crackers 
pulverized, to a quart of the stew. 

560. Radishes. — Almost every family grows radishes, but every one does 
not grow them to perfection. The radish appears to have originated from 
China, where it is still grown to much higher perfection than in any country 
of its adoption, and is largely used as an article of food throughout the year, 
one variety being grown especially for winter use. Although not a very 
nourishing sort of food, it is a very palatable condiment, and very ac- 
ceptable upon all tables in the sjiring season. The tops are frequently 
used when quite new as a salad, and the green seed-pods make nice small 
pickles. To grow good radishes, your ground must be rich from manur- 
ing in previous years, or by guano in solution, or superj^hosphate, while 
the plants are growing, and not by fresh putrescent manures. Radishes are 
only good when the growth is rapid. To have this they must have a good 
soil and frequent waterings, either naturally or artificially. 

For early use, sow on mildly hot beds, or in boxes in-doors, and after- 
ward in sheltered places, and water frequently, thinning out the weakest 
plants. Put in a few seed every ten days, as long as you want to continue 
the production, in drills ten inches apart, or with other seeds of slower 
growth, to mark the rows. An ounce of seed will plant a bed ten feet 
square. One of the best early sorts is known by the long name of Early 
Short-topped Long Scarlet. It grows half out of ground, and very crisp. 
The Olive-shaped radish, lately introduced from France, is an early and fa- 
vorite sort. It resembles the scarlet turnip radish ; is rose-colored, oblong ; 
top quite small, and if grown rapidly, is crisp and sweet. For our use, we 
prefer turnip radishes to the long sorts. For winter use, the Spanish, or 
Black radish, or a sort called Rose-colored China, is sown in the fall, and 
gathered before freezing, and packed in sand in a dry cellar. 

561. Rhubarb, or Fie-PIant.— This valuable garden vegetable is easily 
grown, and affords the first thing in spring for pies and tarts. It is best to 
get roots for a start, as it is not always true to the kind from seed. 

Autumn is the best time to make a rhubarb or pie-plant bed, and the 



Seq 30.] 



GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 



493 



roots may be put in at any time when the weatlier will admit. The great 
secret of success is to get a deep, rich bed to begin Mith. It can not be too 
deep or too rich. We would dig it five feet deep for family use, and fill one 
foot with cobble-stone, if we could, or with broken brick, timber, and brush, 
so arranged as to give a good drainage. Then fill up with sods, chip 
manure, wood's mold, good soil, and well-composted manure in a homo- 
geneous mass, casting away the subsoil. Such a made bed will last as long 
as its maker will, and if ten feet wide and twenty feet long, set with three 
rows of roots, two feet apart in the row, it will furnish the largest family 
with more than they can use, so that some of their indolent neighbors can 
get a portion. Except when grown for market, we would not select the 
largest variety of rhubarb. Seedling plants may be cut after the first year 
to a small extent. It is good to mulch the bed summer and winter. Seed 
stalks must be kept carefully cut away as fast as they appear, and the bed 
must be richly manured every fall. 

Some of the sorts in highest repute are the Yictoria, Linnreus, Eoyal Al- 
bert, Scarlet Nonpareil, and Mammoth. The largest sort is known as Ga- 
lloon's Seedling. It is better esteemed for wine-making than eating. Fif- 
teen hundred gallons an acre have been made from this sort, grown xvpon 
well-drained, rich, loamy land in Wisconsin. The stalks are cut in lengths of 
two or three inches, and ground and pressed in a cider-mill, one hundred 
pounds of stalks yielding ten gallons of juice, which is mixed with an equal 
quantity of water, and about three and a half pounds of i-efined sugar to 
each gallon of the mixture. This, if treated like other small fruit wines, 
gives a palatable beverage, salable, and very profitable to the grower and 
manufacturer. 

502. Savory aud Medicinal Garden Plants, — There is a variety of plants 
which every farmer's family should grow in the garden, which are useful in 
the kitchen, nursery, or sick chamber, a few of which we will name. 

Iloarkound. — This plant {Ifarruhium vulgare) is called hoar on account 
of the white, downy growth upon the leaves and branches, which resembles 
hoar frost. The plant is in high rejiute as a remedy for colds and coughs. 
It is not a native of America, but was introduced by the first settlers as a 
valuable medicinal plant, and from the garden it has spread to the road- 
side and fields in every favorable location, as it propagates readily from 
the seed. 

A good many other medicinal plants were introduced in the same way as 
hoarhound by the New England pilgrims. Among them we may name 
lavender, from which spirits of lavender and oil of spike are made, although 
another plant (Z. spica) gives the name. Comfry is another of the old-time 
medicines that our ancestors made use of in cases of inflamed throat and ii - 
testines, and for emollient poultices and salves. 

Peppermint and Sjjearmint are pretty well known and generally esteemed. 
One, if not both, come from Europe, and have been largely cultivated in this 
country for the oil which, when diluted, or " cut" with alcohol, forming 



4:94 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

essence of peppermint, is esteemed as a remedy for flatxilence. Until the dis- 
tillers of peppermint took to cheating by mixing oil of tiii'pentine with their 
product, which spoiled the trade, the growing of peppermint was a good 
business in some of the New England States ; bnt since it has been so much 
injured by fraud, it is not worth while for farmers to engage in its field 
culture at the present price of the oil, though it should be grown in gardens 
for family use. 

As a crop, this plant can be grown npon any moist, rich soil ; that which 
will produce good corn will grow peppermint. The land should be plowed 
deep, and it will be found advantageous to use the subsoil lifter, and the 
crop must be cultivated while the plants are small to keep the weeds down, 
and therefore should be planted in rows eighteen inches apart. Sj^ring is 
the best time to set out a new plantation by offshoots or subdivision of old 
roots. The yield will be small the first year, and upon some land, after two 
or three j'cars, it gets so full of grass as to render it necessary to turn the 
whole sod over and let the mint grow up again, which it will do, and the 
process of turning under enriches the land. The mint is cut for distillation 
when in blossom, and we think yields from fifteen to twenty pounds of oil 
per acre. 

Wo)'7mvood is another imported plant, and is a very hardy perennial. 
Its leaves, bruised and wet with vinegar, are esteemed a valuable applica- 
tion to sprains and bruises, and its bitter properties used to be esteemed as 
a tonic. 

Balm, Saffron, Hyssop, Lavender, Fennel, Bene, and Bosemary are all use- 
ful medicinal herbs to cultivate in gardens, and the following are grown 
for various uses in cookery: Anise, Sweet Basil, Carraway, Coriander, Dill, 
Fennel, Sweet Marjoram, Summer Savory, Thyme, and Sage. Tlie last is 
considered almost a necessity in some families, and is grown upon perennial 
roots. It is better, we think, to plant seed every year, and not keep the roots 
over two years. All of the above-named herbs are grown by gardeners near 
cities to sell in market. 

Parsley is another agreeable, savory herb, much used as a garnish of 
meats on the table and seasoning of soups. It is easily grown in good gar- 
den mold. It is sometimes planted as a fringe for beds or walks in the 
garden. It is grown in some places for the roots, which are like small 
carrots, to feed to cattle. An ounce of seed is enough for a row two hun- 
dred feet long. 

Peppers should always be grown in sufficient quantity for seasoning all 
soups and stews, as such is far healthier than pepper that we import. 

The Long Caj^enne is a very pungent sort, and grows up dwarf-stalks. 
The Cherry pepper is also a good dwarf sort. For pods to pickle green, 
grow the squash pepper, which has a tomato-shaped pod, rather mild, and 
very-productive. The Sweet Mountain grows in a similar form, but mucli 
larger. The Sweet Spanish is the mildest of all for pickling or to eat green 
as a salad. 



Seo. 30.]' HAKDEN" CULINARY VEGETABLES. 495 

Peppers should be sown early in light, warm soil in a seed-bed, and trans- 
planted and manured with guano water or hen-dung in solution. 

5G3. Jerusalem Artichokes. — Tliis plant, the IlcUanthus tuherosus, should 
have a small corner in every garden, or somewhere convenient about the 
farmery, as it affords very agreeable food early in the spring, when some- 
thing is longed for fresh from the earth. It is one of the best antiscorbutics 
known. It also affords a great crop of good pig feed. One man in Ohio 
estimates the yield at the rate of 1,700 bushels an acre. "We recommend 
this plant as altogether preferable for cultivation over the Chinese yam, 
Dioscorea latatas, about which so much has been written and said. All 
tliat is necessary to be known about that plant wc give in the next par- 
agraph. 

564. The Chinese Yam. — This new escidcnt has certainly been tested long 
enough in tliis country to determine its true value for cultivation. Tliat it 
is palatable and nutritious, when pi-operly cooked, no one doubts. That it 
would ever be adopted as a substitute for the common potato {Solanum 
iulerosiun), or of the sweet potato {Convolvulus hatatas), among those who 
grow those roots as a sale crop, we have never believed, but have hoped that 
it might prove a valuable addition to our family of food- producing plants ; 
but as yet we have not the evidence that this will be the case. 

The London Gardaiers^ Chronicle of September, 1858, says of tlie Chi- 
nese yam {Dioscorea hatatas) that — 

" Many excellent results were obtained last year in various parts of the 
country, and gardeners begin to understand the nature of this strange pro- 
ducti<in, which, although provided for the food of man, naturally grows in 
the ground in such a way as to make it impossible for him to pull it up. It 
is now, too, agreed that the quality of the root, when properly cooked, is 
excellent. " 

" When first introduced to Europe by the French, this escnlent was re- 
garded as a mere curiosity, and maltreated accordingly ; but eventually 
such information concerning it was obtained from M. de Montigny, French 
consul at Shanghae, as led to its receiving the attention due to a root which 
might some day be found good to eat. 

"The herbage of the Chinese yam is singularly like that of Tamus com- 
munis^ the common black bryony of this country, consisting of long, weak, 
angular, wiry, annual stems, covered with heart-shaped shining leaves. It 
ordinarily begins to push its roots as soon as the ground temperature 
rises to about 50 degrees, which, near London, corresponds with the begin- 
ning of May. Shortly afterward the shoots appear and soon spread over 
•the surface, not, however, with much vigor at first, nor, indeed, till the 
month of August. The plant is evidently occupied for some weeks in 
making these true roots and preparing for the singular development of that 
false root, which is the yam itself — the part to be eaten. "When the roots 
and stems have attained the necessary vigor, M-hich seems to be when the 
ground has become heated up to GO degrees, or thereabouts, in August, there 



496 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS.* [Chap. V. 

appears among the roots a soft, fleshy liorn', which directs itself perpendicu- 
larly downward, and growing with considerable rapidity, soon becomes a 
club-shaped body, the small end of which is near the surface of the ground. 
This manner of growth is exactly like that of the arrow-root plant {Maranta 
arundinacea), and continues until the end of October, when the yam is 
completed, and under proper treatment will have attained the lengtli of from 
15 to 2i inches, weighing about one pound. In France, specimens have 
been dug up weighing two and a half pounds, and measuring a yard in 
length. In its perfect state it resembles a very long trumpet gourd or a 
large parsnep, with the crown downward. The tail, which forms one third 
of the lengtli, is cut oif and divided into inch lengths for propagation ; the 
thicker part is eaten. In the course of its downward growth, the power of 
developn»ent is so great that the thick end will force its way into hard clay, 
and even bury stones or fragments of pottery in its substance if its progress 
is sufficiently opposed. All obstacles ought to be carefully removed. 

The best results in the cultivation of this yam have been obtained where 
tlio temperature was highest, and the first oliject of the gardener should be to 
obtain all the heat the sun can give him in soil three feet deef>. 

Tiie plant should be grown in ridges, made to run east and west, and rise 
eighteen inches above the level, in earth trenched three feet deep. Tiie yam 
will not be Avorth growing in poor or worn-out land, nor among stones. 

Tiiere is no doubt of one beneficial result from the attempt to cultivate 
tliis root, if the above directions are complied with. If it does not produce 
a profitable crop of yams, it will fit the ground most admirably for any other 
crop; and any man wlio has ever planted, grown, and gathered them, and 
afterward planted ax\j other crop upon the same ground, must be convinced 
of the advantage of deep cultivation, since the yams can not be extracted 
witliout digging two or tliree feet deeji, which, even without manure, is a 
most excellent preparation for beets, carrots, parsneps, or anytiiing else ever 
grown \ipou the farm, orchards included. 

5G5. Sweet PotatoeSi — The first steji in the cultivation of sweet potatoes is 
to know how to sprout them, as they are grown from sets, not from tubers 
planted in the hill. J. W. Tenbrook, of Rockville, Ind., published the fol- 
lowing directions, which wo copy and approve. 

" Arrangements should be made early in the winter to have frames and 
covers made and seed potatoes, manure, and all necessary material for the 
hot-beds ready in due time. 

" The po'tatoes should be kept in a warm, dry room, until they are placed 
in the hot-bed, which must be warm, as tliey will not bear a lower tempera- 
ture than 40 degrees without injury. « 

"The location of the beds should be near a street or public road, on dry 
ground, with a southern inclination, and convenient to pond or branch 
water. 

"The best material for a hot bed is fresh horse-stable manure that has not 
been rotted ; and if mixed with one fourth to one half its bulk of either 



Seo. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 497 

sawdust, fresh leaves, tan-bark, or straw, the lieat would he more mild and 
durable, and less liable to scald the j)oiatoes. 

" About the first or second week of April, in this latitude, haul the 
materials for the bed, and mix them together in a ridge where the bed is to 
be made, and as soon as it is hot, shake it thoroughly, mixing the cold and 
hot, wet and dry portions togetiier, forming a bed on the top of the ground, 
running east and west, which, when settled with the fork — not trampled — 
should be fourteen inches high, moi'e or less, as there is a greater or less pro- 
portion of manure used, and six inches wider on all sides than tlie frame to 
be placed over it. 

" Hot-bed frames should be made of two-inch oak plank, framed together 
at the ends with keys, so as to be easily taken ajiart and stored when not in use. 
They should not be over twenty feet in length, nor exceed four in width. The 
front, or south side, should be eight inches high ; the north, from eight to 
twent}', according to the slope of the ground on which the bed stands, as the 
top of the frame should have a pitch of eight to twelve inches to receive the 
heat of the sun, and to shed otf the rain freoh'. Temporary beds are made 
l.iy setting slabs or plank on edge, and tilling in the manure ; but such 
beds are dilBcult to cover, and if used, the potatoes should not be laid within 
six inches of the sides. [See 598.] 

'■ Cover the beds five inches deep with the mellow earth, on which set the 
frames and proceed to lay the potatoes two inches apart, with the top end 
of the potato toward the planks, and inure them to the open air. Glass- 
covered hot-beds cause the plants to spring up tender and weak, and such 
lilants do not grow, when set out in the hill, like those raised in open beds. 

"The best covere are made of strong oiled muslin, tacked on lath, so that 
they can be rolled up conveniently. These covers will admit the light, shed 
olT tlie rain, and be cheaper in the end than other covering, and sufficiently 
warm except in extremely cold weather, v/hen straw or some warm covering- 
should be thrown over them. Trampled straw, or mats made of rye straw, 
answer in the absence of better covering. 

"The beds should be watered in the evening -with a suitable watering-pot, 
to keep the earth in a good growing condition. If spring or well water is 
used, it should stand in the sun or be warmed before using. After the plants 
are up, they should, if the weather is warm, be kept tolei-ably moist, to en- 
courage the growth of good strong roots, and light warm showers would be 
better than watering, but cold and heavy rains must be guarded against, as 
they would soak into the beds and ruin them. 

" Ditches should be formed around the beds, and the earth thrown up to 
keep the water from running under and chilling them. 

"When the plants are three inches high, and well rooted, they are ready 
to pull, which is performed by taking hold of the plants with the thumb 
and forefinger of one hand, while the potato is held firmly in its place with 
the other. Careless drawing, by inexperienced persons, frequently destroys 
half the profits of their beds. 



498 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

"When plants are to be sent a distance, they should be set in shallow 
boxes, with their roots in wet earth or moss, but they must not be packed in 
wet weather, nor have their leaves wet, or they will rot immediately. 
Plants may be taken off the beds and preserved in a cave or cellar for a 
week or more, with their roots packed in damp moss or earth, if not packed 
too close. 

" If by bedding too early, or crowding, the plants should grow long and 
slender, they may be cut down to two or three inches in length ; but this 
should be avoided by giving plenty of room and air, and by working the 
earth in among the roots with the fingers as it is lifted up by the plants, and 
settling it by watering." 

The best ground to grow a crop of sweet potatoes upon is sand, enriched 
with very well-rotted manure, leaf-mold, fine compost, guano, or snperphos- 
jjhate. Tlie hills are rounded up like mounds, a foot or more high. All 
who live upon sandy land, south of latitude 41 degrees, can grow a few 
sweet potatoes in tlie garden, if not as a field crop. They are best preserved 
by packing in cut straw, in barrels, set in a stove-heated room, where the 
thermometer never will sink below 40 degrees, and rarely rise above 60 de- 
grees. See 438. 

5C6. Hot Water for Seeds. — There are many seeds which may be greatly 
quickened in tlieir vegetating powers by the use of hot water. Onion-seed, 
lor instance, may be made to sprout upon the instant by pouring boiling 
water upon it. You need not fear killing it. Put some in a saucer, and 
pour on water from a tea-kettle, and after a half minute pour it off again, 
and you may see the sprouts shooting out the next minute ; and if then 
planted, while hot and moist, in pulverulent earth, closely packed upon 
them, you will get them forward two or three weeks earlier. The same ef- 
fect will be produced upon all black, hard-shelled seed, such as onion, 
asparagus, sunflower, water-melon, api)le, and many others. Locust-seed 
should be thoroughly scalded in boiling-hot lye, or several repetitious of hot 
water. 

567. Cranberries ia (he Garden. — Cranberries have been so long looked 
upon as wild plants of swamps, that it is diflicult for people to realize that 
they can bo grown in gardens as well as strawberries, whicli are naturally a 
wild field growth. 

Cranberries do naturally grow in swamps, but they may be made to grow 
artificially in good loamy garden soil, or that whicli is naturally a little 
mucky, such as is the most suitable for potatoes, if deeply worked. The 
best soil, however, for cranberries, is almost pure sand, with water naturally 
standing, or percolating through it, within less than two feet of the surface. 
A bed occupying one rod and two fifths, in the garden of Charles B. Phelps, 
Culebrook, Conn , planted in June, 1857, yielded three bushels in 1860. 
The vines were taken from a natural bed, and set in small tufts, one foot 
apart in the rows, which were two feet apart, and these were kept clear of 
weeds until the whole ground became matted with vines. The bed then 



Seo. 30.] GARDEN CULINARY VEGETABLES. 499 



will continue longer in bearing than any bed of strawberries, without en- 
riching the soil. 

The cranberry is a semi-aquatic slender evergreen, content to occupy that 
part of a farm which is too low and too wet to be used for any other pur- 
])Ose, and is satisfied to feed on water, and the slightly alluvial deposits 
afforded by the adjacent highlands, and does not, like some overgrown 
annual plants, make heavy drafts upon the soil. 

For field culture of cranberries, all that we have said here will be almost 
equally applicable, but the subject is treated more at large in No. 700. 

568. Number of Trees, Plants, or Rows to au Acre.— The following tables 
will aid any one in determining how many trees or plants he can grow 
upon one acre, which contains 43,500 superficial feet : 



No. of feet apart. No. of Plants. 

1 43,560 

li 19,300 

2" 10,890 

2J 6,869 

3' 4,840 

4 2,722 

5 1,742 

1,210 



No. of Plants. 

637 

12 362 

15 193 

18 134 

21 98 

24 75 

27 69 



The following table shows the number of rows, of different widths, in a 
square acre, and number of plants an acre contains : 

No. of feet apart No. of rows. . Plants in a row.- 



12 in. apart. 15 in. apart. 18 in. apart. 24 in. apart. 

2 105 22,0-30 17,640 14,7U0 11,025 

2i 85 17,8.50 14,280 11.900 8,925 

3" 70 14,700 11,760 9,800 7,350 

3i 60 12,600 10,080 8,400 6,300 

4" 52 10,920 8,736 7,280 5,460 

ii 46 9,660 7,728 6,440 4,830 

5' 42 8.820 7,0.'56 5,880 4,410 

5J 38 7.980 6,384 5,.320 3,990 

6 35 7.350 6,880 4,900 3,675 

7 30 6,300 5,040 4,200 3,150 

8 26 5,460 4,.368 3,640 2,730 

9 23 4,8-30 3,864 3,220 2.415 

10 21 4,410 3,528 2,940 2,205 

It is a common practice to measure an acre thirteen rods each way ; that 
gives an excess of nine rods. At the South, it is common to measure seventy 
yards each way for au acre, which is an excess of 540 yards. In calculating 
the number of plants per acre, set four feet apart — for instance, cabbages — 
it is common to say ten thousand j^er acre. This allows nearly nine hundred 
missing plants. In garden work these rules will always be useful. 



500 



THK GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. 



[Chap. V. 



SECTION XXXI.- 



-THE FLOWER-GARDEX-VAPdETIES AND CULTIVA- 
TION OF FLOWERS. 




-IRST, let lis talk a little about tlie moral 
influence of flower culture. We are just as 
well satisfied of the beneficial moral eflects of 
flower cultivation, as we are tbat tbe efiects of tbeir 
beauty upon tbe senses of nearly all beboldei"s is 
pleasing. A motber wbo loves flowers is apt to infuse 
the same feeling into ber cbildren. A love of flowers is 
a love of tbe beautiful ; a love of tbe beautiful is a love 
of tbe good ; and so step by step the cbild walks in tbe 
pleasant paths of love, till its mind becomes thoroughly 
imbued %vitb all tbe sentiments of moral goodness. There 
is no spot on the farm tbat grows such a " paying crop" 
as the little parterre near the dwelling, devoted to tbe 
cultivation of flowers. If it does not pay in golden coin, 
it does in all that makes life worth staying here for. What golden hours 
of joy are spent by the family in the flower-garden ! What blessed influ- 
ences such hours have upon the character of cluldren ! If you doubt the 
moral influence of flowers, look about you, and study the character of those 
who cultivate them in contrast with those who do not. We have long since 
fettled tbe question of tbe beneficial influences of flowers upon all families, 
I'.iid tlierefore devote a little space to give, upon this subject, some very use- 
ful information. 

509. Suitable Soil for a Flower-Garden. — LTpon tbe subject of soil, we 
copy from the catalogue of Benjamin K. Bliss, of Springfield, Mass., one of 
the most successful cultivators and sellers of flower seeds in tbe United 
States, the following sensible observations : 

"Tbe soil best adapted to flowering-plants generally is a liglit friable 
loam, containing a moderate amount of vegetable matter, and sufficient 
sand to render it porous ; but as it rarply happens that the amateur has 
much choice of soil, it is fortunate that most of them will succeed in any 
but such as is of an extremely dry, sandy, or calcar(*ous nature, or of a stiff, 
li'oavy, retentive character. In the former, the plants are sure to be starved, 
and in tbe latter, if tliey ever feirly take root, tliere is generally an undue 
development of tbe foliage at tbe expense of the flowers. In soils of this 
description much may be done by thoroughly breaking up tbe superficial 
crnst, or, as it is technically termed, ' trenching' it at least one spade deep, 
digging in sharp sand or road-scrapings, and if the operation be performed 
in autumn, so tliat tlie loosened soil is thoroughly exposed during the winter 
to the disintegrating influences of frost and other atmospheric agencies, the 
advantage will be greatly increased. 




G-B-Owy I5y a jEak2D.ib.'s irit-K . 



PLATE XV. 

(Page 600.) 

This picture is placed here for the same purpose as No. XIV. in 
its place. That to indicate the vegetable garden — this to mark the 
entrance among the flowers. What woman looking upon this lovely 
vase will not feel a desire to be a producer of such beautiful things ? 
Feeling that desire, she will be inclined to read what the author 
says of " The Flower Garden.'' Reading of flowers, she will never 
be content until she possesses them. And they will mark her 
elevation to a higher order of civilization as distinctly as this plate 
marks the entrance to the portion of this book devoted to a good 
purpose. It is for this that the picture was designed — to entice her 
to enter upon a path that leads to pleasant groves, to peace and 
happiness. 



Seo. 31.] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 501 

" In soil of an opposite cliai-cacter, i. e., sand}' or calcareous, the remedy 
will obviously consist in the addition of loam, in conjunction with decayed 
leaves or old rotten manure ; or where expense is no object, the surface may 
be entirely removed to the depth of eight or ten inches, and its place su[- 
plied with the best loamy compost at hand. The use of strong crude manui-e 
of an animal nature s'.iould be avoided. In ordinarily good soil an annual 
light dressing of leaf-mold, decayed turf, or thoroughly rotten manure, in 
quantities jiroportioned to the requirements of the soil, dug to the depth of 
a few inches, will be all that is requisite. These should be applied in spring, 
only just previous to sowing the seeds, or much of the benefit resulting from 
their application will be lost, though a single digging may be advantageously 
given in autumn. In preparing tlie beds, care must be taken that they arc 
so arranged that the ground may be a little elevated in the middle, that the 
water may run off and the plants show to a better advantage. 

"It is particularly requisite that seeds should not be sown too deep, 
whence arises most of the failures of inexperienced gardeners. The depth 
at which seeds are sown will vary with their size ; large seeds, sucli as those 
of the Lupins, Sweet Pea, or Marvel of Pern, may be three quarters of an 
inch deep ; other varieties from an eighth to a half-inch deep, according to 
the size or nature of the seed. Some that are very small require to be sown 
on the actual surface, a slight pressure being then sufficient to imbed them to 
a proper depth. For the majority of the seeds a very thin covering sufilces ; 
if sowed too deep, they are longer in germinating," and the small ones are 
liable to decay. It sometimes insures a more even distribution of very small 
seeds, such as those of Campanula, Digitalis, etc., if they are intimately 
mixed before sowing with a little fine, dry soil, the mixture being sown in 
the same way as the seeds. Woolly seeds, which adhere to each other, like 
the Globe Amaranthus, etc., should be rubbed with a little fine sand, which 
will generally separate them. In all cases, the more thinly the seeds are 
strewn the better ; when too thickly sown, the seedlings become elon- 
gated and sickly, an evil which no subsequent thinning out will entirely 
remedy. 

" If the soil be dry and the weather snnnj'^, it will be necessary to water 
the seeds slightly from a very fine rose watering-pot. Rain-water is prefer- 
able. In the absence of rain, this application must be repeated every day 
or two, for it is important to observe that, when once the seeds have begun 
to swell, they are peculiarly susceptible to injury from drouth, and will speed- 
ily perish unless the soil be maintained in a moist condition ; to a neglect. 
of this important precaution, many failures are solely attributable. On the 
other hand, an excess of moisture previous to germination will often cause 
the seed to decay, especially in cold seasons ; early in the spring, therefore, 
the water-pot must be used with judgment, and never late in the day, when 
frosts threaten." 

"We have found the practice of warming water in the sun or by fire-heat 
very much preferable to the use of cold water. As it requires the very finest 



502 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

preparation of soil, we recommend all who sow the most delicate flower- 
seeds to sift the earth through a sieve fine enough for corn-meal. 

570. How to Make a Flower-Bedi — The following extract, from a paper 
read hefoi'c the Farmers' Club, tells how the author made a flower-bed uijon 
a very hard, rough spot . 

" I do not expect to tell a professed gardener, nor an amateur who already 
knows how, anything new ; but I wish to tell some who do not know, how 
to make a flower-bed. At least I will tell how I make one. and leave it to 
others to follow suit or not, just as they can aflford. I received, May 10th, a 
package of choice flower-seeds, and a dozen l)ulbs of Gladiolus. As the old 
flower-beds had already been appropriated, new ones must be made ; and as 
there is always a right place relative to the house and other things, the right 
place in the present instance fell in a very bad place — on a spot of sod just 
beneath the window that gives light to my writing-desk and book-case. 
Here I marked out the forms of my beds in shapes to suit the ground, and 
not like any diagram laid down in the books. I first took out a spading, as 
deep as I could drive the spading-fork, breaking up the turf and the remains 
of a mortar-bed left last autumn by the masons. This first spading and the 
loose earth left I threw one side, and the next spade- deep the other side. 
Then I took out another spade-deep and carted it away, and all the stones, and 
that not a few, and then broke up another course still deeper, and then threw 
back the second spading, and then the first, forking it all over loose and 
mellow. Next I put in a heavy charge of rich manure, and over that 
garden-mold and leaf-mold, mixing all up and raking fine. Next I put a 
coat of sand, and then rich garden-mold, old rotted sods, and leaf-mold, 
mixed and sifted. Now the bed was ready for the seeds, and after being 
marked off to suit the fancy of her who does the planting, they were covered 
by sifting earth over them, and watered. It is true this was a laborious job, 
but once done, it is done forever. Here is a bed of earth, rich and mellow 
as an ash-heap, more than thirty inches deep, with a subsoil of coarse sand, 
gravel, and decayed granite rock, that gives good drainage. It will require 
only an annual dressing of compost, and a light forking and raking, to keep 
it in order to produce the most lovely ornament that ever added beauty to a 
farm-house — a beautiful bed of flowers. Early this spring — almost as soon 
as the snow was away — there came, first the little crocuses, and these were 
followed by the hyacinths, and tulips, and dielytra spectabilis — beauty 
upon beauty, enough to pay richly for all the labor of making a flower- 
bed. 

" "What man with a head a whit better than a pumpkin or a cabbage-head 
would devote his whole soul to feod vegetables, and refuse his family the 
gratification and cheap happiness of a flower-bed ? 

" "What woman with a soul above soft-soap and scrubbing-brushes, that 
would live in a country home and not insist upon ' woman's right' to have 
a flower-bed — ah ! to have her house surrounded with flowers, blooming from 
spring till snow comes again ?" 



Seo. 81.] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 503 

571. Cultivation of Hardy Annuals. — Hardy annuals are those plants that 
flower and ripen their fruits and perisli in one season, but many of them 
may be sown in autumn to flower early the next year. Hard}' annuals 
irrow without artificial heat, and come to perfection in the open grounds ; 
Init what arc known as half hardy plants need pushing a little, except in 
very favorable localities. Tender and small seeded varieties sometimes fail, 
not on account of the bad growing properties of the seeds, but solely from 
bad management. Delicate seeds, like the Calceolaria, or Chinese primrose, 
must not be sown in the open ground. One party complained that some 
fine seeds failed to grow which were sown from one to two inches deep — 
literally buried. The most inexperienced in gardening matters can sow sweet 
peas, but it requires a practiced hand to look after such delicate seeds as 
Calceolaria, Cineraria, Fuchsia, and such like. 

Many persons think that when they make a hole in the soil with a trowel, 
and throw in such small seed as Mignonette, that it should be sure to grow ; 
and if it does not, they lay the blame upon the seed, when in nine cases out 
of ten the fault is in sowing too deep. The proper depth for planting flower 
seeds is but little more than their diameter, though Lupine and Sweet Peas 
may be planted one inch deep ; but such small seeds as Portulaca and Mig- 
nonette require to be sown almost upon the surface of the soil. Some seed 
are difficult to germinate. Cypress seed require to be soaked in warm wa- 
ter about one hour. The seeds of the Globe Amaranthus are covered with 
a thick woolly substance, which greatly retards germination, and if planted 
without soaking, few, if any, will come up. The most convenient method 
of sowing annuals is to take a round-pointed stick, with which draw a circle 
six or eight inches in diameter, and from an eighth of an inch to an inch 
deep, according to the size of the seed to be sown, placing a label with the 
name in the center. The labels ought to be five or six inches long, painted 
white, and marked with a lead jjencil before the paint gets dry ; in this way 
the name will last a long time. Larkspurs, and many of the hardy annuals, 
when sown late in autumn, lie dormant all winter, thereby making much 
stronger plants, and flowering earlier than those sown in spring. The 
dwarf Kocket Larkspurs, when sown on the edges of the borders, present a 
beautiful sight with their various colors ; the seed requires to be sown in 
October, and protected by a slight covering of straw during winter. Phlox 
Drummondii are of all shades and colors ; they delight in a moist and 
shaded situation ; seed sown one eighth of an inch deep in May, blooms from 
June until October. 

572. List of Choice Annuals. — ^The following choice list of hardy annuals 
was made by Thomas Cavanach, a practical, sensible floriculturist in Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. It is worthy of the attention of all who desire to beautify their 
homestead. 

NcmopMla Lisignis, or Blue Love Orove. — Seed sown in May, blooms 
in July ; likes a rich soil and moist situation ; suitable for vases. 

Abronia Ombellata. — A verj^pretty annual, with long trailing stems, 



50i THE GARDEN AND ITS PRUITS. [Chap. V. 

bearing beautiful lilac aud white flowers ; very fragrant suitable for vases ; 
seed may be sown early in April, flowering in June. 

Aster CJtinensis, or China Aster. — This beautiful annual comprises over 
twenty-flve difiierent varieties. Trufl'aut's, for general cultivation, is the best, 
on account of the beauty of its flowers aud variety of their colors ; seeds 
sown in the open ground in May, in rich soil. All single or semi-double 
flowers should be pulled up and thrown away. 

Calliojms, or Coreopsis. — This is a very showy annual — fourteen different 
varieties ; flowers, bright yellow, mottled with a rich velvety crimson, 
highly ornamental ; seed may be sown in October or early in April ; easily 
transplanted. 

Balsam, or Lady's Slipper. — A well-known tender annual. The ca- 
melia-flowered contains twelve varieties, of all shades and colors, variously 
striped and mottled. Seed sown in the open ground in the latter part of 
May. To have them early, seed should be sown in pots in the house in 
April, and transplanted to the garden when four inches high. Plant singly, 
pulling up all semi-double or single flowers. 

Cuphea Platycentra. — A very pretty annual or green-house perennial, 
with scarlet and purple flowers, suitable for vases ; flowering all summer, 
and in winter, if taken up in autumn and kept in the house ; sown in pots 
in the house in April. Plants may be procured from any florist for a trifle. 

Cypress Vine. — A splendid running vine, delicate foliage, bright crimson 
flowers, of a star shape ; Alba, pure white. Seed sown in the latter part 
of May ; likes a rich soil. A very ornamental pyramid may be made by 
setting a straight pole in the ground six or eight feet high, surrounded by a 
hoop three or four feet in diameter, fastened to the ground with three pegs; 
run strings from the top of the pole to the hoop. Sow the seed outside of 
the hoop. It may also be trained over arches or vases. 

Lathyrus Odoratus, or Sweet Pea. — One of the prettiest and most fragrant 
of the popular annuals which ornament the flower-garden. The sweet pea 
grows four or five feet high in rich soil. The plants should be tied to a stake 
or an old tree. Sow the seed in April ; flowers in July. 

Ageratum Mexicanum. — A half hardy annual, with light blue flowers. 
Seed sown in May ; flowers in July, blooming profusely until killed by the 
frost. 

Alyssum Ifaritimum, or Sweet Alyssum. — This is a hardy annual, growing 
one foot high ; flowers white ; very fragrant. Seed may be sown in autumn 
or early in spring. 

Cacalia, or Scarlet Tassel Flower.— A. veiy pretty annual, with scarlet 
and orange tassel-shaped flowers. Seed sown first of May ; blooms from 
July iintil October. 

EschschoUzia California, or California Gold Flower. — Flowers bright 
yellow, very showy. This, with slight protection during winter, will flower 
the second season ; blooms from June until October. 

Clarhia Flegans. — A hardy annual, vei^ showy. Seed sown in Septem- 



Seo. 31.] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. ' 505 

ber flowers nuicli better than when sown in spring. For sirring sowing, 
plant early in April, in poor soil. 

Ifirahilis Jalapa — commonly called Four- o'clock, from its habit of 
opening its flowers about that time in the afternoon. Mirabiiis \& a Latin 
word for wonderful. The roots of this plant, when dried, form the principal 
constituent of the jalap of druggists. It is generally considered an annual ; 
it has a large tuberous root which, if taken up in October, and stored in a 
dry cellar, will flower the second season. Seed sown in April ; flowers 
in June. 

Scahiosa, or IToiirning Bride. — A variety of colors, from a jet black to a 
deep lilac. Seed sown in May ; blooms in the latter part of June. 

Zinnia Elegans. — One of the most showy annuals in cultivation ; flowers, 
brilliant scarlet, white, orange, and light j)urple. The new double-flowered 
Zinnia forms a beautiful addition to this class of annual flowers. The flowers 
resemble the double French marigold ; they will bear transplanting. Seed 
sown in May ; blooms in July. 

Clintonia Elegans. — A beautiful, tender annual, covered with deep-blue 
flowers ; grows about six inches high. Seed sown in May, in light, rich soil ; 
blooms in July and August. 

Gomphrcna Glohosa, or Globe Amaranihus. — Five diflferent colore ; the 
seeds are rather ditficult to vegetate ; they require to be soaked in warm 
water. The flowers, if gathered and kept in a dry place, will retain their 
color for several years. Seed sown in May. 

Mignonette is one of the sweetest of the annuals. Thousands of pots of it 
are sold annually in the markets of Paris and London. It has been found 
growing upon the walls of ruins near Paris, springing from every crevice 
where the seed could germinate, and scenting the air with its fragrance. 
Tlie mignonette is of very easy culture ; in rich soil it grows luxuriantly, but 
with poor flowers, that have little or no fragrance ; but in poor soil the flow- 
ers will be large and very fragrant. When once the seeds are planted, it 
will retain possession of the soil, springing \ip year after year. Seed sown 
in May almost upon the surface of the soil. 

Among the curious annuals is tlie Mimosa, or Sensitive Plant. Seed, 
sown in the open ground in May, in rich soil. This singular plant, at the 
slightest touch, closes its leaves. 

" Weak with nice sense tlie chaste mimosa stands, 
From each rude touch withdraws her tender hands." 

MeseinbryantKemum., or Ice Plant. — This curious plant has thick leaves, 
which have the appearance of being covered with ice ; very ornamental for 
vases. Seed sown in May. 

Loasa Acanthifolia. — A running vine, covered with curious yellow flow- 
ers; the stem and leaves are covered with hairs or small bristles, which, 
upon being touched, leave a stinging sensation similar to nettles. Seed 
sown in May. 

Coix Lachryma, or JoVs Tcar^^K. kind of ornamental grass. It is called 



506 ■ THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. {Chap. V. 

Jolt's fears on account of its shining, pearly seed, which, by a considerable 
stretch of the imagination, may be likened to a falling tear. Seed sown in 
May half an inch deep. 

The Avena, or Animated Oat, is a curiosity. AVhen the seeds have fallen 
oif, their strong beard is so sensitive to the various changes of the atmo- 
sphere, that they are continually in motion, like some insect crawling on the 
ground. Seed sown in April. 

Anagaliis, or Pii»pernci.—A dwarf-trailing plant, with blue and pink 
flowers. Tiie anagaliis has been termed the Poor Man's Barometer. Not 
the pimpernel alone closes its flowers when exposed to damp air, but many 
other plants are equally sensitive. Stdlaria Media, or Chickwecd, and many 
others, shut their flowers upon the approach of rain. 

Another gardener gives the following list as a choice selection for a small 
garden : 

Ali/ssum 2faritimurn — Sweet Alyssum. — A very desirable dwarf annual, 
M-ith small, white, honey-scented flowers. in great profusion, blooms for a 
long time. 

Asters. — Showy, hardy annuals. The fine German and French asters are 
certainly among the finest flowers we have. 

BaUams. — ^The camelia-flowered balsams are most beautiful, and very 
desirable. 

Cacalia, or Tassel Flower. 

Calliopsis, or Coreopsis. — Very showy and i-ich. 

Candytuft. — A large quantity should be grown of this plant for bouquets. 

Clarkia. 

Eschscholtzia. — Yery showy and handsome. 

Everlasting Flovxr. — Fine for winter bouquets. 

Four-o' clocks. — A well-known plant, desirable in large gardens. 

Glohe Amaranthus. — Excellent for winter bouquets. 

Jacohea, or Senecio. — Very pretty. 

Marigold. — The dwarf varieties are pretty. 

Mignonette. — Sow plenty of this for bouquets. 

Nasturtiums. — Tlie dwai-f varieties much resemble Tom Thumb gera- 
niums, and are very desirable. 

Nemophila, or Love Grove. — Plants with very small but pretty flowers. 
• Dwarf. 

Petunias. — Among the verj' best plants ; of easy culture, and flowering 
profusely the whole season. 

Phlox Drummondii. — The very best annual; of long duration in bloom, 
rich in color, excellent for bouquets ; unequaled in all respects, in my esti- 
mation. 

Poppies. — Very showy, and great variety. 

Portulaea. — One of the best annuals. 

Scabiosa, or Mourning Bride. — Showy. 

Stocks. — Many annual varieties are cultivated, and are very desirable. 

Sweet Sultan. — Quite pretty. 

Whitlavia. — A very beautiful blue flowering annual. 

Zinnia. — Very showy, free flowering plants. 

573. Hardy Flowering Herbaceous PlantSi — The following list gives a good 



Seo. 31.] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 507 

assortment of some of the most desirable hardy flowering plants, some of 
whicli grow and bloom in beauty every year with almost no care. Of 
course the list can be greatly extended, or selections can be made from this 
and others to suit each taste. To many who do not know what to select, 
these lists Avill be useful guides. We will briefly notice some of the most 
desirable sorts. 

Achillea Ptarmlca. — Of the double-flowering variety, dwarf, continues in 
bloom a long time, good for bouquets, flowers small, of a pure Avhi'e. 

Aconite. — Monkshood, mostly with blue flowers; various liights. 

Althea Rosea. — Hollyhock, double varieties, very beautiful, all colors ; 
six or seven feet high. 

Anemone t/ajyofiica.—Ja'p^ncso Wind-flower, purplisli red flowers, double; 
about two feet in bight. 

Baptisia Australis. — False Indigo, fine blue flowers ; two to three foet 
high. 

Campanula. — Bell-flower, many varieties, with M-hite and blue flowers ; 
various bights, all pretty. 

Delphinium. — Larkspur, one of the best herbaceous plants, with fine blue 
or white flowers. D.formosum and grandifiorum are the best. 

Dictammus Fraximella, or Gas plant. 

Dielytra, or Dicentra Sp>ectahilis. — The very finest herbaceous plant. 

i^K«Ka, or Day lily, many varieties; all desirable. 

Iris, or fleur de lis (flower de luce). 

Lychnis Chalccdonica. — The double variety has splendid scarlet flowers. 

Phloxes, — A splendid class of plants, all beautiful, without any exception. 

Pyreihnwi. — Feverfew, double white flowers, very neat and pretty. 

Spirea. — Meadow Sweet, many varieties, all desirable. 

Ti'adescantia. — Spiderwort, with white, blue, or red flowers, very pretty. 
Valerian. — A tall-growing plant, with fragrant white flowers. 
Yiola Odorata. — Sweet Yiolet, very fragrant. 

Chrysanthemum. — Much improved of late years, and in several varieties, 
is one of the most desirable of hardy flowering plants, and is very much 
loved wherever known. It is one of the very last to flower and cheer us 
with its many-headed blossoms for the last three months of the departing 
year, when most other plants have gone their way. Then, again, it is one 
of the very best window plants. It not only flourishes, but luxuriates in- 
doors, if properly cared for. As floral ornaments for the green-house and 
conservatory, they are unsurpassed. 

To get early flowers from chrysanthemum seed-plants, you must sow the 
seed early in April in pots in the house, and transplant, or else sow seed in 
a very nicely prepared warm bed in May. Be careful to thin out, so as to 
give ample room for the plants to branch out. 

574:. Bulbous Flowering Plants* — The earliest flowers of the garden come 
from bulbs planted in autumn. In a well-prepared bed, nicely sheltered 
with a coat of leaves, the crocuses begin to bloom almost as soon as the 



508 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

covering is removed, after the frost is out of the ground. All tender bulbs 
and perennials under a coating of leaves will keep sound till spring. It is 
necessary to lay brush or something else over the leaves, to hinder their 
blowing away by the winds. Leaves make the best kind of covering for all 
tender things. Frost rarely penetrates through a thick coating of them, as 
may be seen during our most severe weather; by removing a bed of leaves 
the ground will be found unfrozen. 

There is no sight more striking to the eye than the effect produced in early 
spring, when delicate snowdrops and the modest, many-colored crocuses 
enamel the lawn, or make the garden lovely with their stainless purity, and 
with the brilliancy of their colors. Coming, as they do, before the swallow, 
these firstlings of the season have a special claim to the popular regard. 
They are the harbingers of buds and blossoms, of leafy trees and unbound 
waters, of sunshine and of singing birds, and when their tender green spears 
begin to push themselves through the soil, we know that nature is awaken- 
ing from her winter slumbers, and that more genial weather is at hand. 
These little pilgrims that come to us with glad tidings, and that put on for 
our delight the gayest robes, and silently, yet eloquently, assure us that we 
are entering upon a new cycle of soft sunshine, and bland airs, and fragrant 
odors, deserve to be more cherished than they usually are by all country- 
women. Of all the flowers that bloom, those that come to us earliest are 
entitled to receive the most cordial welcome, and it is for this that we appeal 
in behalf of the more general culture of bulbous flowers. 

Wc appeal to all farmers' wives and daughters for a more general cultiva- 
tion of flower gardens and parterres around the house, because we believe 
in their humanizing influences ; in the lessons they teach, and the sympa- 
thies to which they appeal. We believe every family who has ground 
should cultivate Ilyacinths, Tulips, Jonquils, Crocus, Crown ImpeAals, 
Iris, Snowdrops, Polyanthus, Warcissus, Double Narcissus, Lilies, Gladio- 
lus, and Dahlias. To these add Peonies, Diehjtra, {Dicenti\i) Spectabilis, 
and many other hardy herbaceous plants, such as Hollyhocks and the 
Phloxes, Yucca filamentosa, etc. 

Of all the bulbous flowering plants, the gladiolus takes the lead, accord- 
ing to our fancy. The varieties of G. (/andavensis are numerous, robust, 
stately, with beautiful taper leaves of bright green, and long racemes of ex- 
quisitely beautiful lilj'-shaped flowers, comprising every variety of shade 
of colors, which can be kept up by timely planting from July to October in 
the open air; and then, before hard frosts come, if stalks with undeveloped 
buds are cut and set in water in the house, they will continue to bloom some 
time longer. The bulbs must be taken up for winter, and need about the 
same protection as onions. 

Several bulbs, hyacinths in particular, may be grown in any room where 
water will not freeze, in glasses adapted to the purpose, so that the bulb 
rests in the mouth of the glass, and sends its roots down into the water. 
Dark-colored glasses are preferable to white glass. The water should not 



Seo. 31.] THE FLOWEU-GARDEN". 509 

be allowed to rise more than to touch the bottom of the bulb ; otlierwise 
thej will rot. When first put in glasses, they should be stored away in a 
dark, cool place, till the roots are about an incli long. If the roots do not 
grow vigorously, give two or three drops of hartshorn in each fresh supply 
of water, and put in the glass a small lump of charcoal. The water should 
be changed every fortnight, or tlii'ee weeks at farthest ; but to do this the 
jilant must not be taken out, but the glass held horizontally, and the water 
poured ofi'. Soft or rain-water sliould alwaj's be used. By this mode of 
treatment, and not keeping them in too warm or close a place, they will 
bloom beautifully. 

They may also be grown in the house in pots, in the open light and air. 
The bottom of the pot should liave plenty of broken tiles in it to allow of 
perfect drainage, and be frequently, but moderately, supplied with water. 
Do not stand tlie pots in saucers of water. 

575. The Hollyhock is a fine flower to grow in clumps about a lawn, and 
may be made perennial by not allowing the stalks to ripen seeds. As there 
have been great impi-ovements made in these flowers, we annex the names 
that two dozen fine sorts are known by among seedsmen. 

576. Select List of UoUyhOCkSi — 1. Anak (Bircham). — Crimson ; flowers of 
a fine form and full. 

2. Black Prince (Gibbon). — Flowers large and veiy double ; black. 

3. Brcnnus (Bircham). — Light crimson ; a fine, showy variety. 

4. Churl I s Baron (Ohater). — Flowers very large and full; color pink, 
sliadcd with sahiion. 

5. Beauty of Chestnut (Paul).— Flowers of a very fine form ; spike -ong, 
and beautifully furnished with flowers of a beautiful bright rosy red; a very 
fine variet}'. 

6. Charles Turner (Black). — Spike very close ; fiowers of fine form, large, 
and of good substance ; color deep crimson ; extra fine. 

7. Comma7ider-in-Chief (Baron). — Flowers large and showy; dark-red. 

8. Eva (Roake). — Flowers large, shape very fine ; color peach. 

9. Emperor (Roake). — Form quite first-rate ; color a beautiful pink ; one 
of the finest. 

10. Felicia (Bircham). — Flowers and spike of excellent form and sub- 
stance; color amethyst ; extra. 

11. General Bern (Veitch). — Spike very fine, flowers full size: color 
briglit red. 

12. lion. Mrs. Ashley (Roake). — Flowers medium-sized, of great depth, 
and very double ; color a delicate peach. 

13. Lilac Model (Chater). — Flowers medium-sized, full, and of good sub- 
stance. 

14. Mrs. Foster (Turner). — A noble spike ; flowers large, of first-rate form ; 
color beautiful light rose. 

15. Miss Parsons (Parsons). — Spike full; flowers medium and close; 
color pinkisli salmon ; fine. 

16. Maynum Bonum (Baron).- — Flowers very large ; guard petals broad, 
but not quite substance enough ; very showy. 

17. Margaret Ann (Black). — Spike very fine; flowers good form, very 
compact ; color bright rose. 



510 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

18. Model of Perfection (Baron). — Many better models at the j^resent 
day ; color creatny white. 

19. Susannah (Veitch). — Flowers medium-sized and moderately smooth ; 
color creamy white. 

20. Pyramid (Parsons). — Flower medium-sized ; spike close and good ; 
color buff. 

21. Poupre de Tyre (Bircham). — A noble sjiike ; flowers large and free ; 
color rich dark-purple ; a first-rate variety. 

22. Penelope (Bircham). — A very showy and beautiful variety ; color fine 
rose. 

23. Walden Gem (Chater).— Spike very fine; flowers large and of fine 
form ; color deep crimson. 

2-1. Minnie Gray (Loring). — Size medium, form good; color white. 

As these have all been produced by planting seeds, and saving none but 
the finest flowering plants, we recommend a continuance of the practice by 
all who grow hollyhocks. 

577. The Verbena is an almost indispensable plant in lawns, it is so pretty 
to fill up cut figures in the sward. The name, verbena, is an unmeaning 
one, being derived from the Latin herha, which means any low, spreading 
plant. This plant has been very long in cultivation, and it was used in 
ancient times in some of the sacred ceremonies, the altars and priests' heads 
being wreathed with verbenas. Celsus speaks of the use of verbenas as a 
febrifuge in sickness, but it is doubtful whether it was the same plant known 
now by this name. Tlie verbena is indigenous in the country of Buenos 
Ayres, and was taken from there to England in 1825, and to this country 
ten years later, by Robert Buist, of Philadelphia. Now it is known every- 
where and is everywhere a favorite, as its cultivation is simple, and its low- 
creepiug habit and pretty floM'ers will keep it in favor until some new rival 
comes to take its place. It flourishes best in sand}', rich loam, in garden- 
beds, and blooms from midsummer till late in autumn, and if potted, con- 
tinues in bloom through the Avinter. Verbenas do not require frequent 
watering; they will grow upon very dry ground, and wet in excess mildews 
and injures them. For pots, take half-and-half leaf-mold and good loam, 
and add sand enough to give a preponderance of sand in the whole mixture. 
As it is naturally a running plant, it must be cultivated in that Avay, and 
not, as M'e have seen it, with stiff, upright stems. Nothing is more easy 
than producing new varieties of colors iu verbenas. AVe have only to grow 
seedlings and select the best and cast away the remainder. All colors, ex- 
cept light-blue and yellow, have been obtained. The following are the 
names of a few of the latest new varieties, with their characteristics an- 
nexed : 

Giant of Battles. — Flower and truss large, habit good, foliage large; color 
dark-scarlet, with purplish ej'c ; a new imported variety. 

Dred. — Flower medium, habit weak, a good bloomer, but of a dull, pur- 
plish, lake color ; pretty for variety. 

Admiral Dundas. — Foliage and habit good ; color velvety scarlet ; fine. 

Celestial. — A strong, rapidly growing variety, the leaves often two inches 



Seo. 31.] 



THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 



511 



across ; truss large, elongated, forming a fine head ; color pink, with darker 
eye ; desirable for its size and color. 

Mrs. Ahhott. — Habit and foliage good, truss small ; color very dark, 
velvety purple, light eye; fine. 

Evening Star. — Color dark-crimson, with well-defined whitish-pink eye ; 
growth small ; a decided novelty, and a very striking fiower. 

liosij Gem. — A lovely verbena, foliage and fiower of medium size ; color 
rosy lake, Avitli light eye ; extra fine. 

For an ordinary purpose, however, some that have been long" in use, that 
can be bought for a tenth or a hundredth part of the price of these new 
sorts, might give equal satisfaction, for the varieties have been so multiplied 
that it is ditticult to tell which are the favorites. 

578. Flowers Grown as a Farm Crop. — There are many persons in France 
who grow flowers as an exclusive crojj. It is their sole dependence. "The 
growing of flowers, for tlie production of fine essential oils and for medicinal 
purposes, is confined mainly to the southern portion of the department of 
Var, lying on the Mediterranean, adjoining the late Italian, but now French, 
province of Nice. There are extensive factories in Nismes, Montpelier, 
Nice, and in Algeria, but the great center of this branch of industry is the 
town of Grasse, lying some few miles inland, and its sea-port, Cannes, the 
winter residence of Lord Brougham. 

" It would be impossible to state, even approximately, the product of the 
flower-fields of this interesting region. Tliere are no less than sixty factories 
in Grasse, giving employment, in the various departments of field and in-door 
labor, to 5,000 persons. Many manufacturers grow their own flowers, others 
buy them in the open market daily, and still others are supplied by con- 
tracts. The latter system prevails among the leading houses. Contracts 
are made at a fixed |)rice for a term of years for the total product of a farm, 
at rates varying from 8 to 10 cents per kilogramme (2} lbs.) of rose leaves, 
up to $1 for tuberose leaves, and even higher rates for violet leaves, which 
last are mainly grown at Nice. The average prices are about as follows : 

cents the kilogramme. 



Rose leaves 8 to 1 cents the kilogramme. 

Jessamine 40 to 50 ' ' " 

Orange 40 " " 



Acacia 60 to I 

Tuberose 100 

Violet 80 to 1 30 



" These are the leading garden flowers used in Grasse ; only small quanti- 
ties of the jonquil, narcissus, mignonette, etc., are cultivated. A great 
breadth of land is devoted to lavender, rosemary, thyme, and other medic- 
inal plants, which are sold at much lower rates than the above. 

" The preparation of all these plants divides itself mainly into four classes : 
essential oils, distilled waters, pomades and oils, and dried flowers. The 
great bulk of essential oils produced consists of lavender, rosemary, sage, 
thyme, spikenard, and others of a terebinthine nature ; the most valuable 
oils produced in any quantity are those of Neroli and Petits Grains. The 
former is the result of the distillation of orange-flower water from the petals 
of the flowers of the Bigarade, or bitter orange (the sweet or Portugal or- 
ange yielding an inferior product), and the latter is obtained from the green 



512 



THE GARDEN AND ITS PEDITS. 



[Chap. V. 



leaves of the same tree. The price of Neroli varies, with the seasons, from 
$30 to $45 the pound, and of Petits Grains from $8 to $12. These two oils 
are extensively used in the composition of Cologne water, and in combina- 
tion with bergamot, give it its distinctive character. The orange-flower 
M-ater is consumed in immense quantities in France, in the ' eau sucree,' so 
universally drank in the hot season. This, by tlie way, is the only shape in 
which a Frenchman will drink water at all. The Bigarade orange-tree re- 
quires ten years to mature and twenty to obtain perfection, and yields an 
average of seventeen pounds of flowers per annum. 

" Eose water is also distilled in large quantities. A result of its distillation 
is an exceedingly small quantity of otto of rose of the very highest quality ; 
it appears in small supernatant grains or drops, which are carefully skimmed 
oS" and rectified. It is superior to the famous Kizanlik, or Turkish otto, 
and congeals, at ordinary temperatures, in beautiful, transparent crystals. 
The ' Rose de Mai,' or double May rose, is the oiie universally grown. 

" Another very costly article, of which less tlian one ounce had been pro- 
duced in 1855, is the essential oil of jessamine. Up to that period its exist- 
ence in the plant was stoutly denied by the distillers, although to what other 
principle the fine odor of the plant was due, the}' failed to prove. In that 
j-ear an Algerian chemist obtained a minute quantity, which cost him, as 
we were informed, at the rate of 17,000 francs the kilogramme, or $90 the 
ounce. It has, since then, been produced at a cheaper rate, but still toe 
dear for commercial purposes. The wild Arabian jessamine is grafted on 
the cultivated plant of the same species, acclimated, and bears for many 
years, if not winter killed, yielding 90 to 150 lbs. of flowers per thousand 
plants. It is closely trimmed in spring, and deeply covered in winter. The 
caterpillar is its most formidable enemy. 

" A most important branch, and one in which great i-ivalry exists, is the 
preparation of perfumed pomades and otto, which have a two-fold use : first, 
as bases for the finer kind of pomatums and hair oils ; and next, as a me- 
dium for obtaining spirituous extracts for the toilet, such as Lubin's well- 
known extracts for the handkerchief. Their preparation is the most in- 
teresting and curious feature of the Grasse establishments, and merits a word 
of description. For the oils, the inodorous virgin olive oil is used, expressed 
from olives just before their maturity. 

" The pomade ' bod}',' which is prepared in winter, is composed of one 
part of beef suet and two parts of leaf lard, thoroughly hashed, washed in 
sevei-al Avaters, and among the best manufacturers it is washed several times 
in rose water to deprive it of all unpleasant odor, and then carefully melted 
and stored away in huge tin cans in airy, cool vaults, for use in the sea- 
son of flowers. The busy operations of the year commence with the rose 
season. 

" There are two processes for impregnating the pomade body and the oils 
with the floral odors — one by infusion, the other by ' enfleurage.' The 
first is employed for the strong, less volatile odors of the rose, orange, and 



Ssa 31.] THE FLOWER-GARDEN. 513 

acacia ; the latter for the sensitive, ethereal perfumes of the jessamine, tube- 
rose, joiKj^uil, and all the bulbous tribe, which will not endure the applica- 
tion of even a moderate degree of heat. 

" And first, liy infusion ; about 100 kilogrammes of the pomade body are 
put into a tin-planished copper water-bath, melted at a low temperature, and 
charged, at daybreak, with a certain quantity of the freshly gathered flow- 
ers, which are stirred constantly during the day and night, the mass being 
kept only warm enough to maintaim a semi-fluid state. About midnight it 
is removed from the fii-e, put into strong bags made of fish-cord, and suli- 
jected to heavy pressure in large, perforated, vertical iron cylinders, stand- 
ing on marble bed-plates, which are gently warmed to prevent the conge- 
lation of the exuding mass. Next morning fresh leaves are added, and the 
process repeated daily until the desired strength of perfume is obtained, 
when the pomade is put into cylindrical tin boxes and sealed up for ship- 
ment. The oils are treated in like manner, but are filtered instead of pressed. 

"In preparing the oils, coarse, heavy, spongy cotton cloths, made especially 
for this purpose at Marseilles, are saturated witli oil and spread upon the 
netted frames ; flowers are then strewn thickly upon them, and they are 
piled up in like manner as the pomades. AVhen sufficiently charged with 
odor, the oil is expressed from the cloths by powerful levers. 

" Many hundred-weight of flowers and herbs are dried annually, and arc 
variously used in the healing art, and in the composition of scent-bags, 
caehous, fuming pastils for the sick chamber, and kindred compounds of the 
perfumer's art. 

"The Parmezan, or double violet, is grown under the shade of trees, and 
yields a delicate and delightful perfume. It was the favorite odor of the 
Athenians under Pericles, and is now the fashionable scent of the Parisian 
heau monde. 

"The flower farms receive the highest culture; under-draining is not 
practiced, but great attention is paid to irrigation. Some fields have a com- 
plete network of irrigating tubes substantially laid in cement. A constant 
warfare is waged upon insects, each plant having, as with us, its pet borer, 
grub, or bug, and ' eternal vigilance is the price' of success. The heat in 
summer is intense, though tempered by the sea breeze, and the winter is at 
times as rigorous as in AYashington or Richmond. 

" Labor costs, per day, 35 to 40 cents for males, and 15 cents for females." 

There is no other reason than that contained in the last sentence why flower 
farms can not be established in this country as well as France. The ques- 
tion rests entirely upon the cost of labor. 

579. Soil for Flowers— fompost for Potting— Protectinsr from Insects.— All 
flowers require a deep, rich, well-drained soil, and that should be annually 
fertilized with a fine compost, in which wood's eartli or leaf-mold pi'edom- 
inates. Tiie following directions of a practical gardener, though given 
mostly in reference to potting plants, will be found useful, the same soil 
being good for flower-beds, particularly for an annual dressing. 



514 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

" To liave suitable compost for plants, the diiferent soils sliould be mixed 
for some time before they are wanted. In making composts, the following 
soils should be obtained: First, soil and turf from an old pasture ; second, 
decoujposed horse or cow manure; third, peat soil or leaf mold from the 
woods ; fourth, white sand ; fifth, coarse sand or gravel ; sixtli, charcoal and 
broken pots. The charcoal and broken pots are for drainage. A suitable 
compost for fuchsias, roses, and geraniums consists of one part white sand, 
one of leaf-mold, and one of decomposed manure and turf-mold. These 
should be well mixed togetlier and sifted before using. A compost for cac- 
tus is made of sand, leaf, and turf-mold, with a good drainage of charcoal 
and broken pots. All bulbous roots require a very rich soil composed of 
equal parts of sea sand, rotten cow manure, peat soil, and good turf-mold. 

" In taking plants out of pots, all that is necessary is to put the hand on 
top of the dirt and then turn the pot bottom up, and hit a gentle rap, and 
the ball of earth will slip out. Most people water plants too little. Two or 
three times a week is necessary, or oftener in a dry stove room. 

" To grow flowers in the greatest perfection, gardeners often cover them 
and take gi-eat pains to preserve them free from contact of insects or the 
pollen of other flowers. 

" The thing of most importance in potting is suitable soil. Many persons 
imagine that all that is requisite is earth, be it good or bad. We have seen 
plants potted in common street manure, the owners laboring under the im- 
pression that it was the very best kind because it was black. 

" Unsuitable soil and large pots generally given to small, weak plants for 
the purpose of causing thcnx to grow, is, in nine cases out of ten, the cause 
of their death. 

" Giving small pots to weak plants encourages the growth of the roots 
toward the side of the pot in search of air and moisture. In potting plants, 
glazed pots should never be used, as they prevent the evaporation of all im- 
purities through the sides of the pot. 

" Of all the insects which infest house plants, the green fly, red spider, 
and mealy bug are the most diSicult to get rid of They are easily de- 
stroyed in the green-house by tobacco smoke. For parlor plants, take a 
pail of soft water, invert the plant over the pail, cover the surface of the pot 
with a piece of paper to prevent the soil from falling out, and brash the 
leaves downward with a dust brush, dipping the plant in the water several 
times. The mealy bug may be found in the axils of the leaves of orange- 
trees, camelias, passion flowers, and various other plants. They look like 
small specks of cotton, and are only to be got rid of by picking them ofi^. 
If plants should happen to get frozen, they should be syringed with cold 
water and screened from the rays of the sun. Thus plants are frequently 
saved that would otherwise be destroyed." 



Sec. 32.] 



LAWKS. 



515 




SECTION XXXII.-LAWNS-HOW TO MAKE AND HOW TO KEEP THEM- 
TREES AND PLANTS SUITABLE FOR LAWNS. 

COUNTRY house -without a lawn ! it is a house 
in a desert ! It is not a structure in the midst of 
beauty. There is nothing — not even expensive 
statuary, flowers, and shrubbery — that adds so 
much to the surrounding embellishments of a 
farm-house or suburban residence as green grass upon 
a well-kept lawn, and it is a beauty that is permanent 
and inexpensive. If the ground is well under-drained 
and the grass well dressed in the fall, it will start fresh 
as soon as the snow is off, and often earlier, and it 
keeps green through the most severe droutli upon 
ground that has been well prepared. With here and 
there a shade, what a lovely sight it is to see children 
playing upon a smooth lawn ! With what glee they 
run from tree to tree, the old dog joining witli great 
satisfaction in the sport! In spring, in summer, in autumn the lawn is beau- 
tiful, and even in winter it speaks of refinement of the resident occupants. 
It tells, too, of art and industry in man, since lawns are seldom, if ever, found 
in a natural state. The sea of grass upon the Western prairies is only beau- 
tiful when seen at a distance. It does not bear close inspection like the vel- 
vet}' sod of a lawn. 

Whenever we see a lawn turning brown in snnmier, we know that it was 
neither trenched with the spade nor subsoil plowed, without which manuring 
will not always preserve its perpetual green. 

Those who build country houses are too apt to expend tlieir means upon 
a grand mansion, expensive out-buildings, ornamental fences, fine carriages 
and horses, and sometimes gaudy, inappropriate furniture, wliich is all un- 
satisfactory to visitors of refined tastes, if the grand house is not embowered 
in trees, and has no grassy lawn. 

580. IJOW (0 Set a Lawn in Grass. — A small lawn may be covered witii 
sods; a large one nnist have the sod formed uim.iu it. Two quarts of white 
clover seed, mixed with a bushel of the chafly seed of red-top, and sown 
evenly upon the third of an acre of well-prepared ground, will form a fine 
lawn turf. Some add a little seed of the vernal or sweet-scented grass that 
is so fragrant in new-mown hay. To make the ground perfectly level and 
smooth, if the space is small, rake it carefully ; if it is large, use the roller. 
If you intend to use sod, prepare the ground as smooth as possible after 
having worked it deep and finely pulverized, and then go with your bar- 
row, if the distance is short, to the spot where you will cut your turf. If 



516 HOW TO KEEP A LAWN. [Chap. V. 

ftir distant, of course a cart must be used to haul home the load. If less 
distant, an ox-sled will be found more convenient. In cutting sods, do 
not take them up by the spadeful, but stretch a line and cut throiigli the sod 
with a sharp spade. If much is to be cut, it would be better to do it with a 
plow-coulter, ground sharp, and set in a beam with handles, and guaged to 
the right depth. An implement could be made with but little expense that 
would cut the edges and bottom all at once. If cut with a spade, Hue off 
the courses exactly a foot wide, and cut the sods evenly one and a half 
inches thick and roll up a course upon a handspike as big as two men can 
carry to the vehicle that is to transport it, and carry the roll in the same 
way to the ground prepared for your lawn and unroll just as you would a 
carpet. Afterward use the roller or something to compact the sods down 
firmly in place. 

581. flipping the Lawn, — More persons fail in the care of than in the 
making of a lawn. They can not see the necessity of the frequent clip- 
pings, without which they can not have a good lawn turf. One has only to 
look at the sod of a once-a-year clipped mowing field and compare that with 
a closely-grazed pasture or roadside sod, and see which is preferable for a 
lawn. Let it be set down as a rule, that a lawn can not be clipped too often, 
and that it must be clipped twice a month, and that it will improve the sod 
to roll it as frequently. If there is grass enough, so they would not wear it 
out, a troop of playful children upon the lawn every day would make the 
sod grow thick and firm and the grass fine and soft. It is a good thing for 
a lawn to go over it every spring in a rainy day and scatter grass seed 
wherever tliere is the least show of bare ground. 

582. Watering and 3Ianuring the Lawn.— If you have a hydrant, have a 
long hose with a sliowcring nozzle, and use it often in dry weatlier ; other- 
wise you must, if you desire to sec your grass always green, water by hand 
or with a Avatering cart or garden engine. It will greatly add to the ad- 
vantage of watering if you will dissolve some fertilizing substance in the 
water — a few pounds to a hogshead-full. You may use guano, salt, niter, 
lime, potash, soda, and several other ingredients. If there are grubs in tlie 
sod, salt them to death. Carbonate, pliosphate, or sulpliate of lime may all 
be used at times to advantage on a lawn, sowed on in moderate quantity. 
A dressing of well-decomposed compost is the only manure that should be 
applied, and that in tiie fall or early spring. 

583. Cause of Grass Dying Out upon Lawns.— Many persons who have 
taken much trouble to make small grass-plats or lawns around their dwell- 
ings have found the grass dying out without being able to account for it. 
Kuth Lynde, a practical woman of New Bedford, Mass., gives the following 
as the cause. The cure will be readily suggested by reading what she says. . 

" I have had tlie grass destroyed in two different places M-here I have 
resided, and found the same cause productive of the same result at each. 

"During the winter and spring the servant girls were in the habit of 
throwing soap-suds, after wasliing clothes or dishes, upon the grass-plat, and 



Seo. 32.] LAWNS. 517 

I noticed invariably that the plantain and sorrel came up instead of the 
grass. Here, at my mother's, I have a bit of a garden, and there is a grass- 
plat also, and since I urged upon her notice the ill effects of soap-suds upon 
the grass, and she commanded its discontinuance, the grass has come in 
again, and much white clover with it. Most houses in the country have a 
patch of plantain around the kitchen doors, and the same habit of throwing 
out soap-suds is the cause of its growth." 

Although this effect is produced by deluging grass with soap-suds at the 
wrong season of the year, there is no better fertilizer than it for grass, if di- 
luted and put on with a sprinkler. 

58-4. A New Lawn Grass, or Evergretii Planti — Within a few years, a new 
plant has been introduced into cultivation to a considerable extent in En- 
gland, and to a limited extent in this country. It is more successful in the 
moist climate of that country than it is in the drier climate of this, but it is 
still worthy of notice. It is thus described : 

"The new plant is called ' Sjx'rgida 2)ilifera,'' and is a neat-growing dwarf, 
hardy, perennial-tufted Alpine plant, forming close, compact, wiry, grass-like 
stems, from a quarter to half an inch in hight — at first erect, afterward decum- 
bent, clothed with closely set green bristle-like leaves, which, by permanent 
growth and occasional rolling, form an unbroken, level, velvet-like surface 
of the richest conceivable verdure, remaining uninjured in severe drouth or 
intense cold, and assuming the same beautiful verdurous tint during the 
winter months as in summer. The seedling plant of this highly interesting 
object starts into growth with a single unbranched, perpendicular radicle or 
root, and afterward manifests a remarkable power of extension in its rami- 
fying hair-like roots, penetrating to the depth of one to two feet; a fact 
quite suflicient to account for its enduring the opposite extremes of severe 
heat and cold. In addition to its hardiness, under the vicissitudes of an 
English climate, its value is considerably enhanced in its adaptation to all 
the varieties of common garden soil, requiring but a thin firm surface- 
stratum of one-inch ordinary sifted or broken loam. Maintaining its ver- 
dant freshness alike beneath storm and sunshine, it combines every needful 
feature of adaptation with economy, and a uniform aspect of neatness witli 
the least possible care or attention. Its fertility in bloom during the month 
of July is equally beautiful, being at that period studded over with myi-iads 
of low, compact, salver-shaped snow-white blossoms, appearing not as in 
fancy, but in reality the living picture of an emerald-green velvet carpet, 
spangled with innumerable stars. From the preceding remarks it will be 
seen that the established growth of this plant maintains a dwarf close web 
of green verdure, and entirely dispenses with the extra toil and expense of 
•mowing; its numerous small brittle flower-scapes being removed by tlie 
gentlest movement of a wing or brush over the surface of the hnvn, either 
while in bloom or afterward, and these constitute the only snrface-growth or 
tokens of its beauty, which require this operation but once a year. For 
small or medium-sized lawns, terraces, verges, mounds, etc., this remark- 



518 ORNAMENTING LAWNS. [Chap. V. 

ably interesting and beautiful little plant offers an object of great interest to 
every lover of gardening pursuits, and every lady amateur cultivator may 
superintend and personally manage the slight attentions required to pre- 
serve the terrace margins or velvet lawn in the highest condition. The 
permanent and uniform condition of dense growth, with the penetrative 
power of its roots, preserves it from all risks of being parched by extreme 
exposure in sultry weather, and the progressive accumulation of its moss- 
like growth gives an elastic pressure to the foot, much softer than the finest 
Turkey carpet. The seed may be sown either in or out of pots, -in the usual 
method observed for fine seeds, with a slight but uniform covering of soil, 
and placed within either a frame, cool pit, or green-house, using the usual 
precaution of shading the seed-pans from intense sunlight daily for a few 
hours, imtil well germinated, after which it may either be re-planted in 
stores of ten to fifty plants within dishes or large pots, or otherwise planted 
out in rather a shady border of the open ground for a few weeks, and ulti- 
mately transplanted upon the prepared lawn-surtace in two or three plants, 
within one inch or more of each other, and such little plant-groups may be 
formed at a distance of six, nine, or twelve inches apart. In such positions 
the growths will progressively meet and form the rich and beautiful surface 
now described. It is also admirably adapted for picturesque green tufts 
and edgings on avenue lines and borders, for grouping the front spaces of 
massive rock-work, and surfacing partially raised mounds around classic 
fountains and basins or artistic columns, where grass is unavailable for 
mowing, and equally telling for cultivation in larger vases in alternate effect 
with tlie silvery sheen of the beautiful Cerastiam tonientosum on terrace 
verges and architectural approaches." 

Another account says : " Plats established four years since, have grown 
into a close sod, and give promise of a continual healthy endurance." 

585. Ornamenting Lawns. — More ornamental than statuary, expensive 
rock-work, or any other structures, ai-e well-arranged beds of flowers, and 
groups of flowering plants and shrubs. These may be provided for in lay- 
ing down a lawn, or the sod may afterward be cut out in foTn:s to suit the 
fancy, for flower-beds. This kind of ornamentation should be attended to 
by tlie mistress of the house, and if she have daughters, let them always be 
advised or instructed in the plans, and in carrying them into execution. 
Select neat plans for cutting tlie sod for flower-beds. In tliis follow nature. 
Sometimes the form of a maple-leaf may be adopted. In other places, use 
a grape-leaf, or a grapevine with several leaves, for the form of yom- bed. 
Again, take the crooked branch and limbs of a tree for a pattern. 

586. How a Woman Made aii^ Ornamented a Lawn. — The following letter 
from a " Housewife" of Colchester, Vt., is worthy of a i>lace here, as en- 
couragement to all other housewives to persevere in the same way, until they 
also compel husbands to acknowledge their success. Our correspondent says : 

"The cultivation of flowers, and beautifying the surroundings of home, 
should be attended to as well as in-door work, lest that love of the beau- 



Seo. 32.] LAWNS. 519 

tifiil, which is implanted in every heart, should perish through neglect. 
Many housewives are so entirely devoted to cooking, house-cleaning, and 
sewing, that they can not have a minute's time even for reading, except on 
Sundays, and then they ' are so tired, they had rather rest than read.' 

" I hereby advise them not to cook so much, not to scrub so much, and 
sew with a machine. Others will say they have so many human flowers to 
attend to, that they can not cultivate any others, and these will let their 
door-yards run to waste and weeds instead of having them seeded down, and 
flower-beds cut in the rich, green turf. 

"I have cultivated a few of the common kinds of flowers ever since I M'as 
a child, but have lost the delight of seeing some new, strange flower expand 
its beauties to my view, because I knew not how nor where to procure an 
assortment of choice, rare seeds. Last spring, I accidentally looked over a 
flower-seed catalogue with much interest, because it was the first of the kind 
I had ever seen. I found I could have new and lovely flowers at a very 
trifling expense. My ambition was fired ; I gave my liusband no peace 
until he had the kitclien-garden removed to the rear of the house, and re- 
moved the fence which separated the old kitchen-garden and the door-yard, 
thus making a fine little lawn. I got a man to help me — not a gardener — 
we have no professed gardeners witliin ten miles. I drew the plan of my 
flower-beds m^'self, and had the man cut them out of the turf in the desired 
forms. 

" Previous to this, I persuaded three or four housewives — all mothers of 
families, with plenty to do— -to join me in sending for flower-seeds and roots. 
Tiiese we exchanged with each other, thus obtaining a fine variety at a small 
expense. We followed the directions given in the catalogue, and were very 
successful with the most delicate seeds. My lawn was beautiful ; indeed, so 
ricli and varied were the efi'ects of French and German asters, German 
balsams, German stocks, English pansies, phloxes, verbenas, and dahlias, 
from seed the first season, that my husband, who had at first ridiculed my 
flower venture, was obliged to acknowledge its success. 

"Last fall I sent for a few hyacinth, crocus, and early tulip bulbs, and 
liad a fine display of flowers in our living-room during the dreary winter 
months. My room is even now filled with the exquisite fragrance of hya- 
cintlis, which still continue in bloom. I hope this article will attract the at- 
tention of my toil-worn sisters ; they can have no idea what a source of 
purest enjoyment the cultivation of flowers will be to them. Its in- 
fluence has been very beneficial to my little ones, who watch the expan- 
bidii of the delicate and wonderful buds with an interest fully equal to my 
own." 

5S7. Planting Lawn Trees. — "We beg of yon not to plant in rows, nor any 
firm of mathematical precision. Follow nature; go to the woods for a pat- 
tern, or rather to some natural park, like the bur-oak groves of Micliigan and 
Indiana. Keep in view " what for?" every time you set a tree. The object 
is either ornament or shade ; it is not to fill up. Keep also in view the fact, 



520 TREES IN LAWNS. [Chap. V. 

that tlie tree you are planting is to grow. It requires a combination of skill, 
taste, judgment, foretliought, that few jjersons possess, to plant the trees in a 
lawn, great or small — from a door-yard to a royal park. 

The great thing to remember is this : a short green grass and compact sod 
is the leading beauty of a lawn or park, and trees and flowere are only 
thrown in to fill up or hide ugly spots, or break the uniformity, or furnish 
agreeable shade. Make everything — grass, trees, flowers, rocks, water. 
Avails, fences — to look as natural, and just as little artificial, as possible, 
and your lawn will excite admiration in strangers and satisfaction in 
yourself. 

You need not entirely exclude fruit-trees, shrubs, and vines from the lawn. 
In some places an apple-tree may be entirely suitable. In others a 
grapevine, to climb a blank wall or dead tree. A quince-tree at the 
north, and an orange-tree at the south, would be ornamental in a park or 
large lawn. Study fitness of things, and thus obtain beauty and utility com- 
bined. 

588. Botanical Names of Trees and Plants. — We do not know of a more 
appropriate paragraph for this section than the following, which gives a 
long list of names of trees suitable for planting in a lawn and other places, 
for ornament and shade, with their proper botanical names, as well as 
those Ijy which they are most commonly known. 

It is so important for farmers, and particularly farmers' children, to learn 
the botanical names of trees and plants, so as to be able to identify them by 
the names common to the same trees in difl'erent localities, and the means ' 
of obtaining such information in the country not being easy, we employed 
Andrew S. Fuller, a horticulturist of Brooklyn, who has been all his life in 
the nursery business, to make out such a list as Avill be most useful. In 
proof of the necessity of using botanical names, look at the variety of names 
in a single family ; for instance, the oaks, and so of the maples or the 
birches. 

If a pei'son speaks of a " birch-tree," what do we understand ? For several 
years a paragraph has been floating through the press, i-ecommending a de- 
coction of " walnut leaves" with which to wash horses in fly-time, as a cer- 
tain preventive of annoyance from these pests of the horse and his rider ; 
but we have never been able to find an individual that could tell for a cer- 
tainty what the writer of that article meant by " walnut leaves." In New 
England the term walnut is almost universally applied to the hickory 
{Cai-ya) family, not even distinguishing between the five varieties of this 
class of trees, all of which are spoken of in that section under the general 
term of walnuts. At the South and West nothing rs known by the name 
of walnut but the Juglans nigra (" black walnut"), and Juglans cinerca, 
the butternut of New England, known at the West as the " white walnut." 
Now, with such a confusion of names, who can tell what a writer means 
when he talks about " walnut leaves ?" Let him add the botanical name, 
and we can then understand. 





























Sec. 32.] 


LAWNS. 


521 




5S9. Trees Indi 


^enoiis to the Uuited States : 








Botanic Names. 


Common Names. 


Botanic Names. 








Silver Mai>le 


. Acer dasvcarpum. 


Great-leaved Magnolia 


.Magnolia macrophyUa. 








Grcat-leavcd Maple . . . 


. Acer macrophyllum. 


Umbrella-leaved Mag- 








Red Maple 


. Acer rubrum. 


nolia 


.Magnolia tripetela. 








Hxigiu llaple 


. Acer saccharinum. 


Broad-leaved Magnolia. Magnolia latifolia. 








Black Maple 


.Acer nignnn. 


Florida Bread- tree. ... 


. Malia azederach. 








Striped Maple 


. Acer striatum. 


Ash- leaved Maple 


. Negundo aceroides. 








Hort,e Chestnut, or Buck- 


California Negunda . . 


.Negundo Califomicu 








eye 


.jEscuIus Ohioensis. 


Pepperidge-tree 


.Nyssa multiflora. 








Ked-fiowering Chestnut. Pavia rubra. 


Sour Gum-tree 


.Nyssa aquatica. 






















. .(Esculus glabra. 
■ Betula populifolia. 


Button Wood 


. Platanus occiden talis. 
. Platanus Californica. 






White Birch 


California Plane-tree. . 




Yellow Birch 


. Betula excelsa. 


American Aspen 


.Populus tremuloides. 








Ked Birch 


. Betula rubra. 


Great Dentate Poplar. . 


. Populus grandidentata. 








Canoe Birch 


.Betula papyracia. 


Weeping Poplar 


. Populus pendula. 








Black Birch 


.Betula lenta. 


Birch-leaf Poplar. . . . 


.Populus betulifolia. 








White-heart Hickory . . 


.Carya tomentesa. 


Cottonwood 


.Populus Canadensis. 








Shagbark Hickory 


.Caryaalba. 


Balsam Poplar 


.Populus balsamifera. 








Shellbark Hickory .... 


. Carya sulcata. 


Cotton-tree 


. Populus argentea. , 








Bitternut Hickory 


.Carya amara. 


Variou.s-leaved Poplar 


. Populus heterophylla. 








Pignut Hickory 


. Carya porcina 


Custard Apple 


. Percelia triloba. 








Pecan-nut Hickory 

American Chestnut. . . . 
Chinquapin Chestnut. . 


. Carya oliviformis. 

. Castanea vesea. 
.Castanea pumila. 


Wild Plum 


. Prunus Americana. 
. Prunus Chicasa. 
. Pyrus Americanus. 








Mountain Ash 




Catalpa 


. Catalpa syring^folia. 


Crab Apple 


. Pyrus coronaria. 








Nettle-tree 


. Celtis occidentalls. 


Willow Oak 


.Quercus phellos. 








Hagberry-tree 


. Celtis crasslfolia. 


Laurel Oak 


.Quercus imbricaria. 










. Celtis integrifolia. 


Downy Black Oak 


. Quercus tribola. 








Wild Cherry 


.Cerasus Virginiana. 


Water Oak .. 


.Quercus aquatica. 








Choke Cherry 


. Cerasus serotina. 


Quercitron Oak 


.Quercus tinctoria. 








Judas-tree, or Red-bud- 


Black Jack Oak 


.Quercus nigra. 








tree 


. Cercis Canadensis. 


Scarlet Oak 


.Quercus coccinea. 








White Fringe-tree. . . . 


.Chionanthus Virginica. 


Grey Oak 


. Quercus ambigua. 








wood Comus Florida. 


Red Oak 


.Quercus rubra. 
.Quercus palustris. 






Pin Oak 




Red-flowering Dog wood. Cornus Sanguinca. 


Shrub Oak 


. Quercus ilicifolia. 










.Diospyros Virginiana 


Post Oak 












Over-cup Oak 

Mossy-cup Oak 


. Quercus macrocarpa. 
.Quercus olivifonnis. 








White Beech 


.Fagus Americana. 








Black Ash 


.Fra.xinus sambucifolia. 


White Oak 


.Querctis alba. 








White Ash 


.Fraxinus acuminata. 


Chestnut Oak 


Quercus prinus. 








Walnut-leaf Ash 




Yellow Oak 


.Quercus cestauea. 








Broad-leaf Ash 


.Fraxinus latifolia. 


Swamp White Oak. . . 


.Quercus bicolor. 








Long-leaf Ash 


.Fraxinus longifolia. 


Rock Oak 


.Quercus montana. 








Blue Ash 


.Fraxinus quadrangu- 
lata. 


Stag's-horn Sumach. . 
Smooth Sumach 


.Rhus typhina. 
.Rhus glabra. 








Red Ash . . . 






. Rhus copallina. 
.Rhus venusta. 








Honey Locust 


.Gleditschia tricanthus. 


Poison Sumach 








Thornless Locust 


. Gleditschia inermis. 


Yellow Locust 


.Robinia pseudacacia. 








Kentucky Coifee-tree. 


. Gymnocladus Canaden- 


Gum Locust 


. Robinia viscosa. 








Black Walnut 


sis. 
. Juglans nigra. 




. Taxodium distichum. 
.Tilia Americana. 






American Linden 




Butternut 

American Larch 


.Juglans cinerea. 
Larix microcarpa. 




.Tiliaalba. 

.Tilia heterophylla. 






Paper Linden 




Sassafras 


. Laurus sassafras. 


American Elm 


.Ulmus Americana. 






















Tulip-tree 


. Liriodcndron tulipifera. 


River Elm 


.Ulmus nemralla. 








Osage Orange. ....... 


. Madura aurantiaca. 


WahooElm 


.Ulmus slata. 








Cucumber-tree 


. Magnolia acuminata. 


Yellow Wood 


.Virgilia lutea. 








Yellow Magnolia 


. Magnolia cordata. 












590. Evergreen 


-Trees Indigenous to 


the Uuited States and Territories : 








Common Namea. 


Botanic Names. 


Common Names. 


Botanic Names. 








White Mpruce 


.Abies alba. 


Menzies Spruce 


.Abies menziessii. 








Hemlock Spruce 


. Abies Canadensis. 


Mexican Spruce 


. Abies Mexicana. 








California Spruce. . . . 


.Abies amabilis. 


Black Spruce 


. Abies nigra. 








Douglass Spruce 


. Abies Douglassii. 


Bed Spruce 


.Abies rubra. 













































522 PROPER NAMES OF TREES. [Chap. V. 


Common Namea. Botanic Names. 


Common Names. Botanic Names. 






Sabine's California 


Jersey Piue Pinus iuops. 






Spruce Aljies Sabini. 


Scrub Pine Pinus banksiana. 






White Cedar Cupressus thuyoides. 


Pitch Pine Pinus rigida. 






Lambert's Cypress Cupressus Lambertiana. 


Long-leaved Pine Pinus palustris. 






Great Coned Cypress.. . .Cupressus maerocarpa. 


Pond Pine Pinus serotina. 






Mexican Cypress Cupressus Mexicana. 


Mountain Pine Pinus pungens. 






Red Cedar Juniperus Virginiana. 


Loblolly Pine Pinus ta;da. 






Great Flowered Magno- 


Lambert's Californian. .Pinus Lambertiana. 






lis Magnolia grandiflora. 


American Arbor Vitae. . . Thuya occiden talis. 








Giant Arbor Vits Thuya gigantea. 

California Torreya Torrcya Californica. 


California Noble Fir Picea noblis. 








Great Californian-tree . . Sequoia gigantea. 






Yellow Pine Pinus mills. 






591. Foreign Evergreen-Trees, common in Uie nurseries of this country: | 






Common Names. Botanic Names. 


Common Names. Botanic Names. 






Silver Spruce Abies argentea. 


Juniper, English Juniperus communis. 






Dwarf Alpine Spruce. . .Abies crunoniana. 


Juniper, Cracow Juniperus Cracovia. 






Blue Spruce Abies cerulea. 


Juniper, Himalaya Juniperus excelsa. 






Norway Spruce Abies excelsa. 


Juniper, Irish Spiral.. . .Juniperus Hibernica. 






Spruce, Himalaya Abies moriuda. 


Juniper, Hudson's Juniperus Hudsonii. 






Spruce, Mucronate Abies mucronafa. 


Juniper, Japan Juniperus Japonica. 






Spruce, New Holland. . . Abies Novee HoUandiae. 


Juniper, Phenician Juniperus Phcenicia, or 






Spruce, Yew-leaved Abies taxifolia. 


Lycia. 






Spruce, Narrow-leaved. .Abies tenuifolia. 


Juniper, Sacred Juniperus religiosa. 






Chili Pine Araucaria imbricata. 


Juniper, Swedish Juniperus Suecica. 






Chinese Lance-leaved 


Juniper, Spanish In- 






Pine Araucaria lanccolata. 


cense Juniperus thurifera. 






Brazil Pine Araucaria Braziliensis. 


Fir, or Spruce, European 






Billwill's Pine Araucaria Bidwillii. 


Silver Picea pectinata. 






Morcton Pine Araucaria Cunning- 


Fir, Weeping Silver Picea pectinata pendula. 






hamii. 


Fir, Kumaon Pindrow. .Picea pindrow. 






Norfolk Island Pine. . . . Araucaria excelsa. 


Fir, Altaic Picea pichta— Sibirica. 






Graceful Pine Araucaria gracilis vel 


Fir, Mount Atlas Picea pinsapo. 






elegana. 


Fir, Nepal purple-coned. Picea Webbiana. 






Cedar, African Green. . .Cedrus Africanus viri- 


Pine, Austrian Black . . Picea Austriaca. 






dis. 


Pine, Calabrian Pinus Calabriensis. 






Cedar, Deodar, silvery 


Pine, Siberian Cembran . Pinus cembra. 






foliage Cedrus deodara. 


Pine, Nepal short-IeavedPinus Gerardiana. 






Cedar, Green Deodar. . .Cedrus deodara viridis. 


Pine, Haguenea Pinus Haguensis. 






Cedar of Lebanon Cedrus Libani. 


Pine, Aleppo Pinus Halepensis. 






Mount Atlas SilveryCedrus Libani argentea. 


Pine, Dwarf mountain.. Pinus mughus, or pu- 






Cedar 


milio. 






Japan Dark-green Yew. Cephalotaxus adpressus. 


Pine, Italian stone Pinus pines. 






Fortune's Chinese Yew. Cephalotaxus Forttmei. 


Pine, Scotch Pine, or 






Mountain Yew Cephalotaxus montana. 


Fir Pinus Sylvestris. 








Yew, English Taxus baccata. 

Yew, Silver-striped. . . .Taxus baccata argenteis. 












Japan Dwarf Cypress. . . Cry ptomeria nana. 


Yew, Weeping Taxus Dovastonii pen- 






Cypress, Australian .... Cupressus Austraus. 


dula. 






Cypress, Spreading Cupressus expansa. 


Yew, Irish Spiral Taxus Hibernica fasti- 






Cypress, Chinese Cupressus funebris. 


giata. 






Cypress, Graceful , Cupressus gracilis. 


Arbor Titae, Fern- 






Cypress, Weeping Ctipressus pendula. 

Cypress, Pyramidal Cupressus pyramidalls. 








Arbor Vitas, Australian. .Thuya Anstralius. 






Cypress, Sacred Cupressus religiosa. 


Arbor Vitte, Japan Thuya Japonica. | 






Juniper, Silver-leaved. .Juniperus argentea. 


Arbor Vitte, Nepaul, or 






Juniper, Berry-bearing. Juniperus bacciformis. 


Tartarian Thuya Nepalensis. 






Juniper, Bermudas Ce- 


Arbor Vita;, Chinese. . .Thuya Orientalis. 






dar Juniperus Bermudiaua. 


Arbor Vitie, Siberian. . .Thuya Sibirica. 






Juniper, Chinese Juniperus Chinensis. 








592. Our Native Creepers.— Three j: 


rincipal varieties of our native creep- • 






ing plants, that is, climbing by rootlet 


s or suckers, are generally confused iu 






the minds of the people, and all go bj 


' the name of Poison Oak. This mis- 






take has contributed to cause the negl 


ect of several highly ornamental creep- 















Seo. 32.] LAWNS. 523 

ing vines, under the impression that they were poisonous. A brief descrip- 
tion of tlie three varieties referred to is liere given, so that any common 
observer may readily know tliem. 

Poison Oak, Poison Ivy {Rhus Toxicodendroti). — Ch"mbing by rootlets 
over rocks, etc., or ascending trees ; leaflets tlu-ee, rhombic-ovate, mostly 
pointed, and rather downy beneath, variously notched or cut lobed, or entire. 
Common in thickets. Flowers greenish-white or yellowish. June. Poi- 
sonous to the touch to some persons. 

Virginia Creeper {Ampelops'is Quinqitefolla). — A common woody vine 
growing in low rich grounds, climbing extensively, the tendrils fixing them- 
selves by dilated, sucker-like discs at their tips ; blossoming in July, ripen- 
ing its small blackish berries in October. Also called American Ivy. 
Leaves digitate, with five oblong lanceolate leaflets ; turning bright crimson 
in autumn. 

Trumpet Flower, Trumpet Creeper {Tecoma Padicans). — Climbing by 
rootlets; leaves pinnate ; leaflets from five to eleven, ovate, pointed, toothed ; 
flowers, trumpet-shaped, or tubular tunnel form, from two to three inches 
long. 

The last two are not poisonous, and may therefore be safely grown to 
climb around piazzas or any other part of the house. The first is very 
pretty to climb old park trees or rocks, and being the most hardy, may well 
be grown for such purposes. It should have a label, giving its name and 
notice that it is poison. 

593. Roses and their Enemies, and Flowers for tlie Lawni— There are but 
few farm-houses destitute of roses of the hardy and most common sorts 
which can be grown without labor or care. Many persons would have 
more and better ones if they knew what to get and how to get them, and 
that a beautiful assortment of a dozen could be bought for three or four 
dollars. The moss roses are beautiful, and some of them quite liardy. 
Bourbon roses flower in lat. 41° and 42° from June to October. These re- 
quire winter protection. China roses are perpetual bloomers, and also 
require protection. Tea roses are exceedingly fragrant, and fine for potting. 
Boursault roses of diflferent varieties keep up a succession of blooms. 
Prairie roses are hardy climbers. One called the Queen of the Prairies, and 
the Baltimore Belle, are very showy. Fortune's yellow rose is a climber, 
but not hardy. Noisette Augusta is a very fragrant climber, but too tender 
for winter in the Northern States, Noisette Cloth of Gold is a very largo, 
"beautiful rose that may be grown here in sheltered situations. Noisette 
Solfatere is a good rose to train to a pillar; it is sulphur yellow. La 
Morgue rose is very large and creamy white, good for training, and blooms 
abundantly. "We could go on a long time naming roses, but that is not the 
object—it is to urge more attention to their cultivation, and more knowl- 
edge and better taste in making a selection. 

In Mississippi, and other Southern States, there is a rose largely used for 
hedges, called the Cherokee rose, which, although only a small single 



524 



HOT-BEDS, AND HOW TO MAKE THEM. 



[Chap. V. 



flower, is very fragrant, and makes a beautiful show upon a long line of 
roadside hedge, as it is white, with a yellow center, and the foliage a rich 
green, and tlie vines often twenty feet long, and the hedge often ten or twelve 
feet high and equally wide, so covered with white flowers as to show at a 
distance like a long bank of snow. 

694. Rose-Slugs aud Rose-Bugs are the great enemies that have to be con- 
tended with, and in some localities tliey are so bad that many persons have 
abandoned growing fine roses. There does not appear to be any effectual 
remedy for these pests. In some cases, air slaked lime scattered over the 
bushes and under them seems to have the desired effect. In other cases it 
failed entirely. Occasionally, a writer states that he saved his roses by 
syringing the bushes with whale-oil soap. Then some one else states that 
he used it to no purpose. The successful man replies : " You used it 
too weak." Another one answers : " I used it strong, and killed all the 
leaves and buds on my rose-bushes." Again we are told that a decoction 
of ailanthus leaves will keep off the rose-destroyers, if sprinkled upon the 
bushes. As this is a cheap remedy, let it be tried ; wc have some faith in 
its value. 

Eose-bushes in clusters are lovely ornaments of a lawn, and should not be 
neglected any more than evergreens. 



SECTION XXXIII.-HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND PLANT PROTECTORS. 

-ARMERS, in general, look upon each of the 
things named as tlie title of this section as be- 
longing rather to market gardeners than farm- 
ers. They see them on what are usually denominated 
" gentlemen's places," and look upon them rather as a 
luxury than a necessity. In this they are quite mis- 
taken. A hot-bed can be made upon any farm by any 
man after reading this section, and once made, it will be 
found such a comfortable addition to the garden that it 
will not soon be dispensed with. 

595. Conversation of Gardeners about Hot-Beds.— The' 
following conversation upon this subject at one of the 
meetings of the American Institute Farmers' Club, gives 
the necessary information, with the names of the speak- 
ers for authority : 

Mr. QuiNN, farmer and gardener upon Prof. Mapes' farm, said : The 
earth for hot-beds should be gathered from woods, or rich mold, and com- 
posted in summer, and well worked over, and in the fall covered with dung 




Seo. 33.] HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND PLANT PROTECTORS.. 525 

manure, so as not to freeze. This is so as to have it in order for sifting 
when it is wanted. Tlie manure is very carefully prepared — one part of it 
so as to heat, and one part not. The cold manure is first spread eight inches 
thick, and tlien a layer of hot manure, and then a layer of cold, and then 
covered with the prepared earth. The frame is made so that the sash will 
shed rain and set on the bed, and the earth and manure filled in all ^ro^i'id, 
and then the sash is covered with. mats, and seed not sowed for four days. 
The ground being carefully prepared, and seeds sown, the sash is kept close 
one day, and the second day opened. Some seeds start much easier than 
others. Cabbage seed would spoil before egg-plant seed would begin to 
germinate. We transplant from the seed-beds to other beds, and we are 
careful to give tiie plants air, but it must be done with care, because the 
new plants are so tender that they are easily killed by too much air at 
first. Vfe prefer a southeastern exposure for our hot-beds. Tlie size of 
each may be from three and a half by five feet to five by eight feet. 
The former we make eighteen inches high in front and thirty inches in 
the rear. Our frames are four by six feet, and the mats five by eight feet, 
so as to lap over the edges to keejj the beds warm. We generally sow the 
diflerent varieties of seeds in separate beds, as the plants require difierent 
treatment. 

We sow the seed for cold frames in September, and transplant in October 
into the cold frames, setting from 500 to 800 plants under a light of glass. 
The glass is covered in winter with boards, and air is given in mild days ; 
and we sometimes set the plants out in the field so early that snow covers 
them, yet without injury. 

R. G. Pardke — A neighbor of mine at Palmyra used to sow seed in open 
ground, and before freezing covered the plants with mats, and before winter 
he puts over a frame covered with boards, and on them earth, leaving one 
end open for air as long as he dared to, and then closed up both ends, and 
occasionally ventilated the bed during winter. He said that he had used 
oiled cotton cloth as a substitute for glass, with good success. 

Mr. Cavenach, gardener, of Brooklyn, stated that he had successfully 
grown cabbage plants in a similar way to the above, using salt hay for a 
covering. 

Mr. Fuller showed an improved form of glass for hot-beds, rounding on 
the lower edge. This tends to keep the fiow of water in the center. 

Mr. Wheeler, of Wayne County, thinks this an important question for 
the country, if farmers can be taught so as to make cheap hot-beds for 
family use. 

Wji. S. Carpenter — My plan foi- a hot-bed for family use is to prepare 
my ground in the fall by digging out the earth two and a half feet deep, 
and leave the sash on over that hole till March, when I put in the manure 
and earth prepared for the seed, and sow it. I plant corn and other vege- 
tables in pieces of inverted sods, so as to take up the pieces of sods with 
the plants rooted in them. I have thus been able to get green corn the first 



526 THE GARDEN". [Chap. V. 

of July. My hot-bed lettuce I do not pull up, but cut off, and the root 
sprouts out successive crops. 

Mr. Weight, of Poughkeepsie, said that he iised half turnips, in place of 
sods, for com. He inserts the seeds in the turnip, and that rots, and the 
corn grows rapidly. Melons may be grown in the same wa}'. 

John G. Beegen — Any farmer may put down a hot-bed about March 
1st, and fill in two feet deep of manure and dirt, and if he has no mats to 
cover with, hc'may cover with boards. One of the most important things 
about growing hot-bed plants is giving them air judiciously. The cabbage 
plants of the Long Island market gardens for early plants are grown from 
seed sown in the fall, and the plants preserved in cold frames. These cab- 
bage plants are set early in spring, in frames like hot-beds, but without heat, 
and there grow under glass, large enough to set, by the time the field is 
ready. Then the plants of the late cabbage are from seed sown in the open 
ground in April, May, or June. The ground for cabbage plants should al- 
ways be very rich. 

596. Hot-Beds on the Surface Recommended. — A letter to the author from 
a practical gardener gives his reasons for not excavating the soil for a hot- 
bed. He says: "For the reception of the bed, a trench is often dug of its 
determined length and breadth, and sixteen inclies deep, if tlie soil is wet, 
or eighteen, or more, if it is dry. In a dry soil and climate this can not bo 
productive of much injury, but otherwise it almost always chills the bed ; 
at the same time it is to be observed, that it is never productive of benefit, 
further than not being so high, it is easier of access, hut gives much addi- 
tional trouble, both at the time of founding and afterward, when linings are 
to be applied." 

And another says : " The bed of dung may be placed either wholly on 
the surface of the ground or in a shallow trench of from six to twelve inches 
deep and four or five feet wide, according to the frame ; but if made en- 
tirely on the surface, it affords an opportunity for renewing the linings when 
the heat has declined ; in a trench, the wet settling about the bottom of the 
bed, chills the dung, and causes the heat soon to decline. 

"Now, from the 1st of Januarj^ to the 31st of March, in the Northern 
States, neither soil nor climate are dry, strictly so ; and it is plain to sec 
that in the most favorable soil the shed of rain from the sash is directed at 
once upon tiie dung in the front of the trench, which in the case of the sur- 
face-bed is all thrown off l)y the, as it Avere, thatched slope of the linings. 
I should think it could hardly be denied that the decline of heat in the 
buried mass of dung in the one case would be very much greater and more 
rapid than from the action of cold winds upon the linings of a surfjice 
hot-bed. 

"Beds of dung for hot-beds are more frequently made about eighteen 
inches or two feet in entire depth than three or four feet ; there are many 
small gardeners who have not sufficient dung to form beds of greater deptii, 
and it is important that they should have the most enduring heat possible to 



Sko. 33.] IIOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND PLANT PROTECTORS. 527 

be got from this scant supply, and as more dung accumulates, to have the 
means of renewing the linings to keep up a protracted warmth inside. By 
building on the surface, both can be secured with less trouble and more 
chance of success." 

597. U'liat a Uot-Bed is for. — "A hot-bed is not a mere make-shift, nor a 
cold frame, nor a pit, but a bed of dung for forcing purposes — one in which 
it is not tlio mere object to start seeds and guard the young plant from 
changes of weather, but to force things to grow out of season by giving the 
plants the most uniform and prolonged heat practicable, until they can be 
safely transferred to the open garden or into special frames, with an extraor- 
dinary advancement in growth. Yet with all of the well-known advantages 
to be derived from hotbeds, but few comparatively possess one. Surely the 
farmer deserves the first fruits of the season, and he may have them if he 
will. Lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, cauliflower, melons, etc., may 
be upon his table fi'om four to six weeks earlier tliau usual, by a little pains- 
taking, at a season when the time to do this work can be easily spared from 
other occupations." 

598. Uow to Make a Hot-Bed. — "The first thing to be done is to deter- 
mine the size of the bed wanted. If it is only for family use, and to supply 
a few friends with early plants, twelve feet long and six feet wide will be 
ample. To make the frame, take two-inch pilanks, cut tliem into suitable 
lengths, and nail or hook them to cedar posts, set at tlie four corners. If 
hooks are used, the planks are more easily taken apart and stored away after 
the season is over. Tliese posts should l)e three or four inches square. Tlie 
frame has, of course, no bottom. The back should be about three feet high, 
tlie front a foot and a half, and the ends made with a regular slope from 
back to front. So made, the i-ain will be carried oft' from the sash, and the 
light will reach all the plants within. The sash may bo made like a common 
window sash, except that there are no cross-bars, and the panes of glass 
overlap each other a quarter of au inch at the bottom, so as to shed rain 
like the shingles of a roof. The sash should be made of good seasoned pine, 
one and a half to two inches thick, and painted three good coats. Small 
panes, say 6x8, are less liable to breakage than larger; and in glazing, 
they should be bedded in soft putty. For the sash to rest and slide upon, 
strong strips should be placed across the frame, and morticed in at each end. 
Choose a good situation for a bed, with a dry bottom, and sheltered, if possi- 
ble, on the north and west sides. Determine the size you need, and then drive 
stakes at each corner. Kow, wheel on the manure. The litter and strong 
manure from the horse stable is the best ; but in lack of this, tanner's bark 
may be used, or leaves; oak-leaves are best. If dung is to be had, lay up a 
bed of it, six inches to a foot wider on all sides than the frame which is to 
rest upon it, pressing it down gently and equally throughout. The average 
higlit of such beds is from two to three feet. If, as some persons prefer, the 
bed is sunk a foot or more in the ground, the manure need not rise more 
than two feet above the surface. Having set the frame and sash upon the 



628 



THE GARDEN. 



[Chap. V. 



dung-bed, with the lower side tpward the south, let the whole lie a few days, 
until the most violent fermentation has passed off; then put on about six 
inches of the garden-mold. The part devoted to radishes and lettuce may 
have a foot of soil. In a few days the seed may be sown, which should be 
done about six weeks before the usual time for transplanting to open 
grounds. Examine the bed daily, and if tlie heat becomes excessive, run a 
stake or crowbar down into the manure to let the steam escape ; the sashes, 
■ also, may be raised a little. If the ground becomes dry, water occasionally 
with tepid water ; if the heat declines, keep it up by the addition of fresh 
manure piled up around the side of the be^. In cold nights, cover the beds 
with matting or straw. The only danger is from the generation of too vio- 
lent heat and the jjrevalencc of steam from the fermenting materials. Tan 
bark has been successfully used to cover with, as this keeps the steam from 
rising." See 565. 

599. Cold Frames. — Tlie use of cold frames among market gardeners is 
very important. The plants are started in the open ground in autumn, and 
taken up and set very close in the frames, or else the seed is sown in them 
•ind started with glass, and afterward covered with boards and mats, or 
straw and dirt, and tlie plants thus kept in a sort of torpid state till spring. 
Sucli plants are more hardy for ojjen culture than hot-bed plants. 

GOO. Protectiou of Plants. — Many plants, called hardy, require winter 
protection in our climate. Tlie best covering is leaves, and the more you 
let remain in the spring to rot the better, because they furnish the best of 
all manurial substances. The earth-covering needs to be but slight. Some 
tender shrubs should be bent down, and sliglitly covered. Coarse manure 
should be used where leaves are not at liand. Clean straw will answer to 
protect the roots. Evergreen boughs answer a very good purpose, and so 
tliey do to tie around shrubs. Tea-roses are sometimes sheltered by a little 
roof of boards, covered with dirt. 

Protecting plants from the sun is sometimes as necessary as protecting 
them from frost. The following easy plan of making these protectors of 
garden plants, upon a cheap scale, is recommended : 

Take three pieces of boards, about a foot wide and fifteen inches long, and 
nail them together so as to form three sides of a box. Small braces at each 
corner Mill add to their strength. If they are made with the closed end 
narrower than the other, they can be packed into each other wlien stored 
away. The purpose of these boxes is the protection of plants from the sun 
or cold wind. B}^ setting them on edge, so as to surround a plant on three 
sides, when the spring winds blow raw and chill, the advantage will soon be 
perceptible in tlie improved condition of the plants over those that are un- 
protected. If there is danger of a frosty night, a loose bit of board may be 
laid over the top of the box. A hill of melons, cucumbers, early beans, 
pei^pers, or any other te.nder vegetables, or a dozen or two hills of early 
corn, may be protected for a week or two with these cheap plant protectors. 
When they have been on during the day as a screen from wind, and there ia 



Sec. 33.] HOT-BEDS, COLD FRAMES, AND PLANT PROTECTORS. 529 

no danger of a frosty night, they may be removed to give the dew fnll 
l^ower upon the plants. In transplanting cahbage and other plants, tli^se 
boxes, set np on their ends, make good shades, and they serve a good pur- 
pose when the soil is dry and plants or seeds need moisture, after the ground 
has been well watered. Tiiey serve also to protect melon-vines from bugs. 
Tills is done by setting a loose piece of board against the open side, so as to 
form a box and fence in tlie plants. The bugs will rarely get over this 
fence. 

If you wish to transplant your cabbages, or anything in your flower- 
garden, do not wait for a season, but do it any day, just at niglit, in fresh- 
dug soil, giving the roots a good watering. Cover them daily with the pro- 
tectors, taking them off at night, that they may be freshened with tlie dew. 
After a couple of days it will be sufficient to stand the protectors on edge on 
the south side of the plants to keep off the mid-day sun. In three or four 
days the roots will be established. Another use for them is when the wea- 
ther is so dry that hills of melons, squashes, etc., will not come up. Water 
the hills with a fine rose watering-pot, and lay the protectors over the hills, 
and the young seedlings vtill soon make their appearance. When above 
ground, take ofi' the protectors and let the dew fall upon them at night, and 
in a day or two dispense with it entirely. They are excellent, also, to cover 
over the patches of newly-planted flower-seeds, causing them to come up 
nmcli sooner. Remove them when necessary to admit mild rains, and en- 
tirely when the plants appear. Try a few of them, and you will find they 
are far better than flower-pots, which arc generally used for these purposes, 
excelling in cheapness, convenience, and utility. 

Another cheap kind of snn-shades for plants is made in the following 
way : 

Take a piece of stout hardware paper — say a foot square — and make a 
fold like the tuck of a woman's dress, half an inch wide through the center 
each way, and drive a tack through the crossing of the folds into the top of 
a stick, long enough to set one end in the ground and support the paper like 
an umbrella over the plant you wish to shade. Such papers will stand a 
good deal of wetting and recover again, though it is better to take them 
under shelter in a storm. Shades can be also made of large, dry leaves, 
tacked to a stick, or of coarse plats of straw. The lining of a tea-chest, cut 
up and tacked upon standards, the lead side up, makes good shades, durable, 
and cheap ; and of whatever material, such shades often pay their cost in 
once using. 

In some places it will be convenient to get branches of evergreens f )r 
shades, which are better than nothing, but are not so good as the tiiree-sided 
Moodcn box, with a loose piece of board to form the other side or lay across 
tiie top. These are very convenient. Frames covered with cotton cloth are 
recommended as sun-shades. They may be made six feet long and three 
feet wide, and if needed to bo thicker tlian the cloth, may be whitewashed 
with the mixture recommended in No. 3G1. 



5^0 



THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. 



[Chap. V- 



The following preparation for painting cloth, to be used for shading 
plSnts or for other out- door purposes, is recommended as cheap and durable 
by 11. Carl Green, of Warren County, Pennsylvania. It is easily tried. 

"Mix a pint of powdered lime WMth water till it is of the consistency of 
thick cream, and add this to a quart of boiled linseed-oil, and heat and stir; 
and then beat separately the whites and j'elks of eighteen eggs, and stir all 
together, being careful not to heat hot enough to cook the eggs. Apply the 
mixture at once as you would other paint." 



SECTION XXXI V.-SM ALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. 

)S a general thing there is nothing about the for- 
mer's home more neglected than small garden- 
fruits. Many do not have the least pretension to 
a strawberry-bed ; and others who have one, do- 
not seem to appreciate that tliere is as much dif- 
ference in strawberries as in corn or potatoes, and that 
it is important to have a variety. Sometimes one 
sort will produce well one year and sometimes another-; 
and one sort comes early and another late, in straw- 
berries, rasj)berries, etc., just as it is with the varieties 
of corn. Currants, too, are not all alike ; neither will 
the farmer receive the greatest profit from their 
growth when suffered to grow up like a neglected 
hedge along the garden wall. To induce a more ex- 
tensive growtii of these small fruits, we intend to give 
some pages to the subject, filled with practical information, and sucli hints 
upon the use of fruit, in a hygienic point of view, as will stir up the farmers, 
or certainly their wives and children, if it does not them, to increase the growtli 
of this health-giving food. In families where garden-fruits are used the most 
extensively, you will always find the greatest degree of health. Instead of 
producing summer-complaints in the bowels, tlicy are the very best pre- 
ventives. Besides having some of tliem upon tlie table every meal while in 
season, you sliould preserve such quantities in sealed bottles or jars that you 
can have them without stint all winter, and until strawberries are ripe in 
June. 

601. Currants— Varieties and Cultivation.— Tiie currant is one of tlie m<-8t 
valuable of our small fruits — not as delicious as the strawberry and r;.s; - 
berry, but keeping much longer, and applicable to a greater variety of jiui- 
poses, which makes it of more value in the family. As soon as tlie berries 
are well formed, and before they begin to ripen, they are used by many for 
pies and sauces. At maturity there is nothing better for either of these 




Seo. 34.] CULTIVATION OF CURRANTS. 531 



purposes, while for preserving and bottling, none of our fruits keep as well, 
and few are better for winter use; for jams and jellies, every housekeeper 
knows the currant has no superior. It also makes a wholesome domestic 
wine. For a dessert or table fruit it has been considered too small, too acid, 
and lacking in flavor, but this is not so with the finest varieties — the White 
Grape and La Versailles, for instance, with bunches five or six inches in 
length, and berries one and a half inches in circumference. The poor 
varieties, as usually grown, are certainly unfit for the table, as they are 
small, sour, and almost entirely filled with hard, M'oody seeds. 

We consider the currant a most valuable fruit for eveiy man who iM^a 
spare foot of ground. In cultivation it has been sadly neglected, receiving 
no pruning, or pinching, or training, or mulching, such as are lavished on 
its more favored neighbors. Not only has the currant been neglected by 
farmers, but by those who have given special attention to the raising of new 
varieties of small fruits, yet no variety has more valuable qualities. It is 
in perfection in the New York market the first part of July. 

A writer in the Indiana Farmer speaks of currant bushes seven feet high, 
and of his success in growing the fruit, which he attributes to the fertiliza- 
tion of jirine and soap-suds, applied during summer about the roots. 

The " Cherry currant" averages a good deal more than double the size of 
the old-style crimson berries, of good flavor, and great productiveness. We 
are sure the profitableness of such a crop must be greater than any of the 
ordinary farm crops, nearly as ten to one, yet very few persons are engaged 
in the business, and but few who are not will believe we are serious in rec- 
ommending growing'currants in fields as large as their present fields of rye, 
corn, or grass. There is no danger of glutting the market any more than 
there is with ten-acre fields of strawberries, raspberries, pie-plant, or aspara- 
gus. Tiie more there are grown the more the demand will increase, as it has 
for other fruits. Let us have a great increase in the production of currants, 
particularly while they sell fresh from the bushes at from four to ten cents a 
pound. 

It is said that the Cherry currant docs not bear pruning like the old sort — 
that the limbs should be tied up to short stakes. The best Dutch currants 
are obtained by careful trimming, cutting in the ends of the limbs early in 
the spring, and cutting away all three-year-old wood, and by hoeing very 
often. 

One of the great faults about growing currants is picking them before 
they are ripe. Color does not indicate ripeness, as some are red long 
before they are mature. The Versailles should hang a long time after 
they are red ; so should the Cherry currant, which is naturally strono-ly 
acid, and unfit to eat unless fully ripe. One of the peculiar characteristics 
of La Versailles is, that the fruit upon young bushes is generally small, and 
I'ads persons unacquainted with it to doubt its good quality. The Cherry 
currant grows about as large as ever the first time the bushes produce, and 
plants also grow vigorously from the first, while La Versailles is a feeble 



532 THE GAEDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

grower when young, but very strong when aged. Although some of these 
currants are good, we want something better. We want a currant of as vigor- 
ous a habit as the cheriy, and as productive, with berries as large, combin- 
ing all the good qualities of La Versailles, White Grape, Imperial, and 
Cherry, and sweeter than any of them. We need not despair of yet obtain- 
ing such a great desideratum. It is very easy to grow seedlings. Take the 
seeds of the best sorts out of the berries when ripe, by washing and mixing 
with sand, and putting in a box with earth, which should bo placed on the 
north side of a building or wall, and kept till all danger of thawing and 
fnppng is past, when the seed should be sown in drills in very rich ground, 
Avhere the sprouts will grow four inches high the first year. Next spring 
tra,iisplant in rows where they can be cultivated. Cut off half the length 
of the plants when transijlanted. The seed may be kept a long time in 
dried currants. The currant has a wide extent of growth, and one variety 
is a native of this country. 

602. Descriptive List of CurrautSi — The following list of currants is given 
by Andrew S. Fuller, with their names in their order of excellence: 

1. La Yersailles. — Large red. 

2. ^Yhite Grape. — Large ti-ansparent white. * 

3. White JIoUa7id. —ldcntk-'.\\ with No. 2. 

4. White Frovence. —lindi like No. 2. 

5. Yelloio Imperial — Large white, slightly tinged yellow. 

6. The True lied Duieh. 

7. TJie Cherry. — Large red, a little more acid than No. 1, and thicker skin. 

8. The Victoria. — A late variety. 

9. La Ilative.- — Red, eai'ly. 

10. La Fertile. — Red, medium size. 

11. The Champagne. — Pale red. 

12. White Butch. — Not large, but excellent. 

13. Imperial. — Red, similar to No. 1 in quality; not so large. 

14. Angiers. — Red, similar to No. 13. 

15. Red Frovence. — Late, and not worth cultivating. 

16. Gloire de Sablons. — A new, worthless variety, striped. 

17. Old Striped.— ^imWAV to No. 16. 

18. Old White. — A small, sweet variety. 

The following short description of different sorts of currants will sliovr 
how they vary, and enable persons unacquainted with them to make suit- 
able selections. 

Victoria is a late variety ; light, brigiit-red ; berries medium size to large, 
and biinches very long. A productive and beautiful variety. 

Frince Albert is also a late variety ; similar in color or a little lighter than 
Victoria ; berries larger. Very productive. 

The White Dutch, like the Red Dutch, is a good currant, but as a gen- 
eral thing has been so badly neglected that its true character is little known. 
It is a high-flavored fruit ; berries larger and bunches rather shorter than 
Red Dutch ; of a yellowish white, and very transparent skin. Very pro- 
ductive. 



Sec 34.] CTTLTIVATION OF CURRANTS. 533 

The W/iite Grape is now the favorite white currant. This and the Cherry 
have heen for some years the most popular sorts. Bunches long ; berries 
very large, whitish yellow, sweet and good. Very productive. 

Transparent is a new French currant; very productive, and similar to 
"White Dutch. The White Clinton is very similar to "White Dutch, and 
probably the same. White Antwerp, very large, white, sweet ; bunches 
rather long, and productive. Neither of these, we think, is sufficiently 
distinct from the "White Dutch and "White Grape to justify their dissem- 
ination. 

The Black English is the common, well-known black currant. "With 
good cultivation and plenty of manure, it produces a good croj) of fine fruit. 
It has a bad habit of dropping its berries at the time they get about rijie, so 
that the bunches when gathered have but few berries remaining. 

The Black Naples is larger and Ijetter than the Black English, and is the 
best of the black currants. Bunches rather short, but berries very large. 
This is now about the only black currant planted, and is a most desirable 
variety. 

The Bangup is an English black variety, with short, heavy bunches, 
shouldered. The berries hang on the bunches well, and bids fair to be a 
very valuable sort. 

The roots of the black currant are short and fibrous, and consequently it 
has a small space in which to gather food. It is also a great feeder, and 
therefore requires a liberal supply of manure. The taste for the black cur- 
rant, like that of the tomato, must be acquired, and then becomes a neces- 
sary luxury. Those who make wine should try the black currant for that 
purpose. In England it is preferred to all others for jams, jellies, and tarts, 
and black currant jam or jelly is there considered an almost infallible rem- 
edy for colds and sort throat, and invaluable in cases of fever. The good 
English housewife would hardly feel safe to pass through a winter without a 
good store. 

Reel Dutch is an old and well-known sort, with fair-sized bunches and 
berries. It is a good bearer and a free grower, and a much better currant 
than most people suppose, as any one can ascertain by giving it good culture. 

Long-Bunched Bed is very much like the above, but a larger berry and 
larger bunches, and we think a little more acid. 

Short-Bunched Bed has short, heavy, compact bunches. The berries, not 
quite as large as Bed Dutch, hang on the stems well, and we think will 
make an excellent market fruit. It is the favorite sort of the growers for 
market around London. 

The Cherry is, perhaps, the largest red currant, having berries of extraor- 
dinary dimensions. It is not a distinct species of the genus Bihes — only a 
new variety oi Bihes 7'uhriim, of which the Red and White Dutch and many 
others arc also varieties. J[t is therefore just as hardy as the common cur- 
rant. The distinguishing properties of the Cherry currant are : strong, ro- 
bust growth of the bush, the shoots being stouter, the leaves larger, and of a 



534 THE GARDEIT AND ITS FRTJITS. [Chap. V. 

darker green than tlie common sort. The blossom of the Cherry cxirnuit is 
easily distinguished from the greenish yellow blossom of the Red and White 
Dutch by its darker brownish color. But the greatest and most valuable 
distinction of the Cherry currant consists in the uniformly great size of the 
berries. They measure from half an inch to live eighths of an inch in diam- 
eter, all the berries of a bunch being generally of nearly one size, Avhile the 
bunches of tlie common currant taper down to a very small berry at the 
end. Besides this, the berries are also distinguishable by their dark-red 
color. Another and very striking feature of the Cherry currant consists in 
the manner the bunches are distributed over the branches ; while with the 
common currant the fruit is rather thinly — at least, by comparison — scat- 
tered over the branches, the Cherry currants hang in massive clusters so 
tight that the stems of the fruit-strings can scarcely be seen. Branches of 
the bush of from one to three feet in length are often unbroken clusters of 
luscious fruit, which give the bushes a charming rich appearance. 

603. How to Grow Currants* — The following directions are given by 
Charles F. Erhard, a German gardener, Kavenswood, N. Y., a grower of 
Cherry currants : 

" Many farmers and market gardeners seem to think that these good qual- 
ities can only bo brought out by very high culture, such as the amateur 
gardener only can bestow on a few pet bushes. This is an error. I would 
say : Manure, plow, and hoe tliem as you do your Indian corn, and you will 
have them in as great perfection as the nurseryman. 

" As the bushes grow very strong, they should be planted not less than 
4x4 feet, or, perhaps, 4x5 feet apart, which will give 2,178 plants per 
acre. I prefer the latter method, and would plow only one way between 
them, allowing the branches to spread in the direction of the rows, so as to 
form something like a hedge. These rows should run north and south, to 
shield the bushes from the hottest mid-day sun. Shade to the fruit is indis- 
pensable to bi'ing it to perfection ; if too much exposed to the hot rays of 
the sun, the berries ripen j^rematurely before tliey attain their full size. 
Now, all the shade necessary to protect the fruit is furnished by the bush 
itself, if you do not disable it to do so by pruning and cutting away what 
was evidently intended for that purpose; and this brings "me to the shape in 
which currant bushes should be pruned. I am aware that there exists a 
great difference of opinion among cultivators as to this point. Many be- 
lieve that the tree-shaped is decidedly tiie best ; others think the bush form, 
with several branches springing directly from the root, the better and most 
natural shape. I have tried both ways, bjit prefer the latter method 
greatly. The great advantage of the bush form, it seems to me, consists in 
the system of renewal which should be combined with it. 

" Suppose you plant young bushes with two prongs or branches. Plant 
them deep and allow the first year two shoots to grow up from under the 
ground. These shoots will at the same time send out their own roots and 
grow luxuriantly. If you allow, then, every year two more shoots to spring 



Sec. 34.] CULTIVATION OF CURRANTS. 535 

up from the root, you will, in the summer of the fourth year, liavo two 
branches each of live, four, three, two, atid one year's growth. Six of these 
branches, tliat is, the five, four, and three-year-old ones, will be loaded with 
fruit, the two-years' growth may have some berries, and tliose of this year's 
growth will only be straight shoots. The bushes will now be as large as 
tliey should be, and the two five-year-old branches may be cut out as soon 
as the fruit is picked ; and heiicefortli, by allowing still two new shoots to 
come up every year, and by cutting out the two oldest branches after the 
gathering of the fruit, the bushes will be kept young and bear fine fruit for 
many years more. Of course this is onlj' meant to elucidate the general 
principle. The practical cultivator will know how to modify the above rule 
for every individual bush." 

604. Producliveiicss of Cherry Currants. — "In calculating the profits of a 
crop, great caution must be used, and casualties must not be forgotten. Al- 
tliough I have seen four-year-old bushes that bore nine pounds of berries to 
each bush, I would not think it safe to put down the average yield of a full- 
grown five-year-old bush, trimmed as above, at more than six pounds. 
This would amount to 13,068 lbs. to an acre. The price of common cur- 
rants in the N'ew York market, generally very small, sour little things, 
varies from four to seven cents per pound at wholesale, which certainly 
justifies the anticipation of six cents per pound for Cherry currants for many 
years to come, and this would make the value of the crop, per acre, equal 
to $7Si." 

605. Expenses of Cnltirating: and Gatherini? fnrrants. — " Half a day of 
plowing and three days of lioeing by one man will clean and stir the 
ground of one acre most effectually, wliich, at ordinary wages of man and 
horse, will cost $3 50, which makes four plowings and hoeings cost $14. 
Picking 13,068 lbs., at one third cent per pound (about 15 cents per bushel), 
will be $43. If we allow $27 for manure every year, the whole expenses 
per acre would sum up to $84, leaving $700 clear, of which only the cost of 
bringing them to market would have to be deducted." 

Tiie above, although it is the statement of an interested nurseryman, is 
nevertheless the truth, not exaggerated. The fruit can be grown for two 
cents a pound, and every family can eat it as a condiment with their bread 
and meat every day in the year, and can afford to drink a delicious, whole- 
some wine — currant wine — instead of getting drunk and dying as they do 
now from poisoned stuff called beverages. We have no need of sending to 
Zante for currants, Madeira for grapes, or France for wine, nor should the 
folly be any longer tolerated of importing currant jelly. It is our duty, as 
American farmers, to grow this fruit, for Ave contend that if religion consir^ts 
in doing good to our fellow-creatures, it is a religious duty to encourage 
the cultivation, the imj)rovement, and projiagation of all the fruits tliat a 
good Power has made the earth produce for man's sustenance and allevia- 
tion of human diseases. 

The healthiness of currants is conceded by all physicians. Currant jelly is 



536 THE GARDEN" AND ITS FRUITS. [Ohap. V- 

a most too;lijome sub-acid condiment for convalescents, particularly those re- 
covering from fever. It has been much sought for of late in army hospitals. 

COG. Black Currants— How Growu for Wiue iu Frauce.— It is about twenty 
years since tlie manufact;ure of wiue from black currants was commenced iu 
the Department Cote-d'Or, France, upon a scale large enough to furnish a 
wine of commerce, since wliich the manufacture has increased very exten- 
sively ; three houses at Dijon produced in 1860 about 88,000 gallons. Near 
Lyons, black currants are grown to sell to the Dijon wine-makers. There 
are other establishments at Beaune, and other small towns, and the manu- 
facture is now so well established that landowners are cropping their land 
Avitli black currants alone, the number of plants introduced into vineyards 
being also on the increase. Tiie rage, indeed, for jdanting was so great 
in 1857, that rooted plants sold as high as $16, and even $24 per thou- 
sand. Now, however, price has found its usual level, that of $4 to $6 
per thousand. Tlie exact number of plants cultivated around Dijon does 
not seem to be ascertainable, the proprietors themselves not knowing how 
many they have planted. It is, however, probable that to estimate the 
number near*Dijon at 1,500,000 would be greatly below rather than above 
the mark. 

" In the Department of the Cote-d'Or, the center of currant cultivation 
exactly coincides with that of the vine. In fact, it may bo said to extend 
from Chagny to Dijon iu a narrow zone skirting the eastern slope of tlie 
mountain chain of the Cote-d'Or, eighteen to twenty-five miles in length, 
and from one to three miles in breadth. Within these narrow limits are to 
be found all the great growths of Burgundy wine, connected by vineyards 
only producing vin ordinaire. It is among these, and in land of a similar 
nature, that the black currant is cultivated. Many of the villages pro- 
ducing large quantities of the latter, are noted for the excellence of their 
wines, as, for example : Volnay, Beaune, Aloxe, Savigny, Premeaux, Nuits, 
Vougeot, Chambollo, Yosne, Morey, Gevrey-Chambertin, Bi'oclion, Fixin, 
Marsannaj^, Talant, Fontaine. Leaving this center, the currant follows the 
vine in the valleys that traverse the mountain range toward the west. 
There are extensive plantations at Nolay, Plombieres, Malain, Laumes, and 
Montbard, and others occur occasionally iu the large and fertile plain which 
extends from the foot of the Cote-d'Or chain to the Saone, and in which the 
vine is not cultivated. Finally, they are to be found in the Department of 
the Saone-et-Loire, particularly in that part of it which adjoins the Cote- 
d'Or. Kather considerable plantations also occur near Autun and Chalon- 
sur-Saone. 

" Contrary to what might have been expected in fruit with so strong a 
flavor, there exist great difterences in the quality of the currants from difl'er- 
ent localities. The French liqueur-makers easily distinguish them, and 
carefully reserve currants of superior quality for first-class liqueur, which 
sells as high as 66 cents per quart, wholesale. In general, indeed, wherever 
wine is good, the currant is also good. By this is not meant the choice 



Sec. 34.] STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 537 

iCiowths but vins ordinait'es, the vines producing which are frequently grown 
iilong with currants. 

"Tlie currants are planted about four feet apart, and the after-culture 
consists in hoeing the ground deeply iu tlie spring, and two or three hoeings 
during the summer to keep down the weeds. Pruning is done in the spring 
at the same time with the vines. As to soils, chalk or limestone, with a 
little clay in its composition, such as prevails in French wine districts, suits 
very well. 

" In regard to amount of fruit, and tlie price that can be obtained for it, 
Dr. Maillard estimates that every bush that has been planted live yeare, 
when the land is wholly occupied with the currants, will yield 3| lbs. of 
fruit. The yield on bushes growing singly among the grapevines is much 
greater. Estimating the average yield at only 2} lbs. to a bush, and 2,2-iO 
bushes on an acre, we have 4,928 lbs. as the produce per acre. The average 
price of the fruit in former years was — in IS-tl, 80 cents per cwt. ; in 18-42 
and '43, $1 ; 1844 and '45, $2 ; 1856 and '57, $4 ; 1858, $7 50 ; and in 1859, 
from $5 to $7. It appears that some of the most important houses in Dijon 
have contracted with growers to take all their crops for ten or twelve years 
to come at $3 per cwt. This would give $147 per acre as the price of the 
fruit. Tlie trouble of growing black currants is very little, and they make 
a delicious and healthy wine, far superior to what is usually sold under the 
name of Port." 

It must be seen from this statement that black currants could be profitably 
grown in this country for the same purpose. Indeed, they have been, to a 
limited extent. 

GOT. StraM'bcrries — Profitable and Ilealtliyi — "We suppose we need not oiFer 
argument to any one who has overgrown strawberries iu the garden, to prove 
that no other fruit or vegetable can be grown with greater profit, whether 
for sale or use. Equally profitable for use as for sale, because promotive 
of health in an extreme degree ; affording, too, a degree of satisfaction to 
the family not realized by anything else grown in the garden. This is owing 
in some measure to the cii'cumstance of its being the earliest garden fruit, 
when nature craves just such sub-acid food as the strawberry alone fur- 
nishes, and if produced iu such an abundance, of the most choice varieties, 
that all the family, hirelings included, can eat to their heart's content, we 
are willing to warrant that for the time being there will be a hapjjy fam- 
ily ; and while strawberries are in season, we will guarantee that the family 
has very little occasion for calling in the doctor. There is no fruit that can 
be indulged in to excess with so much impunity as strawben-ies. Tliere- 
fore, for the promotion of health, wealth, and happiness, we urge farmers to 
pay more attention to their cultivation ; and to enable them to do so judi- 
ciously, we will give them some valuable facts about how to make a good 

lection, and how to make them productive. 

608. The Best Sorts of Strawberries. — It is just as important to grow the 
best sorts of strawberries as it is to grow the best varieties of corn and 



538 THE GARDEN" AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

potatoes. The trouble is to know which are the best sorts. Every locality 
has its favorite, and many individuals hold fast to the kind always grown in 
the family, and will not inquire whether there is a better one. 

To enable those who wish to improve to do so, and to assist those who 
would like to make a selection of the best, we give the following opinions 
of competent persons. 

During the strawberry season of 1859 the strawberry question was ably 
discussed before the American Institute Farmers' Club, and a committee 
was appointed to name six strawberries most worthy of general cultivation, 
in the order of their value. That committee reported the following, which 
was approved by a full meeting : 

"1. Wilson's Alha7iy. — Its promising good qualities are productiveness, 
size, and firm, juicy flesh. It is, however, too acid for tlie taste of many. 

"2. Long-worth's Prolifio. — Early, large, and of excellent flavor; only 
moderately productive; sometimes running too much to leaf. 

"3. Ilooker. — Good size, of a rich, sweet flavor; moderately productive. 

"4. MacAvoy's Superior. — Productive, large, and of excellent flavor; 
berries often defective in form. 

" 5. Hoveifs Seedling. — This variety is too well known to need any de- 
scription. Its only defect is dryness and want of high flavor. 

" 6. Hurras New Pine. — Of exquisite flavor, medium size, only moder- 
ately productive ; plants want vigor and hardiness." 

At Boston, the same season, the question was discussed by the Horticultu- 
ral Society, and a ballot taken as to the best six varieties for market, which 
resulted as follows : Early Scarlet, 19 votes ; "Wilson's Albany, 19 ; Hooker, 
11 ; Hovey, 10 ; Triomphe de Gand, 8 ; Burr's New Pine, 6 ; other varieties, 
1 to 4 votes each. 

Another ballot was taken for the best six varieties for amateurs, which 
resulted in the following list: Early Scarlet, Hooker, Burr's New Pine, 
Hovey's Seedling, "Wilson's Albany, and Triomphe de Gand. 

The same season R. G. Pardee, of New York, author of a book on straw- 
berry culture, made a report to the Farmers' Club, naming six sorts most 
profitable for cultivation for market purposes, including Early Scarlet, "Wil- 
son's, Longworth's, Hovey's. • 

At the same time Dr. Ward, a successful cultivator near Newark, N. J., 
exhibited twenty-three varieties, and made the following statement : 

" I will only speak briefly of some of the most prominent. Tlie one 
much cultivated at Cincinnati, called the Iowa, is only good because it is 
very early. The Genesee seedling is without an equal for its beauty, and it 
is of a pleasant flavor. 

" The MacAvoy's Superior is too soft for marketing and apt to rot, though 
fine-looking. 

" Longworth's Prolific, which can be grown thirty-two to the pound, is a 
remarkably fine variety. 

"The "Wilson Seedling has one objection for field-culture — its heavy ber- 
ries beat down to the earth and injure, unless the laud is well mulched. It 



Sec. 34.] STEAWBERRIES. 539 

is a vigorous grower, and the most prolific of all, and is a good berry for 
transportation, as well as prolific. 

"The Virginia Scarlet is the earliest of all varieties, but it is good only 
for a very early ci'op. 

"The Monroe Scarlet grows in clusters, and is easily separate^ from the 
stalk, and good on that account. 

" The Wyllie is much like the Monroe, but not easily separated. 

"The Walker is an excellent berry, but too soft for market. Yet it is 
very rich when picked and eaten in the garden, and well worthy the atten- 
tion of private families. It is an honest berry. 

" The Crimson Cone is a great market berry, but too soft for transportation 
without injury. 

" Burr's New Pine is tlie richest berry that we have. It bears rather 
shyly. It is not productive enough for a market-gardener's fruit, but should 
be in every garden. 

"The Hovey Seedling is one that I can not dispense with ; it is always 
satisfactory. The average is not very large, but very good, and bears car- 
riage pretty well. 

" The Boston Pine should always be grown by the side of the Ilovey, both 
for a fertilizer and for its fruit. 

" The Moyameusing Pine is a good late berry ; valuable for preserving as 
sweetmeats. 

"Young's Seedling, from Philadelphia, is nothing but a Hovey Seedling. 

" A nameless berry, that originated on my place, has many good points ; 
but I must not say too much about it. The excellence of the berry is, that 
in itself it is all that we want ; it does not need sugar, has a fine aroma, is of 
good size, and is very hardy ; the foot-stalk stands up well, so the fruit does 
not get dirty. 

" The Peabody Seedling is not quite all that many expected by the eclat 
given to it by the original propagator, thougli a pretty good berry. 

"For productiveness, or best pecuniaril}-, the strawberry for me is tlie 
Iowa; yet it is the least valuable fruit. I have never marketed Wilson's, 
but I think it will pi-ove at least one of six most prolific of returns to the 
cultivator, if not quite the best. Longworth's Prolific and Hovey's are 
among the six. The seedling I have shown bids fair to be more profitable 
than anything that I have grown. It is my business to grow strawberries 
and other fruits to make money, and I can get three times as much for equal 
measure of Ilovey 's Seedlings as for the common market sorts." 

As to productiveness and value of varieties. Dr. "Ward said : 

" The most productive strawberries that I gro;w are staminates or her- 
maphrodites, and I think that is the opinion of others. 

" The following four varieties, in their order, are likely to prove most profit- 
able to the market gardener : Wilson's Seedling ; Iowa Strawberry ; Early 
Scarlet, Virginia Scarlet or Scotch Runner; and Longworth's Prolific. 
These are what are called hermaphrodite, or staminates, and they are all 



540 SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 

great jDroducers, and more so than any pistillates or any other that I ever 
grew. 

"The "Wilson Seedling has a perfect blossom, and is one of the most pro- 
ductive strawberries known ; the fruit is pretty strongly acid. Many of the 
flowers o^the wild strawberry are barren for want of other plants near tliem 
to furnisli impregnating pollen, and that is the reason why we see such a 
show of blossoms sumo seasons in the fields, and so little fruit. 

" liovey's Seedling must liave fertilizing plants set with it. Wilson's 
Seedling is a perfect plant, and fertilizes itself." 

Mr. Knox, a large cultivator of strawberries near Pittsburg, after a trial 
of three years, previous to 1860, places at the head of the list of strawber- 
ries the Triomplie de Gand. He says: 

"But little has yet been said about tliis variety, and it has not been 
generally cultivated, but as soon as well known it will be the most popular 
strawberry in the countr}'. There is no known excellence which it does not 
possess. The plants arc thrifty, hardy, and vigorous growers, bearing their 
fruit well up, whicli renders it easy to be kejit clean. They are also wonder- 
fully productive, and the fruit is not only usually of very large size, but uni- 
formly so and throughout the season, which is longer with it than with most 
other varieties. The flavor is everything which could be desired. It is of 
a very beautiful crimson color, glossy, and altogether lovely. It keeps well 
after being picked, retaining its beautiful color and firmness, and carries 
better than any other variety." 

He regards the Wilson's Albany as a very valuable and i^rofitable 
variety, and has shown his faith in it by planting fifteen acres. In addition 
to its many other excellences, it has proved a superior berry for canning or 
preserving. Its weiglit, size, solidity, flavor, and color render it popular for 
this use. 

Scott's Seedling is remarkably mild, combining a pleasant peach and 
strawberry taste, much liked, except by those who prefer very acid fruit. 
It is a conical, bright crimson berry, of fair size, with, generally, a cavity 
in the center — hermaphrodite. 

" The true Bishop's Orange M-ill be good lor a late ripening crop, and 
is remarkable for its beautiful orange-scarlet color, and for its productive- 
ness. 

The Jenny Lind is very early, a good bearer, double the size of Early 
Scarlet, fine color, well flavored, productive, and a favorite in New En- 
gland. 

Peabody's Seedling is a very shy bearer, and is nowhere a favorite at the 
North. 

Prince's Scarlet Magnate is a beautiful sort, and a rampant grower. 

The Bartlett, said to be a new seedling, originating in Brooklyn, N. Y., is 
an excellent strawberry. 

The pleasantest flavored strawberry grown is Bui-r'sNew Pine, and Swain- 
stone's the richest, but these are not productive sorts. 



Seo. 34.] STRAWBERRIES. 541 

The following is a description of tlie Austin, a seedling originated by the 
Watcrvlict Shakers: 

Fruit large, roundish to conical, sometimes flat, occasionally necked, and 
uuiforiuly with a large core; color light scarlet; seed brown, slightly im- 
bedded ; flesh white, rather soft and dry, acid, and somewhat deficient in 
flavor ; calyx large, many-parted, and persistent ; stem stout and erect ; 
flowers staminate. It is said to be very productive, but the frnit is too soft 
tor long transportation. 

The Boyden Seedling is noted for its mild character, which is such that 
the most delicate invalids may iise it with impunity. It grows to a large 
size, is a very delicious berry, but rather a shy bearer. 

The White Alpine may be cultivated for variety and late fruit, but tlie 
berries are small, and the vines not productive. 

"We have made the following selection for our own use, all of which have 
their points of excellence, as grown in our garden for family use, to wit : 

"Wilson's Albany Seedling, the most prolific, and when its large berries 
are well ripened, not too acid. The trouble is, that servants will pick them 
before ripe, because they are red. They are so a full day before they are 
ripe. 

Hooker's Seedling grows vigorously, and is productive, and fruit excel- 
lent ; large size, and handsomer than the Wilson, which is very dark. This 
is one of the best for family use. It was originated in 1850 by II. E. Hooker, 
of Rochester. 

The Bartlett, we believe will prove equal to either of the aliove for family 
use. 

The Austin Seedling is likely to prove valuable for family use, because it 
is a later ripening sort than the others. 

The Ilovey is a very shy bearer in our garden. The Jenny Lind is not so 
promising as it is said to be in Massachusetts. JMacAvoy's Superior is good 
for fajnily use, but too tender for marketing, and so is Burr's New Pine, but 
is of high flavor, and recpiires high culture. 

Prince's Eclipse, Scarlet Magnate, and Climax are all handsome sorts, and 
wonderfully vigorous growers, 

The Boston Pine produces an excellent berry, round, deep crimson ; very 
handsome. 

The Genesee is a good-sized, long-necked berry, very mild, but not very 
excellent. 

The British Queen is a high-flavored strawberry in England, where it is 
considered the standard of perfection. Fruit irregular shaped. 

Long-worth's Prolific, originated by the celebrated Nicholas Longworth, 
of Cincinnati, is an excellent family berry. 

The Peabody strawberry, originated by Chas. A. Peabody, of Columbus, 
Ga., and sold l)y him at a high price, is not worth as much for cultivation 
with us as several other sorts. 

Rivers' Eliza, an English sort, has the highest reputation of the imported 



542 SMALL FPwUITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 

varieties. The fruit is large, rich, and juicy, but the plants do not stand our 
hot dry weather very well. 

The Eed Alpine, a native of the Alps, will produce an autumn crop if the 
spring blossoms are cut oil. 

Scott's Seedling grows one of tlio handsomest strawlierries of the fam- 
ily ; it is very bright crimson, large, conical form, aud pretty ; high 
flavored. 

Besides these, we have one called Chili, which we can give a high recom- 
mendation. These make up a fine assortment, but we can not advise farmers 
generally to try to cultivate more than three or four good sorts, embracing 
an early, medium, and late ripening kind. 

609. Seedling Strawberries. — Seeing what wonderful improvements have 
been made within a few years, every one who can devote attention to it 
should continue the effort to obtain a still better seedling than has yet been 
produced. We shall hope on till some enthusiast gets a seedling as large 
and prolific as the Wilson, and as high flavored as the Swainstone, British 
Queen, Rivers' Eliza, Boston Pine, or any other. In 1S61, Andrew S. 
Fuller, a skillful horticulturist of Brooklyn, N. Y., and an enthusiast in 
pursuit of seedlings, had over a liundred new ones, all of which were good, 
grown from the seed of the Wilson, Ilovey, Peabody, and some other large 
sorts, and twenty-seven of them were selected by a committee of liorticul- 
turists as fully worthy of fui-ther trial ou accouut of their many excellent 
qualities. 

In 1862 the same committee made repeated examinations of these seed- 
lings while in bearing, and finally selected three sorts, which we believe, and 
so do^nany persons who tested them and saw their growth and productive- 
ness, make up as good an assortment as it is possible to obtain for family 
use. All are hermaplirodite plants; rank growers; very prolific ; berries 
of large size and good color ; one of them remarkabl}' lumdsome. One 
ripens early, one late, and one between, so as to give ripe fruit tlirougliont 
several weeks. 

These new seedlings will become universally known as the Tribune Peizio 
Strawbeeeies, liaving been purchased by the New York Tribune Association 
for $3,000, with the design to send plants to all of its subscribers. They 
will probably be known hereafter as the " Colonel Ellsworth," which is the 
earliest ; the Monitor or Tribune Mammotli, wliich is the next ripe ; and 
the Brooklyn Scarlet, which is one of the handsomest strawberries ever 
produced. 

This great sale of seedlings should encourage others to produce them. 
Take ripe berries and mash tliem with sand, and thoroughly mix and sow 
the sand and seed in carefully prepared beds. The seed-bed must be made 
in a shady spot, and kept well M'atered. When the ](lants are large 
enough, they are transplanted to the bearing-beds, and the runners care- 
fully cut off. When the plants fruit, if one is promising, remove it to the 
trial bed, where it can remain fruiting two or three years. 



Sec. 34.] STRAWBEKEIE8. 543 

Mr. Fuller carefully liybridized hy hand all the blossoms of the plants 
from which he obtained his seedlings. 

610. S'roduct of Strawberries per Acre. — The following statement (18C1) 
from a strawberry -grower in Delaware tells how many berries were produced 
as a first crop, and shows that what has been done may be done again, not 
by one, but by many who will pursue the same course. He says : 

" The soil is sandy loam, with a subsoil composed of clay and sand in 
nearly equal parts. In January, 1859, the ground was plowed to the depth 
of eight or ten inches, turning under a timothy sod three years old, and sub- 
soiled ten or twelve inches deeper, so that every part of the soil and subsoil 
was loosened to the depth of eighteen to twenty' inches. In April, 1850, I 
plowed under a heavy dressing of stable manure, harrowed and raked the 
ground until it was well pulverized, removed all the grass, and after-giving 
a top dressing of twelve bushels of unleached ashes, set out Wilson's Albany 
Seedling strawberry plants in rows three feet apart and one foot between 
the plants in the row. The bed had two hoeings before the runners com- 
menced to grow, and afterward was kept free from weeds by the hand. 
This constitutes the great expense of cultivating strawberries upon an ex- 
tensive scale, as it is essential to the production of large crops for successive 
years that the plants shall not be smothered nor the ground exhausted by 
the production of weeds. No protection was furnished to the bed during 
the winter. This spring the ground Avas almost entirely covered with plants, 
and permitted to remain undisturbed, with the exception of the necessary 
weeding. Tlie bed blossomed early and very freely. On May 27 the first 
quart of berries was picked, and the bed continued to yield until June 10. 
Every cai-e has been taken to keep an accurate account of the quantity 
gathered, and the yield has been 880 plants, making 9,050 quarts, or 282 
bushels to the acre. The juimber of berries growing and manuring upon 
single plants was frequently over. 200, and in several instances 300 were 
counted upon a plant. The berries were large and fine looking, those first 
sent to Wilmington selling for 25 cents a quart at a time when the common 
variety was bringing only 10 cents. Having other beds for my own con- 
sumption, all th^ berries from this bed were sold for $11G 14, from which, 
deducting $21 98 for commission, freight, and picking, leaves $94: 16 as the 
net return from less than one tenth of one acre of ground. This variety 
possesses all the requisites of a market berry, being large, handsome, and 
very firm, meeting with a ready sale, and yielding, under equal circum- 
stances, as great a number of bushels to the acre as can be obtained from 
the cultivation of the potato. I am confident that a greater yield can be 
obtained by cutting paths one foot in width between the rows, as originally 
planted, thus dividing the plantation into beds two feet in width, so that tlie 
vines can receive more air and light, and the berries be gathered without 
trampling upon the plants." 

611. Staminate, Pistillate, and Hermaphrodite Blossoms.— It appears to l)c 
a settled question that there are three distinct forms among the blossoms of 



544 SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 

strawberries, and that two of them will not produce fruit except by impreg- 
nation one with the other. These are called male and female flowers, the 
male flower growing stamens without pistils, and the female flower pistils 
without stamens. The other, called hermaphrodite, is furnished with both, 
and has the power of self-fertilization in each blossom. Tiie female, or 
pistillate flower, has a golden center, the jjistils covering it like short stiff 
hairs. The male, or staminate flower, has a dark center, from which grow 
a dozen or more stamens, which are little stems with knobs on the ends, 
which bear the pollen that must come in contact with the pistils to 
fructify them, or else the plants will be barren of fruit. Some plants 
bear all staminate and some all pistillate flowers, and where that is the 
case, unless the two sorts grow in uroximity, both will be nearly destitute 
of berries. 

It is often observed that strawberry blossoms are abundant in the fields, 
and fruit scarce. This is owing to the sexuality of flowers, and the lack of 
favorable circumstances to produce impregnation. The great scarcity of 
bees in many of the old States cuts ofl' tlie agencies by which nature carries 
on the work of fecundation of flowers. 

Some varieties of strawberries always produce hermaphrodite flowers, the 
center of which is like the pistillate, with stamens growing out of it, as they 
do from the center of the staminate flower. This kind of blossoms will pro- 
duce fruit if there should be no other sort growing near. 

Although a pistillate variety will not produce without the aid of starain- 
ates, if the two kinds are set together the staminates soon outgrow the others, 
and so take possession of the ground, that in three or four years the bed 
affords but a meagre supply of fruit. Great care, therefore, must be used in 
cultivating strawberries not to let the barren, rapid-growing, male plants 
overpower the female ones, which are the true fruit-bearers. 

C12. Soil— Preparation and CultivatiOH for Strawberries. — The best soil is that 
lately in forest, of a gravelly-loam character, situated on a gentle southeast- 
ern slope, and should be nnderdrained, spade-trenched, or deeply subsoiled, 
and made rich and mellow before setting the plants. If nnderdrained 
thoroughly it will soon pay the cost in extra productiveness. If possible, 
protect the north and west sides by high fences or hedge. The best manure 
is woods-mold, and unleached ashes, and what is known as the "lime and 
salt mixture" — that is, a bushel of salt in just water enough to dissolve it, 
and that used to slake three bushels of lime ; shell-lime is best. If land is 
parched with drouth, without artificial watering the fruit will be deficient, 
though all other requisites are complete. All the fertilizers should be 
mixed in the soil before the plants are set. Twenty or tliirty bushels of 
ashes, three bushels of salt, and nine of lime may be -used up on an acre, 
and the more the soil is stirred in its preparation the better; and it should 
be as free of weeds and grass as possible. 

When ready to set your plants, rake the bed smooth and mark off the 
rows, and procure sti'ong-rooted plants, and dip the roots as you proceed in 



Sec. 34.] STRAWBERRIES. 545 

water, thick with rich earth or compost, and set them no deeper than they 
naturally stood, being careful to cover with line earth well pressed. 

If you intend your bed to cover all the earth, set the plants a foot apart 
each way. If to be kept in hills, two feet apart. If in rows, make them 
three feet apart, and the plants eight to twelve inches apart in the rows. 

There is no wrong season, when the plants are not bearing, to transplant 
strawberries. Perhaps the best time is after the old roots send out runners, 
and the first of them get well rooted. Tlien cut the connection with the old 
stool, and keep the new root from sending out runners until it becomes a 
strong root, and then, if your new bed is to be made in the same locality, 
take up the plants with a transplanting-trowel, with all the dirt that will 
adhere, and lay them on boards and carry right to the spot where they are 
to be set, and put them in suitable holes scooped out with the trowel or 
hand, and they will keep on growing almost as freely as thougli they had 
not been removed. Keep the ground free of weeds, and frequently stirred 
between the plants, till winter, and then cover with forest leaves, held in 
place by brush or a little dirt scattered over. In the spring, rake the leaves 
off the plants, and leave them as a mulch between. After fruiting, the run- 
ners begin to put out. If j-our plan is to keep distinct hills, cut off all run- 
ners every week. If your plan is for rows, keep working between the rows, 
and turn the runners so as to form a growth of plants a foot wide, leaving a 
space for working two feet wide between. This is the best plan for field- 
culture, working the beds by horse-hoe. "When the rows get grassy, and 
need changing, run the siibsoil-plow deeply and repeatedly through the rows, 
and work in the necessary fertilizers, and j)i'epare a new row of plants by 
setting or training runners to the right spots, and let them set themselves, 
cutting away all the surplus ones. Then, late in the fall, the old row is to 
be completely turned under by the spade or plow, and so this renewal sys- 
tem may be continued, turning down a portion of the old bed each year, 
and thus having vigorous plants always in full bearing. 

Where the plants are set with the design of covering all the surface, the 
runners are permitted to spread where they will the first year, and the 
second year the poorest plants, old or young, should be cut out, so as not to 
allow the bed to become matted. When it begins to fail, from being over- 
run with weeds or grass, or from the plants becoming feeble from age or 
want of room, divide it into strips two feet wide, and turn under alternate 
ones, and fertilize the ground for a new setting of plants to spread over it 
from runners ; and when they are well established, turn over the other strips 
in the same way, and so continue. At every new preparation of the bed 
add ashes if you can, or bone-dust, or superphosphate of lime, or fine co!n- 
post, in which rotted sods, leaves, and woods-mold hold the greatest share, 
and then no other manuring will be necessary while the plants are in bear- 
ing except the mulching of leaves, sti-aw, or salt hay, that you should give 
every winter. Where it can be had convenient!}-, always get spent tan-bark 
for mulching. Turners' chijis are a very good substitute, and so ai'e lea'her 



546 SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 

shavings. "When any fine material is used for niulcbing, be careful not to 
smother the plants. Sawdust, and also scrapings from the wood-pile, may 
be used if care is had about smothering. 

Covering the ground permanently with saw-log slabs lias been practiced 
with pleasing success. The plants were set in well-prepared soil, in straight 
rows one foot apart, and tlien slabs notched on tlie edge about three inciies 
deep were fitted to the plants, so that they grew in bunches in holes about six 
inches wide, and of course free from weeds and grass. By this plan no new 
plants are made from runners ; so, if such are desired, a bed must be kept for 
that purpose. The old stools of strawberry plants, after a few years, grow so 
much above the surface that they are not productive. Hence the necessity 
of frequent renewals. 

Some Long Island market gardeners set the plants so as to work between 
the rows with a horse cultivator the first season, keeping the ground clean 
until the runners begin to take root. Next season the field produces one 
heavy crop, when the weeds are allowed to grow a few weeks, and vines and 
all are then plowed under, and a new plantation started. 

Never set the plants any deeper than they originally stood. Although 
we should always prefer new plants, yet it may be remembered that the act 
of transplanting old roots, even those that liave become barren, causes them 
to send out new bearing crowns, and so become fruitful again. It is also 
recommended, by those who have proved its value, to hill up old stools with 
fresh earth, which has the effect to make them fruitful again. 

Watering in a dry time is highly important. It will keep the plants in 
bearing twice as long as without it. Charles A. Peabodj', near Columbus, 
Ga., has certainly been one of the most successful strawberry culturists 
in this country. lie has carried berries to market more than six months of 
the year, and lie obtained them by copious watering with a movable pump 
— a garden engine. lie planted his beds upon sandy land, newly cleared 
of pine and oak timber, choosing a flat near a little brook, on account of con- 
venience of water. lie used no other fertilizer at first than what was obtained 
by burning the timber and brush and scattering the ashes, and afterward iiy 
mulching with forest leaves. After the fruit season, his practice was for a 
hand to go through with a hoe and cut up the poorest-looking plants, so as 
to keep them from getting too thick, and tlien the mulch being put on, pre- 
vents the runners from setting, and they are afterward cut away. He is 
careful to have all the vines cut off left on the ground, considering them the 
best kind of fertilizers. This is true in regard to all kinds of plants; tlie 
ashes are the best kind of manure for the same kind growing 

613. Raspberries. — This delicious fruit has not yet reached the perfection 
that strawberries have. "We regard the strawberry as the chief of tiie small 
fruits, from its being the earliest fruit to come into bearing after planting, 
its cosmopolitan character, its enormous ^productiveness, ease of culuire and 
reliability, and last, though not least, its delicious qualities ; and we regard 
the best of our cultivated raspberries nearly equal, but unfortunately the 



Sec. 34.] RASPBERRIES. 547 

plants are not liardy. It is perplexing to a farmer, and so'it is to any one 
but a professional gardener, to liave to look after the raspberry plants, and 
carefully cover them before -winter sels in. "We i;eed a new raspberry, as 
delicious as Fastolf or Brinckle's Orange, and hardy as the Black Caj), or wild 
red sort which produces so abundantly in Vermont and Canada. To this 
end we must undoubtedly look to the native seedlings principally to obtain 
the hardiness and vigor of constitution necessary to enable the canes to with- 
stand our winters, if possible, Avithout injury. 

Many seedlings have been introduced, but they are mostly direct descend- 
ants of European kinds, and have not generally proved much hardier than 
their parents ; and like them in that and some other respects, have not grown 
generally po])ular or given entire satisfaction. "We do not despair of seeing 
a new raspbei'iy that will have all the good qualities desired. 

E. C. Clark, of New Haven, has shown specimens of a new seedling 
raspberry which promises to be an acquisition of considerable value to 
fruit-growers. It is stated as being hardy for out-door cidture, red color, 
and certainly a very good flavor and fair size, and sutHciently hard to bear 
transportation. 

Lewis F. Allen, of Black Eock, N. Y., has distributed a raspberry that 
promises good results, and by some is very highly approved. 

II. II. Doolittle, of Oak's Corners, Ontario County, N. Y., t'links he has 
improved the Black Cap raspberry so as to get the good qualities we have 
mentioned. He says the bushes are as hardy as the wild sort, and he is 
well backed by certificates of good men that they bear abundantly, and that 
the fruit is rich, and that it bears transportation perfectly. 

The Catawissa raspberry is called an ever-bearing sort, but is not more so 
than the Belle de Fontenay, though it may be a little more hardy. It is 
objected to by those who wish to increase the plants, that it does not throw 
otf sufficient off'shoots. 

The Kirtland raspberry has received some high commendations in Ohio, 
ripening its fruit in June, and continuing to produce rich red berries abun- 
dantly for three weeks. 

R. Ct. Pardee, in speaking of this variety of fruit, says : " Most of the 
plants sold for pure Antwerp raspberries are poor things, and, in fact, we 
have but very few sorts of raspberries worthy of cultivation that are luirdy. 
Brinckle's Orange is about the best light-colored sort cultivated, but that 
is not quite hardy. Tiie Belle de Fontenay is highly esteemed, but that 
nor no other can be truly called ' ever-bearing.' The only way to get a full 
crop in autumn is to cut away all the canes in May ; that throws the 
strength of the whole root into the new canes. The Belle and the Four 
Seasons, and perhaps some other of the ever-bearing sorts, will produce a 
good fall crop with this treatment. I believe the Fastolf the best family 
raspberry that we have." 

614. Blackberries. — There is but one variety of blackberries extensively 
cultivated, and that is known as the "Lawton," or "New Rochello Black- 



5iS SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 

licrry ;" and it is truly a most magnificent fruit, and productive beyond 
belief. "We are fully satisfied that it is as liardy with us as the native black- 
berry, the thermometer having been several times below zero, our impro- 
tected vines have sustained no injury. Its universal productiveness is 
undoubted by all who have seen mature plants in full bearing. The size of 
the fruit exceeds any other sort, and when suffered to remain on the vines 
till fully ripe, it is not too acid, which is the only fault we ever heard 
charged against it. Tliese berries often appear fully ripe to an unpracticed 
eye, yet are really unfit to eat. Wiien perfectly ripe, the berries lose the 
shining appearance, and if tickled a little will fall into the hand. 

The New Rochelle blackberry originated in the town which it is named 
after, about twenty miles northeast of New York city. It is either an ac- 
cidental seedling- of the wild variety, or else a sort brought there by the 
French Huguenots, who settled that place. It was discovered growing wild 
by a Mr. Secor, from whom "William Lawton, who lived in the village of 
New Rochelle, obtained his first plants, and began their propagation; though 
slowly, because he lacked the skill of a professed nurseryman. 

George Seymour & Co., of Norwalk, Ct., nurserymen, obtained some 
jdants about the same time, and went to \vork skillfully to increase their 
stock before advertising the wonders of the new berry to the world. In the 
mean time Mr. Lawton made a show of tlio fruit, and the enormously thrifty 
growth of the plant, before the American Institute Farmers' Club, which 
was given to understand, from his statement, that it was a seedling originated 
by him, and thereupon it was named the " Lawton Blackberry." Others, 
knowing that he did not originate it, have insisted that he was not entitled 
to the name, and call it the "New Rochelle Blackberiy." By either name 
the fruit is the same, and is well worlhy of cultivation. The bush is one of 
the rankest-growing ones of the ruhus family, and bears enormous crops. 
"We have counted over a thousand bei-ries on a single cane, and know that a 
hundred bushels have often been picked from an acre. The berries arc in per- 
fection the middle of August, and the common selling price in New York for 
some years was twenty-five cents a quart, and when the wholesale price fell 
to ten or twelve cents, some of the largest growers would not sell them, pre- 
ferring to squeeze out the juice and convert it into wine or cordial. 

The quality uf the berries is that of a very juicy pulp, much larger in 
proportion to the seed and hard core than in the very best wild sorts, and 
the berries grow to nearly double the size, of roundish form, about an inch 
long, more resembling the running variety than any of the berries of the 
wild high vines. 

The plants endure the coldest weather M-ithout any protection, and will 
grow upon any rich soil and bear any amount of manure. 

G15. How to Plaut and Cultivate (he Lawton Bfackberrics.— If the plants 
are taken from the ground and planted while the roots are fresh, they will 
all live. If suffered to get dry, the most of them will die. Even one hour 
of exposure to the sun or drying wind is apt to prove fatal. If they are 



Seo. 34.] BLACKBERRIES. 549 

put up by nurserymen in good order, they will bear transportation well. 
AVlien the jiackago is opened, bury tlie roots immediately in fresh earth, and 
draw fhem out only when ready to sot immediately in their places. Under 
no circumstances must the roots be exposed long enough to get dry, nor 
drenched with frequent waterings after being set, nor must you expect them 
to grow in poor soil Avitliout manure. The whole rulus family are gross 
feeders, and none more so than the Lawton blackberry. 

For a garden plat, lay out a bed from four to six feet wide, near a fence 
or any other convenient jjilace; spade the ground from sixteen to twenty 
inches deep ; if the subsoil is gravel, throw it out and ])ut good soil in its 
place. Distance should be fi'om six to eight feet apart. The stems of the 
jilants should be cut down to six inches. Plant the roots about three to six 
inches deep ; when jj'anted in autumn, cover with straw, mulch, or litter, 
which remove in the spring. 

Allow but two canes to grow from each root the first summer; these will 
produce fruit the second summer. At the same time other shoots will make 
their appearance, preparatory to bearing the ensuing season, and but two of 
these should be allowed to grow — consequently there will be two growing 
and two bearing canes to each root every season — the latter will die in the 
fall and should then be r(pioved. 

It is no trifling job to trim up a lot of these plants as they should be, and 
no one sliould attempt it without being suitably dressed with stout cloth — a 
kind of duck, such as sailors wear, is the best — and leather mittens. 

If j'OU wish to set out a field of blackberries, manure the ground as you 
would for a crop of corn, plow deep and harrow well, then run furrows e%ht 
feet apart ; cross-mark same distance apart with a chain or other instrument, 
giving eight feet each way between the plants — some cultivators recom- 
mend ten feet each way — set about six inches deep, and only one plant to 
the hill. 

The vines or canes will, the first year, take rather a low or trailing 
form ; these should be shortened in a little in the spring ; then cover 
the ground with old straw or litter imder them, after putting the ground 
in order, letting the fruit rest upon the mulch, which keeps it clean from the 
ground. 

The next, or second year, the plant takes an upjright form, throwing up 
two, three, and sometimes four large shoots. 

Plow and cultivate freely but shallow, using plow and cultivator two or 
three times the fore part of the season, keeping down all weeds and the 
ground in fine tilth, after which mulching with salt-hay, straw, seaweed, 
or anything that can be got hold of, will be found of special value, keeping 
the ground moist and friable, and the fruit clean. 

When about four and a lialf feet high, prune by pinching out or cutting 
off the buds of the leading shoots, which will cause the side-shoots to start 
and make stouter and better bearing plants. 

After pruning, stake the plants, tying them in an inclined pi^sition, be- 



550 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

cause if trained upright the side-branches are apt to break down from the 
weight of the fruit. 

The above are the directions given by Mr. Seymour, who had five acres 
in full bearing when we saw and made a careful examination of them some 
years ago. On the first half acre planted we found ten rows, of thirty-two 
bunches each, making 320 roots as originally set upon the half acre. The 
lowest estimate of any of the gentlemen present was five quarts of berries 
to a bunch of roots. That would make five bushels to the row, and fifty 
bushels to the half acre. Knowing that it takes only an average of 120 
berries to a quart, from rough calculation of numbers we are satisfied the 
average will be eight quarts to the bunch. But let us take the lowest 
estimate, one hundred bushels per acre, and we have a crop worth eight 
hundred dollars, at the then wholesale price of twenty-five cents a quart. 
And even at only one fourth that price the crop would be a good one. Mr. 
Lawton's method of pruning his plants consists in carefully heading back all 
the branches to the fully-ripened wood. In some cases half of the length of 
the plant is cut away — generally about one third of the length. Then all 
the fruit comes in perfecti(m. Commence to head back with the plants the 
first year of bearing, when 200 to 250 berries may be expected from each 
plant, as it branches out xevy full of bearing liml^. 

016. The Dorchester Blackberricst — Since the successful introduction of 
the New Rochelle blackberry, several attempts have been made to bring 
others, possessing some peculiarity, into notice. Among these the best and 
most successful is one called the Dorchester blackberry, originating in the 
to\^ of that name in Massachusetts, and first brought into notice by Capt. 
Lovet, of Beverly; it is a sweet, excellent fruit, and by many persons in 
that State is much more preferred than the Lawton, which does not ripen as 
well in the vicinity of Boston as it does at New York. 

CI 7. The Thornless Blackberry originated, or at least was brought into 
notice by Jonas Newman, in Ulster County, N. Y., where it is said to be 
remarkably prolific. If so, it loses its character whenever removed far from 
its original locality. The fruit is sweeter than the New Kochelle variety, 
and it is much easier gathered on account of the partially thornless charac- 
ter of the plants ; but they are very shy bearers in every locality where we 
have seen or heard of their cultivation east of the Hudson. 

C18. White Blackberries, if such a misnomer may be allowed, are among 
the novelties of the day, or rather among the old tilings which are every 
now and then brought forward as novelties. The berries are of a dirty 
white color, of an insi]iid sweet taste, having no distinct character either 
sweet or sour. We would not, even for the novelty, give them garden- 
room. 

619. The Tarsley-Leafed Blackberry is an old variety, which is every now 
and then brought forward as somet'.iing new. It is unlike the Lawton in 
this particular, that it does not bear pruning, and its long, climbing vines 
must be trained upon trellis-work to produce well. It is valuable to use as 



Sec. 34.] BLACKBERRIES. 551 

a covering of unsightly walls or rocks, and may be grown on a trellis or 
rock-work to good advantage, as its foliage is very ornamental and the fruit 
delicious. 

620. The Cut-Leaf Blackberry, we thiidc, is the same as the Parsley-leaf 
variety, being called differently in difierenl; places. 

There are two sorts known as "Double White Blossomed" and "Double 
Pink-Blossomed," used for ornamental purposes, and for tliat are really 
pretty adjuncts to landscape-gardening. But the most ornamental black- 
berry that we have ever seen, is a new variety which we first saw in the 
garden of Andrew S. Fuller, Brooklyn. The whole stem is of delicate pale- 
green color, and the foliage is very pretty. 

C21. The RuiiHiug or Trailing Blackberry has been lately cultivated with 
great success, and as much improved in quality, size, and productive- 
ness as any other wild fruit by cultivation and rich manuring. It will 
grow upon very poor land if manured, and particularly delights in old 
stone walls, rocks, stumps, or fence rows, and might be made particularly 
useful upon many places where rocks abound, as they do in New England, 
New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. On Long Island, the running 
blackberry is one of the most valuable crops that many farms produce. 
The business of picking and sending to market has been systematized by 
Joseph French, whoso name is worthy of mention as a benefactor to that 
region. Much of the land from which Long Island blackberries are gathered 
is very sandy, and almost barren, having been turned out to common as too 
poor for longer cultivation. But since picking blackberries has become a 
business, some farmers have allowed cornfields to grow up along the i^ws, 
and continued plowing between, and in some cases using manure, which has 
made the berries double the size of wild ones. 

AVe recommend growing a plot of running blackberries in every farm gar- 
den where this variety grows naturally. 

622. Value of Blackberries for Wine. — Besides the object of raising black- 
berries for the fruit to cat or sell, there is another of equal importance. A 
very palatable wine or cordial can be made, which, if sold at the usual rates, 
will make the crop a very profitable one; for the juice of 80 quarts of Law- 
ton blackberries, with 90 pounds of double-refined sugar, will make a barrel 
of wine, such as has commanded $2 a gallon, for several years, in New York. 
Now if we count the wine at a wholesale ]>rice of only $1 a gallon, and re- 
duce the price of berries, the following M'ould be something like the items 
of cost of wine: 2i bushels (80 quarts) of berries, for a barrel, at 6i cents, 
$5; 90 pounds of sugar, at Hi cents, $10 35; crushing and mixing, 65 
cents; cost per barrel, $16. 

The product of wine per acre, yielding 100 bushels of berries, would be 
40 barrels, costing, exclusive of berries, $11 a barrel, and selling, at $1 per 
gallon, for $1,200. Upon this calculation, will the market ever be_ glutted, 
or will the crop, which costs no more than a crop of corn, exclusive of the 
picking, ever cease to be remunerating ? 



552 SMALL FRUITS OF THE GARDEN. [Chap. V. 

Tiiere is another tiling in this connection. "We have, we do, we shall send 
Ohio whisky to France, to be run through the stills upon the lees of the 
wine-press, which we buy back at a high price under the name of brandy. 
From blackbei'iy wine we can make a very superior brandy at less cost and 
far more fit for medicinal purposes. We can also make blackberry sirup, if 
we have the fruit in abundance, that will cure all the summer complaints in 
the community, and save the lives of an army of children every year. 

For sirup, no water is added to the juice and sugar; for wine, after the 
sugar is well dissolved by frequent shaking of the barrel, it is filled up with 
water and allowed to ferment, and then treated as all domestic wine should 
be. [See 46!) to 476.] 

623. Gooseberries. — There are about a dozen sorts of gooseberries in com- 
mon use, the most of them English; and however much they may be pre- 
ferred, we have to say that the English varieties of the gooseberry have never 
succeeded in this country, only in a few localities, and we doubt if they ever 
will. Indeed, there is no place on the Eastern Continent where the goose- 
berry has been brought to the perfection that it has in England. In Italy, 
where it is found in its wild state, it has never received extensive cultivation, 
or thought worthy of it. In Spain it is scarcely known ; in France it is but 
little esteemed ; and in no country does it thrive so well as in the humid at- 
mosphere of England. And it is to this perfect adaptation of the climate to 
the plant that the great improvement of this fruit is owing more than to the 
skill of the cultivator. In Holland and some parts of Germany it is culti- 
vated with success, having a climate milder than that of England, with much 
of its humidity. To succeed here with gooseberries, we must plant them 
upon soil that is cool and moist, on the north side of a hill, or a cool and 
half-shady place, and then keep the bushes properly pruned ; for under such 
circumstances we have seen abundant and regular crops for years in succes- 
sion. If cultivators would take indigenous varieties, of which there are some 
twenty, and many of them superior to the native European variety, and sow 
the seed, and by so doing improve the fruit, we should soon have varieties 
that would be equal, if not superior, to any imported variety. Besides 
being native, they would be exempt from those diseases which we have to 
contend with in the cultivation of the foreign kinds. 

The Shakers of New Lebanon, N. Y., have a gooseberry, called the 
" Mountain Seedling," that is very hardy, and of fair size and quality, that 
was found growing wild in that vicinity. 

You must not entertain the idea that you will get an improved vari- 
ety of fruit by purchasing sorts which have given remarkable results from 
very high cultivation. The currant will grow and produce fruit in almost 
any locality, badly neglected ; but the gooseberry will not grow in that way. 
"We know that the English gooseberry has failed in most places under ordi- 
nary cultivation. But we have some very good native gooseberries that are 
perfectly hardy, and some of these have been greatly improved ; and we 
hope others will be, until we have a native gooseberry as hardy as the wild 



Seo. 34.] QUINCES. . 553 

one, and as good as the best English ones, which are all seedlings from wild 
sorts, common in Piedmont and France. The Houghton Seedling appears 
to be tlie i'avcjrite sort at present. 

The Houghton is a large, fine berry for marketing, but is not so delicate 
in texture nor excellent in flavor as some of the English sorts. "We have 
seen a seedling variety that originated on Staten Island, that had grown sev- 
eral years free from mildew, and appeared very promising. Some persons 
think the most delicate kinds can be grown upon " the renewal system" — 
that is, never suffer old wood to remain. Others say that if grown upon a 
clay soil, and no heating manures ever nsed, and the ground mulched with 
salt-hay or its equivalent, all the English varieties of the gooseberry can bo 
grown in our climate as well as in England. Perhaps. As a general rule, 
the red varieties appear the most hardy. 

We believe that good cultivation and care will enable any one in almost 
any locality to grow good gooseberries free from mildew. But we do not be- 
lieve that farmers in general will bestow that care. It' any one will, it is not 
necessary, perhaps, for us to resort to the native sorts, but we may at once 
procure the very choicest English varieties, like some of the beautiful speci- 
mens exhiliited at every fruit show. 

"We will give the names of a few of the leading sorts of gooseberries culti- 
A'ated by gardeners and amateurs: Sheba Queen, Champagne Red, Cham- 
pagne Yellow, "Whitesmith, Golden Drop, Keen Seedling, Green Gage, 
Crown Bob ; the first and last of the list are the most popular. The '• Mount- 
ain Seedling" should be added to tlie list. 

62i. Quinces. — Although quinces can not properly be ranked among the 
" small fruils of tlie garden," we will introduce them here because they more 
properly lielong to the garden than to the orchard. They should belong to 
every garden, because they are excellent fruit, alwa^'s acceptable for family 
use, or salable at a liberal price in market. The tree is very hardy, and 
grows from four to twenty feet high while in good bearing condition. We 
have known them set by the side of a garden wall and stand there neglected 
for thirty j'ears, producing a crop every year. They will, however, pay for 
better treatment. If set in clumps in a lawn and kindly cared for, they arc^ 
highly ornamental. The main stem of a young quince bush should be cut 
back at a year old, and then it will form several branches, with curious 
crooked limijs, and it may be trimmed to form a bushy head of almost any 
shape. The form, foliage, flowers, and fruit are all ornamental. Tliis plant 
is a bush rather than a tree, and comes to us from Cydon, in Crete, its bo- 
tanical name being Cijdonia vulgaris. It grows best in moist, or rather 
mucky soil, by the side of rivulets, or streams, or ponds ; but it should not 
be neglected as it is generally, unless knotty, miserable, bitter, sour fruit is 
preferred to the fair, smooth, high-flavored fruit produced by cultivation. 
No tree or shrub pays better for manuring than the quince. It is true, after 
its form is once established, it needs but little care in the way of pruning, 
and if located in a favorable situation, does really flourish without care. 



554 THE GARDEN AND ITS FRUITS. [Chap. V. 

But we are sure that a quince orchard would pay for care as well as one 
of peaches. The variety called the Apple quince is very productive, and 
the fruit, though it is unlit to eat out of hand like peai's, apples, peaches, is 
always salable, for it is universally esteemed for sweetmeats, jellies, marma- 
lade, etc., and for adding piquancy and a delicious flavor and aroma to apple 
tarts, pastry, and stewed fruit. The quince can be easily dried either raw 
or cooked, and is then excellent to add to other fruit. In England, wine 
has been made of quinces, and it is esteemed a valuable medicine by asth- 
matics. 

It is very easy to extend the cultivation of quinces to any desirable point, 
and the plants are generally true to the seed, and if not, seldom produce a 
worthless sort. They also grow from cuttings set early in the spring in a 
rich shaded border, where they may be put in as tliick as hair until roots 
start, and then set in a nursery bed. The poorer stocks can also be budded 
with good sorts, and they liave frequently been grown by budding upon 
thorns. Quince stocks for the propagators of dwarf pears, are indispensable. 

625. Varieties of Quinces. — In i:>urchasing quinces, do not suppose that there 
is a large variety of sorts because you find a great number of names in the 
nurserj' catalogues. Tliere are just three distinct varieties : the Apple- 
shaped, or Orange quince ; the Pear-shaped, or oblong quince ; and the 
Portugal quince. The fruit of the last is considered superior to cook, and 
it is occasionally mild enough to eat out of hand. The leaf is larger and 
broader than the common sort, and the tree grows strong and bears large 
fruit of oblong shape, of rather light-colored skin, but the flesli, when cooked, 
turns to a fine purjile. This variety Avould be more esteemed if it was not 
such a shy bearer. 

Ilea's Seedling is the name given to one of the quince family, the fruit 
growing very large and handsome in color, shape, and general appearance 
like tlie Orange quince. 

62G. Ornamental Quinces. — The Japan quince is more for ornament than 
use. Tiie blossoms are handsome, of bright scarlet color, and the fruit green, 
hard, and useless. 

The Cliinese quince is of the same character as the Japan, an ornamental 
ehrub — nothing more. 

In conclusion, we will say of the quince in general terms, it. is one of the 
very best fruits for preserves, marmalades, sauces, sirups, jellies, either alone 
or with other fruits, to which it imparts its fine flavor. The liquid, after 
washing the mashed fruit with water, and standing for twenty-four hours, 
makes a good wine with sugar. Medicinally, the quince is strengthening, 
giving tone to the stomach. Baked with sugar, they are superior to apples, 
and dried quinces are frequently mixed with apples, in making pies, to im- 
prove their flavor 



PLATE XVT. 

(Page 655.) 

This is a fitting frontispiece to this important cliapter upon the 
orchard. It is indeed "a dessert fit for a farmer." It is placed 
here as a sign of something good in the following pages. It is made 
tempting in its ajipearance to tempt you to taste of what is said 
of fruit culture. The basket is a symbol of what every farm 
should be— overflowing with its abundance of choice, rich, luscious 
fruits. Its place by the side of the wall is suggestive. Fruit needs 
protection. The view of water behind the wall is symbolical. A 
situation near water, if the soil is drj^, is favorable for fruit-growing. 
The scene beyond is that of the quiet country home, where six days 
of labor and one of rest and thanksgiving in the village church shall 
bring a store of just such fruits as ai-e here exhibited. Reader, look 
at this picture ! study its lessons, thank God, and enjoy the fruits 
of the orchard. 



SECTION XXXV.- 



CHAPTER VI. 

THK ORCHARD. 

-PROPAGATION, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF 
TREES. 




1 T will not be expected that we shall give a complete 
i^ treatise upon so important a subject as the title of this 
section indicates in the space allotted to each subject in 
this work. We only aim to brief hints, just enough to 
awaken attention and induce farmers to procure and study 
some of the many valuable works easily attainable, such as 
" Downing's Fruits and Fruit-Trees of America," " Kenrick's 
New American Orchardist," now somewhat old, but full of 
useful information ; also " Cole's Fruit-Book," a pocket edi- 
tion ; "Manning's New England Fruit-Book;" "Elliott's 
American Fruit-Growers' Guide ;" " Barry's Fruit-Garden ;" 
" Waring's Fruit-Growers' Hand-Book ;" and " Tiiomas' 
American Fruit Culturist." All are modern and standard 
works, of small size and cost, having a great mass of val- 
iiable information condensed into such brief space that the busiest man can 
find time to read them, and to study carefully such parts as are directly 
adapted to the particular case in hand. Many of the nurserymen give val- 
uable information in their annual catalogues. This is particularly the case 
with Dr. Grant's catalogue of grapevines. It gives the most information 
about grape culture of any work we are acquainted with. Some of the 
agricultural and horticultural papers, which are published so very cheap 
that every farmer can afford to have one or more always upon his sitting- 
room table, often contain single items about fruit culture worth ten times the 
cost of annual subscription. 

The annual reports of transactions by the American Pomological Society, 
as well as those of other societies, should be in the hands of all persons who 
have any interest in fruit growing. Then to such as can afford the cost or 
time of study, the publications of London and Paris will give a world of in- 
formation upon this subject. Some of them have most expensive colored 
plates, such as no American publisher has dared to rival, though we have 
had a few feeble imitations. " Field's Pear Culturist," with colored fruit, 
though inferior to Paris works, yet contains some valuable information. 
'Those who are able should possess "Lindley's Guide to the Orchard and 
Kitchen Garden," which, although published thirty years ago, and adapted 



556 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

to England, contains much valuable information for American farmers, and 
also all of Lindley & Loudon's works; and many others, botli English and 
American ; and we hope that this chapter will contain a little, if but a little, 
that will be valuable. 

One of the most thrifty orchards we know of was planted by an old sea- 
captain, who took reason rather than practice for his guide. He made but 
one error — he used trees too large, such as fail nine times in ten. He first 
plowed and subsoiled his orchard ground nearly two feet deep ; then lie dug 
holes eiglit feet across, two and a half feet deep, and filled them all with sur- 
face soil, scattering that dug from the bottom in place of that taken from 
the surface between the rows. Then he went to the nursery and dug his 
own trees, or at least directed every stroke, and brought them home in his 
own wagon and planted them with his own liands, straiglitening out and 
carefully bedding all the roots just as deep as they originally grew, and 
then mulched, and kept mulched for two years, the whole space occupied 
by the roots. In six years he had a productive orchard of apples, pears, 
and peaches, and in eight years it was one of great notoriety for its vigor 
and fniitfulncss. 

The following-named trees are transplantable in the order in which they 
stand, as to the success attending their removal, viz. : plums, quinces, ap- 
ples, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots, clierrles. Yet we have successfully 
removed choice cherry-trees of six inches diameter. 

Make it a rule never to occupy the ground of an old orchard with new 
trees. In the first place, you can not properly plow the ground, on account 
of roots ; and secondly, if you could, the trees will not grow as thriftily. 

The aspect of land for an orchard in a hilly country is a matter of some 
importance. Tlie most natural one for the growth of trees appears to be 
a hillside, facing the southeast; but it has been found that some trees, liable 
to injury from spring frosts, are more apt to be afi'ected upon such an aspect, 
because the morning sun strikes the trees earlier than upon other aspects; so, 
many farmers, of late, have planted trees on the side of a hill facing tlie 
north. But there is then danger from the extreme cold of winter, as it has 
been pretty well ascertained tliat a sudden turn from mild winter weather 
to twenty degrees below zero is fatal to peach-buds, and dangerous to buds 
of other fruit-trees ; and there is sometimes danger tliat a northern ex- 
posure will not perfectly ripen tlie fruit of some trees. Upon the whole, 
we would compromise the matter l)y selecting a hillside with a southwestern 
aspect. South of New York, northerly slopes may be more safely selected, 
and as far south as Washington would be generally preferable ; and by the 
same rule, as far north as the middle of Vermont, the southern slopes will 
always be found the safest. 

627. Roots— Their Function, and the Effect of Soil.— The function of the 
roots of a tree are not merely, as some persons suppose, to g^vo it a hold 
upon the ground, to support it in its j^lace, but to feed it as really as an ani- 
mal is fed. The many spongioles at the extremity of the fibrous roots are its 



Seo. 35.] PftOPAGATIOJf, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 557 

mouths. These, as the name indicates, are little sponges that suck up and 
cany into the circulation any substance that presents itself in a liquid form; 
and manure, until it assumes that form, is as useless to plants as sticks or 
stones, and it can not become liquid until it is thoroughly decomposed ; hence 
the value of composing all coarse manurial substances before ajjjjlying them 
as fertilizers. Hence, too, the advantage of deep tilth, that these sj)ongioles 
may go in search of food. Let it be remembered, when we think about the 
flinty character of the outside coat of stalks of wheat, rye, corn, and some 
of the "sickle-edge" grasses, that this all comes from quartz held in solu- 
tion, having been dissolved by alkaline substances furnished l)y the decom- 
position of vegetable matter that atibrds potash, or from some other source, 
and that this liquid flint has been sucked up through these little rootlets and 
carried in the sap to the outer coat of the stalks, and de])0sited there to dry 
and harden in the sun, to give strength, which enables the slender stalk to 
support the fruitful head. 

Let us also remember that every variety of soil grows its own parlicular 
variety of plants, and that it is useless to attempt to grow those naturally 
adapted to one kind of soil upon another. As a swamp is drained and made 
dry, the vegetation naturally changes. The ^Egilops, a wild grass of Italy, 
cultivated carefully upon rich soils, has become wheat. And if we would 
jJroduce the finest fruit, we must not onlj^ plant the right kind of trees, but 
we must plant them in the right kind of soil, and give them proper cultiva- 
tion. Soil that will grow apples may not produce peaches ; and careful cul- 
tivation may produce almost as great a change in all fruit as growing wheat 
from ^gilops. 

628. Propagation by Cuttings and Layers. — Some kinds of fruit are much 
easier propagated by cuttings than grafts or buds. Cuttings of last year's 
growth of currants, gooseberries, quince, figs, mulberries, and hardy grape- 
vines, with two buds, one planted below and one above the surface, in good, 
moist soil, will send out roots and branches, and soon form iluifty plants. 
The cuttings must be taken otf in autumn, and placed in dry soil, about one 
third out, or in boxes of sand in the cellar, to winter, or else they must be 
cut very early in the spi'ing, before the buds swell. 

Some prefer to have the cuttings a foot long, and plant two ihirds of the 
length below the surface, and that is a safer plan than short cuts, witii persons 
not well skilled in the business. Scientific propagators, with the aid of hot- 
houses, fine soil, and moisture, in pots, will propagate from a single leaf bud. 

Propagating by layers is done by cutting a branch half ofl' on the under 
side, and laying it down under the soil, staked down, with the end turned 
up, so as to be supported in its growth by the parent stock, while loots start 
out from the cut, by which a rooted plant is obtained by cutting ofl' ihe 
branch beyond the new roots. The limb should be layered in spiii]g, and 
may be transplanted in autumn, or next spring. 

Cherries and some other fruits may be propagated from suckers, whei'e 
the sort you wish to multiply comes from the root. 



558 THE ORCHARD. ' [Cuap. VI. 

As a general rule, suckers of any fruit-tree should not be used for graft- 
ing. If other stocks can not be obtained, select your suckers from trees 
which do not naturally produce them in abundance ; because the rule holds 
good, that like produces like, and if the tree originates from one given to a 
continual production of suckers, your now tree will be likely to do tlie same, 
either from roots, body, or branches. An apple-tree covered with suckers 
lias an unsightly appearance. We have just sent a man through the orchard, 
in June, to clear it of these useless sprouts, Avhich absorb a great deal of the 
sustenance of trees, and give nothing in return. 

620. When and How to Plant Fruit-Trees.— This is still a mooted question, 
which we can not settle to the satisfaction of any of the advocates who con- 
tend, upon one side, that autumn is the very best time; and on the other 
side, others contend that trees never sliould be planted at any other time 
than spring. Is this so ? Much the largest portion of the trees planted 
have been removed fi"om the nursery to the orchard in the spring, often to 
the inconvenience of the farmer, because lie was impressed with the idea 
that that was the only safe time to dig up, remove, and re-plant them. Yet, 
in nine cases in ten, where the trees are ordered from a professional nursery- 
man, he dug them up in the fall, and kept them heeled in, ready for sale in 
the spring. Now if it is a good practice to dig them up, and bury the roots 
so as to have them handy to pack up when ordered, why would it not be a 
better practice to put them at once where they are to grow? 

630. Shall we Plant Trees in Spring or Autumn ?— Andrew S. Fuller, an ex- 
perienced liorticulturist, of Brooklyn, N. Y., says : 

''Twenty years ago, the cry was that the country would soon be over- 
stocked witli nurseries and nursery trees. But that much-looked-for day has 
not yet dawned upon a fruit-loving community, and we fear it never will. 

"There are at least ten millions of fruit-trees for sale in New York State 
to-day ? "Will they all be sold ? Most assuredly. "Will they all live and 
bear fruit? No, not one half of them. There are several reasons why they 
will not, among whicli we may mention that many are unsuited to the cli- 
mate ; otliers are grafted or budded upon stocks that have not sufficient affin- 
ity for the graft to make a permanent and perfect union ; many will die in 
being tiausported from the nursery to the place where they are to be plant- 
ed, owing to improper packing. 

" But the great destroyer, and the one wlio thinks everybody and every- 
thing to blame — soil and climate included — is the planter liimself ; while the ' 
nurseiymau, as well as others who are careful in such matters, will take trees 
that have been boxed up on board of a vessel from two to four months, and 
plant them, and not lose one in a thousand. Another person will take trees 
fresh from the ground, and plant them again within the hour, and yet he 
will not make one half grow. Why this wholesale destruction ? Simply 
because the planter is ignorant of the first principles of v.'getable physiol- 
ogy, or he is wofnlly negligent. 

" We are obliged to confess that we, as a nation, are very ignorant in re- 



Sec. 35.] PROPAGATION, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 559 

gard to many things tliat pertain to the garden. Most of the European 
nations ai-c in advance of ns in this branch of industrj'. Besides, we have 
no patience — when we undertake to phxnt trees, we hnrry through the job. 
If it is well done, so be it ; if poorly done, we blame somebody — generally 
the nuiseryman, but never ourselves. 

" Is the fall of the year the best time to plant trees ? We answer, Yes, 
for some kinds, but not for all. We would never plant evergreen trees in 
the fall, but always late in the spring, just at the time they commence to 
grow. 

"Apples, pears, hard}^ ornamental trees and shrubs wo would plant in the 
fall, provided our soil was well drained either naturally or artificially. 

"If trees are planted in wet, heavy soil in the fall, the roots are very likely 
to rot or be very much injured before spring. 

"When trees are planted in the fall, in suitable soil, the wounds that arc 
made on the roots while being transplanted become healed over; a callosity 
is formed, from which, or near which, the new roots put forth. 

" It is a disputed point among vegetable physiologists whether the cal- 
lous which is formed on the root is indispensable in the formation of new 
roots. 

" We know it seems natural for plants to form this callous before they 
emit new roots. 

" We make cuttings of hardy trees and shrubs in the fall, for we have 
found that cuttings made at this time root much more readily than if de- 
ferred until spring. 

"Tl>is is evidently owing to two causes: first, they are not exposed to the 
cold, by which they lose much of their vitality and power of emitting roots from 
the alburnum or inner bark, which is always more or less injured by severe 
cold ; second, when cut and put away in a dark place, where the frost does 
not reach them, they are placed in a position to commence the change from 
branches to roots, which they must undergo if they live. Now it takes time 
for a plant to make this change, and it is evident that we had better give 
plenty of time than too little. Further, roots will form at a much lower 
temperature than that at which leaves are produced ; and, owing to this fact, 
we can have our plants rooted and ready to furnish nourishment to the leaves 
as soon as they put forth. 

"Trees transplanted in the fall, and the roots properly prepared, cutting 
off all broken parts, and smoothing the ends with a sharp knife, will com- 
mence the formation of roots in the spring, long before the leaves are pro- 
duced. Yet most persons will succeed better with spring planting than with 
Tail planting, because trees require much care to keep them in a proj^er 
position through the winter, when they have lost a portion of their roots. 

" In transplanting trees either in the fall or spring, they should always 
have a portion of their branches pruned ; no matter how carefully the 
operation may be performed, the roots will surely receive a check, and some 
of tnem may be lost; therefore, to establish an equilibrium between root 



560 THE OECHARD. [Chap. VI. 

and top, a portion of the latter sliould be cut away. We always sliorten the 
branches at least one third when we transplant any deciduous tree. 

"If we receive trees that have become dry and shriveled by long ex- 
posure, we bury them, root and branch, in the ground, and let them remain 
there until they have swelled out to their original condition ; then lift the 
top branches first; then, in a few days, lift a portion more, and so on, until 
the whole stem is exposed. Then take it out and prune it severely and plant 
it. A tree that has become so dry that it would never show a sign of life if 
planted immediately, will often make a vigorous growth the first Season if 
treated as we have described. 

" One fatal error into which many fall is in buying large old trees instead 
of small, young, and thrifty ones. The old adage, ' Haste is not always 
speed,' is wonderfully true in this case. 

"What we strive to get by fall-planting is to get the trees in a condition 
to grow at the earliest possible day in the spring. The roots of a fall-planted 
tree will heal and begin to grow in the fall, if properly planted, and not too late. 
That is why I advocate fall-planting. I transplanted some peach-trees in the 
middle of summer by cutting off all the limbs, and the trees lived, and are 
now growing finely. 

" Pear-trees may be transplanted at almost any age or size, but as a 
general thing two or three years' old are the most convenient size. In 
planting dwarf pears, we want all the quince stock to be covered ; the 
junction to be one or two inches below the surface. If the root is too long, 
and there is danger of the lower roots becoming injured by being buried too 
deeply, cut oif a portion of the lower end. If your soil is as deep as it 
should be, and well drained, then the quince root will remain perfectly 
healtlij' one foot below the surface; if it is not, then you had better defer 
planting dwarf pears until you can properl}' prepare the ground for their 
reception. 

" There is no danger of planting dwarf-trees upon land that is dug two feet 
deep. The quince stock should always be buried so as to throw out roots, 
but if the root is too long, be sure to cut it off. Ti-ees should never be 
grown in the nursery with deep roots. Care should be had in cutting back 
the first year's growth of a tree, to cut it at a bud opposite the side budded, 
so that the main limb will balance the tree. Cut off all the ends of long 
roots and most of the fibrous roots, and all that are broken or bruised, when 
you transplant a tree." 

"In Great Britain," says Ilovei/s Magazine, "planting is continued from 
autumn imtil spring, the weather usually being sufliciently mild to permit 
of this; besides this, the latter season is dull and moist compared wifh our 
own, and there is no heat of summer to disorganize and set at naught all 
that has been accomp)lished. No cloudless skies and torrid bias's of weeks' 
duration disturb the fears of the planter or bliglit his hopes. Whether 
done at one season or the other, though there may be some preference even 
in that climate, there is little or no danger tliat any fatality worthy ot con- 



Seo. 35,] PEOPAGATIOIT, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 561 

sideration will attend the labors of the cultivator, and he may await con- 
tentedly the result. 

" But all is changed here. Spring arrives with its cold storms, making 
the ground as the frost leaves it, a cold, clammy, sodden earth, too wet to 
dig or plant, until so late in the season that the trees have already begun to 
swell their buds and put forth their blossoms. Yet, so rapid is vegetation, 
that the work must proceed with haste, or the opportunity be lost till another 
year. Even under these disadvantages, all would be well enough but for 
the summer heat and drouth. These set in at once, before the tree has had 
time to recover, and following so close, exhaust the sap, shrivel the wood, 
and if they do not kill the tree, enfeeble it more or less, so that at least one 
year is lost in the work of recovery. If these are tlic effects that follow in 
our climate, which we think will not be denied, then, at least, it must be 
acknowledged that climate must be taken into consideration in transplant- 
ing ; for however advantageously the operation may l>e performed in a cool, 
damp climate, like that of Great Britain, it will not do here. 

" There are few springs, unless late in May, when the soil is in such a 
loose, dry, and friable condition as it is in the latter part of October mid 
November. Besides, it has not yet parted with its warmth, which is of more 
importance than is generally supposed ; for the roots, yet active, continue 
their growth M'hen not checked by cold and wet. Experiments have been 
accurate!}^ made by careful i3lanters, who have found fresh roots from trees, 
transplanted in October, in a growing condition during the winter. The 
opportunity to prepare the soil, its better condition at the time of removal, 
and its greater M'armth, are all in fiivor of autumn })lanting. 

" As a general rule, do not have manure, unless perfectly decayed, applied 
in immediate connection with the roots, particularly in spring planting, for 
it acts as a stimulus when the delicate fibers are not in any condition to ab- 
sorb it, and the effect is to cause their decay rather than their growth and 
extension. Especially is this the case when the summer is dry and hot. 
But in autumn planting there is not so much danger of injury, even with 
fresh manure. The soil, cooling down as winter approaches; prevents any 
heating effects from the manure, while its mechanical operation is to lighten 
the earth M'hen it Avonld too rapidly become compact by winter rains. In 
autumn planting, manure is best applied upon the surface of the soil, by the 
application of a bushel or two immediately around the tree. This not only 
protects the earth from deep and penetrating frosts, but all the entire 
strength and virtue of the manure is carried into the soil." 

681. Simple Rules about Trce-Plantiiis;. — A great many other experienced 
persons just as earnestly advocate spring planting. Our opinion is, that 
both are right, under certain circumstances. Upon a well-drained or 
naturally dry soil we should prefer to plant in the spring, if it could be 
done early. If farmers will prepare the orchard ground by deep plowing 
and subsoiling in the fall, and by digging large holes, leaving tliem open, 
and the dirt thrown out in a pile, to be pulverized by the action of freezing" 



562 



THE ORCHAKD. 



[Chap. VI. 



and tbawiiig, and then set their trees early in the spring, there will be no 
doubt about their growing. As tree-planting is generally done in the hurry 
of spring work, we are sure it is not as likely to produce good results as 
autumn planting. But whether planted in spring or autumn, it is of the 
utmost importance that the tree has not been spoiled in taking it up. There 
is where most trees get their death-blow. Adoj)t these few simple rules, 
whether you plant in spring or autumn. 

First, have plenty of roots to your trees. Second, dig large holes and 
make tlie ground mellow at the bottom. Third, do not set your stocks too 
deep. Fourth, fill the earth carefully around them, and trample it solid. 
Fifth, raise the earth slightly, so the M-ater can not stand in a puddle around 
the tree. Then cover the ground, four or five feet each way from (he tre.e, 
with some kind of mulching, and depend upon it you will not complain of 
trees dying. There is one thing more for you to do. Keep your horses, 
cattle, sheep, and goats out of your orchard. 

The best form of setting apple-trees is that called quincunx. Set four 
trees two rods apart in a square, and a ilfth one exactly in the center. 

" No tree should be planted in a hole less than four feet square and two 
feet deep. The bottom of the hole should be well loosened, and a compost 
of leaf-mold and manure mixed with it. In planting, care should be taken 
to cut off all bruised or broken roots. In filling, the soil should be finely 
pulverized and worked in among the roots, and the tree gently shaken \\\), 
60 that the soil may reach every root. 

" A tree should never be moved backward and forward, as every pull you 
give it draws the roots out of their places, and causes them to become 
doubled up, thus defeating the very object you had in view when you spread 
the roots. Great care should be taken in treading in the soil,, for if not prop- 
erly filled in, the roots are very apt to be broken off. 

" Avoid deep planting ; more trees are lost every year from this cause than 
any other. No tree should be planted more than a couple of inches deeper 
than it was before. 

" Mulching trees after transplanting is a very useful practice ; in winter 
it helps to exclude frost, and in summer prevents cvajjoratiou of moisture, 
and prevents the roots from suffering from drouth. 

" In pruning the heads of trees before transplanting, much will depend 
upon the size of the tree ; large trees require more pruning than small ones. 
It needs but little judgment to enable the planter to ascertain how much 
of the top it is necessary to prune, in order that the loss may be equalized 
between the branches and the roots. The poor success attending the trans- 
planting of the large trees in the Central Park of this city may be attributed 
to the fact of their not having been pruned ; if one third of their tops had 
been taken off, the result would have been different. 

" In transplanting, two very important things are to be considered : first, 
preservation of the spongioles of the roots ; second, the prevention of evap- 
'oration. The next important jjart is to choose that season when the tree or 



Sko. 35.] PROPAGATION, PLANTING, AKU CULTIVATION OF TREES. 663 

plant, according to its kind, is either losing its sap in a state of reiaose, 
or just before sap commences to start for another season ; each has its advo- 
cates ; every tree, even of the same species, will not admit of transplant- 
ing at the same time, and it will tlierefore depend much upon the judg- 
ment of the planter. The majority are in favor of early autumn planting, 
but this has reference to tlie state of the plant as well as the state of the 
season." 

Although large trees may be transplanted by following the advice given, 
it by no means follows that it is advisable to buy large nursery trees, be- 
cause both theory and practice indicate that it is more economical to trans- 
plant small trees, that is, from three to seven feet high. The impatience 
of those who are about to establish new orchards is very apt to prompt 
them, whether buying trees, or moving them from their own nurser}'-, to 
select trees too large for successful transplanting. Young, vigorous trees, 
of the size of a man's thumb, three feet high, will generally produce a bear- 
ing orchard sooner than trees four times that size, and not one tenth as 
likely to die at first as the large ones are, and the mature trees will last 
much longer, because they need not lose much top or roots in transplanting, 
and the vigor of growth will scarcely be checked. 

Whenever it is possible, go yourself to the nursery and select your trees 
and see them dug, choosing always good stocky plants, rather than large 
sizes. The sooner you get them home and in their places the better; but if 
you can not move them home at once, see that they are carefully heeled in 
to await your order ; and when they arrive at your place, if you are not 
ready to plant them, have them heeled in where water will not stand about 
the roots ; and in so doing, let the trees rest easy at an angle of about forty- 
five degrees, with dirt well sifted among the roots, and if to remain over 
winter, you may cover the ground over the roots with mulching, but do not 
cover the bodies of hardy trees, lest you make a harbor for mice. If possi- 
ble, have your orchard ground, and the holes for trees, all ready before you 
go to the nursery. 

C32. How to Blove Large Trees. — If you desire to move a large tree, 
whether an apple or any other kind of fruit, or a forest-tree, you must com- 
mence the year before, or at least the autumn previous, by digging a trench 
around and cutting off the roots, leaving a ball of earth with the tree in the 
earth. If the tree is very large, it is best to remove it while the ball is 
frozen, and this can be done with a pair of timber-wheels, lifting and keep- 
ing the tree upright. It can also be done with an ox-cart, by tipping it up 
and fiistening the tree to it, and then tipping it down, with the root lianging 
ofi' behind. It will generally be necessary to load stone on the forward end 
of the cart, or else have three or four men jump on to make it balance. The 
tree may be loaded on a wagon, witbou' any box, by backing up to it and 
pulling the top down, so as to have tiie roots hang behind the hind axle. 
The tree may also be pulled over and rolled upon a sled, or set upright on a 
stone boat. If you move any tree with a large top, you must also move a 



564 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

large root. Tlie trimming of tlie tops and roots sliould correspond. It is a 
good practice to prepare trees of large size for moving two years in ad- 
vance, by digging and cutting all the roots aroi^nd the center ball of earth, 
and then filling the trench and leaving the tree over one summer to throw 
out new roots, and heal the wounds of the ones cut off, and also the wounds 
of the limbs. By tliis process a very large apple, pear, cherry, or other tree 
can be safely moved. 

We have known a farmer to defer building a new house, year after 
3'ear, because he could not build without destroying some favorite tree, and 
did not know how to move it. We have often known a new road fought 
against for years because it would cut through some man's orchard, the 
owner of which finally had to yield to the necessity of the case, and see liis 
valuable trees sacrificed, perhaps just as they were large enough to com- 
mence bearing, because he did not know how easily he could move them. 
It is our opinion tliat, as a general rule, trees from four to ten inches di- 
ameter can be moved at an expense not larger, per tree, than a dollar for 
each inch the tree is in diameter. 

An orchard, with half the trees prostrated by a gale, the trees of which 
would average eight inches in diiuneter, we have seen righted at an expense 
of not over a dollar a tree. The broken roots were carefully cut away, and 
the earth behind properly excavated, and about half of the top cut away, 
and a tackle attached from a standing tree to the fixllen one, when two men 
would set it up in five minutes and brace it fast with two poles. The 
second yeav after, these trees bore as good a crop as they ever did before. 

Thomas Cavenach, an experienced and observing gardener of Brooklyn, 
furnishes us some good rules about moving trees. lie says : 

"Large trees and shrubs can not be removed without injury to their roots 
and at their ends, the very parts of most importance to them, because there 
the spongioles are situated, and these, if once destroyed, must be reproduced 
before the plant can derive any nourishment for its future sui)port. Trees 
removed in the fall will have these organs the soonest produced, and in the 
spring the latest, if at all in the later case ; the trees are left without support 
at the very time they most need it, and in consequence the leaves wither, 
the tree dies, or becomes greatly injured. The state of the weather has 
much to do with the successful removal of all trees. Dry, windy, and frosty 
weather, as well as very warm sunshine, is the most unfavorable of all ; 
evaporation goes on more rajjidly in such states of the weather than at any 
other. time. A mild, damp day is the most fitting for the operation of 
transplanting, and this will be greatly enhanced if mild showers full during 
the night. 

" Small trees and plants may be moved with less chance of failure than 
large ones, because their fibers are less liable to injury than others. Ever- 
greens should always be removed when in a growing state, because the 
moisture surrounding the roots is absorbed, and at once assimilated as food . 
for the plants. The wounds where the roots have been injured quickly heal 



Sec. 3d.] PROPAGATION, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TPvEES. 565 

over, and new roots are formed ; but if removed in winter, when the ground 
is frozen and the tree in a dormant state, the moisture which surrounds the 
roots has a tendency to rot the portion of the roots wliere tliey have been 
severed. 

" Forest and fruit trees may generally be most advantageously moved in 
autumn, because the wounds made in their roots will commence to cicatrize 
and throw out granulous matter, and sometimes even spongioles imme- 
diately, so that by the time spring arrives the tree will grow with almost as 
much vigor as if it had not been transplanted. 

"Preparation of the ground is the most important matter connected with 
moving trees. I have known many who could not in otiier matters be called 
ignorant persons, plant trees much in the same way as we would set up a 
post in the ground, under the mistaken idea that a tree, when it is placed in 
the soil, will grow under anj- circumstances. 

633. Preparation Necessary for Trce-Plantiiig:. — The greatest cause of fail- 
ure of success in growing trees is in the preparation of the soil. Let it be re- 
membered that the soil for a tree nursery should be as good and well worked 
as a well-cultivated kitchen garden. Manure, and particularly that-made of 
leaves or ashes, is valuable for tree nurseries, whether fruit or forest trees. 
Weeds must be exterminated, or they will destroy the nurser}'. Care must 
be taken in selecting soils. Ko wet soil, nor a ferruginous one, should bo 
chosen. The young trees, too, must be carefully guarded against the de]>re- 
dations of cattle, as all farm-stock are fond of young shoots of most fruit or 
forest trees. 

Do not plant trees on a retentive soil in wet weather. It is almost as 
Necessary to keep a new plantation of forest-trees or an orchard clear of weeds 
for two or three years, as it is to keep the nursery clean. 

In all cases farmers should be much more careful in preparing the soil 
and planting trees. The want of success in growing fruits is to be traced to 
negligence in this department, because a tree is a vitalized body, possessed 
of delicate organs, by means of which the tree is enabled to build itself up 
from the food to be found in the soil and the air — also to perfect its fruit. 
Study the habits of your trees, and give them all tliey require. But of one 
thing do not lose sight: all fruit-trees of value require a Ipose, deep soil, free 
from excessive quantities of water, and well supplied with mineral food. 
If your soil is wet, drain it deeplj' ; if compact, loosen it with a plow as 
deeply as possible, and follow in the bottom of the furrow with the lifting 
subsoil plow, if in a field ; and if in a garden, trench the soil deeply through- 
out the whole jilat. Supply no manures but those well decomposed, such 
as woods-mold, muck, chip dirt, rich road scrapings, composted with ashes, 
or salt and lime, or both, some weeks before applying them to the soil, mixing 
in the compost a small quantity of tine barn-yard manure. 

When the soil has been thus prepared, place the tree no deeper than it 
grew in the nursery, unless it be a pear on a quince stock, when it should be 
left so as to entirely cover the quince with soil. None but the best soil 



566 THE ORCHARD. [Cdap. VI. 

should be put under or about the roots. No plaster, ashes, phosphates, or 
guano should touch theui. No fomenting manures of any kind should be 
allowed under the tree to injure its roots by the escape of gases. Sprinkle 
fine soil on the roots while the tree is held still, regulating it as necessary 
to secure the natural position. In all but heavy clay soils pour a pail of 
water over the loose earth and allow it to settle away lielbre setting the 
tree. Do not churn the tree up and down in the hole. Do not trample on 
the earth with your feet, leaving great spaces in which no soil finds its way. 
Do not throw in clumps of earth or stones. Fill up the hole carefully, 
keeping awa^' grass and sods. Cover a wide space around the tree with 
coarse litter, leaves, salt-hay, sawdust, tan bark, or stones loosely piled 
around. These will shade the soil, keep in moisture, and enable you to 
water the tree without forming a thick crust on the top of the soil, or pack- 
ing it down too closely. 

Should you be unable to subsoil or trench all your land, dig wide and 
deep holes, leaving out all the subsoil, returning nothing but surface soil, 
and proceeding as before. For large trees, use strong, limber stakes, to 
which they should be attached by soft ties of willow or straw. Trees thus 
carefully set will grow and reward the planter. 

C3J:. How to Winter Young Apple-Trees. — A new beginner in the nursery 
business, in "Wisconsin, wants information. He says: "I planted, last liill, 
about three acres of ground to apple-seeds, and have now some fifty thousand 
fine-looking plants. Now will it be the best way to take them uj) and house 
them in a cellar the first winter, or leave them standing, and shall I cover 
them or not? If taken up, could I graft them successfully during the win- 
ter? Which is best — to graft them in the root or stock ?" 

It is the safest plan to take them up and store them in a dry cellar, or else 
heel them down in furrows in the nursery grounds where they grew. They 
may be grafted, when of the size of one fourth to one half inch in diameter, 
inserting the graft in the stalk close down to the crown of the root. On ac- 
count of grafting, it is better to put all that are large enough in the cellar, 
where they can be got at to work upon in M-inter. If left standing and cov- 
ered, the trees are sometimes half cut off by mice. 

L. M. Parsons, of Waukau, Wis., speaking of the benefits of snow, 
says; 

"Tlie virtue of perennial life is due to processes which can only be carried 
on in conditions which exclude the light, like that of snow, rubbish, or shade. 
Indeed, the tannin increment is almost limited to snow-clad districts; and 
perennials are the most abundantly supplied with it where the concealment 
of snow in winter is continued through the summer by the agency of moss, 
leaves, and shade. Hence it would seem, that to peipetuate an old orchard, 
it should either be supplied wath the perennial increment in solution, or 
that the ground should be so concealed from light as to secure a perpetual 
elaboration of that element. 

"This view is supported by the dwarfed appearance of perennial plants 



Sec. 35.] PROPAGATIOIf, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 567 



throiiglioiit the prairie region of the "West, where autumnal fires, from time 
unmeasured, liave robbed the soil of every concealing olject, thereby limit- 
ing the time of perennial gestation to the short period of shade afibrded by 
cereal plants, and the quantity of perennial food to the simple want of such 
plants, wherewith to embalm their seeds. Hence young orchards, on our 
richest cereal soils, like our scattered foi'est trees, are weak in fiber, false in 
heart, and early show the marks of dotage, and on them the undying para- 
site makes his pre-emption before his time. [N'olhing is more fatal to prairie 
orciiards than open culture, or blighting than the plow, and nothing more 
beneficial than straw, boards, or anything to make concealment. The soil 
of old orchards, however well supplied with the embalming element, in its 
virgin state, becomes exhausted by open culture, naked grazing, and usually 
deprived of shade by the unsocial distance of the trees, so that in the run of 
time the soil of Eastern orchards, like Western prairies, fails to do perennial 
service. 

" Six years ago I jjut out some nursery trees of three years' growth, on 
prairie sod, digging the pits only three inches deep, with a drain, and cov- 
ered the roots with soil from an old cultivated field, and having scattered 
potatoes over the ground, covered them with straw fifteen inches deep, putting 
a little dirt on the top to pack the straw, and some sawdust around each tree 
to protect it against mice. I had a good yield of potatoes, all the trees lived, 
and now have the spread of an old orchard, and give a good yield of fruit. 
One tree was set where there had been a hog-pen ; that tree has borne, for 
five years, the finest of fruit (though a seedling) to such extent that it has 
been necessary to support every limb, and it now measures fifteen inches 
around its body a foot above the ground. None of these trees have a blight 
upon them, while trees near by, treated in the usual way of open culture, 
have not over one third the growth, and already show the mark of dotage, 
the yellow leaf, and the worm of time." 

Snow sometimes jiroves detrimental to trees, by aflPording the mice an op- 
portunity to gnaw them. The following is given as a remedy by Andrew 
Kerns, of Grundy County, 111. He says : 

"La&t winter, the first we knew, ten or fifteen young apple-trees were 
completely stripped of their bark — some of them from the ground eight or 
nine inches upward. Upon examination, we found a nuuiber of mice-roads 
through the frozen ground and grass. We mixed two ounces cayenne pepper 
in a pan of soft-soap, and gave all the trees — about one hundred — a good 
coat of tins wash with a brush, and not a mouse has tDUched them since. 
We shall repeat the dose next winter." 

G35.' Winter Protection — Fruit-Trees on the Prairies. — We advocated the 
plan, twenty -five years ago, of planting orchard trees on the surface, hauling 
up a sufficient quantity of earth to cover and support the roots, instead of 
putting them below tlie natural level of the earth, where, in many sites that 
we have seen orchards planted upon, the water would stand for weeks, so as 
to completely cover every fiber of roots. This is not alone the case upon flat 



563 



THE ORCHARD. 



[Chap. VI, 



prairies, but frequently where it is quite rolling, the soil being of such a na- 
ture that it retained water ahnost as well as a sponge. 

Had the plan been generally followed liy those who have planted orchards 
upon rich, loamy, prairie soil, there would have been now many more thou- 
sands of apple-trees alive in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Mis- 
souri, in all of which States we have annual moanings over winter-killed 
fruit-trees. If all orchards were phmted and tended like the one mentioned 
in the following extract from a letter in the Prairie Farmer, we should 
cease to hear anything about winter killing. We advise all prairie orchard 
owners to put the plow at w'ork. The letter alluded to says : 

"I visited, not long since, the successful orchard of 75 acres owned by 
Mr. James Wakeman, of Cottage Hill, Du Page County. One of the lead- 
ing features of this orchard is, that the trees luive the appearance of being 
planted on ridges, which has been caused by annually plowing toward tlie 
trees. He commences plowing next to the rows of trees, and this leaves a deep 
furrow in the center between the rows, which acts as a partial drain — ^a very 
efficient surface drain in winter. For when the snow is thawed by the influ- 
ence of the sun, the ground being frozen, it runs into the liollows, as it can 
not penetrate the soil, and if the slope is completed to the dead furrow, it flows 
there. But if there is a hollow immediately about the body of the tree, 
water settles in it. I have seen it stated recently that the expansion or lift- 
ing power of ice is nearly equal to twice tlie lifting power of gunpowder. 
Hence the efi'ect of a body of ice immediately about the bole of a tree — 
hence, too, the importance and benefits of banking up with earth, in the fall, 
so as to shed off water. I have had trees destroyed in winter by ice form- 
ing about the collar, and I have seen hardy grapes ruined in the same way. 
Scores of trees, whose bodies are otherwise protected from freezing, are killed 
at the collar by this lifting ice. It is a good plan, I think, to bank up about 
ti'ees in the fall, and especially to plow orchards as above described." 

It is a good plan — there is no doubt of it — to plow ever}'- orchard iipon 
retentive soil, in the maimer indicated ; and the advice, like the almanac, is 
suited to all places in this latitude. 

It is true the best plan is under-draining ; for there is not one acre in ten 
in all the West that will grow au orchard successfully imtil it has been 
thoroughly drained ; and even then, we believe ridging the ground before 
planting the trees would be advantageous. Some kind of winter protection 
is also much needed, particularly for nurseries. 

When an exposed situation is unavoidable, then the very first step should 
be to provide shelter in the speediest possible manner. For this purpose, 
belts of rapid-growing trees — say double rows — should be planted so as to 
intersect the ground at intervals, and ward off the prevailing and most inju- 
rious winds of the particular locality. In the culture of dwarf trees, flowers, 
vegetables, and all crops of low growth, common hedge-rows of buckthorn, 
privet, Osage orange, or any rapid-growing shrub, will be of great service 
as a protection from cold winds, though some of them exhaust the soil. 



Seo. 35.] PROPAGATION, PLANTING, AND CULTIVATION OF TREES. 569 

The value of woodland for a winter protection of orchards is not suf- 
ficiently appreciated. The prairies have never been wooded. The land is 
now just in the natural condition of the bottom of a lake, from which the 
water has receded and the land dried np, and which first jjroduces weeds, 
then grass, and afterward trees, as the prairie land now readily produces 
them where fires are kept out ; and one of the wisest things for any one who 
would grow an orchard or nursery of choice fruit upon such open grounds, 
is to begin with a belt of forest trees. The locust, JRobinia pseudacacia, will 
grow in five years so as to form quite a shelter. 

A correspondent gives us a detailed account of his observations npon a 
piece of wheat in Delaware, about five acres of which, alongside a grove, 
made a good crop, and seventy acres exposed to the full blast of an almost 
Siberian winter was not worth cutting. lie says also of the efi'ect of wood- 
land in Michigan upon fruit-trees: 

" Our orchards here did very well when the country was new and the 
clearings were small. But as our forests recede from the orchard, the bark 
on the west side of many a fine fruit-tree is killed by tlie piercing west wind. 
Some of our neighbors have very considerately preserved belts of timber 
and clusters of shell-bark, black walnut, and butternut; while others, like 
time, have cut down all, and are now gathering the fruits of their folly in- 
stead of their orchards." 

The winter protection of snow is one of the causes of health in many trees. 
Without it they would perish. 

63G. €hoap Labels for Fruit-Trees. — Take two pieces of wood, and hinge 
them together v/ith a leaden wiie, and write the name belween the two. 
The lead wire is preferable to all other metals, because it is always flexihlo 
and readily adjusted. The name being written on the inner side, is -shielded 
from the action of the weather, which soon efi'aces the name when exposed. 
The cost is not over fifty cents a hundred. Zinc labels, written over with a 
lead pencil, arc also durable. If written upon with any acid ink, it will eat 
the name into the zinc. 

The following recipe for making ink that is indelible, used on zinc labels, 
is recommended : Take one drachm of powdered verdigris (acetate of cop- 
per), one drachm of powdered sal ammoniac (muriate of ammonia), half a 
drachm of lampblack, and ten drachms of Avater. Mix the ingredients to- 
gether in a two-ounce vial, and shake it every time before using it afresh, and 
from time to time while using it. It is ready for use as soon as the verdigris 
and sal ammoniac are dissolved. In using the indelible ink there is one 
secret to he attended to, it is this — that the zinc label should, just previously 
to being written upon, have been rubbed bright witli some fine glass-paper. 
A steel pen is far better than a quill for writing on zinc. 

Tiie best form of tree-labels we ever saw or used is made of a slip of zinc, 
seven or eight inches long, three quarters of an inch broad at one end, 
tapering regularly to a point at the other, with a quarter-inch hole in the big 
end. On these labels a number or name may be stamped, or the name of 



570 



THE ORCHARD. 



[Chap. YI. 



the fruit written with ink prepared as above, or with a soft lead pencil, 
which latter is I'emarkably permanent, though not very conspicuous. The 
danger of cutting trees by attaching labels by wires is so great that it 
should be guarded against ; the label is broken off, or forgotten, or unnoticed, 
and by the growth of tlie stem or limb it is nearly cut off by the wire. 
"With these labels that difficultj' is obviated. The zinc strip is bent around 
a limb, loosely, and the pointed end tucked through the hole and clinched. 




SECTION XXXVI.-THE ART OF PRUNING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING. 

EAFTING, budding, pruning, are all arts that 
must be acquired, like any otiier art or work of 
skill. A pruner must understand why he prunes, 
and never cut a limb without first being fully aware 
^ of the effect. Yet pruning is mostly done at random — 
a limb here and a limb there is cut away, the top 
lessened, and that is all. The fruitfuluess of the tree is 
not improved, and its looks as a systematic work, such 
as nature builds, most decidedly injured. It is idle 
for any man of common sense to employ an itinerant 
pruner. They are often ignorant of the first principles 
of the art, and generally do more harm than good. 
If you doubt it, ask this question of one when he is 
about to cut off a limb : " What for ?" If he can an- 
swer that to your satisfaction, he possibly understands his business, provided 
you can answer the question yourself. This is the true law of pruning. 
Never sufier a tree to go unprnned that needs it, and never cut away a limb 
without first asking and answering that question — wliat for? 

If you understand the art, you may have a tree of any desired form, and 
always of handsome shape. The great feature of this was cutting back very 
short the first year's growth. Never plant a tree with a full top. Pruning 
in autumn makes the strongest trees or vines. Spring pruning produces the 
most fruit. A weak-growing tree should always be trimmed in autumn. 

G37. The Right Time for Pruning. — The right time is in the growing season 
— the time when wounds heal the most readily. The time to begin is the 
first year of growth in the nursery ; not to trim up sprouts to grow whip- 
stalks, but to shape the trees just as nature intended the particular species to 
grow. If an apple-tree, a short bole with a round, symmetrical head ; if a 
pear-tree, a somewhat longer bole, with a top shaped like a well-formed, 
slim haystack. A peach-tree may be grown with a single short bole and 
a very open-branching top, or it may be branched from the ground by cut- 



Sec. 36.] THE ART OF PPwUNING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING. 571 

ting away tlie top of the young shoot the first year — a plan that we prefer. 
A quince-bush sliould always be grown in that way, branching from tlic 
root ; and it always looks to us like forcing nature to prune a currant-bush 
into the form of a tree. A dwarf pear-tree should be pruned from the start 
to form a pyramid or sharp cone. Look at tlie extinguislier of your candle 
for a pattern. Clierry-trees do not need nor bear much pruning, except to 
cut away the winter-killed ends of limbs, and that should be done to all trees. 
As a general rule in pruning, study symmetry ; it is the first law of beauty ; 
if you can not see it otherwise, try it upon yourself. Lop off a I'ight ear, a 
left eye, a right hand, and so on, just as some pniners do the symmetrical 
beauties of a tree. In pruning all sorts of fruit-trees, keep "What for?" 
constantly before your eyes. The answer is, to increase their productive- 
ness. This can not be done by cutting away many healthy limbs, but by 
disentangling them, so as to let in the light and air to the center of the 
branches. 

038. Over-Pruning. — There is a tendency to over-prune among all amateur 
fruit-growers, and more particularly among all who are just beginning to 
grow ornamental shrubs and trees. There is no practice tliat needs reform 
more than this one. There is no quicker way of spoiling such trees than 
this injudicious over-pruning. There is not one forest-tree in ten that will 
bear the eternal clipping to which some are subjected. Autumn appears to 
be the most favorite time for this sort of vandalism. Tiiere is nothing like 
the let-alone system, and above all for all sorts of evergreen-trees. With 
very little assistance, nature will do all the pruning that is required. Use 
the knife and sliears only to assist nature, when trees are brought into un- 
natural situations. Of evergreens, do not cut away the lower limbs till you 
make your tree look like a big broom with tlie handle stuck in the ground. 
In all pruning of fruit or ornamental trees, or shrub or vines, do not make a 
cut till you think what for, with what object, and what will be the effect. 
This is always necessary to prevent over-pruning. 

639. Objections to Spring Fnining. — Tliere never was a more certain truth 
uttered than the following words of the editor of the New England Farmer, 
who is not only a practical farmer, but one who never does a thing without 
first answering the question, " What for ?" to the satisfaction of liis own 
reason, and therefore is more entitled to attention than a mere utterer of dog- 
matism?, lie says : 

" Never prune an apple-tree in the montlis of March, April, or May. All 
the borers in the world do not commit half the havoc in our orchards that 
the pruning-knife and saw do, applied at the wrong season of the year. In 
the spring the sap is abundant, thin, and active, and where limbs are taken 
off, it passes through the pores of the wood to the surface, and coming in 
contact with the atmosphere, becomes bitter and acrid, runs down the bark 
and poisons it, so that it is often killed quite into the wood. This is what 
causes most of the black lines so often seen upon apple-trees, which fre- 
quently causes their death." 



572 THE ORCHARD. [CniP. VI. 

640. Objections to late Autumn Pruningo — William S. Cari>enter, of "West- 
cliester County, N. Y., has devoted niucli attention to the cultivation of 
fruit, and he says : "There is no time so good as midsummer to prune all 
sorts of fruit-trees, and no worse time than late in autumn. That is rather 
worse than early spring. I am an advocate for pruning young trees in sum- 
mer with the thumb and finger, or a pocket-knife, so constantly and regu- 
larly that they will never require the saw. If that must be used, let it be 
applied in midsummer. "With me that course is the most successful. In 
planting trees, apple or pear, I dig two feet deep and six feet wide, and fill 
the hole with good soil, and set the tree nearly level with the surface, and 
never use manure. I make the earth very fine, and am careful in setting 
them. In budding pears upon quince, set them on very short stalks. A 
dwarf pear set upon a quince stalk a foot high is almost worthless. It will 
be quite so if not carefully pruned." 

Another practical fruit-culturist gives the following: 

6il. Practical Directions about Pruning. — "Trinmiing is now reduced to a 
system. By dwarfing various kinds of trees, such as the pear on the quince 
stock, we are enabled to train it and keep it within our reach, and make it 
both ornamental and useful. The most approved form is the pyramidal. In 
order to form a perfect pyramid, we should encourage the tree to branch 
near the ground, and train the side branches so that they will be regularly 
distributed along the body. To effect this, summer pruning or pinching 
must be resorted to. Having as many side branches as we desire, M'e 
may continue its shape by pinching off the laterals from the side branches 
when they have grown to about three inches in length, taking care to leave 
these laterals about one inch long after you have pinched them ; these will 
again push and grow, and must be treated as before. This method of sum- 
mer pi'uningAvill check its woody growth and force it to expend its energies 
in fruit-bearing, and at the same time increase the size and quality of the 
fruit. For standard or orchard trees, a different treatment must be prac- 
ticed. For these, but little pruning is necessary, beginning when the trees 
are young, and annually going over the orchard. Cutting out all suckers 
and crowded branches, you avoid the necessity of cutting off large limbs 
in after years — a practice that should always be avoided. I have seen 
whole orchards nearly destroyed by this injudicious pruning. A limb should 
never be cut from a tree when more than two inches in diameter. Pruning 
should never be done excejit late in the spring or in midsummer. I would 
never prune a tree in winter. A limb cut ofl' when full of frost will cause 
the wound to crack and split, thereby admitting the air into its wound, 
which will soon cause it to decay. It is to be regretted that so little atten- 
tion is paid to the orchard. It is quite common to see suckers growing 
around the bodies of trees until they are nearly hid from view, their 
branches covered with moss, and putting on altogether a stunted and 
neglected appearance. You come to the conclusion that the owner of such 
an orchard does not think that fruit-growing is profitable. The wonder is 



Sko. 3G.] the art of PRUNING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING. 5T3 

that such trees bear at all. But they will make an effort, as it is natural 
for all fruit-trees to reproduce, but the specimens will be miserably small 
and deficient in flavor. If we desire good fruit, an orchard that will pay, 
trees that will delight lis and our friends, wo must do something for them. 
"Wo must clear away all suckers, scrape off all the old rough bark and moss 
tliat liave been the safe abiding-places for the destructive insect, and then 
witli a solution of potash and water wash the trunks and limbs of the trees. 
If the orchard is yet young, plow it and put on a good top dressing of ma- 
nnre, and then cultivate a crop of potatoes, or corn, or any other crop that 
will I'cquire thorough tillage; follow this practice for a few years, and you 
will find it will most effectually renovate your orchard, and you will bo 
made to acknowledge that fruit-growing is profitable, and that your orchard 
is your dependence and delight, and you will be found encouraging your 
nciii-hbors to plant, and thus extend this delightful branch of industry." 

(j-ii*. Root-Prunillgi — Koot-pmning is apt to induce fruitfulness where the 
tree is making a too rapid growth, and pruning during the growing season 
in June will accomplish a similar result. Patting a wire around a branch 
of the grapevine so as to obstruct the flow of sap, will improve the quality, 
lioot-pruuing is to check the too i-apid growth of wood. The result of ring- 
ing the vine is the same, and that enlarges the fruit. 

Various methods have been proposed for making fruit-trees bear early. 
As a general thing, it is not best to force trees into early fruitfulness, as it is 
necessary that they should have time to make a good and substantial growth, 
and obtain a proper form to bear, in after years, tiie strong demand made 
upon the vitality of the tree by successive crops. Eoot-pruning tends to in- 
duce a slower growth and more solid ripe wood, and checks the tendency to 
over-bearing, wiiich always injures the young tree. 

(jiS. Graftiug and Biiddiug. — It is easy for any one to learn, to graft, but 
to be a skillful grafter or budder requires a steady hand and a good deal 
of practice. K^o farmer — indeed, no person having an interest in a garden 
spot — should neglect to learn how to perform both operations skillfully, 
because it is the true way of propagating almost all choice fruits. It 
is an art which women can practice as well as men. It has been practiced 
from a very remote time, as we have accounts of it in the earliest printed 
books. 

The proper time of grafting fruit-trees is in the spring, as soon as the sea- 
son is warm enough to put the sap in motion. This period comes earlier 
with the cherry and plum than it does with the apple and pear. In this 
vicinity apple-grafting often continues till the last of May in backward sea- 
sons. The best time is when April showers are prevalent, but the scions 
must have been previously cut. They may be cut and liuried in autumn, 
or stored in a dry, cool cellar, with the lower ends in sand or dry soil. For 
scions, cut the thrifty wood of the last season's growth from bearing limbs — 
not water spi'outs. Those shoots foimd near the top or center of the head of 
an old tree are preferred by grafters. Kever cut scions from sickly trees or 



574: THE ORCHARD. [Chap VI. 

branches. Scions from young trees are apt to grow most vigorously, and 
we prefer them froui the upright branches. 

Stocks for grafting, if not grown on the spot, should be transplanted to the 
nui'sery at least a year previous to being used, as there is not usually vigor 
enough in a tree to recuperate its own powers and grow a graft the same 
sea^iou it is transplanted. 

6ii. Grafting an Old Orchard, with the design of giving trees entire new 
heads, is practiced as follows : Commence the summer j)revious to cut away 
the old tops freely. Ne.xt spring set the grafts, cutting away all that is 
necessary to give them room, and free sunlight and air. Next spring, go 
over the trees about the first of June, and pull off all the suckers, particu- 
larly around the grafts, and cut off any limbs that interfere with their 
growth. We advise a side branch left upon each limb tliat has a graft in 
its end, to aid in keeping up a healthy circulation. Indeed, branching 
limbs should always be selected in grafting an old tree. Watch the growtli 
of the grafts during the second summer, which is sometimes very rapid, 
and may reach overhanging limbs; in which case, cut them away. In June 
or July, after the grafts are two years old, nearly or cpiite all the old top 
may be removed, and, if necessary, the grafts trimmed slightl}', to put the 
t02> into the right course of forming a new, handsomely shaped top. 

6io. Cleft Grafting is the mode practiced in putting a new top to an old 
tree. That is, a large limb, or one perhaps two or three inches diameter, is 
split by driving a strong knife or chisel in the end just sawed off, and the 
cleft held open by a wooden wedge, driven in the center, while the scions 
are sharpened and inserted in the edges of the cleft, so that the bark of graft 
and stock exactly fit, and then the wedge is withdrawn, and the end of tiie 
limb covered with grafting-wax. 

646. Splice Grafting is practiced when the stock and graft are of equal 
size, Ijy cutting the stock with a sharp knife scarfing upward, and the scion 
downward, so that the two will fit an inch or two together, the edges of the 
bark exactly corresponding, and then the two are tied together with bass 
matting, or woolen yarn, if the former can not be had, and covered over 
with grafiing-wax, or grafting clay, which by some is preferred. Some 
grafters spread their wax on strips of cotton cloth, and wind that around, 
and siick fast the end or tie it. Watch must be kept after the gratt is grow- 
ing vigoi'ousl}', that whatever is tied around does not get too tight before it 
is cut off. 

647. Tongue Grafting is much like splice grafting, except that a shoulder 
or sort of cleft is cut at the bottom of the scarf on the stock, and the point 
of the scion cut to fit in it, or else the notch is cjit in the upper end of the 
scarf, and the scion shaped to fit. By this mode small grafts can be set 
upon large stocks, pr four can be set upon a stock so as to form a four- 
branched head, if aft grow. All that is necessary is to see that there is some 
point of contact of scion and stock, and that the inner bark of one exactly 
fits the other; the more the better, but tlie graft may live with a very 



Sec. 36.] THE ART OF PRUNING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING. 575 

small poiut in connection, if carefully fastened and covered. The covering 
should be removed about the middle of July. If clay is nsed, remove the 
ball after a rainy day. 

Care should be used, in cutting a scion, to have a bud come close down to 
the top of the stock. 

C48. Root Grafting is much practiced by nurserymen, the scions and roots 
both being stored in autumn, and the work done in winter, by splitting the 
end of a root and inserting the scion, and laying these away in a cellar till 
spring, when they are planted out ; the joint being entirely covered, no wax 
is used. Farmers may do the same. Sometimes roots are grafted while 
attached to the tree, by digging them np and cutting off an end and insert- 
ing the graft, and then putting the root back, with the end of the graft out 
of the ground. "When it is a year old, a section of the root is dug up and 
transplanted. 

649. Saddle Grafting, which is done by cutting tlie stock to a wedge, and 
splitting the scion, is particularly recommended for cherry-trees, because it 
gives a larger surface of union. Sometimes one leg of the scion is fitted so 
as to insert l)etween the bark and wood of the stock, while the other leg is 
brought down and fitted upon a scarf on that side of the stock. 

050. Kew Method of Grafting.— Horace Everett, of Council Blutfs, Iowa, 
writes us about a method of grafting common in Tennessee, that may be 
worth knowing in other localities, and which he says is not described in any 
fruit-book that he has read. The following are the directions : 

" A. long, smooth shoot or limb is selected, cnt from the tree, and a sharp 
iron wedge driven through the limb, every four or five inches. Upon with- 
drawing the wedge, the graft is inserted, allowing the shaved end to extend 
an inch or s > through, so that when a graft had been inserted in every split, 
the limb lonk.d like a long stick, with the grafts extending from it at right 
angles, a shoot of four feet having about twelve grafts. This stick or limb 
WHS ilicn buried in the ground, the top of the grafts only being allowed to 
come above the surface. During the year the grafts took root, and grew 
from twelve to thirty-six inches. The next fall the limb was taken up and 
sawed apart between the grafts, thus leaving every graft with a portion of 
the limb adhering to it in the shape of a cross. I planted these grafts, and 
tlie trees grew and throve well. It is certainly a very cheap and economical 
stock lor grafting." 

C51. Natural Grafting> — "We give the following reported fact for the 
encouragement of farmers who may happen to entertain any doubts upon 
the practicability of grafting : 

"There. is a white oak tree, of fine healthy growth, standing near Eobin- 
son's Coal-Oil "Works, in Perry County, Ohio, on which, at fifty-five feet 
from the ground, is engrafted a black oak top of lofty and vigorous growth. 
It is about two feet in diameter at the nsual hight of witting trees, and the 
body stock is fourteen inches at the grafted portion, and the black oak imme- 
diately above it at once enlarges to twenty-two inches." 



576 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI, 

The joining is perfect, aud botli above and below the limbs are true to 
the stock from which they spring. "What freak nature performed in setting 
the graft is only to be imagined ; its condition should admonish every one 
who owns fruit-trees to set grafts. 

652. Antiquity of Grafting. — There is a style of grafting called the Aristotle 
graft, and also the Pliny graft. This shows the great antiquity of grafting. 
The Tschuda graft is another curious style of grafting, and by the process 
tomatoes are grafted upon potato vines, selecting stalks of the same size, and 
cutting both with a knife as sharp as a razor — sharper, if possible — the join- 
ing being bound together with a ligature, and the plant shaded until the 
two unite. It will then grow tomatoes above and potatoes below. An 
ancient writer speaks of grafting cultivated grapevines upon wild ones with 
success. 

653. Grafting Clay and WaXi — Clay used to cover grafts is made by mix- 
ing one part vi' pure horse-dung with two parts of clay and a little plaster- 
ers' hair. It must be very thoroughly M'orked several days before required^ 
and made very plastic when used, by heating and tempering. 

Grafting-wax, which is made of three parts of beeswax, tliree parts of 
j'osin, and two parts of tallow, melted together, and worked while warm 
by the hands in water, is much neater, and more convenient, and not 
much more expensive than clay, where only a little work is to be done. 
Where large limbs or wounds arc to be covered, of course clay will be the 
clica])cst. 

Grafting-wax is sometimes composed of six parts rosin, one part beeswax, 
aud one part tallow ; but this, we should think, would be too hai-d for cool 
weather. 

French grafting-wax is made of half a pound of pitch, half a pound of 
beeswax, a pound of cow-dung, boiled together, and spread on the graft, 
while hot, with a brush. Another sort is made of equal parts of beeswax, 
rosin, and turpentine (crude pitch), and spread on cloth or paper, to be used 
in strips wrapped about the graft. 

The most common American grafting-wax, aud the cheapest, and easiest 
remembered and made, is composed of rosin, tallow, and beeswax, in equal 
parts, melted, and worked in water ; if it is needed of a softer texture, it is 
made so by increasing the proportion of tallow. 

Prof Mapes gives the following formula for making grafting-wax : Take 
Canada balsam one pound, clean beeswax one pound, and boil together aud 
knead into a putty consistency, or keep in a kettle, tg be warmed as wanted 
for use, and put on with a brush. It is very convenient, when spread thin 
upon cloth or paper, to be cut in strips for use, and its great advantage over 
any other material is tliat it will adhere to a wet surface. This is sometimes 
of great advantage, as tlie composition may be used to cover wounds in va- 
rious [ilants. 

65i. Preservation of Grafts. — Grafts packed in pure sawdust of any sweet 
wood, it is said, will keep fifteen months. Moss for packing sliould be put 



Seo. 36.] TEE ART OF PRUNING, GRAFTING, AND BUDDING. 577 

up sliglitly damp. Grafts set in crab-apple stocks, thorn stoek=, or any other 
wild shrubs, generally produce one result — lost labor. The greatest advan- 
tage we ever found in setting grafts in such stocks was in preserving them 
over one season, in a new country, where apple stocks ordered failed to ar- 
rive in time to set the grafts. 

655. What Influence has (he Stock on the Graft ? — Perhaps the only answer 
needed to this question is, "None whatever." And this is true, if the stock 
is of a cliaracter suited to grow the scion engrafted into it. An apple should 
be engrafted into a stock of similar texture to the scion to form a good tree. 
That is, a scion from a free growing tree engrafted upon a wild crab-apple 
may live, but it never will do well, because tlie graft outgrows the stock, but 
it has no influence upon the fruit. So it is M'ith pears engrafted upon 
quince, wliich dwarfs the growth of the tree, but does not affect the fruit 
either in size or flavor, though the productiveness is increased ; but that is 
owing to tlie obstruction in the descending sap when it reaches the stock, 
thus forcing more into the fruit-buds and limbs bearing fruit. 

Another influence that a stock has upon a graft is to enable us to produce 
fruit from a semi-tender plant, by engrafting it upon a hardy native ; as the 
peach upon plum or almond, the pear upon quince or mountain ash, or fine 
plums upon wild stocks, or foreign grapes upon native vines. 

Make it a rule never to engraft anything upon a diseased stock ; not that 
it is likely to influence the fruit, except so far as it will affect tlie scion and 
make it unhealthy. 

It is asserted that a diseased graft will communicate the same malady to 
the stock, so that a shoot springing from the stock below the union will sho^ 
the same symptoms that afiect the graft. 

650. Budding is a mode of engrafting which can be practiced after the 
season for grafting is past. The budding season does not commence until 
after the leaves have grown and the bark will slip. Then a bud of the pres- 
ent season's growth is neatly cut from a thrifty shoot, avoiding double buds, 
which are fruit-buds, and the leaves being cut oif, leaving half an incli of 
the foot-stalk to hold the bud by, it is set in a slit made in the bark of the 
stock, by a T-shaped cut, and loosening up the edges with the flat bone 
handle of the budding-knife. Some persons remove tlie wood cut from the 
stick with the bud, and some insert it. After pressing the bud as far down 
in the slit as you can, cut oflF the upper end even with the cross-cut of ihe 
slit, and tie strips of soaked bass matting around to keep all snug. If the 
bud lives, it will look plump two weeks after it is set, and in four weeks will 
need to have the liandage loosened, or perhaps removed. Late buds may 
not have to be loosened till spring, and at tnat time the limb of the stock 
budded must be cut away, and the bud goes on to form a new limb, or the 
whole tree, if a single stock was budded. 

Some trees do not grow buds as readily as others, and such may be tied 
with a band above and one below. Tlie latter being first removed, allows 
the bud to grow, while the upper one checks the flow of sap up the stock 



578 • THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VL 

two or three weeks longer. All buds must be watclied and untied at the 
proper time. 

Another method of budding is called annular budding, and consists in 
cutting two rings around the stock, and taking off a ring of bark, a quarter 
or half inch wide, and filling its place by a strip taken from a budding slioot 
containing a bud, which will grow if the bark adheres, wliich it is likely to 
do if carefully tied and the joints covered with wax or clay. This mode is 
sometimes practiced to save mice-eaten trees. 

Many other kinds of trees and shrubs are propagated by budding, as well 
as fruit-trees. 

657. Use of Bass Matting iu Budding. — Bass matting is imported and used 
extensively in place of our native stock, we suppose, because people do not 
generally know bow easy it is to prepare the bark for use. It is simply to 
take tlie whole bark of the bass-wood, or linden-tree, as it peels from the trees 
when the sap flows freely, say about June in this latitude, and sink it under 
water until the liber (inner bark) will peel and separate easily from the 
coarse bark. This soft, tough substance is then dried and stored away for 
future use, and the purposes to which it can be api^lied are almost num- 
berless. 

In budding it is almost indispensable, being one of the very best and 
cheapest articles for tying the buds in the stock. 

658. Uses of Shellac and Collodion in Graftiug. — Gum-shellac, or seed-lac, 
dissolved in alcohol, is kept constantly on liand by some orchardists, and 
used to seal the ends of cuttings or accidental wounds in trees, or to cover 
the stumps of large limbs pruned off at a time when they are liable to 
decay. The following method of i^reparing shellac is recommended as 
superior to that dissolved in alcohol, which will sometimes jjeel off. 

Take an ordinary glue-pot, which is in a water-bath, and put therein one 
part of spirits of ammonia (hartshorn) and eight parts of water ; bring them 
to nearly the boiling-point; put in shellac gradually, until the whole is 
about the consistency of varnish, stirring all the while ; when entirely dis- 
solved, take it fi'om the fire, and continue stirring until it is cool ; then bottle, 
and keep for use. This makes an entirely waterproof coating, and in sum- 
mer pruning may be applied to tlie ends of the limbs with decided advantage;. 

For all trees that exude gum, like the cherry, peach, i)lum, and many 
forest and ornamental trees, it is extremely useful when applied to all wounds 
and cuts", as it keeps out the water and allows the wood to heal quickly. 

Shellac can not be dissolved iu water alone. The ammonia in the mixture 
dissolves it, and afterward evaporates, leaving nothing but shellac and water, 
which can not in any way be injuiious. Seed-lac is about as good; it is 
certainly cheaper. 

Tlie above mixture forms an elastic covering, which is much better than 
shellac dissolved in alcohol. It must not be made in an iron keltl,' ; it will 
not mix well. Use copper, zinc, or tin. 

It is said that shellac may be dissolved in alcohol; then add waiter and 



Sec. 37.] 



APPLE AND PEACH TREES, ETC. 



579 



boil till the alcohol is evaporated, and it will make a coating that will not 
peel off; but a soliitiou of amniunia is undoubtedly best, and should be used 
whenever procurable. 

Some persons paint the wound or cut witli white lead in oil, which, if 
thickly applied, answers very well. So would a coat of tallow, or covering 
of clay. A coating of dissolved shellac is sometimes used in cleft-grafting 
large limbs, instead of wax or clay. 

Collodion is made by dissolving gun-cotton in ether. It is sometimes 
called " liquid cuticle," as it may be spread over an abrasion of the skin and 
form a substitute, perfectly impervious to air and water. 

This substance is excellent for all wounds, particularly slight burns, to 
shut out the air, and is invaluable and perfectly eflflcacious to prevent pits 
from suiall-jiox. 

In England it has been applied to the purpose of preserving cuttings of 
plants, by dipping the end in tlie solution, which completely shuts up the 
moisture in the wood, so that they are more than twice as likely to live as 
when left unprotected. It is an excellent thing to apply to wounds in deli- 
cate plants, is not very expensive, and is sold l.)y druggists generally. 

The Imperial Journal of Horticulture, Paris, gives an article iij)on a new 
mode of grafting or budding. This method may be employed at any time 
of the year, provided the buds are cut at the right season and preserved. 
A little piece of wood is taken off when the bark will not peel, and th.e bud 
fitted and sealed over immediately with collodion. None but large, strong 
buds should be used. 



SECTIOX XXXVII.-APPLE AND PEACH TREES ; THEIR GENERAL 
5IANAGEMEXT-CH0ICE KINDS OF APPLES. 

(HAT apples shall we cultivate? is a question of 
much importance. The short answer to this ques- 
tion, for farmers- who grow them principally for 
their own use, and with a view to sell tlie surplus 
to their neighboi's or nearest village, without mak- 
ing a regular business of putting uji apples for' 
market, is this: you should select such as will give 
you a succession of fruit, from the very earliest 
summer apple to such as will keep sound till July. 

"We can not give you a list that will suit all sec- 
tions, but for the vicinity of New York the follow- 
ing short list has been recommended by a committee 
of gentlemen who gave the subject careful consid- 
eration, and who say : 
sf object in making this selection has been to guard the ine.v- 




"Thech 



5S0 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

perienced cultivator against the errors so-ofteu made when tlie lists of the 
nurserymen are the only guitlc. Many young orchardists buy everything 
reconiuiended in the fruit-books and catalogues, and lind, after years of 
careful cultivation, that a large portion of their trees are worthless, and the 
fruit of the remainder of but little value. Some fruits of the first considera- 
tion in one locality are -worthless in another, and some trees are productive 
on one soil and barren on another. 

"This frequently involves the necessity of regrafting, causing years of 
delay and labor without reward, until in many cases patience becomes 
exhausted. As an instance, the Virgalieu pear, in western New York and 
most of the Western States, is probably without a superior ; while here and 
on the sea-coast generally, it is only an incumbrance to the ground. The 
same may be said of many other though less known varieties. 

"lu making this selection, we do not wish to be understood to discourage 
amateurs from planting any, or even all, the old varieties that the catalogues 
pronounce good, neither do we wish to discourage eflorts to originate new 
kinds ; but we do say, from our own experience, that, in this locality, we 
believe the list here recommended will j)rovc satisfactory — that all these 
si)r:s, with proper cultivation, will be productive, and that none will require 
I'cgrafting. 

" Many persons will pirobably think, on reading this report, that better 
sorts have been omitted, and .some of the eonnnittee will concur in this 
opinion ; but they beg leave to say that while they have left out such fine 
varieties of apples as the N<irihi.'rn Spy, the Swaar, Pennock's Red, Newtown 
Pippin, Yandevere, Pearmain, Smitli's Beauty of Newark, Ilubbardstown 
Nonsuch, etc., all could not be included without making too long a list, and 
tiiat some of them are only superior in their native localities. Some have 
been proved inferior here, and others have not yet been proved at ail. The 
same may be said also of all lists of j^ears, plums, and other fruits." 

659. Select List of AppleSi — The following is their list of apples : 

Summer J/)j;Zc*. — Early Bough (sweet). Early Harvest (acid), American 
Summer Pearmain, Summer liose, Strawberry. 

Autumn. — Autumn Bough, Gravenstein, Ilawley, Fall Pippin, Porter, 
Jersey Sweeting. 

TFinfc;".— Baldwin, Rhode Island Greening, Jonatiian, TMonmouth Pippin, 
Spitzenberg (Esopus), Tallman's Sweeting, King of Tompkins County, 
English Russet. 

The lied Astrai'an apple we consider one of the very best early varieties. 
The Strmoherry apple is also a very choice one, and the most fragrant of all. 
Its peculiar aromatic quality and its beauty should commend it, even 
though it were not, as it is, an apple of most excellent flavor. We believe 
it is rather a shy bearer. The Jersey Sweeting we think one of the best 
sweet apples ever grown. 

The Vandevere ajiple is a great favorite with some farmers. William 
Lawton, of New Rochelle, has a tree that is over lUO years old, perhaps 150 



Sec. 37.] APPLE AND PEACU TREES, ETC. 681 

years, which bore, in 1860, at least twenty bushels of apples. The tree is 
Btill veiy healthy, and several feet in diameter. The branches have spread 
very M'idc and high. He also has a tree of the same age, very large, sound, 
and healtliy, called the Grandfather apple. 

The KiH.(j of ToinjyJiins Count ij we suppose lias been or can be over- 
praised, but it is a very good apple, large, fair, and of a mild, pleasant acid 
flavor. It is larger, more mellow, but less pungent than the Spitzenherg^ 
which is our "king" apple. The tree is said to be a free bearer, and to 
have many other good qualities which we are acquainted with at second 
hand only. The apple is very showy, of a color shaded between red and 
yellow, and is said to have sold in New York at §6 to $7 per barrel. It 
will not supplant the established favorites, but we think it may wisely be 
tried along with them by those who may now or hereafter be putting out 
an orchard. 

The Northern Spy is a very highly praised apple, and one that usually com- 
mands the higliest price, but in this vicinity it proves a very shy bearer; 
so much so that we can not recommend it for general cultivation, though a 
most valuable apple, particularly in spring. It originated as a seedling in 
East Bloomfield, N. Y. The trees grow slowly, and only bear well when 
fully matured. They grow best upon clayey loam. The Norton Melon is an- 
other remarkably fine apple, which originated iu the same locality. There 
is a great want of attention to the difference in soil in planting trees. "What 
will succeed in one location utterly fails in others. 

John Buckholder, of Adams County, Pa., sent us some specimens of an 
excellent apple, common in that section of the State, which is not known 
here. It is a medium-sized, red streak, roundish form, very white flesh, 
and delicious flavor, and is a good autumn apple, and keeps well in 
winter. 

The Glfford apple ripens in harvest-time, and is of fine size and excellent 
quality. It is a variety not well known, but one highly recommended. 

The following early apples are recommended by R. Peters, of Atlanta, 
Ga., as very well suited to that region : 

Yellow May. — Size small, ripe the last of Maj'; valuable for its being 
the earliest known variety. It is extensively grown in southern Virginia 
for shipment to the New York market. Tree a slow grower, but productive. 

Red Astracan. — Size, medium to large ; ripe early in June ; an apple of 
great beauty and fair quality ; valuable for market pui'poses, its crimson 
color and rich bloom making it very attractive. Tree, a good grower and 
productive. 

Early Harvest. — Size, above medium ; ripe early in June ; one of our 
best early apples, of fine quality, valnal)le for the table and for cooking. 
Tree, rather a poor grower, but an abundant bearer. 

Red June. — Size, over medium ; lipe the middle of June ; a well-known 
and truly ])Opular Southern apple, valuable for all purposes. Tree, a fair 
grower, and a regular beai'cr. 

Yellow Jane. —Size large ; ripe from the niid<lle to last of June. 



582 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

The following are the names of Indian seedling apples which flourisli at 
the South : 

Tillaquah. — The original tree of this magnificent fruit is still growing 
some four miles from Fi'anklin, N. C. It is so great a favorite with all wlio 
pass the road, that hut few remain on the tree to thoroughly ripen. Its name 
signifies "big fruit." 

Toccoa.^^his apple was found in the orchard of Jeremiah Taylor, an old 
Revolutionary soldier living near the celebrated Toccoa Falls, in Habersham 
County, Ga. It ripens in August ; is a very delicious, high-flavored fruit. 
Toccoa, when rendered in the English language, means " beautiful." 

Cullasaija. — Is a seedling from the Horse-apple, raised by Miss Ann Bry- 
son, who resides on the bank of the Cullasaga, or Sugartown fork of the 
Tennessee River, in Macon County, N. C. ; is a very aromatic, early winter 
apple. Its name signifies " sweet water," or " sugar water," and is pro- 
nounced cullasajah. 

Yahoola. — Was found growing on the banks of an old gold-pit near Ya- 
lioola Creek, a largo stream in Lumpkin County, Ga., and was brought into 
notice by Wm. Martin, Esq., of Dahlonega, who informs us it is a desirable 
winter variety. The meaning of its name we do not know. 

Chestoa.- — -Takes its name from its resemblance to a rabbit's head, being 
conical oblong in form, with one side near the calyx, jutting over the other 
like a rabbit's nose. 

The Bellejicur in some localities is a very favorite apple, and in New 
Yoi-k it always sells well. 

The Newtown Pij)pin is one of the most favorite sorts grown by those 
who make a business of growing apples as a regular farm crop. It has been 
stated that Robert L. Pell, of Ulster County, N. Y., has 20,000 Newtown 
Pippin apple-trees. We have heard him say that some of his' early ship- 
ments to England sold at $20 a barrel, and in New York frequently at $7. 

Downing, in speaking of this apple, says : " The Newtown Pippin stands 
at the head of all apples, and is, when in perfection, acknowledged to be 
unrivaled in all the qualities which constitute a high-flavored dessert apple, 
to which it combines the quality of long keeping without tiie least shrivel- 
ing, retaining its high flavor to the last. It is very largely raised in New 
York and New Jersey for exjjoration, and commands the highest price in 
Covent Garden Market, London. This variety is a native of Newtown, 
Long Island, and it requires a pretty strong, deep, warm soil to attain its 
full perfection, and in the orchard it should be well manured every two or 
three years. For this reason, while it is planted by acres in orchards in 
New Yoik and the Middle States, it is raiely raised in largo quantities or 
with much success in New England. On the Hudson, thousands of barrels 
of the fairest and richest Newtown Pipjiins are constantly produced. The 
tree is of rather slender and slow growth, and even while young is always 
remarkable for its rough bark. 

" Fruit of medium size, roundish, a little irregular in its outline, caused 
by two or three obscure ribs on the sides, and broadest at the base, next the 
stalk ; about three inches in diameter, and two and a half deep. 



Seo. 37.] APPLE AND PEACH TREES, ETC. 583 

"Skin dull green, becoming olive green when ripe, -with a faint, dull 
brownish blush on one side, dotted with small gray specks and with delicate 
russet rays aronnd the stalk. Calyx quite small and closed^set in a narrow 
and shallow basin. Stalk half an inch long, rather slender, deeply sunk in a 
wide funnel-shaped cavity. Flesli greenish-white, very juicy, crisp, with a 
line aroma and an exceedingly delicious flavor. "When the fruit is not 
grown on healthy trees, it is liable to be spotted witli black spots. This is 
one of the finest keeping apples, and is in eating from December to May, 
but is in the finest perfection in March. 

"The Yellow Newtown Pippin strongly resembles the foregoing, and it is 
difficult to say which is the superior fruit. The Yellow is handsomer, and 
has a higher perfume than the Green, and its flesh is rather firmer and 
equally high flavored ; wiiile the Green is more juicy, crisp, and tender. 
The Yellow Newtown Pippin is rather flatter, measuring only about two 
inches deep, and it is always quite oblique, projecting more on one side of 
the stalk than the other. When fully ripe, it is yellow, with a rather lively 
red cheek, or a smooth skin, and few or none of the spots on the Green variety, 
but with the same russet marks at the stalk. It is also more highly fragrant 
before and after it is cut than the Green. Tiie flesh is firm, crisp, juicy, 
and with a very rich and high flavor. Both the Newtown Pippins grow 
alike, and they are both excellent bearers. This variety is rather hardier, 
and succeeds best in the Eastern States. We have kept the fruit until the 
4th of July." 

Excellent, however, as this variety is, we would not recommend a farmer 
to plant a large orchard of Pippins unless he was so situated that he could 
ship the fruit to New York, because other sorts are more popular in other 
cities — the Baldwin, for instance, in Boston. Care must be taken, too, in 
buying trees, to get real Newtown Pippins, if that is the object, as there 
are about a dozen kinds of that name, one variety being strictly an autumn 
apple. 

Probably the best plan to adopt in making a selection for a new orchard 
is to examine carefully what sorts succeed best in that vicinity, if there are 
any orchards of improved fruit — of various sorts — in the neighborhood, and 
if not, go where there are such upon similar soil to your own, similarly 
located as to bight, exposure, distance from water, salt or fresh, in great 
bodies, and all other circumstances calculated to influence the growth of the 
trees and ripening of the fruit, since it is a certain fact that kinds which 
succeed admirably in one place, utterly fail in others. We have seen some 
of the " Indian Apples," as the native sorts are called, growing finely in 
several of the Southern States, while those from the North failed entirely. 
As a general rule, in planting an ovcliard upon the rich soils of the prairies, 
we would select sorts of trees of the slowest growth. 

An idea of the varieties of apples known may be gathered from the 
statement that the London Horticultui-al Society have nearly Ij.'iOO, and this 
of course docs not include many of the seedlings of this country, wiiere new 



581 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

soris are constantly springing up, some of which flourish luauy years in the 
neighborhood where they originated without being known anywhere else. 
Tliis is the case with the Kirtland apple, one of the best keeping apples of 
good flavor known to orchardists. It originated about the beginning of this 
century in Clinton, Oneida County, N. Y. The Baker apple is another in 
the same category ; a large, handsome, red apple, of excellent quality, 
originating and known many years in Ridgeiield, Conn., before it was heard 
of anywhere else. Indeed, there are numbers of such cases all over the 
country, besides the known varieties, which are so numerous that we can 
not say definitely what sorts shall be cultivated most profitably. 

660. Tlic Use of Apples— Apples for Stock. — The use of apples for food is 
hardly snfiiciently apjireciated. In short, no farmer can aftord to do with- 
out an orchard that will furnish his family, including all his laborers, all that 
they can cat, because nothing that grows upon the farm aflords such cheap 
food, nor anything that will keep his family in better health. Six months of 
the year we usually have baked apples upon our table every day, and almost 
every meal. Apples carefully dried and well cooked aftord an excellent 
condiment for all meals, and apples cooked in almost any form really aftord 
very heai-ty food. And who that was born upon, or even lived upon, a New 
England farm, in the "good old olden time," can forget the winter store of 
" apple-sauce," nuido of boiled eweet apple-cider, and partly sweet and 
partly mild, sour apples cooked iu the cider, with quinces enough to give 
their peculiar flavor ? 

Apples for stock are not sufliciently appreciated. There is no feed that 
will nuike fatting pigs grow so fast as sweet apples or cooked sour ones, and 
if corn is fed a short time before killing, there will be no complaint about 
Iho pork not being hard. 

In Westchester County, in 1860, the apple crop was very large; and as it 
had not been so before for many years, there was a scarcity of cider-mills, 
so that all the apples could not be ground up for that purpose, and many 
people fed them to cattle, and those who kept cows for milk-dairies found 
that apples increased the quantity very largely. It is probable that they 
would not much increase the product of butter. A milch cow will consume 
a bushel a day. 

Farmers certainly do not consult their own interest while neglecting so 
important a source of profit and comfort as a good orchard. If your old one 
is not good, employ a grafter. If that is not convenient, graft them your- 
selves. You can do it, and by that means make that portion of land 
covered with fruit-trees a source of more profit, with less expense, than any 
other portion. You must keep trees suflflciently pruned, and now and then 
draw manure to the roots of the trees ; and if they are not in a thriving con- 
dition, scrape the bark with a sharp hoe, and wash them with solution of 
potash or caustic soda, and do all that is necessary, and then it is easier to 
grow apples than wheat and corn. Let the hogs root around the trees; it 
will do them good, and is better than plowing, and it is much easier to feed 



Sec. 37.J APPLE AND PEACH TREES, ETC. 585 

your jii^s upon apples than it is upon grain, wliicli you can only g;ow by 
hard toil. Try it. Try also the value of apples fed to other stock. Even 
poultry will thrive finely upon boiled apples, with a very small quantity of 
grain or meal rai.xed with them. Try to get better sorts in your old or- 
chards for eating or for selling. Even for feeding stock, it costs no more to 
grow good apples than it does poor ones. 

CCl. How (0 Grow Large Fruit. — A friend in Illinois writes us that he 
grows apples of twenty ounces weight each. One man near Alton averages 
$1,500 a year, net income, from his orchards. Apples in that State generally 
grow much larger than the same sorts do in the Eastern States, and we have 
seen specimens from Oregon and California which show more than double 
the size of the originals. As this increase of growth is owing to the great 
richness of soil, it behooves us here to consider whether it would not be 
profitable to make the soil of our orchards better. 

A correspondent of the Gardener'' s Gazette says fruits may be raised about 
one third larger than usual, of improved quality, by supporting them so 
they shall not hang theil' whole weight upon the stock, or twist about in the 
wind. When fruit is allowed to hang naturally, the increasing weight 
strains the stem and lessens the quantity of nuti-itious food flowing to the 
fruit. It may be supported either by tying to a branch with a piece of 
string, or by inclosing it in a small net. Flowei-s, such as dahlias or peonies, 
may also be rendered much larger by this system. 

"\Ve do not suppose any one is going to adopt this plan upon a large scale, 
but he may do so very well witli a few choice specimens for curiosity, if 
nothing more, and just to show how fruit can be made to attain a greater 
size. 

^^1. The Natural Form of Various Apple-Trees.— The following state- 
ment about the natural forms of apple-trees comes from a committee of the 
Cincinnati Horticultural Society, which says : 

"In ascertaining the habits of growth of various trees of the several 
popular varieties of apples that are largely cultivated in the neighborhood 
of Cincinnati, we have taken our own experience as a starting-point, and 
then added to this such additional information as we have been able to 
obtain from other members of this Society. The result of our labors is the 
following classification : 

" Of an Uj^rigJd Conical Growth. — Eenoni, Early Strawberry, Golden 
Russet, Early Sweet Bough, Lady Apple, Pryor's Eed, Northern Spy, Tal- 
man's Sweeting. 

" Of an Upright Growth, hut loith a Bound Head. — Eed Astracan, "White 
Pippin, Alexander Kaighn's Spitzenberg, Michael Henry Pippin, Drap d'Or, 
Bohannan, Belmont, Rallies' Janette, Fall AVine, Rambo, Rome Beauty, 
Summer Rose, High Top Sweet, Myer's Nonpareil, Fall Pippin, and 
Porter. 

" With Spreading Limhs and Bound Uead. — Smith's Cider, Maiden Blush, 
Baldwin, Roxbury Russet, Newtown Pippin, Tulpehocken, Winesap, Broad- 



586 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

well's Sweet, Gravenstein, Jersey Sweeting, Hubbardstown Nonsuch, Bel- 
mont, Yandevere. 

'■'■ Of a Drooping, Pendent Form — Ileael Symmetrical.- — Yellow Bellc- 
flcui-, Peiinock, Rhode Island Greening, Newark Pippin, and Fall Pippin. 

" Of a Pendent, Drooping Form — Head Loose, or Straggling and Open. 
— Ortlej, White "Winter Pearmain, and Newtown Spitzenberg. 

'• Of tlie above, we woTild particularly refer to Smith's Cider, Yellow Belle- 
flciir, White Pippin, Eome Beauty, and Eaules' Janettc, as trees of a 
marked vigorous growth and healthy, hearty habit. The Benoni, Winesap, 
and Summer Pose are of only moderate growth, but appear perfectly 
hardy. 

"The Early Sweet Bough, Newtown Pippin, and Ortley (or White Belle- 
fleur) appear to possess a less vigorous and a somewhat unhealthy con- 
stitution." 

This valuable information should be remembered liy all pruners. 

663. Dwarf Apple-TreeSi — Wlien scions of the common apple are engrafted 
on what are called Paradise-stocks, the trees beco«ne dwarfish in growth. 
They thus form, when in a l)earing state, very pretty objects in the garden, 
and they oftentimes bear more apples, in proportion to their size, than com- 
mon trees of the same variety. As they are small, they can not of course 
produce a large crop, but are fine garden ornaments, combining both beauty 
and utility in a small compass, and will bear full, upon perfect trees not 
over two feet high, if the land is very rich, and rather moister than is suit- 
able for apples. These dwarfs are made by grafting the crab scion in a 
shrub known as chokeberry. We would suggest, in addition to this, that 
the common thorn-bush, which grows about our pastures, would make a 
good stock to engraft the apple upon for dwarfing. The pear will grow well 
upon it, and the apple will also probably do pretty well. But the best way 
to get dwarf trees is to order them from an experienced nurseryman, unless 
you are a skillful grafter and would like to try your hand to see what you 
can produce for your own use. 

664:. Peacli-Trecs— How to Plant and Treat Them.— Peach-trees of one year 
old are the only ones that should be planted. Shorten their side branches to 
two or three buds, and the main stem one third ; wash the roots clean and 
examine them carefully ; see that you do not plant a peach-worm with the 
tree. Trim the roots and then dust them over with ashes. After the tree is 
planted, put a handful of ashes or lime around the stem on the surface of the 
soil ; this will almost invariably prevent the peach-worm attacking the tree 
the first year ; next year, put a little more lime or ashes around them, close 
to the bole, keeping the ground clear of weeds with the hoe or cultivator 
duringfthe entire season. This is indispensable, and must not be neglected. 
Nectarines and apricots should be treated in the same way. 

It requii'es more care than is generally bestowed upon the planting of 
peach-trees to insure success. Prof. Mapes says : 

" In taking a tree from the nursery, I cut off all the limbs and set the tree 



Seo. 37.] APPLE AND PEACH TREES, ETC. 587 

an inch liigher in its new place than it stood before. I shorten in till the 
limbs next year two thirds the length by cutting ott' always at a leaf-bud, 
and not a frnit-bnd ; and I let the trees branch from near the ground. 
Xatnral seedlings are longer lived than budded trees. It is positively neces- 
sary to distui'b the ground as early as possible in the spring. All peach 
limbs should be shortened in so as not to be pendent. No organic matter 
will answer for peach-trees. Barn-yard manure will kill them. Nothing 
but inorganic manures will answer. Trees should be trimmed early in the 
spring, as soon as tlie weather is warm enough to make the limbs supple." 

6G5. Soda-Wash for Peach-Worms. — ^These are frequently destroyed, or, 
rather, prevented, by using the caustic soda-wash — an application accident- 
ally discovered by a New Jersey gardener, a few years ago, to be the best 
thing ever applied to kill insects and make smooth bark. 

"This soda-wash is made as follows: Take common sal soda and put 
it in any old iron pot or other vessel, and heat it red-hot, and then put it 
liot into water — one pound to one gallon — and let it stand till cool, and use 
it with a brush or swab to the body or limbs of the trees you wish to clean, 
and it kills all insects it comes in contact with, and makes the bark assume 
a smooth, polished appearance. It will not injure any growing plants." 

G6G. Cutting out Worms from Peach-Trees is a remedy somewhat like the 
Frenchman's flea-powder. The only easy remedy is boiling water. Put a 
cloth around the tree and pour boiling hot water on, and the steam will kill 
the worms. There is no difliculty in killing peach-worms in trees with hot 
water. It would not hurt the tree to apply a jet of steam direct to the 
worm-afl:ected part, but it will hurt the worm. It Avould be impossible to 
pick out the worms in an orchard, such as some in Jersey, of 80,000 trees. 
The best cure for the yellows is to give the trees as vigorous a growth as 
possible, by the use of inoi'ganic fertilizers. 

667. Winter-Killed Peach-Trees.— The severity of some of the past winters 
has entirely destroyed all peach-orchards, even of twenty years' growth, far 
south of the center of Illinois, and committed great havoc in the apple- 
orchards. The same, or some other course, has produced a similar effect, 
we believe, generally, thi-oughout the country. In the face of these in- 
clement winters, trials have been successfully made to produce fruit-trees in 
Minnesota under otherwise unfavorable circumstances. Ought those of a 
milder climate to be discouraged on account of partial failure? 

Let us notice some facts that favor the opposite opinion. 

As far as the hardier and more valuable fruits are concerned, they are 
easily produced in central New England and New York, Avhere the climate 
is colder and not so uniform, and the soil less friable than it is in many 
places two or three degrees farther south. 

The Lake Ontario slope of western New York produced peaches abund- 
antly before the country was laid open by the removal of the primeval 
forests, and is now one of the best fruit-producing regions on the continent, 
as it respects the really valuable fruits. 



588 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

The cold snap of tlie M-inter of 1859-60 killed a great deal of fruit in the 
State of New York, but that should not prevent further trials. 

C. Olncy, of Pittsford, Monroe County, writes under date of Jan. 21, ISGO : 

"The peach crop in this vicinity bids fair to be almost an entire failure 
the coming season. I find more living buds upon trees that stand in the 
corners of the fences than upon those where the land was cultivated last 
season. On some of them nearly all are alive ; on others, not more than ten 
feet distant, every one examined is dead. I am unable to say M'liether any 
particular variety escapes more than another, for I have only owned my 
present promises one year, and last season there was no fruit on the trees by 
which I could tell the varieties. My thermometer has onlj^ indicated four 
degrees below zero. Who can tell the causes of destruction, if it is true, as 
it has often been asserted, that it requires a degree of cold 18 degrees below 
zero to kill peach-buds?" 

668. Seedling vs. Budded Peach-Trees. — A general impression prevails that 
seedling peaches are more hardy than tliose projiagated by budding. Tliis 
is true, though not in the sense in which it is generally received. The pro- 
cess of budding in no M'ay changes the character of the variety budded, 
either for hardiness or otherwise. The fruit is no more liable to be killed 
by frost than the original seedlings from which the budded trees have de- 
scended. 

All varieties were once seedlings, and it is said are improved from the 
bitter almond. This improvement is the result of cultivation, crossing, and 
hybridization. The pulp is merely the envelop or covering nature has pro- 
vided for the protection of the seed. Hence the vital force is directed to 
this end, and the seed is consequently fully developed, and the product is 
Lardy, and those varieties that are least removed from the original type are 
the most hard}^. The imjn-ovement is the result of art, and so far as im- 
proved or removed from the state of nature, just in that proportion is it at 
the expense of the hardiness of the variety. 

This fact iiolds good tin-oughout all the departments of animated nature 
as well as in the vegetable kingdom. Compare the native Indian M'ith the 
present cultivated races of mankind, also our races of domestic animals with 
those in the state of nature — how different is tlieir character for haidiness ! 
One characteristic of the peach is, the power of tiie diflerent varieties to 
withstand the effects of cold according to the character of the l)lossoms. 
Some — and this is generall}' true with seedlings — have large blossoms, the 
petals of which afford a thicker covering to the embryo fruit ; hence this class 
is generally most hard}', while those kinds with smaller blossoms are more 
tender, and others are still more so where the petals stand out, or the blos- 
som is the least cupped. 

It is only the improved kinds that are found most desirable to perpetuate 
by budding ; these have become tender because they are improved and far- 
ther removed from the state of natiire, not because they have been propa- 
gated by the artificial process of budding. 



Sec. 37.] APPLE AND PEACH TREES, ETC. 589 

In our extremely variable climate the propagation of seedling peaches 
should he practiced to a greater extent than it is, but with more care and 
calculation. In selecting seed to plant, choose from the best of those kinds 
that have large blossoms, as well as others most hardy with smaller cupped 
blossoms. The yellow-fleshed peaches can be depended on with more cer- 
tainty to produce their kind than the white-fleshed peaches. In some in- 
stances the seedlings may be superior to the parent ; in more, they may bo 
of equal quality, while a large proportion may be inferior ; but as the infe- 
rior peaches are most hardy, these may aflbrd us a crop, while the others or 
budded varieties entirely fail ; so that where land is cheap or in favorable 
situations, we advise that calculations should be made to produce seedling 
peach-trees every year of the seed of the most improved varieties. 

(309. Pcach-Trees for Fuel. — Peach-trees should be grown upon the prairies 
for fuel. No tree grows more rapidly, and no seed is more sure of germi- 
nating than the peach. The stones should be planted in the nursery, and 
the first summer's growth cut off two or three buds above tlie ground before 
autumn, or in time for the wound to heal and new shoots lo start. The 
young trees may then be taken vy> and planted out ten feet apart in or- 
chards. This mode of cutting back gives two to live trunks instead of one, 
which make more wood, and are less likely to be winter-killed. If the shoot 
is not cut back nntil the next spring, let the root remain another season in 
the nursery. 

Another good way is to plant the stones in drills, ten feet apart, in the 
orchard, the ground to be M'ell prepared, and the rows kept free from weeds 
by the plow. In the fall, turn a good furrow from each side against the 
rows, and level them, if necessary, with a hoe, and then mow off the shoots 
even with the ridge. Draw out, for planting the next sunnner in other 
places, the M-eakest of the plants, and let the otiiers grow, heading back 
each year. In three years the trees will begin to bear, and those which do 
not promise good fruit may be used for fuel. Of course, the fruit is a sec- 
ondary object, and all that is got is clear gain — as the trees are grown that 
fuel may be had at less cost and trouble than to haul it from a grove four or 
five miles distant. 

670. Manuring Fruit-Trees— Use of Hogs. — There is no better manure for 
an orchard than swamp muck, composted with lime and salt — that is, lime 
slaked by a solution of salt. Wood ashes, leached or unleached, are also 
good, and we doubt not coal ashes are beneficial. If the land is in grass, it 
should be thoroughly harrowed in the spring, and again after mowing. Use 
the orchard in the fore part of tlie season as a sheep pasture, and graze close. 
When the apples begin to fall, turn in the pigs and let them eat the wind- 
falls. Valuable trees, or those of delicate nature, will be highly benefited 
by mulching, both summer and winter. 

The use of hogs in an oi-chard we have never seen so clearly demonstrated 
before as we did in the summer of 1862. The Shaker Society at New Leb- 
anon discarded the use of pork and quit keeping hogs about 1860. From 



590 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

that time, an orchard that had been used as a hog pasture, declined in vigor 
and fruitfiihiess, and as the land could not be very well cultivated, it was 
determined to try the hogs again, and a number were purchased and set to 
work. In a few weeks, in pursuit of tlie worms, they had tlioroughly rooted 
up the turf, and the effect upon the apple trees was so visible as to be readily 
remarked by every one acquainted with their previous condition. 

Autumn or early winter is a good time to manure fruit-trees, provided 
you do not use such as will harbor mice, for that will be likely to injure 
young trees more than the manure will benefit them. Ashes and rotten 
wood and leaf-mold are particularly good for trees, and so is any well-rotted 
compost. Spread it over as much ground as the top covers, and do not be 
afraid of putting on too much. A heavy-bearing tree, or one that you want 
to make bear plenty of good fruit, must have some food to produce it from ; 
and a 3'oung tree needs as much cultivation every year as a hill of corn, and 
should have, in proportion to its size, about the same manuring. And 
there is no crop that will pay better for nuuiure and cultivation than fruit 
of all kinds. It is the secret of peach-raising in New Jersey and Del- 
aware. 

671. LimiJ for Trees. — We have seen a statement that lime has been most 
successfully used in England in transplanting trees by mixing a small quan- 
tity — a quart or two — with the earth in which the tree-roots are planted. It 
serves a double purpose — assisting to keep the earth moist, and converting 
vegetable substances into food for the tree. Tlie statement looks so reason- 
able that we advise its trial. The English papers say that every tree in a 
large plantation served in this M'ay flourished finely. 

^Ye object to applying lime to trees in the form of whitewash upon the 
boles, but in no other way, Mhether liquid or powder. 

Hon. John A. Clayton, late of Delaware, assured us that half a bushel of 
powdered lime applied close about each peach-tree was tlie best thing that 
he ever tried to promote health and increase growth. Whitewashing trees 
is not a good practice. Indeed, we know of nothing that can be said in its 
favor. Water, saturated with lime, used as a caustic wash, would be bene- 
ficial, M-liile the lime itself, ]ilastered upon the tree in the form of thick 
whitewash, would be injurious. It would be of far more use to the tree 
spread over the ground ; there it would add to the nourishment of the tree. 

Another benefit derived from the use of lime around fruit-trees, is the fici. 
of its serio*ly affecting more or less all kinds of worms and insects tliat 
infest the apple tree. Most of the vermin that annoy fruit-trees in the sum- 
mer remain in the ground during the winter. A cpiantit}' of lime spaded in 
around the roots of the tree will have a good effect toward destroying the 
canker-worm, if ajjplied in season, and a small mound of lime around the 
collar of the tree will prevent the ravages of the borer, which almost always 
enters the tree in the tender bark near tlie ground. It is beneficial on ail 
soils, except, perhaps, calcareous ones ; it will greatly assist in destroj'ing 
all vermin that harbor in the ground under the tree ; it is always injurious 



Sec. 37.] RENOVATING ORCHARDS. 591 

when applied to the bark, as it stops the pores and impairs the liealtli of the 
wliole tree. 

G72. How to Renovate an Old Orchard. — It may not always be practicable 
to renovate an old orchard with swine, as practiced by the Shakers, as men- 
tioned in 670, therefore the following account of wliat a woman did is valuable. 

Ruth II. Lynde writes us from New Bedford, Mass., as follows: "Some 
years ago I lived on a small farm in New York State, and one of the in- 
ducements held out for hiring it was, that there was a fine apple orchard of 
choice grafted fruit. This decided — but the trees were in a miserably sickly 
condition, and the fruit scanty and mean, knotty and wormy. In the fall, a 
circle was dug around every apple-tree nearly two feet from the crown and 
over a foot and a half in depth. Dressing from the hog-pen was put into 
each hole until within half a foot of the top, and anthracite coal-ashes spread 
over up to the crown. In the spring the trees were pruned, the orchard 
plowed, oats sown, and the crop of oats was fair; the trees bloomed more, 
but the fruit was scarce and still poor. That fall, after the leaves Iiad fallen, 
the trees were scraped — the trunks, branches, and boughs — and the grulis 
scraped off that were in the loose bark sufficed to feed for two days a hun- 
dred fowls, consisting of turkeys, hens, and guinea-fowls. The fowls gen- 
erally were in an inclosed place, and corn kept in a trough for their daily 
use; as the corn was untouched and the fowls healthy, my statement can be 
relied on. Next spi'ing the orchard was a mass of blossoms, and so beau- 
tiful, I never wearied looking at it. The trees were so laden with fruit that 
two of them split in the fork, and a person could not walk upright under 
them. I never saw such quantities of fruit, and fine fruit, too — Bell Flow- 
ers, Fall Pippins, Seck-no-Furthers, Summer Pie-aj^ples, etc." 

The subject of renovating old orchards has been discussed several times 
by the American Institute Farmers' Club, and here are some of the facts 
elicited. "We give them with the names of the authors for what they are 
worth, as they are all men of experience in fruit-growing. 

Prof. Mapes — There was an old orchard on my place that had ceased 
bearing, which I fully renovated and afterward cut down, because I can not 
afford the shade. The land is too valuable to grow large trees upon, I can 
produce fruit upon dwarfs more economically. All old apple-orchards are 
deficient in lime, but the lime must be properly prepared to be of use. The 
caustic soda-wash, spoken of last week, will clear them of insects and fungi, 
I subsoiled the old orchard, which was in grass, and applied lime. I recom- 
mend ten bushels per acre, sowed in a caustic state on the surface. Lime is 
only soluble in large quantities of water. The next spring I applied phos- 
phate of lime. This orchard was then in vigorous bearing, and had not 
before borne for years. The grass crop was also more than doubled. Run 
the subsoil plow up and down hill and it will serve to drain the land. I 
only run the subsoil lifter furrows some four feet apart, without disturbing 
the soil. Lime and manure should not be applied at the same lime to 
orchards. The plowing is an important part of the treatment. 



592 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

Mr. Yeeedee, of Albany, said: A German, working for me, practices re- 
moving tlie earth from the apple-tree roots in the fall, and that lias com- 
pletely renovated an old tree on my farm. I have great faith in the value 
of cutting off the long runners of tree roots. I know one apple-tree that 
bore, two years ago, in Schenectady County, seventy barrels of apples. 

Adrian G. Bekgen said — I wish I could make the apple-trees on Long 
Island produce as they did thirty years ago. The trees have generally 
failed. I believe trees are failing all over the land. It is not all owing to 
Avant of lime. There is something besides this that affects apple-trees. 

Andrew S. Fuller — I recommend renovating old trees to find how far out 
tlie roots extend, and would dig so as to cut off three or four feet of the out 
ends of all the roots by a ditch three feet deep and three feet wide, which I 
M'ould fill with good soil and manure. It will almost always renovate them. 
If trees are mossy, scrape them with a hoc. 

Tnos. "\Y. Field — I agree with Mr. Fuller in this recommendation. 

"\Vm. p. Gates, of Windham, Ct., wants to know how to treat the soil in 
an old orcliard, or where trees have been planted ten years. Plowing cuts 
and bruises the roots, and, he thinks, must injure tlie trees. How, then, 
shall the soil be loosened ? 

Judge French, of New Hampshire — "We generally keep our orcliards 
plowed two thirds of the time, and work the land at first as deep as possible. 
We do not think it good policy to ripen grain in an orchard. Sowwitli oats 
and cut them for green fodder. Plant M'ith corn, and cut green. Potatoes 
are the best hoed crop for an orchard, old or young. 

Tiios. W. Field— I have been trying to answer this question a long time. 
Some orchards on Long Island that are plowed often, have ceased to bear, 
while trees in tlie hedges and walls continue to bear fruit abundantly. Some 
poniologiits contend that orchards should not be disturbed bj' the plow. 
Trees derive very little nourishment from deep soil ; it nearly all comes from 
the fibrous roots near the surface. If m'c can keep the surface loose, it will 
be useful; but plowing I believe injurious. 

Prof. Nash, of Amherst, Mass. — I concur generally with Mr. Field in 
this; but for naturally drained land, I have no doubt it is the best practice 
to let the land lie in grass. No general rule can be given, but it must be 
adapted to the situation and circumstances of each orcliard. 

Robert L. Pell — My experience is, that all orchards require plowing. 
I have found roots in my orchards as large as my arm, extending fourteen 
feet deep. Eye will kill an orchard quicker than anything else. I never 
stop to inquire whether my plow is cutting the apple roots or not. It does 
not injure them. 

Solon Robinson — I hold to the Scriptural injunction to renovate an old 
tree; it was: "Dig about and dung it." Success attends the same method 
now. Dig about certainly as far as the branches extend, but do not dig too 
deep or injure the roots unnecessarily. Stirring the surface soil frequently 
is what they want. Try that, and you will be amazed at the renovation you 



Sko. 37.] i;k.\uvating orchards. 593 

work in an old apple-tree. Mulching, or cnltivating with a hoe to keep 
down weeds and let in air and moisture, answers the same purpose. 

To clear suckers from orchard trees they should not be cut off, for new 
shoots will spring from every stub left. The riglit way is to keep the ground 
smooth, mellow, and clean ; and then about the middle season ot' growth, or 
during the first half of summer, put on thick cowhide boots and stout buck- 
skin mittens, seize one sucker at a time, placing tlie boot upon it close to the 
tree, give a sudden jerk with the hands, and it will be torn out root and 
branch, leaving no stump. An occasional repetition of this process will 
keep the orchard clear. Suckers always give a slovenly appearance to an 
orchard, and favor the depredations of tlio borer. 

Trees growing on mucky soil sometimes make wood so fast that they ap- 
pear to have no power to produce fruit. In such cases we recommend 
heavy dressings of lime, salt, and bone-dust, and if convenient, sand and 
clay. The debris of an old charcoal-pit or a brick-kiln would be beneficial. 

When old pear-trees fail to bear, or, rather, to perfect their fruit, Ave would 
invariably dig about them and add all the above ingredients, and afterward 
stable manure spread on the surface as far around as the limbs extend, or far- 
ther, after having dug up the surface thoroughly. A caustic soda-wash, or a 
wash made of weak lye, or of a solution of two pounds of potash to ciglit quart? 
of water, and rubbed on the stems of the tree, will prove more beneficial and 
far less injurious tlian whitewash. There is probably no substance that can 
be applied at so small a cost as lime that will do so much toward the renovation 
of an old orchard. It will ]iromote in an astonishing degree the flowering 
and fruiting of almost all plants, because calcareous salts promote evapora- 
tion and the concentration of the sap. Air-slaked lime is an excellent 
manure for fruit-trees as a top-dressing; or if spaded in around the tree, it 
will render it much more fruitful where the soil is not too calcareous by 
nature. In the use of lime, do not use it in great quantities, because only a 
small portion can be appropriated by the growing plants. Our opinion 
favors about ten bushels per acre, though many persons apply thirty bushels. 
We believe if that quantity were applied at the rate of six bushels a year fo ■ 
five years, it would be more beneficial, and we would always apply it on tiie 
surface either in autunm or spring, according to the crop, and not work it 
in. It will find its way down as deep as water can penetrate. The worst 
situation that can be selected for an orchard is a deep valley with a small 
stream of water, for there the frost is much more apt to kill buds than it is 
upon exposed hill-tops. This is not the case with the bottom lands of large 
streams, nor on the borders of lakes, or ponds of considerable size. Where- 
ever fog follows frost, it will save the fruit from injury. 



69i 



THE ORCHARD. 



[Chap. VI. 




SECTION XXXVIII.-CHERRIES-BEST VARIETIES, SOIL, SITUATION, 
AND CULTIVATION-HISTORY, USE, AND VALUE OF CHERRIES. 



/ HE clierrj, as one of tlie fruits of the farm, is not ap- 
\ preciated as uiucli as its merits warrant. The rea- 

son that farmers do not appreciate it is, simply 
because they do not know it. Not one farmer in a 
tliousand, take the whole country through, ever had 
a tree ujjon his place that produced cherries of first quality, 
and not one in a hundred ever tasted of the best sorts ; and 
some, we know, do not believe that cheri'ies ever grow of 
such a size that it is necessary to " make two bites of a 
cherry," nor of such lusciousness that a family would sit 
down to eat and enjoy a dish of cherries as they would sweet 
peaches, plums, pears, or apples. The reason is, that their 
standai-d of opinion, of the character of cherries, has been 
formed from such as have been most generally cultivated, sucli as the 
Kentish, which is the old, common red pie-cherry, sour and bitter until very 
ripe; or the old-style Morello, or Cluster-cherry ; or the old Black Mazzard, 
the 0.\-heart, Red-heart, and Remington, etc., none of which are hardly fit 
to eat out of hand; awd with opinions based upon such a standard, it is im 
wonder that cherries are not esteemed by some as worth the time and trouble 
of growing, which, however, is very small, for no kind of fruit is easier 
grown, and none will give a family greater satisfaction. 

If any doubt this, we beg them to seek the opportunity of tasting some 
of the finest sorts in their perfection, a few of which we will name. 

673. Choice Varieties of Cherries. — The Bujarremt, most generally known 
as Yellow Spanish, is in perfection the last of June, and is a most delicious 
fruit; the flesh firm, pale yellow, juicy, and rich, and grows very large. 
This cherry is often picked before fully ripe, and is not then esteemed. The 
tree is a thrifty, though not a large one, but forms a handsome head. 

The Wapoleon Bigarreau is also an excellent cherry, ripening later than 
the other, of very large size and firm flesh, so much so as to be urged as 
objectionable. The skin is pale yellow, or amber, when shaded, dotted with 
red, with a crimson-marbled cheek, very handsome. 

The Black Tartarian is a superb cherry of large size and good flavor, 
and the trees are very productive, and of a remarkably rapid, vigorous 
growth, with crest head. The leaves are large and beautifi.il, and the tree 
very ornamental when fidl of ripe fruit, which is glossy -black, very rich 
and delicious, half tender, of a purplish color inside, with a very small 
stone, ripening from tlie middle to the last of June, and a few days after 
Mayduke. 



Sec. 38.] CHERRIES. 595 

Cog's Transparent is a great favorite with foino persons. It is iMcdium 
size, tender, melting flesh, sweet and delicate, ripening a little earlier than 
Black Tartarian. It is too tender for a marketing fruit, hut vcrj- ])n)(liietivc 
and worthy of cultivation for family use. 

Downer'' s Late tVuvvv/ is valuable because it is late. It is an excellent 
fruit, and comes after the other good sorts are gone. The color is red, flesh 
sweet, and fruit grows in clusters. 

The Elton is considered one of the best cherries grown. The trees are 
vigorous, with a singular mark of dark-red foot-stalks to the leaves. The fruit 
is large, with pale yellow thin skin, shaded on the sunny side with red ; the 
flesh firm, and when fully ripe, tender and luscious, ripening middle of 
June 

Tlie Governor Wood is becoming one of the favorites of this country. 
Indeed, it is esteemed by some above all others. The fruit is large, light 
yellow, marbled with bright red, nearly tender flesh, sweet, juicy, rich, and 
delicious, ripening middle of June. 

The Amei'ican Heart is a tree of luxuriant growth, producing cherries in 
clusters, of pale red color, half tender flesh, very juicy, and sweet enough 
in dry seasons ; ripens early in June. 

The American Amber ripens the last oi June, the tree vigorous and pro- 
ductive, fruit medium size, tender flesh, of a rather sharp flavor ; skin tliin, 
light amber color, mottled with red. 

iJowninr/ 8 Red Cheeh is a very handsome and very good new cherry, 
originated by Charles Downing, of Newburg, N. Y. The fruit is large, 
white skin, with crimson cheek, or rather side, for more than half is red. 
The flesh is yellowish, sweet, and luscious, and what is termed half 
tender, ripening about the middle of June. It will undoubted]^' become a* 
favorite. 

The MayduTce Cherry is better known than some of the other good ones 
we have named. It is really the most popular sort known, as it thrives in 
all countries equally well. It is a good cooking fruit before it is fit to eat 
out of hand, and the fruit does not ripen all at once, some parts of the tree 
being several days behind others. Tlie tree grows in a handsome, upright 
form, and fruit in clusters, roundish form, dark-red skin, reddish flesh, tender, 
melting, juicy, and good-flavored when ripe. It is too often picked before 
fully ripe. In favorable seasons it begins to color, about New York, the 
last of May, but is never fully ripe in that month ; nor does it take its 
name from ripening anywhere in May, but from the province in France 
where it originated, named Medoe, which has easily been corrupted into 
Mayduke. 

The Late Dul'e is of the same character, both in tree and fruit, except the 
period of ripening, which is the latter jiart of July, and the fruit hangs on 
during the first week in August. This is esteemed a very valuable variety, 
both for eating out of hand and for cooking. 

The Archduke is another good sort, of the same general character belong- 



596 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

iiig to the family of Dukes; the flesh is light red, rich and juicy, of good 
flavor, ripening the fore part of July. 

Vail^s August Duke, as its name indicates, is a later variety, but much 
like the Mayduke in other respects. The fruit grows large, heart-shaped, 
of regular forin, and the tree is naturally prolific. 

Princess Duke, though large, good fruit, is not much cultivated, because 
the tree is such a shy bearer. 

Jeffrey's Duke is a line lively red cherry, with amber-colored flesh, rich 
and juicy, growing in thick clusters, the trees being of a slow growth, and 
tiierefore hardy and lasting. 

The Kentish CJterry is one of the old English sorts, which has been ex- 
tensively grown in tliis country near market towns on account of several 
good qualities as a marketing fruit. The tree grows pretty large, and is very 
productive. The fruit, though not ripe, is in the New York market from 
New Jersey in May, and continues through June, growing larger and better 
after it has turned quite red ; and when fully lipe is a good acid cherry, of 
medium size, round shape, always growing in paii'S. A peculiarity of this 
sort is the adhesion of the pit to the stem, which enables one to pull out the 
pit by the stem in preparing the fruit for cooking or for drying, for which 
purpose it is excellent. 

The Carnation Cherry is much esteemed by those who preserve fruit in 
spirits, making excellent "brandy-cherries," and is also good for sweetmeats. 
The fruit is large and round, and usable when of a yellowish-white color, 
mottled with i-ed, but is not ripe until nearly all red, and is then good for 
eating out of hand. The trees grow low and spreading, and bear well ; the 
fi-uit hangs on long after it is ripe, which is about July 15. 
^ Of the old variety of cherries bearing the appellation of " Heart," there 
are several worth cultivating, and we will mention one of each color. 

Early White Heart ripens first of June, medium size, skin a dull whitish 
or yellow color, and not good to eat until fully ripe, when it is specked with 
red. 

The Black Heart Cherry is an old variety, long grown in this country as 
a standard, on account of its fruitfulness and the large size and beauty of 
growtli, as an ornamental tree. The fruit is glossy purple black when ripen- 
ing, and dead black when fully ripe, of medium size, tender, rich, and sweet; 
in perfection the last of June. 

The Jied Heart is an old English sort, introduced into this country and 
much grown many years ago. It is dark red, with reddish flesh, half tender, 
and not; half as good as many other sorts. 

The Honey Cherry is a small, late variety, well worthy of a place upon 
every farm. It ripens the middle of July, and though small, the fruit is 
much esteemed, particularly by children, who love sweet fruit. One kind, 
called Sparhawke's Honey, is said to be a profuse bearer, and the tree more 
vigorous than the older sorts ; and the fruit, which is lively red when ma- 
ture, juicy and sweet, ripens in June. 



Sec. 38.] CHERRIES. 597 

The Black Mazzard is the parent of our extensive family of cherries, and 
is still adhered to bj many farmers on account of its hardiness. It is the 
wild cherry of Europe, and has become semi-wild here, as it springs up al- 
most siiontaneously. The fruit is small, roundish, on long, slender stems, 
flesh soft and melting, but the juice slightly bitter, even when ripe, and 
acid when unripe. It hangs well on the tree till late in Jul}'. 

Although Ave have not mentioned a tithe of the good cherries well worth 
cultivation, to make \ip a great variety, we have said enough, perhaps, to 
show readers how they can make iip a little assortment of this excellent 
fruit, which should find a place upon every farm; and now we will name a 
few sorts that should find a place in lawns and j'ards, as ornamental trees. 

6TJ^. Ornamental fherry-Troes. — There is a variety of cherry-trees, liearing 
double blossoms, which produce no fruit, but are very ornamental in lawns 
or grounds about the dwelling. 

Tlie kind known as the Large Double-flowering cherry throws out blossoms 
an inch and a half diameter at the time of blossoming of other cherries, and 
being so showy is quite ornamental, although producing no fruit. The 
foliage is that of the common Mazzard, but the flowers bear greater re- 
semblance to white roses than cherry-blossoms. The tree is a free grower, 
and forms a large head, so it must be allowed sufiicient room. There is, 
however, a double-flowering cherry-tree that grows cpiite dwarfish — more like 
a shrub than tree — which is very pretty, tho\igh the flowers are not so 
large and regular as the Large Double-flowering variety, but it is better 
suited to ornanient small places. There is also another kind, known as 
the Chinese Double-flowering cherry, that is medium between the large 
and dwarf sorts, which bears ■white flowers, tinged with pink, in fascicles 
and foliage, with cut edges, called serrulate, and is altogether an orna- 
mental tree. 

The Weeping or Ever-flowing cherrj' is a beautiful, small, ornamental 
tree, with slender hanging branches and myrtle-like foliage. It bears a red, 
acid fruit, which in favorable seasons continues a long time. If grafted on 
a Mazzard stock, five or six feet high, it grows into a sort of parasol-shaped 
top, the branches weeping half way to the ground. 

The native- wild cherries of this country are often grown as ornamental 
trees, but still more often are left to grow naturally about the fields and 
fences because they are ornamental, and form fine shade-trees, and aflbrd a 
good deal of food for birds. The fruit is not much used to eat out of haml, 
but is 1o a considerable extent for nuiking a poisonous decoction called 
cherry rum ; poisonous, because the pits contain the essential principle of 
prussic acid. The variety known in New England as the " Black Cherry," 
Avhich grows to a large tree in old forests, and to botanists as the Cefasus 
serotina, is the one we allude to. The Cerasus Viiyiniana is a low-growing 
shrub, which is quite ornamental both in blossom and in fruit. We have 
seen bushes only two or three feet high loaded M'iih the shining, reddish 
berries. This variety is called " choke cherry" on account of its astringent 



698 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

quality, wliicli makes it entirely unfit to eat, while the other, the common 
wild black cherry, may be, when fully ripe, eaten with satisfaction. 

675. Winter CherrieSi — We mention these in this connection simply be- 
cause they have acquired the name of cherries among common people. They 
grow upon an annual plant {Physalis viscora) of the family of Solanacce, 
and of course have no relation to the Cerasus family. The fruit has obtained 
the name of cherries from its appearance. It is of the same habit as the to- 
mato ; the fruit grows about the size of Mayduke cherries, of a yellowish or 
pale red color, inclosed in husks, or, rather, a thin, loose, skin-like semi- 
transparent covering, and it will kee]) till late in winter, if put away in its 
husks just as it grew. Some persons are very fond of these "winter cher- 
ries." To vis they are sickish sweet, and totally unlike in taste to any true 
cherry. They can be grown wherever tomatoes can, and in the same way. 

676. Grafting and Budding Cherry-Trees.— An experienced propagator 
gives the following rules for grafting the ciierry : 

''The trees should be taken up early in spring, before the swelling of the 
buds, the branches trinmied off and top cnt back to within four or five 
inches of where the head is to be inserted. They are then to be planted in 
orchard or nursery rows, to be grafted as soon as the buds are ready to break 
and until the leaf is half grown, which is the seasQu of grafting. Tiie scions 
should have been cnt in the fall or winter and kept in some cool place, so 
that they shall not have materially swelled their buds. If the stock is half 
or three fourths of an inch in diameter, cut it off at an angle of forty-five 
degrees, sq\iare off the upper part of the cut, and insert as in cleft-grafting, 
with this difference, that the knife is held at an angle so as to cut instead 
of splitting the bark ; but when the stock is of less size, make the usual splice 
graft, but without the tongue, simply putting them together and winding 
with linen thread. Cut in lengths of sixteen to eighteen inches, and protect 
by melted wax, put on with a brush. So soon as the growth indicates that 
the thread will cut into the bark, it must be cut, and cutting down through 
the thread, even into the wood, will do no harm, but the thread should not 
be removed, as the wax will hold it so as to protect the graft from blowing 
off until it is firmly knit to the stock. 

•' Do not prune too much before grafting, nor cut back the branches at the 
time of grafting ; they are to be shortened in, as the graft is capable of ab- 
sorbing the sap. Those suitable for splice-grafting can be safely pruned at 
the time. The fault in grafting the cherry has been mainly in doing the 
work before active growth. 

" Grafting the cherry and plum, even after they are in bloom, is safer than 
very early. The caution to be observed in rooted trees, is not to cut away 
too much of the top at once ; and in newly transplanted trees, deprived of 
vigor and the growth checked, it is not safe to set the graft until the growth 
is resumed. No buds or sprouts should be rubbed or cut from the tree the 
first season after transplanting." 

Most nurserymen prefer budding to grafting. They plant the common 



Seo. 38.] CHERRIES. 599 

Black Mazzard clierries to produce stock. The cherries are gathered when 
fully ripe, and allowed to lie in bulk until the pulp will wash off easily, and 
then the pits are planted at once about an inch deep in seed-beds. At a 
year from planting, set the plants in nursery rows a foot apart. The next 
August tlie plants will be in order for budding. When setting the plants 
in nursery rows, place all of equal sizes together, so that the growth will 
be even. 

677. Soil, Situation, Cultivation, History, and Uses of Cherries.— Any rich, 
dry soil will grow cherries, but a sandy or gravelly loam or rocky situation 
produces the finest fruits. In wet soils the cherry-tree is apt to decay 
young; and if the soil is very rich, the young trees are apt not to ripen the 
wood and therefore winter-kill the ends of the limbs and make scrubby 
trees, or else produce more wood than fruit. It is well to set cherry-trees 
for fruit on northern exposures, wherever they are apt to start very early in 
the spring, as that is often fatal to the crop of fruit. This was almost uiii- 
■s ersally the case in the spring of 1861 in the vicinity of New York. 

Pruning cherry-trees should always be done in midsummer, and but little 
of it, only cutting out dead branches, or those that interfere. More harm 
is done than good, as a general thing, by pruning. 

It is believed that our cultivated varieties of cherries came from Asia, first 
to Italy, and then to all other European countries. The name Cerasus comes 
from the name of the place they were brought from into Italy, more than 
liiilf a century before the commencement of the Christian era. Our stock 
came over with the early immigrants from England, Holland, Belgium, and 
France. 

As a dessert fruit, cherries are everywhere esteemed, and are better to 
eat out of hand than in any other way ; that is, the varieties that are not 
only sweet, but lusciously so, rich and delicate, and the peculiar admixture 
of sugar and acid is exceedingly refreshing. Cherries are also excellent for 
culinary purposes, both fresh and dried. Some of the sorts are so particu- 
larly applicable to the purpose that they are called pie cherries. 

In Europe, intoxicating liquor is distilled from cherries. In Germany, a 
very fieiy stuff, called kirschwasser, is made of Black Mazzard cherries, 
ground, so as to break the pits, and the mass then fermented. 

At Grenoble, France, a peculiar cordial is made of cherries, well known 
by the name of ratafia. 

In Italy, a celebrated liquor called maraschino, is made by mashing a 
small Mazzard cherry and fermenting it with pulps, pits, and leaves mixed, 
to wliich honey is added. 

In this country the common wild cherry, both the black and choke va- 
rieties, are used to make " cherry rum," which is done by filling a barrel 
half full of liquor, and then adding whole cherries to fill it, and bunging 
tight to stand a year or more. 

The wood of the cherry is hard and durable, and when this country was first 
settled, and large forest-trees of Cerasus serotina were abundant, the wood 



GOO THE OECHARD. [Chap. VI. 

was extensively used for furniture and liouse-joiuery. One locality was so 
celebrated for the abundance and size of these trees that the town took the 
name of " Ciierry Valley" (N. Y.), by which it will be known long after 
the origin of the name is forgotten. 

The gum of the cherry-tree is much like the gum known in commerce as 
gum-arabic, and is much esteemed by some for its medicinal qualities, and 
is called rich in nutritive matter, though but seldom used for either of these 
purposes. The cherry tree does not exude gum in large quantities while it 
is in a healthy condition, and when it does exude copiously, it is generally a 
sign of final decay. It is recommended to cut out gum spots when they 
first make their api>earance upon young trees, being careful to injure the 
bark as little as possible. We think it better to keep the bark clean by 
good cultivation and in a healthj' state of growth. Trees may be much im- 
proved by washing with soda or potash solution. Sometimes trees are hide- 
bound, and are benefited by slitting the bark in midsummer. The boles of 
cherry-trees sometimes burst by freezing. AVlien this happens, it is a good 
plan to pare tlie edges of the bark in spring with a sharp knife, and plaster 
the crack over with grafting clay (653). 

Cherries and plums may be safely transplanted when they are two or three 
j'ears old, but we prefer two-year-old trees to any others. 

All of our stone-fruits are liable to produce gum from their wounds, and 
this often prevents them from healing over, and the older the tree the more 
liable it is to l)ecome diseased from its wounds. This can be seen by exam- 
ining an old cherry-tree which has had a branch broken off; it takes a long 
time to heal over, if ever, while on a young tree it heals over quickly, 
scarcely leaving a sign of the accident. 

S. N. Coats, in the Gardencr''s Monthly^ says it is reported on good evi- 
dence that a cultivator of cherries has met with signal success by training 
his trees with low heads, and at the approach of winter bending down the 
lower tier of branches all around and covering them up with soil, having 
the position of the tree so that no water can stand about it. At the ap- 
proach of spring he removes the soil, and the work is done. It is stated 
that not only the branches and fruit-buds covered by the soil, but those 
left exposed to the winter's cold, are perfectly preserved fi'om' its effects. 



Sec. 39.] 



VARIETIES OF PEARS. 



601 




SECTION XXXIX.-PEARS-SOIL, SITUATION, CULTIVATION, AND 
VARIETIES. 

"EARS may be named as tlio favorite fruit cf man- 
kind. Tiioiigh not as universal as apples, nor 
quite as much sought after as peaches in their short 
season, tliey are everywhere appreciated as the best 
standard fruit we have, and in some of tlie numerous 
varieties having almost as long a season as the apple. 
The wonder is that fanners do not pay more attention to 
tlie production of such a ricli fruit — one that is not only uni- 
versally a favorite on account of its pleasant taste, but one 
that really affords a very cheap, healthy food, and can be 
grown near a market town as a profitable crop. At least, 
such is the opinion of a great many pear culturists, though 
some other persons declare that pears, as a general thing, 
can not be grown profitably. We thirds they can, and will 
try to tell liow. In the first place, select good sorts. For 
a small assortment, suitable for any farmer, the following list has been rec- 
ommended by a competent committee for the vicinity of New York : 

678. Varieties to Grow, and Cultivation. — Summer Pears. — Doyenne d'Ete, 
Dearborn's Seedling, Beurre Giftard, Rostizer, Tyson. 

Autumn. — Bartlett, Seckel, Beurre d'Anjou, Beurre Superfin, Doyenne 
Boussock, Duchesse d'Angouleme (on quince), Flemish Beauty, Fondante 
d'Automne, Speldoii, Urbaniste. 

Winter. — Beurre Gris d'lliver Nouveau, Lawrence, Vicar of Winkfiekl. 

Some of the committee were anxious to place the Beurre Bosc high on 
the list of pears, and if it was uniformly as good with others as it always is 
with Mr LLaycs of New Jersey and some few other cultivators, it could 
with propriety head the list of late fall varieties. "VVe recommend all ama- 
teurs to try this also, and if they succeed in bringing it to full perfection, 
they will have a pear in size, beauty, and quality inferior to no other. 

In the second place, give your pear-trees deep, generous tillage, by which 
is meant a trenching and manuring of the soil from one and a half to three 
feet deep. In other countries, where labor is cheaper and fruits dearer than 
they are here, this work is often extended to a depth of four feet, receiving 
a profitable return even from so small a fruit-bearing plant as the straw- 
berry. It is from a want of such cultivation that the finest j)ear-trees taken 
from our nurseries often die or come to nothing. The}' have "no deepness 
of earth," " no root," and, as a natural consequence, they share the fate of 
the wasted seed of the parable. 

The following rules are also important : 

1st. Cultivatinjr or mulching the surface around the trees for a distance 



602 THE OECHARD. [Chap. VI. 

equal, at least, to the drip of their branches. But especial care shonkl be 
laken to avoid the slightest bruising of the roots, and the mulch must not 
be so thick and heavy as to smother them. 

2d. Uiider-drainage, wherever the subsoil is of a retentive nature. But 
all covered drains, whether of tiles or stones, should be not less than three 
feet deep — no less than six or eight feet distant from the trunks of the 
trees ; for many a fine tree set out directly above a shallow underground 
conduit has been poisoned to death by the foul air therein contained. 

3d. Thinning of the fruit, especially of the class of trees known as great 
bearers. 

Pruning may be performed at any season of the year ; but the best time 
is believed to be about the longest days of summer, while the worst effects 
tliat happen arise from using the saw or knife during the full flow of sap 
in the spring. An exception, however, must be made in cases where it is 
considered necessary to liead in a newly planted tree. 

As to the kind of soil, almost any thoroughly drained soil will answer, but 
a dry one is absolutely necessary. A true loam, or sandy one, if enriched, 
will answer a good purpose. A rocky or gravelly soil, fertile for grass and 
other farm-crops, is good for pears. A hillside is generally considered a 
favorable situation ; and in all localities affected by late spring frosts, a 
northerly slope is recommended, on acccunt of keeping back the buds, which 
are apt to start during early warm days in southern exposures. 

679. Rules for Pear Culturei — A cultivator of pears in Missouri gives the 
following as his rules for pear cultivation. He says : 

" In the fruit countries of old Europe, pears are generally more plentiful 
than apples, and easier to raise. They will not do quite so well here, but 
would do a great deal better if the following rules were observed, by fol- 
lowing which I have no difficulty in raising sound trees that bear well, un- 
less, perchance, a late frost or very heavy showers of rain injure the 
blossoms. 

" 1st. For position, I prefer the northern slope of a hill, otherwise the 
northern corners of a fence running west and east. 

" 2d. The soil should be rather heavy than light, yet permeable to a depth 
of at least three feet or more ; not altogether wet, but not too dry. 

" 3d. The growth of the pear-tree should be only moderately rank ; by the 
end of June the young shoots ought to cease growing. Do not manure your 
pear-trees nor stimulate their growth by much cultivation of the ground, 
unless they appear to grow too poorly. Do not stir the ground or remove 
the grass during hot and dry weather. 

"4th. The lower the head is formed, the sounder the tree will be. Such 
varieties as the Seckel, growing in the shape of a poplar, might liave their 
lower branches one and a half feet from the ground ; others are best at three 
feet. 

" 5th. Bend the lower limbs toward the southwest, to make them fully 
shade the trunk and ground around it. If that can not well be done, cover 



Sec. 39.] GROWING 'PEAnS. 603 

the ground round the trunk witli half-rotten straw, and keep the trunk en- 
veloped with straw, rags, or even paper during summer. 

"6th. Do not trim much ; a hearing tree will generally help itself with- 
out much pruning. 

" 7th. In setting out your pear-trees, make a deep and wide hole, fill up 
with ordinarily rich ground, then plant not deeper than the young tree had 
been in the ground before. 

" 8th. Urine is good manure for jjear-trees when applied in the winter 
time. 

" Fine pears can be profitably raised at a dollar a bushel. Plant Seckel, 
White Doyenne, Kapoleou, Bartlett, Beurre Bose, etc., all good bearers, 
and yielding delicious fruit. 

" Thus far goes my experience in Missouri."' 

Thos. W. Field, of Brooklyn, author of a work on pears, says : " Near 'New 
York city we can not grow apples to any profit. So it is with every crop ; it 
must be adapted to suitable soil and climate. Within fifty miles around New 
York the pear grows to perfection, with the exception of a few kinds. The 
pear-tree here has a great longevity. The peach is ephemeral. Apple-trees 
endure in a scraggy form, but unproductive. Cherries and plums are short- 
lived, while pear-trees are found everywhere al)0ut here of great size and ao-e." 

680. Size and Improvement of Pears.— The original pear, like the apple, 
was very unlike the improved sorts now known to us. Something like it 
may be seen here and there growing in a semi-wild state, called choke 
pears, a sort only eatable when cooked. 

The pear has been a cultivated fruit a great length of time. It was so among 
the Romans at an early period — so history tells us ; and it was also known 
to Syria, Egypt, and Greece. Pliny speaks of numerous varieties, some of 
which were, by his description, as delicate and agreeable as they are at the 
present day. There were also early and late pears, some df which were used 
for only baking. Probably the Romans did not better understand the art 
of ripening pears in a fruit-room than most of our farmers, some of whom 
have no idea that some pears, which are uneatable in autumn can be ripened 
artificially into perfect lusciousness. 

We knew an instance illustrative of this fact. A pear culturist saw a 
farmer in jSTew York market with a couple of bushels of " winter pears," 
which he recommended as "good for baking." Our friend saw at a glance 
what these " winter pears" were, and bought the lot at a very low price, 
because, as the owner said, " seems as though nobody wanted baking pears." 
He had, however, met with a customer who did, and who paid him a dollar a 
bushel and took them home and stored them in his fruit-room. In January 
following he brought them to a Broadway fruit-dealer, and sold them by 
count at a price equal to over $20 a bushel. So much for knowing what to 
do with choice fruit. 

Pear-trees do not appear to be native to this country, though flourishing 
well in almost every locality, and sometimes attaining great age. The "old 



604 THE t)RCHARD. [Chap VI. 

Stuyvesaiit pear-tree," still standing at the corner of Third Avenue and 
Thirteenth Street, Xew York, lias borne several crops of fruit since it attained 
the respectable age of two hundred years, having been planted by the old 
Dutch Governor Stuy vesant upon his farm, tlien a long wa}' out of New 
York city, or rather the little hamlet that has since attained to its city 
dignity and size, and has absorbed the old governor's farm, and many others 
miles farther from the starting-point at the old Battery. 

There is a remarkable old pear-tree near Vincennes, Indiana, on the other 
side of the Wabash. The trunk girts ten feet above the swell of the roots, 
and more than half that nine feet above the ground, and it has yielded one 
hundred and eighty bushels of pears in a single season, and every year gives 
a great product of early autumn pears of fair quality; some who never 
tasted better ones think them excellent. If the quality was like the Bart- 
lett, Flemish Beauty, Seckel, or some other choice autumn pears, or Easter 
Beurre, Do3'enne d'PIiver, Lawrence, Winter ISTelis, or other choice winter 
pear.-^, which often bring $5 to §10 a bushel, what an enormous money pro- 
duct this one tree would give its owner! And if other trees would not give 
as much, it is certainly for the encouragement of all farmers to plant pear- 
trees to know how long they will live, and how much they will produce in 
quantity- and value. 

In England, France, and Belgium, pears are largely grown for the same 
purpose that cider-apples are here, the fermented juice, called Perry, being 
much used as a beverage. The fruit is also dried, and extensively used as 
an article of food. It is so, to a limited extent, in some parts of this country ; 
and so it is for cooking in various ways, and preserving in air-tight cans, but 
its great value is for a dessert fruit, and for this purpose none are suitable 
but those sorts having a soft texture and buttery, melting flesh filled with 
sugary juice and delicious aromatic flavor, of which we consider the Seckel 
the type. 

681. Wheu to Gather aud how to Ripen Pears. — One of the most common 
mistakes with those who grow pears, particularly among farmers who have 
not, as a general thing, studied much upon the subject, is in letting the fruit 
hang upon the tree to ripen. With some of the best sorts of winter pears 
this is simply impossible, and with nearly all of the best varieties it is im- 
politic, because the fruit is far better when picked before it is ripe, and 
mat«i"ed in the house. Of late many people have built fruit-rooms on pur- 
pose to ripen the choicest varieties both of pears and apples. Some pears 
that are almost worthless when allowed to hang ujson the tree, arc excellent 
when artificially ripened. 

The time to gather pears which are to be ripened in a fruit-room, or in 
default of such a room, in a dry, sweet cellar, or in a cool upper I'ooni, may 
be judged by Avatching for the ripening of those which have been injured 
by worms and a few prematurely ripening specimens. Then all that appear 
full-grown may be gathered and placed singly on shelves, or on the floor 
of the room where they are to ripen. Sometimes the pears show maturity 



Sko. 39.] AVHEN' TO GATHER PEARS. 605 

by a change of color, or by a disposition to fall from the twig upon a very 
slight touch. Then, if taken into the house, they -will gradually attain their 
proper ct)lor, and will possess a richness never attainable on the tree. Pears 
ripened indoois will mature more gradually than upon the tree, so that you 
will have the fruit in perfection nuich later. 

Tiiere is another important advantage to be gained by this indoor ripening. 
A thief will seldom strip a tree of hard, uneatable pears. He probably does 
not know the art of ripening them, and if he does, has not the conveniences. 
Besides, he has not the opportunity that the owner has to know when is the 
proper time to gather them. The owner may therefore frequently save the 
crop by his superior knowledge and ability to gather it while quite unfit to 
eat, and ripen it in a safe store-room. 

Some of the latest winter peai's, like late winter apples, should be allowed 
to hang as long as tlie state of the M'eather will admit. The finest sort for 
the table should be vei'y carefully handled, and wrapped each in a piece of 
soft paper, and packed in barrels, or boxes of smaller dimensions than a 
barrel, and stored in a dry room — not in the cellai- — just barely warm enough 
not to freeze, where they should remain till about two M^eeks before the 
time required for use, and then ripened in a warm room, keeping them 
covered to prevent shriveling. In this way some pears, that are natu- 
rally tough, become tender and delicious. When brought into a warm 
room to finish ripening, the temperature should be kept at about 60 or 70 
degrees. 

There are some pears that may be gathered and treated exactly like winter 
apples, and they will ripen just as well. The one called D'Aremberg is of 
this kind. The Glou Morceau, Columlua, Redding, Easter Benrre, Char- 
monte, and Vicar of "Winkfield grow well near New York, and there is no 
difficulty in any farmer in AYestchester County producing fine crops of these 
winter pears as easily as winter apples. 

In sending pears to market, great care should be used in putting them up 
neatly. 

A person who grows pears some distance from this city had a quantity of 
Louise Bonne de Jersey, which is only a second-rate pear, and he put them 
up in such a neat manner, one dozen in a box, that they sold at .$.5 to $7 a 
hundred. This shows how imjjortant it is to know how to put up fruit for 
market. 

682. Fears and Poultry. — There appears to be a coimection between pears 
and poultry which is worth inquiring about. Messrs. B. & S. Beatty, of 
Aurora, New York, have a very large poultry establishment ; they fatten 
and prepare tuns of poultry for market every year. Of course they have a 
good deal of the very best manure, the feathers forming no mean portion 
of it. They grow, probably in consequence of using this manure, remark- 
ably fine, large, rich pears ; and the richness of them is not the mos:: re- 
markable thing, for some of the Seckels were the largest we ever saw, and 
were, they said, a fair sample of many grown on two standard trees, standing 



606 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

near a stone ash-house, which consequently get plenty of alkalies. They are 
also dug around and manured. 

Does tlie keeping of lai'ge numbers of fowls have a tendency to lessen the 
ravages of cuiculio ? Tliat is a question worthy of more attention. 

683. Pear Blight. — That something to increase the production of this 
valuable fruit is M'orth thinking about is very certain. The greatest difficulty 
appears to be in what is familiarly known as ^)(?a?' hlight. This mysterious 
disease of the jsear-tree has, so far, baffled all tlie arts of pear culturists, and 
more than anything else has deterred men from extending their attempts to 
produce larger quantities. 

684. Seedliug Pears. — It is thought by some that if we should pay more 
attention to seedlings we should be more free from disease. Independent of 
this, there is great encouragement to grow seedlings, since some of our 
valuable varieties are such. The Tyson pear was found in a hedge near 
Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. It is thus described : 

"Fruit small, roundish, jiyriform, irregular; color yellow, shaded red to 
the sun, russeted, and numerous black specks ; stem long, slender, inserted 
without depression ; calyx large, in a shallow basin ; flesh fine-grained, 
sugary, melting, aromatic ; season, from the middle to tlie end of August. 
Mr. Barry believes it to be a cross between the Madeline and Seckel." 

A remarkably good summer pear, brought into notice within a few years 
by Mr. Charles F. Erhard, of Ravenswood, opposite this city, on Long 
Island, originated from a small tree found in the woods and transplanted to 
the garden, where it fruited and proved one of the very best early sorts 
known. It is smaller than the Seckel, but nearly as rich, and is a summer 
pear, while that is an' autumn one. 

685. Cau Farmers Grow Pears as a Profltable Crop ?— Lewis F. Allen, of 
Black Rock', N. Y., has written a good deal in the Horticulturist and New 
York Tribune to prove the negative of this question. He is a well-known 
farmer, stock-raiser, and agricultural writer, and his opinions are entitled to 
respect. He says : 

"There are some localities in the country where the pear once flourished, 
but now they have all, or nearly all, died out; and newly planted trees are 
refractory, or, if growing for a few years, then dying away, and ])roving an 
unprofitable object of cultivation. 

^'' Seco7id, There are certain localities in the United States where pears still 
appear to be successful ; but those localities are limited in number, and no 
one disposed to embark in pear culture should do so unless assured, from a 
limited trial of his own, or the experience of others in that locality, that it 
is favorable to their growth and longevity. 

" Third, The dwai-f, or the pear worked on the quince to any extent, is a 
recent introduction in this country ; and although millions of trees have been 
propagated and sold by nurserymen, peai's are still scarce and dear fruit in 
market, and not at all abundant on the tables of their cultivators. 

^^ Fourth, Although thousands of both, on their own stocks and on the 



Sko. 39.] IS IT PROFITABLE TO GROW PEARS? 607 

quince, have been jjlanted in my own vicinity, I do not now know of a single 
orchard of any size that has not proved a failure, so far as either profit or 
general success is concerned. Such is the experience, not only in my own 
neighborhood for many miles around, but in diiiereiit parts of this and other 
States. 

'''■ Fifrh, Some ten years ago, partaking of the entliusiasm which pre- 
vailed for dwarf pear culture, 1 planted out an orchard of about six hundred 
trees, togclher with a few hundred on their own stocks, or standards, on my 
.Grand Island farm, situated in the Niagara River, and fronting it on the 
east, about four miles from the outlet of Lake Erie. The land has been re- 
cently (about twenty years) cleared from the original forest ; well elevated 
(fifteen to twentj-'five feet) above the water, gently declining toward the 
stream ; rich in phosphates, a clayey loam soil, the best possible for both 
quinces and pears, each on their own stocks, and on which I had them, with 
many apple-trees, growing successfully for some years ; the pear, however, 
with the drawbacks already named. On this pear-orchard site I had pre- 
viously cultivated in succession good crops of corn, oats, barley, wheat, pota- 
toes, sugar-beet, mangel-wurzel, beans, carrots, and parsneps. It was well 
surface-drained, naturally rich, and highly manured with barn-yard dung. 
I obtained my dwarf trees from several diiferent nurseries — of a celebrated 
Rochester one among others, to the number of one hundred and fifty, cer- 
tain, if not more, good-looking trees. Some of the trees were unpromising 
in appearance; some so-so; some very good ; but such as they were, with a 
previous preparation of the ground with a well-cultivated potato crop, I 
planted faithfully and well, imder my own immediate eye and hand. The 
trees were properly pruned and cut back, both at root and top, according to 
the authorities. The first year the trees, on an average, grew well, but few 
dying. The next year more died, which I replanted with new trees from 
the nurseries, some uf them imported, and said b}' the venders to be better 
than those of domestic origin and growth. Some of the trees by this time 
bore fruit, fair in appearance and quality ; and although I cultivated them 
well, and according to the books, they still continued to die. The cause of 
their death was an occasional ' fire blight' striking them promiscuously over 
the field, yet often by a sort of bark and leaf blight, or canker, appearing 
in black blordies, diseasing the bark, leaves, and twigs — at all events they 
died, although they were hoed repeatedly, and manure was forked in, and 
the ground turned up for several feet around their roots every year. In that 
orchard, although but of six hundred living trees at any time, I planted out 
about fifteen hundred while it lasted — that is to say, I replanted nine hun- 
dred to keep the orchard. Some of the trees, of the first planted, grew well, 
bore well, and flourished to the end. In short, they were a mixed-up collec- 
tion of good, bad, and doubtful growth — all of the ' best' varieties in fruit, 
and dying out in about like proportions of the various qualities, in appear- 
ance of the trees as they came from the nurseries. To cut this long story 
short, after about eight years of this point-no-point experience, in the fail of 



608 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

1855 the whole country became infested with myriads of field mice, and 
during the succeeding winter immense havoc was made tliroughout the 
nurseries and oi'chards by them, and they cut down nearly all my pear or- 
chard, both dwarf and standard, and thus terminated my hitherto very 
doubtful labors in that line ! 

" Now M-hether, liad the mice let my trees alone, I should have reached 
any final success, I do not know. I do not believe I should, judging by the 
practice and experience of my neighbors since. I sold and marketed a good 
many pears while my orchard existed ; but the price I obtained led me to 
abate very much of my confidence in the public valuation of a good pear. 
Three dollars a bushel is the highest price I ever knew the best Bartletts to 
sell for. A'^irgalicus, which, by the way, are apt to crack and spot all over 
the country, are scarcely worth four to five dollars when good ; and Seckels, 
the best of all, though inferior in size and appearance, bring no more, on 
account of their looks; and no better pears, in their season, than the above 
three, are grown. 

"I liave mentioned the apparent diseases which have killed the dwarf 
pears, both my own and those whicli I have observed in other grounds, with 
tlie exception that many of them blew down, being dislocated at the point 
of junction on the quince stocks. But the gist of the want of success in the 
culture of the dwarf, in my opinion, is this : 

'^ Siact/i, A want of compatibility in tlie open-pored, thrifty wood of the 
pear to unite with the close-pored, small wood of the quince. The pear, in 
its natural estate, is a large tree, gi'owing, at full maturity, fifty feet high 
and two feet and upward in diameter. Consequently, when the pear is 
worked on tiie quince stock, and growing thriftily, as it does for a few years, 
it tlien demands more sap than the quince root and stock can furnish ; it 
then stops growing at all, or the growth is feeble and sickly ; and it is no 
secret to say that when a young tree of any kind lacks for nutriment, 
although it may, for such lack, go to bearing fruit, yet, if no young wood 
can be formed to still grow on to its natural stature, such tree must, in com- 
pliance with its pliysical nature, become diseased and die. It is an unnatu- 
ral forced life which has been put upon it. Neither soil, climate, nor any- 
thing else wliich man can do, can long perpetuate its existence. And 
although extraordinary efforts or circumstances may prolong its life for a 
few years on tlie quince alone, unless it can strike its own roots from above 
the junction of the quince into the soil, so as to give it new expansion and 
support, it must die. The opposite formations and natures of the pear and 
quince refuse to join and become an inter-knitted wood, as the woods of two 
varieties of the same species, as the apple, pear, or quince, separately, 
will do when grafted or budded into each other ; and tiius the pear and 
quince, so worked, years afterward, in most cases, will be found to be 
only partially joined at the bark and a portion of the sap-wood, the body 
of the dift'erent woods still preserving tlieir own difi'erent form and 
habit. An occasional exception may be found in the case of a small-grow- 



Sso. 39.] CULTURE OF DWARF PEARS. GU'J 

ing, close-grained pear-wood worked on a very tbriftj, open-pored quince, 
but rarely. 

" And this I conceive to be the grand difficulty and cause of disease and 
death in tlie dwarf pear, and, of course, the want of success in their cultiva- 
tion ; for they have been years cultivated in ground immediately adjoining 
tiirifty growing and bearing pear and quince trees, standing on their own 
roots, with not half the cultivation and pains given to the dwarfs, while the 
latter have become diseased and died. Now, if the quince would grow and 
thrive on its own roots and tops, why not on its own roots with a pear top, 
if my theory is wrong? Analogous to working the pear on the quince is 
the long-exploded practice of grafting or budding the pear on the common 
wild thorn. It used to be practiced in old times, when, for a temporary 
inirpose, our farmers wanted a pear in sliorter time than it would bear on its 
own stock. But although they succeeded for a few years, they M-ere short- 
lived and unprofitable. The quince, although fibrous rooted and more tena- 
cious of life tlian the thorn, and therefore easier worked and transplanted, 
I consider in the same category when permanent pear-orcharding is the 
object." 

There arc others who contend just as strongly that dwarf pears can be 
profitably cultivated ; and one writer, who visited Mr. Allen's farm, insists 
that he failed because the orchard was located upon the bleak eastern shores 
(if Grand Island, in the Niagara Kivcr, on a level, stiflf agricultural clay that 
liad never been under-drained, and probably, as it was recently-cleared forest 
land, never deeply plowed, and so full of water that mosses and coarse sedge 
grasses (calex) were found growing in the sod, and lichens upon the young 
trees, and the recently turned-up earth dried in the sun almost as hard as 
sun-dried brick. 

Now let this fact be remembered by all who would grow pears, either as 
dwarfs or standards, that land naturally cold must be warmed ; naturally 
wet, must be drained — not upon the surface, but three or four feet below ; 
naturally stiff land must be ameliorated, and made as friable for pears as for 
garden vegetables ; and land naturally poor will not grow pears any more 
than naturally ricli land will that is suffered to grow weeds and grass till the 
life is choked out of the trees, or eaten out in winter by mice. 

And let this other fact also be remembered, that signal failures liave 
occurred, upon soil aj^parcntly suitable, with no lack of care and cult'vation. 

The above facts and arguments in opposition to cultivation of dwarf jiear.^, 
or, rather, both dwarf and standard, may be all facts at BuflFalo, and quite 
the reverse at Boston, as the following statement from that vicinity will 
show : 

6S6. The Weight and Culture of Dwarf Pears. — "When we come to speak 
of luscious pears weighing from half a pound upward, we are conscious of 
presenting weighty arguments in favor of their culture. The merits of the 
little trees which load themselves with fruit when they have scarcely a 
growth shoulder high, are not appreciated by our farmers. If they were. 



610 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

we should not see so many risking all their chances for fruit on standard 
trees that may bear in seven years or seventeen, as the case may be, when 
they could have it in three or four from dwarfs. It will be a novelty to 
most of our farmer friends, we presume, to learn that we have seen pears, 
enumerated in the following list, sold to rich people at one dollar apiece, 
and that it is quite a common thing for them to be sold at 18 to 25 cents 
each. This enormous folly does not result from the extreme tenderness 
and a necessary rarity of dwarf pears, but from the fact that the ease and 
profit of their production are not fairly known. Generally speaking, it is as 
easy to raise dwarf pears as apples ; while their early fruiting, and the 
small garden space they require, commend them to the favorable notice of 
the smallest landholder. It has often been asserted, and as frequently de- 
nied, that dwarf pears weighing above tliree quarters of a pound are com- 
monly raised. The Worcester (Mass.) Horticultural Society have settled 
the question by the aid of steelyards. They took the fairest specimens of 
several varieties shown at the fairs of 1850 and 1860, and found a marked 
difference in their weight in the two years. It appears that this year, in 
twenty-four sjjecimens, the aggregate gain since tiie former year has been 
forty -seven ounces, or about two ounces to the pear. Of course, the remark- 
able increase is in part owing to a very favorable season, but probably 
much more to improved cultivation. 



Weight in 1850. 1S60. 
oz. oz. 

Andrews 8.V 7 .J 

Beune d'Anjou lO" 1 1 { 

Beurre Clairgeau 12J 14 J 

Beurre Gris d'Hiver 7| 10' 

Beurre Montgeron 5 Of 

Beurre Bosc 8 9| 

BeuiTe Diet lU 15 

Beurre Langelier 5" 8i 

Belle Lucrative 8 10| 

Buffum 5 6i 

Doyenne de Cornice Git Ill 

Doyenne Boussocli 9' 14" 



Weight in 1850. 1860. 

Duchesse 12 1 8i 

E;ister Beurre 7 10 

B^ulton 4 5 

Flemish Beauty 12 13 

Gansel's Bcrgamot 5 7} 

Glou Morceau 9 12.; 

Henry IV 4J 5" 

Paradise d'Automne 5 6} 

Seckel 3J 4J 

St. Michael 6 6* 

Urbaniste 9 10 

Winter Nelis 5 J 5.V 



"Three varieties only of acknowledged merit were exhibited in 1860 that 
were inferior to the specimens of 1850, viz., Duchesse d'Orleans, Sheldon, 
and Zcpherin Gregoire. 

" The following is the weight of a few other leading varieties exhibited 
that year, of which no specimens were shown in 1850 \vorthy of particular 
notice. Several of them have probably seldom, if ever, been surpassed : 



Lawrence (i.V 

Marie Louise 8| 

Swan's Orange 14{ 

SieuUe 9J 



Bartlett 12 

Beurre Nantais 83 

Beurre Superfin 1 3.j 

Dix 

St. Michael Archange 7 J 

687. List of Pears for Cultivation. — "We copy the following list from 
"Downing's Fruits and Fruit-Trees," as a guide for persons desii-ous of 
making up a good assortment, ripening in succession from harvcsNtinie till 
spring, the winter pears, of course, being carefully stored for ripening. 



Seo. 39.] LIST OF CHOICE PEARS. 611 

"Pears to Ripen ifi Succession from, July to April. — Doyenne d'E'e, Made- 
line, Bloodgood, Dearborn's Seedling, Beurre Gitford, Rostizer, Ott, Bart- 
lett, Tyson, Osbands' Summer, Belle Lucrative, Flemish Beauty, Beurre 
Bosc, Doyenne White, Doyenne Boussock, Beurn5 d'Anjou, Seckcl, Urba- 
niste. Church, Beurre Diel, Dix, Beurre Langclier, Lawrence, Winter Nelis, 
Beurre d'Arcmberg, Beurre Gris d'lliver, Nouveau, Easter Beurre. 

'■'■ Pears for a Cold Cliinatc. — Doyenne d'Ete, Bloodgood, Rostizer, Ful- 
ton, Heathcote, Buffum, Benrre Bosc, Flemish Beauty, Louise Bonne de 
Jersey (on quince). Belle Lucrative, L^rbanis'e, McLaughlin, Dix, Beurre 
Diel, Bcune d'Amanlis, White Doyenne, Lewis, AVinter IS^elis, Prince's 
St. Germain, Glou Moreeau (on quince), Jaminette, Vicar of Winkfield, 
Doyenne d'lliver, Nouveau. 

" Pears for Dwarfs on Quince <StocA'.s.— Belle Lucrative, Beurre d'Aman- 
lis, Beurre Diel, Beurre Langelier, Beurre d'Anjou, Duchesse d'Angoi;- 
lenie, Doyenne d'Ete, Doyenne Boussock, Easter Beurie, Figue d'Alen^on, 
Glou Moreeau, Louise Bonne de Jersey, Napoleon, Nouveau, Poiteau, Ros- 
tizer, Soldat, Laboureur, St. Michael Archange, Urbaniste, Uvedale's St. 
Germain or Pound (for baking). Vicar of Winkfield, White Doj'enne." 

A list of pear-trees of fine appearance, of vigorous growth, ||f a natural 
pyramidal shape (or easily kept in that form), of good bearing disposition, 
with fruit of good or best quality ; in a word, best adapted to a lawn or 
garden walk, where ornament and beauty are required, as well as the more 
essential qualities of a pear-tree, given by Louis E. Berckmans : 

Beurre Langelier, Beurre Superfin, Belle Lucrative, Esperine, Fig of 
Angiei's, Glou Moreeau, Nouveau, Poiteau, St. Michael Archange, Ur- 
baniste, Vicar of Winkfield, Andrews, Buffum, Belle Epine, Dun^as, Cap- 
sheaf, Frederika Bremer, Kingsessing, Lawrence, Onondaga, Oswego Beurre, 
Sterling, Walker. 

With the above lists always at hand for reference, no one can be at a loss 
what to select so as to make a good assortment either for family iise or to 
grow as a crop for market. If you liave room for only one tre.e, you may 
safely choose the Bartlett. For a second sort, take the Seckel. The best 
early pear is the Rostizer, and perhaps next best. Dearborn's Seedling. The 
Flemish Beauty is an excellent pear, and the trees hardy, and good bearers. 
Winter pears will not give as general satisfaction to farmers as summer and 
autumn ones, because they really require a good deal of skill and exjierieuce 
to riDsn thena to perfection. 



612 



THE ORCHARD. 



[Chap. VI. 




SECTION XL-PLUMS, NECTARINES, APRICOTS, MULBERRIES, AND 
OTHER FRUITS-TRANSPORTING FRUIT. 



HE parent of onr cultivated jjlums came from Asia and 
the soutli of Europe, and as iLis fruit lias almost ceased to 
a, J pay for cultivation on account of disease and insects 
Y^ wliicli infest tlie trees, it is matter of interest to in- 
^^ quire whether we should not look to llie sorts native 
to American soil and flourishing in a wild state from Maine to 
Florida, and up to the Lakes and over the Rocky Mountains. 
There are three principal varieties of wild plums in this 
country, all of which are good, tliough not as good as tlic 
improved sorts in cultivation. They are named and de- 
scribed by Downing as follows: 

" I. The Chickasaw Plum {Prunus Chicasa, Michanx), 
Fruit about three fourths of an inch in diameter, round, and 
red, or yellowish red, of a pleasant, sub-acid flavor; ripens 
pretty early ; skin thin. The branches are thorny, the head rather bushy, 
with narrow lanceolate, serrulate leaves, looking at a little distance some- 
what like those of a j)each-treG. It usually grows about twelve or fourteen feet 
high, but on the prairies of Arkansas it is only three or four feet high, and 
in this form it is also common in Texas. The Dwarf Texas Plum, described 
by Kenrick, is only this sjiecies. It is quite ornamental. 

" IT. Wild Eed or Yellow Plum {P. Americana, Marsliall). Fruit round- 
ish oval, skin thick, reddish orange, with a juicy, yellow, sub-acid pulp. 
The leaves are ovate, coarsely serrate, and the old branches rough and some- 
what thorny. Grows in liedges and l)y the banks of streams from Canada 
to the Gulf of Mexico. Tree from ten to fifteen feet high. Fruit ripens in 
July and August. 

"III. The Beach Phim, or Sand Plum {P. maritima, Wang). A low 
shrub, with stout, straggling branches ; found Uiostly on the sandy sea-coast 
from Massachusetts to Virginia, and seldom ripening well elsewhere. 
Fruit roundish, scarcely an inch in diameter, red or purple ; covered with a 
bloom ; ideasant but somewhat astringent. Leaves oval, finely serrate." 

688. Soil, Climate, and f ultivatioii for Plums.— That the soil and climate are 
well adapted to the growth of cultivated plums is fully proved by the natural 
growth of these wild sorts, and if we could get rid of the enenries of the 
plum, we could raise all that could be eaten fresh, and a great surplus for nse 
dry, or for exportation in the form of what are called "prunes"— that is, 
dried plums. 

Unlike pears, plums should be fully ripened on the tree, whether for eat- 



Sec. 40.] CULTIVATION OF PLUMS. 613 

iiig out of hand, or drying, or making into sweetmeats. For drying, the 
phims are halved, the stone extracted, and the fruit dried in the sun, or iu 
slow ovens, or a drying-room. Sec 349. 

Prunes are largely imported into America, principally from Fiance, tlie 
best coming from tlie neighborhood of Tours, made of tiie St. Catherine 
plum, and Prune d'Agen, and Perdrigon Blanc, the Brignole, and Prune 
d'Ast. The plums are allowed to ripen on the trees until they will fall upon 
being lightly shaken. Tiic plums are laid upon wicker-work forms in the 
sun several days, which softens them, and then shut up in a spent oven 
twenty-four hours, and then taken out and the oven re-heated, and as they are 
now considerably dried they will bear a greater heat, and this is again re- 
peated witli increased heat. What is termed "rounding," which gives the 
prunes of commerce their particular form, is done after drying, though wliile 
still soft, by turning the pit half round by the fingers, without breaking the 
skin, and pressing in the long ends by a pinch between the thumb and 
finger, after which they are dried and packed. 

In picking the finest kind of plums for the table, the French are very 
particular not to touch tlie fruit. Each one is broken off from the twig by 
the thumb and finger, and laid upon vine-leaves in a broad basket, so as not 
to touch each other. Care is taken to pick them a day or two in advance 
of using, and tlie early morning hour is selected, so as to jireserve tlie 
bloom. In the fruit-room they grow mellow and attain the highest per- 
fection. 

The propagation of fine varieties is generally rather difficult, except by 
experienced nurserymen. The pits of wild plums, or those of any free- 
growing sort, are planted while fresh in beds (damsons are not free-grow- 
ing), and the next year the largest jjlants are transferred to nursery-rooms, 
first reducing tops and the tap-roots. The following July tliese may be 
budded. Insert tlie buds on the north side of the stock, and tie light, and 
do not be disappointed if half do not grow. 

Plum-trees require but little pruning, but the fruit is always improved by 
thinning Out. 

The best soil is rather a heavy loam, and the trees flourish well upon the 
banks of ponds and streams, and some suppose that in such situations the 
fruit escapes the curculio. It is a general opinion that curculios are much 
more troblcsome on sandy soils than upon soils of a more compact nature ; 
and it is asserted by some that a close pavement under a plum-tree is tlie 
best remedy for this pest. 

One of the best manures for plum-trees is salt-water marsh-mud. In the 
absence of such, the mud of a fresh swamp may be beneficially used, with 
an addition of salt, at the rate of from half a peck to a peck to e;;ch tree. 
This should be applied in winter or early spring. 

Seedling plums of such rare excellence have been so often produced, 
that we recommend every one who succeeds in growing them to plant 
every year a few seeds, and nurse the plants up to a period of fruit-bearing. 



614 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

It is possible you may get a seedling not only of good quality, but one not 
so liable to be destroyed by tlie little beetle called plum-weevil, or curculio, 
against whicli no certain remedy has been discovered, though several " in- 
fallible" remedies have been from time to time published, the best of which 
is to spread a sheet under tlie tree, and then by a sudden jar, as by a stroke 
of a mallet, shake down tlie insects, and gather and burn them. This rem- 
edy, to be effectual, must be continued every day for at least a month, and 
perhaps all the months of May and June. 

Making tiie plum-orchard a pig and j^oultry-yard in the same inclosure is 
recomn:ended as one of the best preventives of curculio. 

Covering the ground with a thick coat of clay mortar, and picking up all 
the fallen fruit and destroying it, is highly recommended. 

Lime and sulphur is another remedy. To a barrel of -whitewash add 
eighteen double handfuls of sulphur, and apply the liquid with a syringe to 
the trees as soon as the fruit is set, and continue to apply it every two or 
three days for four or five M-eeks. 

The black knot, which so disfigures plum-trees, it is pretty well settled, 
arises from this same insect, so tliat any remedy that Avill save the fruit will 
also prevent the appearance of the black knot. 

GSD. Selection of Choice Varieties of Plums.— The list of really good plums 
has become so large, that one needs some guide in making a selection. The 
following list is given from good authority (Downing) : 

Eivers' Early Favorite, Green Gage, Imperial Ottoman, Jefferson, 
Lawrence's Favorite, Purple Favorite, Purple Gage, Coe's Golden Drop, 
McLaughlin, Imperial Gage, Howard's Favorite, Prince's Yellow Gage, 
Prune d'Agen, Peine Claude de Bevay, Schuyler Gage. 

The most popular, and for substantial reasons, of all the list is the Green 
Gage. It is high-flavored, and everywhere esteemed. It is one of the old 
sorts, having been named Queen Claude, in France, in the reign of Francis 
I., say about 1520. It took the name of Green from its color when ripe, and 
Gage from an English family of that name, who introduced it from the 
gardens of the monks of Chartreuse. It afterward acquired the title of the 
" Best Plum in England." The fruit is hardly medium size, round, with a 
yellowish-green skin, often dotted red at full maturity. The suture is 
faintly marked, the stem slender, slightly inserted, less than an inch in 
length. The flesh of the plum is also of a pale-green color, and separates 
freely from the stone, and is juicy, melting, luscious, sprightly, and ripe in 
August. 

There are many seedlings of the Green Gage, none of which are superior 
to the original. 

Some of the other favon'tes named in the list are larger ; for instance, 
the Golden Drop, which is a very large plum, oval-shaped, and yellow in- 
side and out, and of a rich flavor, rijjening here the last of September, and 
not sure to ripen much north of this. 

The Jefferson plum, which originated with Judge Buel, at Albany, is one 



Seo. 40.] PLUMS AND OTHER FRUITS. 615 



of very large size, and of such excellent flavor that none but connoisseurs 
would be able to say it was inferior to the Green Gage, and on account of 
its superior size it is always more attractive. The skin is golden-yellow, 
with purple-red cheek, and flesh deep orange, parting freely from the stone, 
and rich, juicy, luscious. 

690. Graftiug Wild Stocks. — This is worth while in many places where 
wild stocks are plenty. In the report of the "Wisconsin Fruit Growers' 
Apsociation, John C. Kanouse gives his experience as follows upon this 
subject: 

"1. Grafting English plums upon native sorts renders them nmch more 
hardy and less liable to injury by our severe winters. 

" 2. They will fruit from two to three years earlier than when grafted on 
the English stock. 

" 3. The fruit is less liable to injury ; the crop more certain. 

" This practice has one disadvantage, viz., the tree will be somewhat dwarfed. 
This can be remedied by planting more of them. My method of cultiva- 
tion is as follows — 

'■Early in the spring I go out in the forest and take iip the native plum, 
about one inch in diameter, being careful to take as much of the root as 
possible uninjured. Cut off" the tops, then take the roots home; then, with 
a fine saw, take ofl" the body about an inch al)ove the roots, insert the scion, 
and then set them out where I intend to have them fruit. The scions should 
be of the present year's growth, and one of the buds must be under the 
ground. If the scion dies, still the root is sure to sprout, and then you can 
bud the sprout the next year. If you desire fruit the second year from the 
scion, select large trees, take them up with great care, and graft in the top; 
but these you will be likely to lose with high winds, etc., and yet this 
practice will abundantly repay any man on a new farm. By staking the 
scion he may have fruit for two or three years, and then his others, grafted 
at the ground, will take their place." 

COl. Apricots. — AYe do not recommend this fruit for general cultivation hy 
farmers, particularly where they fail with peaches and plums ; for there they 
would surely fail with this more delicate fruit. The apricot-tree grows 
handsomely, twenty feet high, flowering very early, and is highly orna- 
mental in flower, foliage, and fruit. It is liardy enough to produce fruit be- 
low 42^, if the insects would allow it. The fruit is smooth-skiimed, and 
peculiarly attractive to curculio. The color when ripe, at midsummer, is a 
beautiful ruddy gold. It is quite delicious, of a peacii flavor, and, ripening 
between cherries and plums, would be very acceptable. In countries where 
it does flourish it is used for a dessert fruit, and for sweetmeats, and pre- 
served in spirits, and also for drying. 

It is generally propagated by budding on plum stocks, though many good 
fccedlings are grown, which appear to be more hardy and productive than 
the finer sorts which have been imported. It bears fruit in the same way as 
the peach, and may be treated in the same way, though it is more commonly 



616 THE ORCHARD. [Ciiap. VI. 

grown as an espalier, trained upon a trellis or brick wall. It should not be 
exposed to the morning sun, for fear of encouraging the buds to start too 
early in spring. The apricot is a very common fruit in Arabia, China, Ja- 
pan, and other Eastern countries, and would be here, if we could get rid of 
the destructive curculio. 

There are about twenty named apricots grown in this country, out of 
which you may select the Large Early, the Breda, Peach, or Jloorpark for 
family use; or if j'our situation is pretty tar nortli, take the Red Masculine, 
Roman, and Breda ; but do not tiiink of getting a crop without a continual 
fight for it with insects. 

Tiiere is a double-flowering apricot used for an ornamental tree in Europe, 
but not very common in tliis country. There is another tliat is grown for 
its ornamental fruit, which resembles a small, yellow plum, growing very 
abundant, in clusters. 

692. The JVectariue, an India fruit, is simply a wild variety of peach, 
growing small and smooth-skinned, of a piquant flavor, exceedingly liable 
to be destroyed by curculio, but is a very popular dessert fruit, when it can 
be produced, from its beauty, being of such a wax-like appearance. The tree 
grows anyM'here that the peach-tree flourishes, and if the fruit is not de- 
stroyed, there is no trouble in getting as certain crops of nectarines as of 
peaches, and the culture is exactly the same. 

The Early Violet, Roman, Boston, New White, and Ilardwicke's Seedling 
may be taken as a good assortment for a garden. 

693. Mulberry Fruit. — A new mulberry has fruited in England, which is 
called the " Synion Sweet White Mulberry," that is very highly spoken of, 
the berries being very sweet, and growing as large as the common black 
mulberry, this being of a pearly white. The foliage of the tree is also said 
to be very beautiful. 

The tree may be beautiful, but if the fruit is better than "Downing's 
Seedling Mulberry," it is remarkable, for that is very richly worth cultiva- 
tion, being very fruitful, and bearing a long time. Tiie fruit is much richer 
than the fruit of the common purple or wild mulberry, and more than twice 
the size, and it is really a very pleasant fruit to cat out of hand, and it pos- 
sesses excellent qualities for cooking — in a pudding, better than any oiher 
berry. The tree grows in quite an ornamental form, with rich foliage, and 
when filled with its purple fruit is beautiful. 

094. Pawpaws. — It is a wonder that pawpaws are not cultivated, or at 
least preserved from annihilation, in the great regions of the West, where 
they were found growing wild in great abundance. The fruit is sometimes 
called the American custard-apple, on account of its resemblance, when per- 
fectly ripe, to a rich custard, as the mellow pulp within a tough skin is 
opened to view. 

Pawpaws are a feature of the St. Louis market; huckster-stalls and fruit- 
shops all having them for sale in abundance. They are nearly, if not quite, 
as good as bananas. Some people prefer them to bananas, or even any other 



Sec. 40.] PACKING AND TRANSPORTING SMALL FRUITS. 617 

fruit. We think they could be growu in anj' garden soufii of lat. 41°. They 
flourish best in shaded places, upon rich bottom lands of Ohio, Kentucky, 
and other Western States. The natural gi'owth is about as large as quince 
bushes, usually branching in several shoots from one root, and in appearance 
are not unlike a bunch of young chestnut sprouts around an old stump. 

C05. The MangostecH. — This is the name of a tropical fruit that has been 
lately perfected in English hot-houses, and is attracting some attention in 
this country, on account of its very peculiar character, it having a thick, 
succulent rind that is so astringent that it is used as a medicine for dysen- 
terj', and whicli exudes a yellow gum in M'et ■weather that resembles gam- 
boge. The fruit is of a spherical form, of the size of an orange ; Avhen young 
it is of a reddish green color; when ripe, of reddish brown ; and when old, 
of a chestnut brown. The pulp has a snowy whiteness, melting in the 
mouth, with a refreshing, delicious flavor. The seed-lobes separate like those 
of an orange. 

69C. The Jujube Fruiti — This is another tropical fruit, though it has been 
grown in Georgia, and maj'' become acclimated farther north. The fruit re- 
sembles a plum, and, although not so much prized aa a dessert fruit, is con- 
sidered valuable where it grows, because it furnishes the material for the 
well-known jujube paste. 

The seeds were imported from the south of Europe for experiment in the 
Southern States. The tree grows in the form of a shrub of middle size, bear- 
ing a red, oval fruit, about as large as olives, inclosing a stone of the same 
shape. The fruit is sweet, but not eaten among us out of hand. In Algiers 
the fruit ripens in the month of June, and is much sought after by the in- 
habitants, who consume large quantities, both fresh and dried, as well as in 
the form of a delicious paste. 

G97. Small Fruits for Field Culture. — What we have said in Section 
XXXI \^., about the cultivation of blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, 
and cranberries, is applicable in a general sense to their more extended cul- 
tivation in large fields, as a farm crop, where the farm is situated within easy 
reach of a market. What the distance must be to bring it within easy 
reach of market depends entirely upon the facilities of transportation. We 
will state a few facts which will enable readers to judge for their particular 
cases, whether they can send their fruit to a city market. 

For a number of years previous to the rebellion, the New York mar- 
ket was regularly supplied with strawberries from Norfolk, Va., via Balti- 
more, and by steamers direct. For several years, strawberries have been 
sent to New York from Albany; and the present 3'car, from Pittsburg, a 
passage of 18 hours by rail. This is the longest transportation of such a 
tender fruit within our knowledge. 

Every year of the last five or six, since people learned that it could be 
done, blackberries and raspberries are brought from i>0 to 150 miles by rail 
h this market. 

Grapes, if properly packed, may be transported still greater distances, as 



618 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

peaches, pears, and other perishable fruits are. The greatest difBculty in all 
transportation of fruit is in its preparation. 

In no art are we more deficient tlian that of packing fruit so that it may 
be carried a long distance without injury. Three fourths of all our summer 
fruits sent to market any considerable distance are more or less injured. 
Indeed, much that is brought to cities by growers only a few miles distant 
is scarcely fit for sale. Occasionally fruits are sent us. Math a request to ex- 
hibit them at our horticultural shows, but in most cases the specimens are 
60 injured when received as to be entirely unfit to show. 

698. How to Pack Fruit for Transportation. — As no person can enter into 
the business of field culture of small fruits with any hope of success, unless 
he fully understands the art of transportation, we will give some general 
rules ; and first those adopted by Mr. Kidd, gardener to the Marquis of 
Breadalbane, who sends fruit and flowers from the garden near Hampton 
Court, England, to the Highland residence of the Marquis, subject to SOU 
miles' carriage ; yet his method of putting them up insures their safe trans- 
portation and' arrival in almost as sound and fresh condition as when first 
gathered. Eipe tomatoes, for instance, which are as diflicult as almost any 
article to transport, arrived in a perfectly sound condition. 

He gives his method of packing fruit as follows : " I have found no better 
method in all my experience, which has extended over a pei'iod of twenty 
years, with all kinds of fruit, varying in distance from 50 to 500 miles. It 
simply is — box, soft paper, and sweet bran. A box is chosen, in size, accord- 
ing to the quantity to be sent. A layer of bran is put at the bottom ; then 
each bunch of grapes is held by the hand over the center of a sheet of 
paper; the four corners of the paper arc brought up to the stalk and nicely 
secured ; then laid on its side in the box, and so on until the first layer is 
finished ; then fill the whole over with bran, and give the box a gentle shake 
as you proceed. Begin the second layer as the first, and so on until the box 
is completed. Thus, with neat hands, the bloom is preserved, and may be 
sent to any distance ; but witii clumsy hands, quite the contrary, and often 
an entire failure, as the putting in and taking out of the box are the most 
important points to be observed. I have, invariably, packed sixty or eighty 
bunches of grapes and fifty or sixty dozen of peaches or apricots in one 
box, and received letters from employers to say that they have arrived as 
safe as if they had been taken fi'om the trees that morning." 

"We commend this plan to all fruit-growers in this country. 

K fruit- carrier was patented a few years ago, which appears to us like a 
useful aid to the transporters of tender fruits. A frame of any given size is 
made to surround the box or crate containing the baskets of fruit, say about 
eight inches larger than the box. In this frame the box is suspended by 
gum-elastic straps, which sustain it in the air, never touching any hard sub- 
stance, bottom, or sides. To illustrate: Take the frame of the lower part of 
a common kitchen chair, without the bottom, and a box, the cube of which 
is some inches less than the space within the frame, and suspend that by two 



t^Kc. lu.j PACKAGES FOli bMALL FKUITS— FIGS. 619 

strings from the top round upon each side, and then attach two other strings 
to each side of the box and the lower rounds. jSTow place something in the 
box, and take hold of the frame and shake it, and you will see that the jar 
is far less upon the articles in the box than it would be if the shaking was 
applied directly. With such an easy carrier as this, and such packing as 
Mr. Kidd recommends, we believe that the softest fruits might be as safely 
carried 500 miles as they could one mile in the rough way they are too fre- 
quently brought to market. 

Tlie neatest small fruit basket is one known as Cook's patent, inade to hold 
exact pints and quarts. Those of quart size are 3i inches across at bottom, 
and 5i at top, and 5 inches high. One is made of eight pieces of stuff nearly 
an inch and a quarter wide, and a full sixteenth of an inch thick, cut into 
four strips at top and over half the length, so as to allow spreading equal!}'. 
They are fastened to a wooden bottom, which has a hole in its center, by 
tacks driven through a baud of tin about one fourth inch wide, and the tops 
are held iirmly in place by a strip of tin put on like binding over the edge 
of cloth, and crimped hard upon the wood, making a smooth, neat finish, 
and baskets cheap and durable. Of course, the work is all done l)y inge- 
nious machinery, contrived especially for the purpose, and the baskets are 
put up in convenient-sized crates for transportation ; that is, 56 quarts or 112 
pints in a crate, which, being made with openings at the sides, allows a free 
circulation of air among and through the baskets, which is considered better 
than tight boxes for all kinds of beri'ies. 

The great desideratum, however, is a basket made so cheap that it could 
be sold with a quart of berries for a cent or less, so that it would not be 
necessary to return it. The same plan is now pursued with honey, Mhich is 
stored in cheap boxes, "which are sold with the contents. 

Such baskets, we believe, can be make of shavings cut just -wide enough 
to form one side of a basket, and laid two strips across, when the ends being 
turned up and fastened, would form a square box or basket of sufficient 
strength for the service required. 

"Wild blackberrries, which have oecome an extensive article of traffic in 
the New York fruit market, are generally picked in square wooden boxes, 
of the capacity of a quart, and these are packed in the field in crates of one 
to four dozen, which are carried directly to the retailer, so the berries are 
not disturbed until required by the consumer. All berries, however packed, 
should be handled no moi-e than what is barely necessary between the picker 
and consumer. 

Blackberries and whortleberries are frequently brought to market in bulk, 
and are often in a musty condition before they reach the consumer. It is a 
poor way to send any kind of fruit to market. Every kind of berry should 
be put up in just such sized packages as families usually buy, and these 
should go undisturbed to the very tables of the consumers. It is on this 
account that we hope yet to see baskets or boxes made so cheap that the re- 
tailer would not desire to empty them before sending the contents to his 



C20 TUE OKOUARD. [Chap. VI. 

customers, knowing, as lie generally does, that it is about au even chance 
that a buyer will not return the basket. 

699. Figs — Where aud How they Grow. — Figs grow in almost all countries 
with a semi-tropical climate. In the southern portion of all the Southern 
United States they flourish as well as peaches, and, with moderate winter 
protection, as far north as New York, figs have been ripened j'ear after year, 
but they do not possess the excellence of those grown in a warmer climate. 
Figs are' natives of Asia and Africa, where the tree grows in the form of a low 
spreading peach-tree, some twenty feet high. The leaves of a fig-tree are 
rough, deeply lobed, and not unlike those of the sycamore in size, and some- 
what in appearance. The most curious thing about a fig-tree is that it ex- 
hibits to the casual observer no appearance of blossoming. The flower and 
fruit are united — that is, the former, such as it is, is concealed in a fleshy 
substance which grows at once into fruit, which, in its ripe state, just plucked 
from the tree, is as unlike its dried representative as a dried peacii is unlike 
the luscious fruit we eat out of hand in the peach-orchard of choice fruit. 

The fig-tree has become so completely naturalized in the south part of 
Europe, that the cultivation of its fruit forms an important occupation of 
many inhabitants. It is one of the most popular market fruits in all coun- 
tries where it grows freely, and forms an article of food to a large extent, 
and has been the longest in cultivation of any fruit known to us. The 
Homans had some dozen or two varieties ; the first introduction of figs into 
Italy being about the year IS-tS. It was brought to the United States in 
1790, and spread rapidly, being easily propagated by cuttings taken off in 
spring and planted in a mellow soil naturally calcareous, or made so by the 
addition of lime. In the Middle States, fig-trees should be grown in the 
form of low shrubs, easily covered in winter, and kept carefully root- 
pruned to prevent too much growth of wood. It is possible that by pur- 
suing this course, a hardy sort of figs may be acclimated gradually north- 
ward, just as sweet potatoes have been. In truth, the peacli was once 
thought to be as much a tropical fruit as the fig is now. Of course, we can 
expect but one crop a year ; in warm climates the tree gives two crops. In 
unfavorable seasons the ripening of figs is hastened by inserting a drop of 
sweet oil in the eye of the growing fig by using a rye straw dinued in oil, 
and thus carrying a drop to the eye of the fruit. 

The best varieties for open culture in this country, except at the extreme 
South, are the Brown Turkey fig, Brown Ischia, White Ischia ; tlie hitter a 
very small sort, growing about one inch in diameter. Loudon says, a fig 
called Nevil is the richest one grown in England. One called Pregussata, 
appears to he the favorite for growing under glass. 

We recommend all who live in latitudes where figs' can be grown easily, 
or by a little extra care, not to neglect trying to produce enough at least 
for family use. One friend assures us that he can grow figs at New York 
as easily and surely as he can the choice kinds of raspberries. Let us all try. 



Seo. 41.] MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE. 



621 




SECTION XLI.-MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE. 

jS it is a fact that not one family in fifty has a sup- 
ply of the most common of the fruits we have 
mentioned, not even those most easily grown, such 
as currants, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, 
cherries, we can hardly say too much to encourage 
leir extended cultivation, and therefore, under this 
lead, will add several little things that may be useful 
the searchers after knowledge. 

Would that we could whisper a word of encourage- 
ment to every land-owner, be it a quarter section or a 
four-by-oiglit lot, till he resolved to furnish himself 
with an abundance of these liltle luxuries ere another 
^'car lolled around. Many plants are so cheaply in- 
creased by division of the roots, and so easily kept in 
order, they may and should be purchased by all with- 
out hindrance. Any man with the facilities for growing a full supply of 
small i'ruits, who fails to do it, should be doomed to eat sour grapes, wild 
strawberries, and crab-apples as long as he lives. 

Though a class of fruits are termed small, there is, in reality, no excuse 
for their being so inferior in size that they are scarcely worth the gathering. 
Give them good cultivation, thoroughly working the ground with the spade 
and the lioe ; then cover it over with half-rotted manure (chips are best), 
which will be a mulch as well as a source of fertility, and the result will 
probably astonish you. 

700. fraiiborrifs as a. Field Cropi — "We have already said that cranberries 
may be grown in the garden, and we now say they may and should be grown 
as a farm crop upon hundreds of farms that have tracts particularly well 
adapted to their growth. Upon this subject. Noble Hill, of Caton, Steuben 
County, N. Y., writes as follows : 

"That the cranberry is a favorite luxury, is abundantly proved by the 
high price which a good, and not unfrequently an inferior, article will com- 
mand in fhe markets. That it is easy of cultivation, and that there is an 
abundance of land now lying waste which is just adapted to its growth, is 
perhaps not so generally known. If the thousands of acres of swamps, of a 
peat soil, within the bounds of the single State of New York, were to be 
converted, as they certainly might be, into cranberry meadows, the fruit 
would never again be quoted at $14 or §15 per barrel in New York city. 
The following is submitted as the result of several years of observation and 
experience in the cultivation of the cranberry. The subject of my experi- 
ment is a swamp of several acres, and of a peat soil. Formerly it was cov- 



623 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. YI. 

ered with small brush, moss, grass, and weeds ; no largo timber being found 
on it, owing to the fact that it was submerged during a great portion of the 
year. On the borders of this swamp a few cranberry vines, indigenous to 
tlie soil, were to be found. By a series of open ditches leading across it and 
through a bank at its margin, I was enabled to remove the superabundant 
surface water. Tliis done, cranberry vines began to make their appearance 
in dificrent portions of the swamp, but more plentifully in the central por- 
tion, from which they began to spread over the land at a rapid rate. In 
their jirogress, however, they encountered an enemy in the shape of the 
brush, which not only retarded their growth and prevented the full develop- 
ment of tlieir prolific qualities, but in some places entirely excluded them. 
Hence it occurred to me that an advantage would be gained by thoroughly 
subduing the soil previous to its occupancy by the cranberry. To this work 
I then addressed myself, accomplishing it with the plow on the borders, 
where the land had become sufficiently dry to render that mode practicable, 
and with a spade in other portions on which a team could not be driven. A^ 
done by a spade, the work consists in paring off the surface and throwini;' 
the result into heaps, which, when rotted, answer a good purpose as manure 
for fruit-trees. Tlio clean surface thus exposed should be spaded to the 
depth of two or three inches, when the process of transplanting may be per- 
formed. If, liowever, the transplanting be deferred iintil the following 
spring, and the soil be occasionally stirred daring summer with a hand- 
harrow, the plants will thrive the more rapidly. They should be set closely, 
as they will tlie sooner cover the ground to the exclusion of weeds, from 
which, if kept free for two or three years, they w'ill thenceforth need but 
little, if any, attention. In soil thus prepared, I liave transplanted the last 
of May, and have picked fine clusters of berries the ensuing fall. In two or 
three years a fine crop may be expected, and thenceforth, so far as my ex- 
perience goes, W'ill bo annually realized. To insure large crops, the soil 
during snninier should be kept well saturated with water, and if flowed in 
the sjiring, all the better. This I accomplish, as far as possible, by a proper 
adjustment of my drains, opening and closing them according to the varia- 
tions of the weather from wet to dry. As to transplanting, there is no diffi- 
culty whatever. If an equal number of cabbage and of cranberry plants be 
set, more failures would be found among the former than among the latter. 
A cranberry plant a yard long, set in a mellow peat soil in a wet season, will 
take root at every point of full contact with the soil." 

It is a pity that we can not convince all the owners of such swamps as Mr. 
Hill describes that tliey can grow just as good berries as he does. There 
are many such places within a few miles of this cit}' that are now pests to 
the owners, that would be profitable ever after if once set in cranberry 
vines. 

The cranberry has been very much improved — as much so as any other 
fruit. 1 do no: know of anj- fruit that offers greater inducements to experi- 
ment with than the cranberry in seedlings, since it has already shown such 



Seo. 41.] CBANBERRIES— FIELD CULTURE. 623 

good results. If cranberry seed, or any other hard seed, is difficult to veg- 
etate, it may be scalded with boiling water. 

There is no doubt that cranberries can be grown upon any soil that has 
water a few Indies below the surface. Upon toJeraljly dry upland cranber- 
ries have been grown to advantage, and they M'ill grow in very bare sand if 
either natui-ally or artificially watered. 

Considering the high price which cranberries always bring in market, and 
the cheap cost at which they can be produced, it is strange that more shrewd 
farmers have not gone into the speculation. A good deal of attention has 
been given to the cultivation of cranberries in Burlington County, New 
Jersey, about 150 acres having been planted in one season. Of this, one 
farmer named Chetwood lias set out 25 acres ; another, named G. Gowdy, 
17 acres; and Mr. Allen, 10 acres. 

Upon Cape Cod, where cranberry culture has been carried to the greatest 
extent, swautpy land that was a few years ago considered utterly worthless, 
has now a salable value of $800 to $1,200 an acre ; and some of the owners 
of such land have found it a good investment of time and money to expend 
from $200 to $1,000 upon an acre to bring it into a condition fit to be planted 
with cranberries. 

All over this country there are numei'ous bogs which might easily be con- 
verted into fruitful cranberry gardens. 

In view of these facts we make this pertinent inquiry of every farmer in 
all the Northern States, where ci-anbferries are found growing wild : " Are 
there no swamps, or wet valleys, or brook borders upon your farm, now, 
perhaps, unsightly spots — wet swamps in winter, and dry and pestiferous in 
summer ? If you have such, plant them with cranberry-vines, and tend 
them one or two years till the vines get well set, and then they will tend 
themselves, and produce you on an average more bushels of fruit per acre 
than you get of potatoes ; and it is not much more work to gather it than it 
is the tubers, and, generally speaking, you can sell a bushel of cranberries for 
the price of five busliels of potatoes." 

Truth, it is said, lies at the bottom of a well. The well that holds the 
truth in relation to cranberry culture and its profitableness upon many of 
the worthless bogs that render farms unsalable, and detract from the value 
of the upland, must be a remarkably deep one, or it M'ould have been dug 
out before now, and made to shine in all the rich crimson luster of a field 
of this ripe fruit. 

701. Vaiicties of Cranberries aud How to Grow Them. — The American cran- 
berry {Oxt/coccus macrocarpus) is divided by growers and dealers into three 
varieties — the Bell, the Bugle, and the Cherry. It will grow on almost any 
soil where the water is not more than a foot from the surface, j-et experience 
has proved that the soil best adapted to thein is nothing more nor less than 
the plain beach saud, entirely free from any matter, either animal or vege- 
table ; in fact, this berry may be said to live entirely on air and water. 

Peat is found to be well adapted to this berry, but requires some care iu 



624 THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

preparing, owing to its liability to bake and crack in hot weather; this may 
be obviated, however, by taking off the turf and grass, leaving the surface 
exposed to the action of the weather for a year, after which it becomes light 
and porous, and fit for the reception of the vines. 

Cutting-planting has been adopted by some as the most economical plan, 
and as the plant sends out long runners, sometimes to the length of five or 
six feet, it is self-evident that the first cost of cuttings must be small. The 
cutting should be about six or eight inches long, and should bo planted by 
thrusting the middle into the earth with a dibble, permitting a few inches of 
each end to project, so that when it takes root you have two plants instead 
of one. 

Another plan of propagating by cuttings is to cut the vines into pieces of 
about two inches in length, for which purpose a common hay-cutter may be 
used, and sowing them broadcast on ground prepared for them, and then 
harrowing them in as you would wheat or rye. It is preferable to plant them 
in drills at such distances as will permit cultivation with the plow for the 
first two years. These small cuttings will soon take root from the point 
where branches join the stem, and will send out runners the second year 
after planting. 

Planting separate vines has been found to be the most effectual plan, and 
although it consumes more time, and is perhaps attended with rather more 
expense, yet from the absence of weeds and tlio fine chance for the vines to 
spread, the cultivator finds himself amply repaid for the increased outlay. 

The distances of planting must be regulated by the nature of the soil; if 
liable to weeds, you must give yourself room to work among the vines; but 
if you are planting on plain beach sand, the closer your plants are the bet- 
ter, for the great object in forming a cranberry-yard is to have the entire 
Burlkce covered by a thick mat of vines as soon as possible. 

The time of planting generally preferred is in the spring, as in this case 
the roots are not so liable to be thrown out by the winter frosts — say from 
the 15th of April to the 1st of June. 

As a general rule among farmers, they will be able to select some spot of 
meadow land which is low and moist, free from stagnant warer, and some- 
what sheltered from storms, as this may be considered the best location. 

A position where the yard can be flooded in winter is very desirable, as 
the vines, when exposed to very severe weather, are liable to be winter- 
killed down as low as the root.^, which throws them back in bearing for a 
year; besides which, it is sometimes desirable to flood them during the fruit- 
ing season to prevent the attack of the worm, which in some localities is 
quite destructive. 

An acre of vines, properly cultivated and well matted, will produce at 
least two hundred and fifty bushels of berries ; in some instances a yield of 
four hundred bushels per acre has been obtained, but this is above the aver- 
age, and may not be relied upon. 

Two hundred and fifty bushels of berries, at the low price of three dol- 



Seo. 41.] CRANBERRIES— FIELD CULTURE. 625 

lai-s per busliel, gives lis seven hundred and fifty dollars as the product of 
one acre. Vines for a new plantation should be procured from meadows 
which have borne well, and of good fruit, as the best way of knowing good 
bearers. 

If the yard can be flowed, though not absolutely necessary, the water may 
remain on all winter, and be let off in March. It should be let on about 
the 20tli to the 25th of May, and again the 1st of June, not exceeding thirty- 
six hours. After this it is not needful. Blossoms are injured by the water 
remaining on too long ; the object of flooding is to destroy the insects. 
After this second flowing, there is little to fear from them. 

A Cape Cod cranberry grower gives some useful advice to persons dis- 
posed to embark in cranberry culture. He says : 

"Suppose that those who are favored with some of the natural facilities 
desire to do something with cranberries, it would be folly Jo expend much 
money in clearing up a swamp. The best thing to be done is to study the 
nature of the soil in -which the vine is flourishing, and then to prepare a 
small patch — say two or three rods — and plant the vines there, and bestow- 
ing some trifling degree of care ujjon them, by way of weeding occasionally, 
you will see b}-- this experiment whether it will do for you to proceed much 
farther in their cultivation. If you fail, that failure will most likely sug- 
gest to you the remedy. Great mistakes are made in anticipating from 
planting waste lands with cranberry vines, that they are about to realize two 
hundred per cent. It will do very well for an experienced man to make 
large yards, and with certainty of success, but it will not do for a man who 
knows nothing about the cranberry and its culture to go rashly to work. 
You will prevent future expense and galling disappointment by making your 
first trial on rather a small scale. 

"Tlie cranberry vine can be naturalized to those regions of country in 
wliich it is not indigenous. The Bugle cranberry is generally found to throw 
its runners from the .swamp toward the upland. The runner receives its 
moisture from the roots of the vine which rest in the damp soil. Now, if 
you will take these runners and plant them where there is some moisture, 
in an upland soil, and stir it frequently during the hot montlis of summer, 
t'.iey will live through the apparent drouth. Two years lience take the young 
vines and carefully plant them, and you will find that you have done much 
toward naturalizing the vine even to a situation where there can not be any 
overflowing. Many persons have planted on the upland with vines from the 
swamp, and the transition from abundant moisture to a comparatively dry 
situation has been too sudden, and the vines have consequently died. Those 
who try the upland should get the vines which have been naturalized to a 
dry soil, or it will require immense trouble and some years to do anything to 
advantage. It will be well for those who intend to try the cranberry vine on a 
comparatively high and dry situation, to remember that the fruit produced 
is not so large, nor yet are the quantities equal to those which are j-ielded in 
more favorable locations, where there is either peat, beach-sand, or fine 



626,,^ THE ORCHAED. [Chap. VI. 

gravell}' loam, and the ability to flow in winter. I believe that the time 
will come wlien the commercial value of the cranberry will be better binder- 
stood, and when farmers in all parts of the country will feel it to be their 
interest to cultivate a patch of this fruit, and when its requirements will be 
better under tood than at present, and when it M'ill be a source of profit to 
tliose who think it worth their while to raise the berry. 

" A short time since I saw a swamp which was formerly so covered over 
with brakes, huckleberry-bushes, and briers, that it was of no use to the 
owner until he paid some attention to the subject of cranberry cultivation, 
and cleared the swamp, which he found to have a peaty bottom. The ground 
was then planted over with vines, and the property, including clearing, vines, 
and planting, cost him $300, but I was informed by the proprietor that he had 
muck from the swamp which he valued at $150. The first year he had off 
this one acre and a half one or two bushels; the second, twelve bushels; 
and the next year, seventy-three bushels, which were sold at $1 per bushel. 
If the yard cost him $300, he nearly realized in the third year subsequently 
to its being made, the sum of money he first expended upon it." 

Our final advice, to all who desire to plant cranberries to any extent, is to 
hire some experienced person to do the work, and give instructions for the 
future care of the yard, according to the circumstances of its location. 

High bush, or tree-cranberry, is the common name of a berry sometimes 
sold under the recommendation of being equal to the fruit we have been 
describing. It belongs to a very different order of plants from the cran- 
beri'y — the real oxycoccus. 

The only use of it is as an ornamental shrub. No housewife will try to use 
it but once in the place of the true cranberry. Tne fruit is almost wholly a 
hard, long seed, scarcely covered with pulp, and when cooked with much 
sugar, though resembling the true cranberry, sadly mocks the taste. 

702. How (0 Cook Cranberries is an important question. They are sour, 
acrid, unpalatable, and unwholesome in a raw state, and but little better as 
they are usually cooked. We have ofcen seen them hastily scalded, sweet- 
ened, and brought to the table floating in their juice, not one half of them 
cooked enough to burst the skin. Bah! what food! But how diflerent 
when cooked! Put them, with only water enough to prevent burning, in a 
tinned sauce-pan, and stew until by stirring the whole becomes a homogene- 
ous mass, with no semblance of whole berries, and then add clarified sirup, 
previously prepared, and stir a few minutes while boiling. When cold, you 
have delicious cranberry jelly. 

703. Fruit-Tree Protectors, of an ingenious character, to guard against 
worms that crawl up the bole of a tree, invented by Wm. W. Taylor, of 
South Dartmouth, Mass, have been considerably used in New England, and 
found highly efiicacious and satisfactory, being so constructed as to be an 
impassable bar to everything that seeks to go up or down the body of the 
tree. This protector consists of a circular kind of dish that shuts on to the 
body of the tree, and is kept filled with some liquid, usually a preparation 



Sec. 41.] MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE. w'eST 

of bitter or salt water, entirely offensive and destructive to insect life. The 
top part of tiie dish constitutes a projecting roof, to prevent flying up from 
the lower ledge, also to exclude rain-water. 

The}- are usually made of cast iron and of different sizes, to adapt them to 
different-sized trees. There is a soft packing used to fill a considerable space 
between the collar of the dish and the body of the tree, so as not to interrupt 
growth or free circulation. 

Y04. Watering Newly Transplanted Trees often does as much injury, or 
more, than it does good, by forming a hard crust over the ground imme- 
diately over the roots. 

If water is applied at all, the earth should be first removed from the roots, 
and a copious supply poured on. But this, too, is of little use. The roots 
are drenched for the moment, and in a short time are as dry as ever. The 
only remedy is a thick, heavy mulching. If of old straw, it should be about 
six inches thick^^ covering several feet in diameter. A young ti'ee will 
scarcely ever die if treated with such a covering, though transplanted in 
midsummer, when without the mulch, death would surely ensue. 

705. Thumb Pruuing, that is, pinching off buds, which if let alone would 
grow into useless shoots, is much better than waiting until they are grown, 
when the knife or saw must be used. In large trees, shoots often grow out 
from the upper side of large branches, and in process of time make a thick 
bushy top, where good fruit can not grow nor be easily gathered. Rub 
them off when forming, or leave only such as will improve the tree. 

The same thing should be practiced upon blackberries and raspberries, 
Avhose new shoots, Avhen about four feet high, should be pinched in, that is, 
have the tips nipped off with thumb and linger. This will start out side- 
shoots, which should also be pinched in when a foot or so in length. This 
treatment makes stout, compact bushes, that will bear abundantly next 
season ; whereas, if left neglected, the stems will extend in every direction, 
prevent proper cultivation, and scratch and tear every person who comes 
within a yard of them, besides giving a poor crop, and leading the owner to 
conclude they are a humbug. As soon as they have done bearing they 
should have the old bearing canes cut out, and all the new shoots, except 
half a dozen of the best, which will then grow unimpeded, and make fine 
bearers another year. The common practice of allowing a mass of canes to 
grow up thickly together, to be thinned out only the following sjiring, is a 
waste of growth, and weaker canes and smaller crops are the result. 

706. Stirring the Soil about newly planted trees or plants of any kind 
during drouth is one of the best things that can be done, so that care is used 
not to disturb the roots, for it increases moisture. Heat, light, and elec- 
tricity are all accelerated in their action as chemical agents by moisture. 
Therefore let it be known that a vast bed of soil well stirred and mellowed 
is a prodigious laboratory, producing, chemically, all the elements necessary 
for vegetable nutrition. It is owing to this, and not manure, that the peach- 
orchards of New Jersey and Delaware have furnished such immense crops ; 



628 ^ THE ORCHARD. [Chap. VI. 

they are frequently plowed, but not ulanted to othci crops. The plowing is 
to cultivate the trees. 

707. Tobacco for Worms that infest peach-trees is highly reeommcndeil. 
A person w!io thinks he saved his trees by applying tobacco, says : " I found 
the gum oozing out plentifully, and just under the eaith's surface, in and 
about the roots, numbers of small white worms. I took a mason's trowel 
and a sharj) knife, and scraped all I could away ; also the ground from the 
roots, and then purchased a keg of common smoking tobacco, cut fine, cov- 
ered the trunk just above the roots with it, and drew the earth around the 
tree again. This summer the trees have revived and are now in a healthy 
condition." 

708. Su^ar-Drying Peaclies is one of the methods of preserving this fruit 
that should be known to all who have orchards too far from market towns 
to enable them to sell their fruit direct from the trees. Peaches prepared in 
this way are richer than by any other pi'ocess, and to our taste far superior 
to figs or raisins to eat out of hand, as they will almost melt in the mouth, 
giving the true peach flavor. To prepare this fruit, pare rich, ripe peaches, 
and take out the pits, and lay the halves on the back upon plates, filling the 
hollow with fine white sugar. This dissolves and forms with the peach-juice 
a most excellent sirup. The best plan would be to place the peaches on 
perforated covers of shallow dishes, so that the juice would drain down, leav- 
ing the fruit to dry slowly in the sun or a slow oven. A steam-pipe heated 
room would be better. The quantity of sugar required is about one sixth 
of the weight of the fruit. The process is very simple and easy, and the 
product both in sirup and fruit very good. See 485. 

The sirup is bottled and used for sauce on puddings, cakes, etc., and for 
flavoring mince-pies. Excellent as this preparation of fruit is, vast quanti- 
ties of peaches go to waste every year, even where they are gathered for 
market, for some become too ri^je for ti-ansportation, and such are just right 
for sugar-drying, and would undoubtedly sell higher than figs or raisins. 

709. The Best Apples for Keeping are those grown upon mature trees, 
planted upon dry soil The most important thing about preserving apples 
for shipping is to pile them under straw on a barn floor and sweat them dry ; 
then put a layer of sand at the bottom of the barrel ; then layers of apph s 
and sand, and head up air-tight. The latter is very important. Apples mny 
be kept through freezing weather in an upper room headed iip in this way, 
and so they may in linen bags. 

710. Cider-Making without Pressing.— It is stated that a man at Parkers- 
burg, Ya., is successful in making cider by the following process : lie grinds 
the apples, and fills casks with one end open, the bottom having some 
sticks and straw, like a leach-tub for ashes. On the pomace he pours as 
much water as it would yield juice by pressure, and that displaces the juice 
and sends it to the bottom, from which, after two days, it is drawn by open- 
ing the faucet, and as the cider is heavier than water, it runs oif at first 
pure. The pomace, too, having an afiinity for water, absorbs that, which 



Sko. 41.] MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS ABOUT FRUIT CULTURE. 629 



displaces the natural juice and leaves the pomace quite tasteless. This 
process may be useful to persons who have a few apples and no cider-press. 

711. The Orchard House is the name given to a glass-roofed structure 
now common iu England, and to a small extent used in this country, to 
grow all kinds of fruit, though not by artificial heat. At Newport, R. I., 
"Wm. B. Lawrence has what we see termed an oreliard-house, 300 feet long, 
which is heated by hot-water pipes, while real orchard-houses are intended 
to keep an even temperature all the year round ; but since this can not be 
done except by fire heat, owing to our severe climate, the objections are 
many against this mode of growing fruit. Such structures are nearly as cool 
at night as the temperature outside, while the sun heat hj day, without con- 
stant airing, is equivalent to an English vinery. Hence the trees, being un- 
protected, are chilled by frost and excited by heat, either of which, alone, 
would bo injurious to the crop, and, in combination, destructive, so that 
orchard-houses, wherever necessarily conducted as mere hot-houses, arc too 
expensive for growing any but high-priced fruits. 

712. Apple-Paring Machines are a necessity in every family that owns an 
orchard, and an equal necessity is to know which of tlie many that have 
been patented, and offered with w^onderful recommendations, it is worth 
while for a farmer to buy and try to use. After spending a goodly sum of 
money, and a good deal of time and patience iipon a variety of apple-parcrs, 
wo wrote our experience for the benefit of others, wherein we said of one : 
" As a funny rattle-trap to amuse children, and sell for a good profit, it was 
a very ingenious Yankee invention, but as an ' apple-parer and slicer' it 
was a — humbug." 

Having thus vented our opinion of apple-parers, we were favored with 
one more of the same family, called by the inventor the " Turn-table Apple- 
parer," and after three years' use, we are willing to say of it, that it will 
pare apples expeditiously, and it can bo operated without the aid of an 
engineer. It makes no pretensions to do anything but pare the apple. 
You put it ou with one hand, turning the crank all the time with the 
other, and no matter what size or shape the apple is, the knife will follow 
tlio surface and take oif the skin. When the skin is off, the same motion 
of the crank continued, carries the knife away from the apple and back to 
llie place of starting, where it is to begin upon another. Tiie pared one 
is taken off and another put upon the fork while the knife is passing round. 
The whole machine is made of iron, and can be packed in a box eight inclies 
wide and four inches deep. When used, it may be attached to any table or 
bench by a thumb-screw. This perfect little machine, which every family 
that pares a peck of apples a year should have, is made so cheaply by 
Yankee ingenuity and machinery, that it is sold at retail for a dollar, and it 
is, iu our opinion, the best of the whole family of apple-parers. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE yiNEYAED. 

SECTION XLII.-HOW TO PLANT AND CULTIVATE VINES-WHAT SORTS 
TO PLANT. 

_ F any of our readers expect to find in tliis section the 
r -whole art of planting and cultivating a vineyard, and 
manufacturing its fruit into wine, they will be disap- 
pointed. The intention of -the author is to produce just 
enough information to whet the appetite for more, and 
induce research into other sources of instruction, from some 
of whicli we shall draw facts that will be interesting and 
useful for ever}' one to learn. 

713. History of Varieties of Grapes. — Tlie origin of varie- 
ties is a matter of interest. The most common and best 
known sort is supposed to be a native of South Carolina, 
brought to Brooklyn, N. Y., and distributed from there 
under the name of Isabella^ in respect to Mrs. Isabella 
Gibbs, wife of Capt. Gibbs, who brought the vine home from 
one of his Southern voyages. It is very remarkable that this grape is not 
found now in the State where it is supposed to have originated, except where 
it can be traced l)ack to the Gibbs vine. 

The Catawba is also a Southern grape, having originated, according to the 
best evidence we have seen, in North Carolina. It is a little singular that 
both the Catawba and Isabella are now well acclimated north of latitude 
42 degrees, and are much more grown in Northern than Southern States. 
The Herbemont also does well at the North. 

We give some slight descriptions of several of the most common sorts of 
grapes, taken mostly from Dr. Grant's catalogue, which is a pretty good 
treatise upon grape culture. Dr. Grant is the greatest propagator of 
vines, imder glass, in the world, liaving about an acre covered, on an 
island called lona, in the Hudson, near Pcekskill, forty-five miles above 
New York. 

The Offen Grape is the name of a seedling originated at Painesvillc, Ohio, 
a sample of which, sent us by Mrs. Nancy T. Offen, convinces us that she 
had better devote her attention to cultivating one of the dozen other sorts, 
which are far superior to this in all that constilutts a good grape for the 
table, and for raisins or wine. 

Nicholas Lougworth says : " I obtained from Yermont a grape, liardy 




Sec. 42.] HISTORY OF VARIETIES OF GRAPES. 631 

in tliat region, called the Lyman, and some other.?, that I believe will be 
valuable for wine. And the Clinton grape, from tlie northern part of New 
York, from Mr. James II. Watts, of Rochester, I have made wine from. 

"The Fox grape is readily distinguished. It has a tine aroma and flavor, 
and may be smelled at a distance, but is deficient in sugar and not abundant 
in juice ; skin thick, pulp hard, leaf thick and white on the under side, vine 
moi'e or less covered with hairs." 

Union Village, a standard garden variety, is worthy of general culti- 
vation. 

Lenoir, I'ipens early, has a great degree of hardiness of wood, and win- 
ters perfectly in very exposed situations farther nortli than the Isabella. It 
will still ])e prudent to stop the shoots in August or September of young 
vines, and lay them down for winter. 

AllerbS Hylrid. — This shows itself vigorous and hardy, and probably will 
not disappoint the high ex])ectation entertained of its value as a leading 
garden variety, and our best white table grape. 

Taylor, or Bullitt. — This is a beautiful white grape, of excellent flavor, by 
Judge Taylor, of Jericho, Ky. It is described as remarkable for hardiness 
and productiveness, and is worthy of trial wherever the Isabella will thrive. 

Pauline comes highly recommended from the South, but from actual 
trial, little known at the North. It is very distinct in its flavor, and adds 
to our variety. 

At the South, especially in Carolina and Georgia, some very excellent 
varieties are grown, of which the Hcrbemont is a type. It was first intro- 
duced, about the year 1825, by Mr. N. Ilerbeinont, a zealous pioneer in 
wine-making, at Columbia, S. C, where the original Herbemont's Madeira is 
still growing. 

The Delaware is a small grape of surpassing beauty and most excellent 
flavor. It attracted the attention of Mr. A. Thomson, of Delaware, Ohio, 
and was exhiljited by him at the county fairs, under the name of Heath 
Grape. A few years later, after becoming fully assured of its great value, 
he introduced it to the public under the name of Delaware. Its great ex- 
cellence proved a Iiindrance to its dissemination, for it was claimed that no 
such grape could be of American origin. 

Tiie history of the Delaware grape is, that it originated in the garden of 
Mr. Prevost, in French town, N. J., and is supposed to be a seedling from 
the Catawba, fertilized, perhaps, with some foreign variety. Wherever 
known it is esteemed above all other varieties for its wonderful hardiness as 
well as excellence of fruit. Mr. Longworth, Mdio at first thought tlie Dela- 
ware and Traminer identical, has now given up all ideas of that kind, and his 
head-gardener stated, a short time since, that he considered the Delaware the" 
best grape in this country for general cultivation. 

Persons who have ordered vines have undoubtedly been mucli imposed 
upon by this Red Traminer grape, sent to them as the genuine Delaware. A 
Rochester grape-grower says the Delaware is the best of all American grapes, 



G32 THE VINEYAPwD. [Chap. VII. 

and is the best that avo have ever seen for out-door culture in this latitude, 
because it possesses great hardiness, productiveness, and earliuess. 

It has been known to stand uninjured where Isabella, Clinton, and Ca- 
tawba have been killed to the ground. It is a great bearer. The berries 
and bunches increase in size as tlie well-cultivated vine grows older, and it 
probably will produce more pounds of fruit to the acre than any other sort 
in cultivation, and it ripened at Delaware, Ohio, about the middle of Au- 
gust, and in western New York will ripen early in September, and there is 
no other native grape, nearly as good, that ripens so early. 

Delaware vines are very hardy, and adapted to all situations, ripening both 
wood and fruit in the uplands of Ohio or on tiie sea-board. It grows finely 
at Hartford, Conn., and New York, Albany, and Newburg, N. Y., in various 
soils and situations. It is more hardy than the Catawba or Isabella at lona, 
where it has been more largely propagated than anywhere else ; and Dr. 
Grant is entitled to the gratitude of the lovers of good fruit for having done 
moi'e than any other man to bring this valuable new grape into notice ; for 
the world will appreciate it as soon as it comes to know the value of it, both 
as a table grape and for wine, for which it is the best of any grown in the 
Atlantic States. 

The Marion grape deserves attention as a very early variety. 

The To Kalon grape resembles the Black Hamburg. Dr. Grant speaks 
of it as desirable for a private garden, and says the fruit is exceedingly 
sweet and luscious, has very delicate aroma, and when well ripened is with- 
out toughness or acidity in its flesh. It ripens a week earlier than the 
Isabella. 

The Concord is a very vigorous and healthy grower, and bears abundantly, 
although not much disposed to over-bear. It ripens ten days before the Isa- 
bella, and its leaves are much less likely to mildew than that variety. In 
flavor it is very sweet, and will undoubtedly become a valuable market fruit 
in the latitude of New York and farther south. 

The Rebecca, originated by Mrs. E. M. Peake, and introduced by Mr. 
Brocksbank, of Hudson, N. Y., added another to the list of valuable and 
beautiful grapes. 

The Diana takes its name from Mrs. Diana Crehore. It is a grape of sur- 
passing excellence and beauty. 

The Anna\i, an early and profuse bearer, and the produce of j'oung vines 
is of very high flavor, but not without a considerable degree of toughness, 
which disappears as the vines acquire age and maturity. 

It ripens quite as early as the Diana, and fully two weeks before the 
Catawba, hangs very late on the vines, and is not injured by severe freezing. 
For late keeping it is unequaled, and its raisins are not surpassed in quality 
by any foreign variety. 

The Hartford Prolific is hardy, vigorous, and productive. Bunch large, 
shouldered, and rather compact. Berry large, globular. Skin thick, black, 
and covered with a thick bloom. Flesh sweet, moderately juicy, with con- 



Sec. 42.] VARIETIES OF GRAPES DESCRIBED. 633 

siderable toughness and acidity in its pulp, with a good deal of native per- 
fume. Ripe ten days before the Isabella — at New York, September 5t]i. 

Our objection to it was its disposition to drop its fruit as fast as it ripens, 
just like the Fox grape in the woods, covering the ground with scattered 
berries. Cultivation has nearly cured this fault. 

The York Madeira is early, hardy, and when fully ripe very sweet and 
somewhat vinous. There are two or three sub-varieties of larger size, but 
of greatly inferior quality to that which has been somewhat extensively dis- 
seminated under that name, and of which Canh>/''s August appears to be a 
synonym. 

The Elsinghurg is vigorous, hardy, and productive ; ripening early — 
about one week before the Isabella — and is in quality best, but its berries 
are small, and its bunches not compact, though generally large. It has no 
toughness or acidity in its pulp, and to give a large, rich mouthful of its 
enjoyment, several berries may be taken at once. It is worthy of a place in 
every garden. 

Tiie Louisa, a seedling raised by Samuel Miller, of Lebanon, Pa,, must be 
considered an acquisition by those who adopt the Isabella as a standard of 
excellence. It is ten days earlier in ripening, and to most tastes a better 
fruit, and appears to be more hardy. 

The Logan is a black grape of medium size, and bears a strong resem- 
blance, in general character and ajipearance, to the Marion, which also was 
found in the same region. 

714. Dr. Grant upou the Cultivatiou of Grapevines. — The following direc- 
tions were given by Dr. C. "W".,Grant in an address upon the subject of grape 
culture. In relation to pruning, he said : 

" Cut off the first year's growth above two buds, and next year cut back 
so as to leave two buds of that year's growth. In nature a vine grows both 
branch and roots to a great length before bearing fruit, as it can bear no 
fruit until its leaves and branches reach the air and sun at the top of the 
tree. In cultivation we must train vines to new habits. We can not de- 
pend upon any but native varieties. A well-grown vine will reach five or 
six feet the first year, and ten or twelve feet the second year, and its success 
as a bearer will mainly depend upon the manner of training and trimming it 
the first years. No untrimmed vine can remain healthy or be productive. 
Fruit-buds grow upon the same branches but once. Ten feet square of 
ground is required for a root, and six or seven times that for the vine. 
Mildew is the great enemy to contend with, and the vine must have air and 
vigorous growth, for that tends to prevent mildew, and it must have room 
so as to expose every leaf to the sun. On the third year two bunches to a 
cane or branch are all that can be grown to perfection ; all others must be 
plucked off. The leaves naturally develop themselves to the sun, and no 
more leaves must be left than will fill the space. No healthy leaf grows in 
the shade. Vines suffered to bear too full the third year are ruined ever 
after. 



634 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

" The fourth year train up four upright canes, and these will each produce 
three bunches, and the horizontal shoots will produce twenty -four bunches 
and bud out new shoots. Only three bunches to a shoot should be grown, 
and a bunch never should be exposed to the noonday sun. Training vines 
upon the trellis is best for the vineyard. The arbor gives shade, and may 
give satisfac'ion,but the trellis gives the most fruit. Four feet length of 
elevation of canes is as much as will produce perfect fruit. 

" At the end of the seventh year the vine is fully established, with three 
branches on each shoot, which will give six bunches, three on each arm be- 
tween each upright. At the base of each shoot is a bud for the fruit-bear- 
ing shoot next year. The ends of the fruit-bearing branches must be 
stopped at about two feet from the base. It will shoot again and must be 
stopped again, leaving one leaf. The best thing to tie vines to the trellis 
wires is basket willow. Bulrushes are also good. Hatters' trimmings are 
also recommended. 

" If all the fruit-buds are permitted to grow, the vine will soon be ruined. 
The best bunches always grow nearest the stalk. November is the best 
time to shorten back a vine to the buds that are to be left for bearing. It is 
an object with the young vine to cut back or stop the growth of branches 
to give strength to the root. Pinching the bud of a growing vine is to give 
vigor to the root as well as the buds that are to fui-nish the canes for fruit 
next year." 

The Doctor exhibited vines one year old six feet long, and two years old 
twelve feet long, grown from two-eyed cuttings of the Diana grape, which is 
considered a slow grower. He said : 

" Long cuttings should never be planted. Two or three eyes are better — 
two eyes are best. A serpentine form given to a young vine makes it grow 
stronger. The best plan to get new vines is' by layers. It makes vines that 
will bear earlier. I have seen five bunches upon a Delaware cane of one 
year grow perfect ; but three bunches to a cane generally is as much as can 
be depended upon. A vine must not be made to over-bear or over-produce 
wood. Sparing the knife spoils the vine. I think in this country that the 
trellis form of growing vines, both for wine and market fruit, will be the 
best plan — better than growing upon stakes. On posts seven or eight feet 
high place five wires, and set the rows ten feet apart, and running north and 
south if convenient. Grapes can be grown to advantage in the city. A 
vigorous vine can be carried up six or eight feet a year without bearing 
until it reaches the top of the house, and there trained upon a trellis, and 
produce good fruit many years. Vines can also be trained upon brick walls 
or in yards that have four hours of sun a day. It is not necessarj' that the 
sun shine constantly on the ground where a vine is rooted, so that it reaches 
up to a sunny spot for leaves and fruit. I have trained vines up a house- 
side three stories high. 

" All sides of a house may be used, but on the north side the fruit will 
not ripen well. A northeast exposure on the sea-coast is not a good one for 



Seo. 42.] PRUNING AND TRAINING. 635 

grapes. One objection to au eastern exposure is bright suns after frosts. 
Suniuier pruning is indispensable. In the angle between the k-aves two 
buds start, and if one is not pinched out it will produce a shoot tluit will 
bear green grapes in the fall. Care must be taken not to cut off the 
vines in the hard wood in the summer. The shoot must be stopped in 
the bud by pinching, and not by cutting away hard wood. Vines never 
should be trimmed with ordinary shears, but with a very keen knife, with a 
smooth cut. 

" The bunch next to the main stem covers the bud of the fruit bearing 
liranch for next year. In autumn pruning, all of the fruit-bearing arm is 
cut away to one bud. November pruning is better than March, on account 
of the sap exuding. There are many advantages in pruning in November, 
but if neglected then, it must not be neglected altogether, for upon that, 
and also plucking off all excess of fruit, depends the success of grape- 
growing. 

" Carrots are an excellent crop to grow upon ground prepared for grapes ; 
they will pay all the expense of preparation. 

" Any good corn land, deeply prepared, will grow grapes, but for a suc- 
cessful vineyard the land should be trenched three feet deep and made rich, 
and there is nothing better than swamp muck for this purpose. It should 
be composted with animal manure, and well rotted, and thoroughly mixed 
with the soil. 

Dr. Grant stated that he had imported " every variety of grape, and Lad 
found none that could withstand our winters, while the Delaware grows in 
every kind of exposure, and never suffers. As for the story about the 
Delaware growing wild in Pennsylvania, I have investigated that matter 
thoroughly, and defy any one to produce an iota of evidence to sustain 
the story. , 

" In planting a vine, recollect the above few simple rules, and you will 
have no difficulty in growing them to your satisfaction. 

" Although the wants of the vine are few, simple, and easily supplied, yet 
they are imperative, and, as with all the other fruits of our climate, it is only 
to judicious care that it can yield its richest delight." 

715. Grafting Grapes* — "Grapes can be and are sometimes grafted when 
it is desired to test a variety in as short time as possible. We understand 
that Mr. Longworth sometimes obtains fruit the same year the grafting Is 
performed. This is owing to the fact that the grape bears fruit on the cur- 
rent year's growth, and not on wood of one, two, or three years old, like the 
peach, apple, and others. It is not, however, a profitable method of in- 
creasing the grape, being rather a slow job and uncertain in growing. Be- 
sides, the same labor in raising stocks on which to graft might grow a better 
kind of vines from cuttings or roots." 

The late Dr. Togno, who spent much of his life in this country in pro- 
moting the culture of the vine, told us, when establishing his vineyard at 
Wilmington, N. C, that he expected to derive considerable advantage in 



636 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

grafting cuttings of choice grapes into tlie wild vines that grew abund- 
antly upon the land, and that only under similar circumstances would 
grafting be of any use. His process of grafting was very simple. In some 
cases we noticed that gimlet-holes were bored, with a small inclination 
downward, into large vines, and the graft sharpened and inserted so as to 
bring the base of a bud in contact with the fresh cut in the old stock ; and 
in others the grafts were inserted in a cleft, either in the side of a vine or the 
sawed-ofF end. 

716. faution about Buying Grape Cuttings. — Do not buy cuttings of Dela- 
ware vines, and others of similar growth, as they can not be depended upon 
to make roots under ordinary cultivation. They are not cheap at any price 
to ordinary farmers, who usually will be obliged to plant them in open 
ground, where they will have but little attention. 

It needs hot-house propagation and very skillful management to grow 
good Delaware gra])evines from buds. It has obtained such a wide noto- 
riety for its excellence that great care should be exercised, so as to be sure 
not to get a Red Traminer, or something equally worthless. Buy rooted 
vines of responsible men, and though slow of growth the first years, do not 
be discouraged ; keep your vines well cared for, and you or yours will enjoy 
the fruit. 

717. Profits of Grape-Growing. — Mr. Andrew Reisinger, a German vine- 
dresser of forty years' experience, settled some years ago in the town of 
Pultney, Steuben County, N. Y., and in 1854 procured from Ohio six 
thousand cuttings of the Catawba grape, which he planted, four feet apart, 
on land well trenched and subsoiled, and in 1857, from an area of less than 
an acre, jiressed three hundred gallons of juice. Next sj^ring he increased 
his area of grape culture by an acre and a half, and from an acre of older 
vines, one eighth only two years planted, pressed six hundred gallons of 
juice, besides keeping four hundred pounds of grapes to show to buyers of 
cuttings the quality of the fruit. He thinks the grape culture can be made 
decidedly profitable, even on the highest suitable lands in New York ; that 
is, on sandy or gravelly loam having a southern to southeastern exposure. 
Of course the cultivation must be very thorough. 

A Mr. Provost, of Williamsburg, L. I., manures his vines highly, and 
covers the manure with sand. He exhibited a bunch of an Isabella vine 
ten feet long with seventy bunches of grapes. Such a vine must be much 
more profitable than the one mentioned in the next paragraph. 

718. Gigantic Grapevine. — The Horticulturist for October, 1858, gives an 
engraved representation and account of a grapevine at West Hill, near Bur- 
lington, N. J., that measures six feet and one inch around the trunk three 
feet above the ground, and three feet around at ten feet high. In extent, it 
is equally enormous, spreading over four large forest trees, one of which is 
a full-sized black oak, the largest tree being ten feet in circumference two 
feet above the ground. This monstrous vine is a male, of the wild grapes 
of the country, and although regarded as a wonder, it had never been known 



Sec. 42.] VINE-GROWING IN CITIES. 637 

to Lear fruit. The diameter of tlie circle of the ground covered by the 
branches of this vine is over one hundred feet. Vines are recorded of tlie 
known age of six liundred years. Statues have been carved from grape- 
wood, and pillars made from it ; even the large doors of tlie cathedral of 
Ravenna are made of the grape-tree. In some parts of Italy, saj's Miller, 
"A vine is considered young at one hundred years, and there aro plants in 
existence which have been cultivated three hundred years." 

711). Uow to Grow a Vine hi a City Lot. — " It so happens sometimes that we 
have an inside walk running near the house — so near that we have not room 
enough to make a border between it and the house on which we wish to 
train our vine. In that case we should take up the walk and enrich the 
ground under it, so the roots can penetrate it, which they will readily do; 
or we may plant the vine on the outside, and when we haTe produced a good 
strong cane — say eight or ten feet long — we can take np a narrow strip of 
the walk, make the soil rich, and then lay the vine down, covering it three 
or four inches with soil, put down the walk again, and bring the vine out on 
the opposite side. Yines treated in this way will grow as strong and as well 
as when planted in the open border. 

"The most simple and easiest managed system of training the vine is with 
horizontal arms. To grow a vine on this plan, we commence by growing 
one cane on an upright stake, pinching off the little side branches or laterals, 
leaving one leaf; this pinching is to be repeated when the latcials grow 
again, and an additional leaf is left at each successive pinching. 

" If the vine is planted in a lot so shaded that the giapes will not ripen 
near the ground, the vine may be trained up the wall, quite to the top of 
the house, and the fruit-bearing arms formed on a trellis on the roof. By 
skillful training a vine can be grown, and grapes produced in abundance, 
upon any city lot, no matter what the exposure." 

720. Traiuiiig Vines I'poa Walls. — This is more practiced in Europe than 
here. There walls are built on purpose and pay a profit, and doubtless might 
be made to do so near cities in this country. Tiie plan is much practiced in 
France. A very thick high wall is found to be so heated in the daytime 
that it retains the heat during night, and this makes the grapes much sweeter, 
and saves them from danger of cold weather. 

721. Riugiiig Grapevines. — This is a process adopted to increase the pro- 
duction of a vine and enlarge the fruit. It is to remove a ring ot bark 
about one fourth of an inch, or perhaps half an inch wide, from the bearing 
branch, near the junction with tlie main stem, about the time of the setting 
of the fruit in spring. The effect is an increased vigor of growth ui)iin the 
branch so treated, and larger, handsomer — not better — fruit, which in some 
instances has ripened ten to fifteen days earlier than the fruit upon branches 
not rung. But mark, these rung branches will have to be cut away another 
season, as the wound is not likely to heal over so as to make a heahhy 
branch next year. So, you see, care must be taken not to ring an}' branch 
of a vine that you "wish to preserve for training, and it would be advisable 



038 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

to ring only a portion of the branches you intend to cut away at the next 
pruning. 

722. Grapes Under Glass. — Mr. Charles Butler has demonstrated to the 
suburban residents ot' New York city what can bo done in raising grapes 
under glass. His place is near AVhite Plains, "Westchester County, N. Y. 

Mr. Butler has erected vineries a thousand feet in length, with a tine ex- 
posure, and has introduced the rarest and finest grapes, and in less than three 
years from the time of setting out the vines, ho has taken off about two 
thousand jjounds of grapes, of extraordinary size and ilavor — the Black 
Hamburg ; t!ie Muscat of Alexandria ; tlie Zinfendel, a native of southern 
Italy; the Tokay, the Syrian grape, growing in immense clusters, sometimes 
attaining, in its native clime, the weight of ten or fifteen pounds. These 
are the grapes of Eschol, such as the spies brought on a pole between them 
as samples of what the land of Canaan would yield. 

Beside these, he has the Cannon Hall, Chasselas of Fontainebleau, West 
St. Peters, Lombardy, White Frontignae, Purple Damask, and White Nice. 
But the most magnificent of all is the Barbarossa, which has rarely been 
fruited in this country. 

723. EconoBilca! Grape Trellis.— At Westchester, Pa., Mr. Jeffries has a 
cheap grape trellis. A cedar-tree, possessing a symmetrical form of branches, 
is selected, and when cut down the branches are carefully preserved, thin- 
ning out the smaller twigs, but leaving the pyramidal shape prominent. 
Tliis is used as a stake, and when covered with vines is highly ornamental, 
as well as forming a superior support for the grape. A row of them, seen 
fi'om a distance, has the appearance of luxuriant forest trees. 

Tlie French, near Fontainebleau, have a cheajj way of making very good 
and durable trellises. They set posts of locust, about three or four inches in 
diameter, two feet in the ground and six out, and about eight or ten feet 
apart. They then tie across the posts strips of white oak or ash, about one 
inch thick and ten or twelve feet long. These strips are split out in the same 
way that we split out hoops for flour barrels, and tied to the posts with an- 
nealed iron wire. i 

721. Delaware and Red Traminer Vines Described.— Andrew S. Fuller 
gives the following directions for distinguishing the Delaware from the Ked 
Traminer. He says: 

"There has been much talk about the Delaware grape being the Red 
Traminer, but it was only by those who did not know either. How any 
person, even a casual observer, could confound the two, is more than we can 
understand, for the difference between them is so apparent that a man, by 
the sense of feeling; could easily tell one from the other. The buds of the 
Traminer, like all the foreign varieties, are very prominent — much larger 
than the Delaware, although the latter has buds quite large for a native. 
The large bud is a marked characteristic of the foreign varieties. The bark 
of the Delaware has the deep striated appearance of all our natives, with a 
hard silicious covering, perhaps the hardest of all, not excepting the Con- 



Seo. 42.] MANAGEMENT OF GRAPEVINES. 639 

cord, wliicli it resembles ia color. It is nearly destitute of Lloom, Avliich is 
alwa^'S upon the wood of the Traminer. Toward the end of the slioots, the 
Delaware exhibits the peculiar hairiness which is another characteristic of 
the native vine. The Traminer has a soft wood, with large, light-colored 
spots upon it, especially when grown in the open air, and is quite tender in 
this latitude, killing to the ground unless protected, while the Delawai'e is as 
hardy as any of the wild fox-grapes. The Traminer has a thin rufSed leaf, 
difficult to press flat without its lobes overlapping or splitting. The Dela- 
ware is perfectly flat, thick, and leathery, like the Catawba, Diana, Concord, 
and Anna. All of these have thick leaves, and are not liable to sun-scald or 
mildew, while the Isabella, Eebecca, and some others have thin leaves, and 
are subject to this disease unless grown under very favorable circumstances. 
The mildew is not likely to attack a perfectly healthy native vine, and it gener- 
ally attacks them at the time of cold, cloudy weather, when the leaves have 
become weak from the want of sun ; therefore it will be seen that vines, to be 
healthy, must have a full exposure to the sun if you would keep them free 
from this malady. "Weak growers are not likely to have well-ripened wood 
and leaves the first year from cuttings, unless assisted by artificial heat, con- 
sequently they have uuripened roots. The Traminer does not rijjen its wood 
in the open air, while the Delaware does perfectly. It is quite diflicult to 
make the Delaware strike roots from cuttings ; the Traminer strikes very 
readily. The mildew tliat attacks our native vines is quite diflerent from 
that which attacks the foreign. The one that attacks the foreign commences 
on the upper surface, and jiasses to the peduncle, and thence to the fruit, 
and is of a dark color. The one to which our native varieties are liabh^ ap- 
pears more gross, presenting the appearance of small transparent bladders 
or minute pearls, that are disposed to attach themselves along the middle of 
the leaf on the under side, consequently they often destroy it before a per- 
son is aware of what is tlie matter. This native mildew and sun-scald are 
mutually disposed toward each other; that is, if a plant is weakened by sun- 
scald, it is particularly predisposed to be attacked by mildew, and a plant 
upon -svhich mildew fastens is obnoxious to sun-scald, as its life-blood is 
sucked out by this jjarasitic plant. The fruit of the Traminer does not re- 
semble the Delaware as much as a Baldwin apple does a Spitzenberg, and 
one who can see a diflerence between these, would not find it diflicult to dis- 
tinguish the grapes. If you will pick the Delaware before it is quite ripe, 
you will find that the skin parts readily from the flesh like the other natives ; 
the Traminer adheres to the flesh the same as others of its class. If you al- 
low young vines of the Delaware to mature all the fruit that sets, they will 
have quite a tough pulp, and have that peculiar foxiness which no foreign 
grape ever had " 

725. The Isabella Grape— Is it a Seedling ?— The falawba.— It is stated that 
the original location of the Isabella grape Avas Newbern, N". C. It was 
brought to Brooklyn in 1818, but it is not known whether the grape brought 
from North Carolina was a seedling or the original of the variety. 



640 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

One of the great difficulties of growing seedlings from any native fruit is 
to get it to vary from the wild sort. There is no difficulty in getting varia- 
tions from those cultivated or improved. "When a variation is once obtain- 
ed from any seedling, it is very easy to continue this variation, and produce 
something better. 

The best proof that the genuine Isabella is not an ordinary seedling is its 
high character, so different from the wild Fox grapes. It is important that 
the country should know if it is a fact that this variety of grapes is failing, 
or diseased so as to be more difficult to grow than other sorts. By many 
persons it is stated as an incontrovertible fact, that the Isabella grape is dis- 
eased, and that it is not worth while for any one to plant a vineyard of Isa- 
bella vines in their present unhealthy condition. 

"William S. Carpenter states that he has taken much pains to grow them, 
and has not had a good bunch of Isabellas for five years. He lias tried 
both close pruning and no pruning, and his pruned vines produced quite as 
well as the unpruned, which proved the assertion false, that the failure is 
owing to injury from close pruning. 

Mr. Pardee states that he saw five distinct sorts exhibited at one fair all 
labeled Isabella. Of course these were seedlings, and though like the orig- 
inal, were not the pure sort. "With so many grapes called by one name, 
how is any one sure of getting the true Isabella? 

The Catawba is supposed to be like the Isabella, a native wild grape of the 
Southern States, and it is now considerably cultivated in Georgia and the 
Carolinas. It was introduced North about 1830, and since has been our 
jjrincipal wine grape. It flourishes best away from the moisture of the sea- 
coast in the dry climate west of the AUeghanies, and at this time thousands 
of acres at the West are devoted to this crop. 

Geo. Ilusfman, well know.n as one of the most intelligent grape-growers 
in Missouri, thinks " the Catawba should be struck from the list as unwortliy 
of cultivation, because it is superseded by better sorts. The same is cer- 
tainly true of the Isabella hereabout." 

Ira Smith, of Peoria, 111., under date August 16, 1860, says : 

" I have a hundred Catawba grapevines, which I cultivate on poles the 
usual way. Having all ray grapes destroyed last spring by a late frost, and 
being desirous to increase the number of vines to enlarge my vineyard, I 
buried all my last year's wood and allowed an extra vine on each trunk to 
grow from a point near the ground, which I have also buried. The side 
branches of the old and new vines are taking root and growing finely, and 
have not at all hindered a heavy growth for next year's fruit of from two 
to three vines climbing up the poles; but some of my neighbors inform me 
that the side branches, commonly called suckers, will not produce good 
bearing vines." 

This is a mistake. It will not make the least difference whether the 
bearing vines are taken from such suckers as the writer mentions or from 
the main stalks. 



Sbo. 42.] CATAWBA AND ISABELLA VINES. 641 

The Isabella grape flourishes finely upon Kelly's Island, in Lake Erie, in 
the neigliborhood of Sandusky, Oliio. In 1S60 it was estimated tliat nearly 
one tenth of tiie land on the island, or 230 acres, liad been planted in vines. 
This is in lat. 4H^, but the climate is ameliorated by the proximity of the 
water, the land not being elevated much above tbe lake. As a general 
thing, it is not safe to depend upon the Isabella or Catawba as far north as 
lat. 41° for a market fruit crop or for wine. 

The most successful grower of these two varieties in the vicinity of New 
York city is Dr. Underbill, at Croton Point, thirty-five miles up the Hud- 
son, where the vineyard is almost surrounded by water, and is but slightly 
elevated above it ; the soil a sandy loam, which has been deeply trenched 
and fertilized by immense quantities of muck dug from a marsh that has 
been subject to tide-water overflow. The same thing is true of the vine- 
yard of J)r. Grant, upon lona Island, about ten miles farther up the Hud- 
son. His land has been made homogeneous by trenching three feet deep, 
and working in muck and manure compost. Upon such land in favorable 
situatio'ns, below lat. 41°, the Isabella and Catawba can be grown ; but even 
as far south as Maryland, as appears from the testimony of many persons, 
other sorts are preferred. 

726. How to Grow Grape Cuttings. — The most difficult thing with those 
who have no experience about graj^e culture is to get a start from cuttings, 
which, they are told, are just as good as rooted vines. So they may be to 
those who know how to use them. The following plan of an amateur grape- 
grower appears to be a good one : 

" Have a box two feet high and about two and a lialf feet wide— the 
length as 3'ou require ; fill half full of well-pulverized soil ; prepare the 
cuttings with three eyes ; cut smooth below the bottom one ; place them in 
a slanting position, with the last bud just above the soil ; nail a thin piece 
of cotton cloth tightly over the box ; give warm soft water freely every 
evening. Place the box in a sunny nook, and in a few weeks it will be 
filled with grapevines ready for potting or planting in borders." 

727. The Hardiness of Varieties of Grapevines in Winter, — The following 
statement, published in 1860 in the Genesee Farmer, shows how the winter 
afl'ects different kinds of grapevines at Rochester : 

" In the garden of a gentleman in this city there is a long trellis, on which 
are grown several vines of Isabella, one of Delaware, one of Rebecca, one 
of Diana, one of To Kalon, and one of Hartford Prolific — -all having the 
same exposure. 

"The vines ai"e pruned early in the winter, and left tied up without any 
protection, and are all from six to eight feet in hight, with laterals. 

" Most of the buds of the Isabella are killed from the tops of the vines to a 
line within two feet of the ground. This is particularly the case on young 
wood of last year's growth, and many of these canes, even, are dead. 

"The Diana suffered fully as severely as the Isabella, and shows live buds 
only on the lower part of the vine. 



642 THE VINEYAKD. [Chap. Vir. 



" The Rebecca and the Hartford Prolific were killed entirely, buds and 
wood, within a foot of the ground. 

" The Delaware is entirely uninjured ; every inch of wood is perfect to the 
very tips, and all the buds are now bursting. 

"The To Kalon is uninjured, and is as Lardy as the Delaware. 
■ " This test we consider a very fair one, and it must place the Delaware — 
combining, as it now appears, superior quality with maturity and great 
hardiness — at the head of all our varieties of native grapes." 

At Utica, a vine obtained by a Mr. Foster from New Jersey, without a 
name, almost as long ago as one of the same sort was taken to Delaware, 
Ohio, proved to be the true Delaware, and stood eighteen years unprotected, 
and never failed to yield him a full crop of most luscious grapes annually, 
and had always ri]iened before our early frosts. 

728. Five Grapes iu their Order of Excellence. — A correspondent of tlie 
American Farmer, whose experience entitles his opinion to respect, fur- 
nishes the following list of gra^^es, the merits of which are given in numer- 
ical order : 

" 1. Delaware. — Bunches and berries medium size, round, red ; ripens 
four weeks earlier than the Isabella ; of the highest excellence as to quality, 
hardiness, and productiveness. Its right eminently to the first rank is gen- 
erally conceded by all who have learned its value. 

" 2. Diana. — Bundles large, mostly shouldered ; berries large, round, 
red ; vine vigorous and productive ; ripens two weeks later than the Dela- 
ware, and approaches it in excellence, botli for table use and fdr wine. If 
grown iu a small space, must be root-pruned at the end of the first season, 
and if very vigorous, at the end of the second. 

"3. Anna. — A white grape of the highest flavor; bunches and berries 
medium to large; vine hardy and productive. It begins to ripen as early 
as the Diana, but does not progress so rapidly, but is much earlier than the 
Catawba, and greatly surpassing it in rich vinous flavor. 

" i. Uerhemont.- — -An immense grower, and the most ornamental of all 
our out-door vines ; perfectly hai'dy south of New York ; its berries are me- 
dium or small iu size ; color deep purple, covered with bloom ; the bunches 
are very large. Its rich, spicy, vinous flavor is very distinct and of the 
greatest excellence. It is fitly desci-ibed by Downing, who says its berries 
are bags of wine. An admirable variety for the latitude of New York city 
and farther south. In texture and flavor it may stand in comparison with 
the best European varieties. 

" 5. Lenoir. — All that has been said of the ITerbemont will apply generally 
to this variety, except that the Lenoir is much earlier, ripening at least two 
weeks before the Isabella. Its fruit is very sweet, rich, sjiicy, and vinous, 
and has a very high character for wine as well as for table use. 

"The Reieccav;o\x\A deserve all commendation for the garden, were it not 
that its leaves, which are not abundant, like those of the Isabella, in most 
localities, are subject to mildew in unfavorable seasons. 



Seo. 42.] REMEDY FOR THE ROT IN GRAPES. 6-i3 

" There are two other varieties that should not be passed without a word, 
since few who have gardens would like to be without them, viz. : 

" Union Yillage — which originated with the Shakers at a place of that 
name near Cincinnati, Ohio, and was introduced by Mr. Longworth. In 
appearance it is like a monstrous Isabella, and resembles it in flavor, but is 
richer, and ripens at least one M'eek sooner. In bunch and berry it may be 
represented as twice the size of that variety. 

" The other is the — 

" Eisinghurg. — This is directly the reverse of the above, having small ber- 
ries, but of the highest flavor, and of a decided European character, but it is 
hardy, early, and productive ; with care, its long shouldered buijches become 
very handsome ; fruit sweet, spicy, and delicious. 

"The skin of the Ilerbemont, Lenoir, and Elsingburg adheres firmly to 
the flesh, like all of the foreign varieties." 

729. Diseases of Grapes— Remedy for (he Rot. — The following remedy for 
the rot, and the reason why it is a remedy, is translated from the Kolnische 
Zeitung : 

"Dr. Franz Yulkan, of Eppan, in the Tyrol, having learned by experience 
that the parasites of vegetables can not exist on animal matter, has discov- 
ered a remedy for the grape disease. He dissolved two and a lialf pounds 
of common glue in ten gallons of water by boiling, and then cooled the so- 
lution until it was neither stiff nor yet too watery, but had the appearance 
of lye. Diseased grapes were dipped in this solution, and after forty-eight 
hours they assumed a lustrous, dark-green color, like that of those which had 
not been attacked. In September they ripened into the finest fruit. To 
make sure that it was that solution which produced the desired result, he se- 
lected three bunches on the same branch ; he dipped the whole of the first, 
half of the second, and the third not at all. The first was entirely un- 
touched, the second as far as it had been dipped, the third remained dis- 
eased, and in four weeks burst and rotted. On another vine, where branches, 
leaves, and fruit were infected in the highest degree, a similar experiment 
produced a similar result. In places where large tracts of vines were struck 
with the blight, single clusters were dipjjed, and these were healthy and 
gave very fine fruit, Avhile all the rest rotted. Perhapis the sprinkling of po- 
tato vines might be equally successful. The cheapness of that remedy com- 
mends it to general use." 

Mr. Bullock Webster, of England, writes from Athens that the applica- 
tion of sulphur has proved most successful in Greece upon grapes, pota- 
toes, beans, peas, fruit-trees, roses, etc. The sulphur ought to be ajiplied in 
a very fine powder in the early stage of the growth of the plant, as soon as 
any blight shows itself, either by means of a large tin pepper-box or small 
bellows, by which a woman can dress an acre of vines per day. Should rain 
fall within five days after the application of the sulphur, tlie operation has to 
be repeated. 

A French journal recommends removing the grape disease by brushin;j: 



644 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

off the fungus with a soft wing of a bird. The bunches appear covered 
with a dust which is easily brushed off. In the experiments tried, tlie 
bunches brushed perfected themselves, while those unbrushed entirely 
failed. 

In this section, a small caterpillar some seasons trims off the bunches of 
gfapes. Perhaps it is only a pi-ovisiou of nature to prevent over-bearing. 
"Wm. Aldrich, in a letter to the Gardcncr''s Monthly, relates a curious fact 
in relation to the effect of different trees upon the healthiness of vines. lie 
says: "A neighbor of mine has an Isabella grape on a Balm of Gilead tree, 
bearing full crops of grapes, while vines on a Black locust generally rotted. 
Another neighbor had a vine, one branch of which extended from a locust- 
tree to a Balm of Gilead tree, with the same result between the different 
branches of the same vine, thougli on the two respective kinds of trees." 

Y30. Hints upou Piaiitiug, Pruning, Fertilizing, and general Care of Grapc- 
vines< — Those who have neither the time nor the taste to carry out any par- 
ticular system need not be fearful of producing plenty of fruit if they follow 
the one cardinal rule, of not allowing any old wood to accumulate, for that 
never bears a second time. This should be ever kept in view, for though a 
vine may extend its shoots a hundred feet, or be traiud to a four-foot stake, 
it will bear just in proportion to its strength. 

It has been urged that our native grapes were more injured by pruning 
than the exotic vines ; but whether this is so or not, remains to be fully 
proved. The rot which attacks the Catawba and other natives has been 
attributed by some to the French system of pruning, though not many ex- 
periments have been made to prove it. The foreign vine is, as a general 
rule, much more subject to disease here than our native sorts. We have no 
doubt that much in regard to health as well as fruitfulness depends upon 
pruning and proper training. 

The importance of system in the treatment of the vine, both under glass 
and in the open air, is therefore apparent. And independent of .those facil- 
ities which attend it, the beauty which couies from method is a powerful 
reason that we should practice it. With the adoption of system, the same 
course of pruning is pursued year after year. When the vine is pruned 
once, it is pruned again without much trouble; a fresh exertion of judg- 
ment is not necessary that too much should not be taken away here or there, 
and after all, the result be unsatisfactory. 

The land for grapevines must be deeply disintegrated. It is idle to plant 
them in hard ground, or stick them into holes dug or punched in a stiff soil. 
There is no preparation equal to trenching with a spade three feet deep. 
The next best preparation is by the double plow, reversing the top soil fifreen 
inches, and stirring the subsoil ten or fifteen inches more with the subsoil 
lifter. The very best manure for grapevines is swamp muck, composted 
with animal substances. 

The ground intended for a vineyard should be well manured the previous 
year, either by a coating of lime, where that kind of manuring is proper, or 



Sec. 42.] HOW TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. 645 

by gypsum, where it can be had ; or by plowing under some green-sward, 
such as clover ; or; at least, by a good and thorough coat of manure, straw, 
or even leaves. 

Afterward the surface, for the depth of twelve inches, should be turned 
beneath the next twelve inches with the spade, or if stony, with the mat- 
tock. For this purpose a trench is first dug four feet wide, and to the 
depth to which the vineyard-man is going to spade up and trench his vine- 
yard. 

It is far better to have a small, good vineyard, than a large poor one. 

The ground thus spaded up should be permitted to settle well before the 
vines are planted. One or two good rains will generally accomplish this. 
The best method is to trench in the fall and plant in the spring. 

We are all too apt to trust to the virgin richness of our soil, and in our 
confidence are apt to forget that spading up the groimd for several feet is 
done for other reasons besides mere fertilizing ; the present surface-soil being 
full of decomposed vegetable matter, is the hot-bed of all manner of insects. 

In ni^iy parts of Europe they spade up the ground to the depth of three 
and four, and even five feet. We never prepare the ground itself during 
the preceding year, while in Europe it is tended in clover with good coat- 
ings of gypsum and manure. 

Some soils are naturally rich and deep, liut we woiald sooner trust to a 
hard, rocky, or gravelly soil that rec|uired digging with a mattock to the 
necessary depth. 

-In vineyards along hillsides it is well to use the stones for the purpose of 
erecting walls. Where stones are lacking, you may raise banks by sodding 
them. They are not as good as stone walls, since the green-sward is apt to 
subject the neighboring vines to frost, but the ground must be protected 
froui washing even at this risk. 

Some persons suppose that throwing old logs, brushwood, or stones under- 
neath, promotes the growth of vines. Tiiey ma}' not hinder them, it well 
packed with ground, but great care should be had not to leave vacuities, as 
thej' are sure to impart to the roots an unhealthy state. 

One successful viue-grower throws in a layer of corn stalks or brush, cirt 
M'ith the leaves on in summer, at the bottom of the trench. This serves as 
a partial underdrain, and also as a manure. 

George Husman, of Missouri, says : 

"The best situations are generally our hillsides, with an eastern, south- 
eastern, or southern exposure. The freer the location, and the more exposed 
to the draft of our prevalent winds in summer, the better. The slojses ad- 
joining small water-courses should be particularly avoided, as they are 
peculiarly subject to frosts in winter and spring, and also, generally, to mil- 
dew and rot. 

"The Soil best suited for the vine is a drj', calcareous loam, with a jiorous 
subsoil. Any soil retentive of moisture, for example, wet, stiff clay, or wet, 
spongy land of any kind, should be avoided, as the grapes are much more 



646 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

subject to mildew and rot on such soils, and the vines are apt to make a 
rampant, unhealthy growth. 

" It' you intend to make a plantation of cuttings, they should he made of 
sound, well-ripened, young wood, and contain at least four eyes or joints; 
cut them off close below the lower eye, and about an inch above the upper ; 
if a heel of the old wood is left attached, so much the better. They should 
be cut in autumn, tied in bundles, and buried in the ground until wanted for 
planting. This refers, of course, only to such varieties as Catawba, Isa- 
bella, and otlier kinds whicli will grow from cuttings. Many of our most 
valuable kinds, such as Norton's "Virginia, Delaware, and others, will not 
grow from cuttings, and must be propagated by layering or grafting. Most 
of those varieties which have very firm hard wood and but little pith will 
not propagate readily from cuttings. 

" As a general tiling, rooted plants are very much to be preferred when- 
ever they can be obtained at a moderate cost. The first summer after plant- 
ing, nothing is necessary but to keep the ground free from weeds, and the 
surface well pulverized, either with the hoe, cultivator, or plow. Should 
the vines grow very strong, they may be tied to the stakes used for marking 
ofi" the ground, and only one shoot be allow,ed to grow. The next winter, 
stakes should be provided. Here, again, opinions diifer, some preferring 
simple stakes, others prefer trellis. The latter is undoubtedly the best, and 
also the cheapest, if well made in the following manner : Take cedar posts, 
where they can be had; if not, mulberry, walnut, locust, white oak, or any 
other durable timber, split np to about three inches in diameter and seven 
feet long. Point one end, and make holes with a crowbar two feet deep in 
the spaces between the vines, setting the stakes firmly. To these' stakes nail 
three laths, one about two feet from the ground, the others eighteen inches 
apart. They can be split of black oak, one inch broad by half an inch 
thick. Provided the stakes are made of durable timber, such a trellis will 
last from ten to fifteen years; is much more convenient for tying the vines 
and training the young wood to them, and will prove the cheapest in the 
long run. 

'•The after-culture of the ground is precisely as in the first and second 
years. It is generally observed as a rule that, during wet seasons, the ground 
should be kept clean and smooth, stirring but little. During dry seasons, 
the ground should be drawn up to the vines and well stirred. Should a 
vineyard show a decrease in vigor, it can be manured by digging a small 
trencli just above the vines, laying in manure, and covering up again with a 
plow or spade. 

"Vegetable manure and compost I should consider most suitable; but 
good decomposed stable-yard manure will also do. Ashes are, no doubt, 
very beneficial to the vines. 

" After the third year the vine may be considered as established, and a 
full crop expected. It is in pruning now that the nicest judgment, as to the 
capabilities of each vine for bearing, is required, as the success of the vintner 



Sbo. 42.] HOW TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. 647 



in raising a good crop, and also preserving his vines in a healthy condition, 
depends prineipally on judicious pruning. 

" Pruning is best done late in autumn or early winter, but it can be fol- 
lowed up all winter until the 1st of March, though it is best in autumn, as it 
will prevent all flow of sap, and the cuttings arc also better if required for 
propagating." 

Summer 2n'i(ning is earnestly recommended by Andrew S. Fuller, of 
Brooklyn, N. Y. He says : 

" By summer pruning we do not mean the cutting off of large branches, 
but a system of pinching or stopping the young shoots with the finger and 
thumb, which is called summer pruning. When a vine is planted, we 
should never allow but one shoot to grow upon it the first season, and never 
allow any side-shoots or laterals to grow any length ; if we do, the Lnd at 
the axil of the leaf where this lateral springs, M'liicli is the embryo fruit- 
branch for the coming season, will be very much injured, if not entirely 
destroyed ; besides, the sap will be distributed through many small branches, 
instead of being concentrated into one strong shoot. 

"In all modes of training, this operation is necessary for directing the 
vital principle and proper maturation of the plant. It is not only an 
economical operation, saving much labor that would be otherwise lost if the 
vines were left until the annual pruning, but hy concentrating the sap 
into that particular portion of the vine where it is needed, we are able 
to produce a much larger quantity of superior fruit than we otherwise 
siiould. 

" The operation of pinching ott" the laterals is generallj' performed thus : 
When they have pushed out and formed one or two leaves, then the end is 
pinched off, leaving one leaf; when tliey have pushed again, pinch again, 
and leave another leaf, and so on as long as the vine continues to grow. 
This keeps them in check, and by leaving occasionally a leaf it does not de- 
prive the vine of so many leaves as it would if the laterals were broken off 
close to the main stem, as is sometimes done, and as we may safely do at the 
beginning of the season ; but at midsummer, and later in the season, there 
is danger of forcing out the next season's fruit-bud, which is at the base of 
the lateral, and when this is done, of course you lose your next season's crop. 
This summer-pinching has always been an operation that was strictly attended 
to in all well-regulated vineyards in all ages. 

"It was called, in olden times, pampinating — -taken from the word pam- 
pinus, a young shoot; in later days, weeding the vines. Columella says 
that we should suspend the operation while the vines are in flower, for 
fear of destroying the embryo fruit — an idea worth remembering. The 
main shoot may be stopped when it arrives at the proper hight, and then 
let the uppermost buds push out and grow for a while, and then check 
these. By dning so we can often make our vines much stronger in growth 
than they would otherwise be if this was not done, besides ri'pening 
their wood thoroughly. If we allow all the laterals or side-branches to 



648 



THE VINEYARD. 



[Chap. VII. 



grow on a vine, and by doing so divide and subdivide the nutriment which 
it receives througli iis roots, we shall then have many small and weak 
branches, none of which will be strong enough to fully develop or mature 
their fruit. 

"In our northern latitude we have always observed that, when vines were 
allowed to grow in this way, these small shoots were never well ripened 
when the cold weather came, and the consequences were we had immature 
wood and immature roots, both of which were destroyed by the cold weather. 
For it is indisputable that unless a vine is made to mature all its branches 
by the time cold weather comes, a corresponding number of its roots will 
also be unripe. To this cause alone a great j^roportion of the failures in 
vine culture in this vicinity can be attributed. Further, when we come to 
the annual pnming, if we have one hundred branches to cut ofi" we make 
one hundred wounds, each one of which will take a certain amount of al- 
burnum to heal over, and thereby cause a vast amount of the strength of the 
vine to be directed to this jDurpose, which might have been used in furnish- 
ing food for new wood and fruit had there not been more than one tenth of 
that number of wounds, which is all that would have been necessary if the 
vine had been properly summer-pruned. 

"No detiuite rule can be given that will be applicable in every case, for 
Bome vines will grow strong and others weak ; some disposed to throw out 
many branches, others few ; besides, each different mode of training will re- 
quire summer pruning consistent with the plan adopted. 

" In some modes of training it is found quite beneficial to pinch off the 
end of the fruit-bearing branch three or four leaves beyond the last bunch 
formed ; in other modes it would be very injudicious. But in pruning, as well 
as in all other operations in the vineyard, the operator must fully understand 
what he wishes to accomplish, knowing that certain causes will produce 
certain results. Those who believe that nature is the best teacher, and 
therefore leave their vines to ramble without check or restraint, would do 
well to remember that our cultivated fruits are no longer wild plants, but 
have, in a great measure, changed their natures, and have become somewhat 
artificial and no longer in their normal state. 

"The objects of pruning are various ; among the most prominent are, pro- 
moting the formation of fruit-buds ; lessening bulk ; modifying form ; pro- 
moting growth ; increasing tlie size and proper distribution of the fruit 
among the branches ; creating an equilibrium between root and stem ; re- 
moval of diseased portions of the plant, etc., all of which should be kept 
constantly in view when the operation of pruning is being performed, for by 
doing it we will save much time and be more likely to produce the intended 
results. 

"There are various opinions in regard to the best form in which vines 
should.be trained ; but all of them that have been successful for any consid- 
erable length of time have been founded upon the same principles. All 
successful plans are commenced by a gradual accumulation of wood from 



Seo. 42.] HOW TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. 649 

two to six years, at whicli time tlie structure may be considered as finished, 
after whicli the vine is not allowed to extend, always pruning it to the same 
point as nearly as possible from year to year. 

" The vine is thus made to produce its fruit very near the old wood. 
This is very important when high-flavored fruit is desired. The importance 
of having old or matured wood in close proximity to the fruit is a principle 
so generally conceded to be true by experienced vine-growers, that in the 
best wine districts of Europe they seldom attempt to make wine for the 
purpose of testing the quality of a variety until the vine has been established 
for several years. It is necessary to have old or well-matured wood as a 
basis upon which to grow your fruit. A superabundant quantity, instead 
of being beneficial, is deleterious. 

"This is one reason why all the various plans that have had for their object 
the entire renewal of the vine biennially or triennially from the same root have 
been discarded when thoroughly tried. These renewal plans have often 
been brought forward by theorists, but what is equally true, none of them 
have succeeded, and at the present time not one of them is in successful 
operation. 

" Another difficulty which we have had to contend with, when growing 
vines on these renewal plans, is that we are obliged to resort to such severe 
pruning at the time of renewal, that we destroy the equilibrium between 
root and top. When the vine has become fully estal)lished (say from five to 
ten years, and no vine can be considered as establtshed in less time), it is 
with great difficulty that it can be restrained sufficiently to produce a healthy 
shoot from the one eye or bud to which it is pruned. 

"The large amount of food which will be accumulated in the roots of a 
healthy vine, and is constantly being collected by them, can not find em- 
ployment, and the new shoots or shoot which put forth can not consume this 
superabundant supply, and a sort of plethora is produced. A portion of the 
roots becomes inactive, and consequently decay. 

" Let any one examine the stump of a large tree that has been cut 
down, and he will see this fully demonstrated. A few trifling shoots may 
be produced which will grow rapidly, biit the greater portion of the old 
roots will die in consequence of the sudden check which they have received. 
Some varieties of trees will not produce sprouts at all from the old root 
when the top has been cut away, while others will produce them in 
abundance. 

"We believe the only true mode of renewing the entire vine, when it 
has become enfeebled by age or accident, is by layering a portion of its 
young shoots. This is the general and successful method practiced in old 
and established vineyards. 

"The first pruning a nursery vine receives is when it is transplanted, at 
which time it should be cut down to one eye or bud above the ground, from 
which one shoot is allowed to grow. This should be kept tied to a stake, 
all side shoots, or laterals, as they are termed, plucked off", leaving one leaf 



650 THE VINEYAED. [Chap. VII. 

on them the first time ; if they start again, pinch them oif, leaving another 
leaf, and so on through the growing season. 

" The second year the vine is down to two buds, if strong, but if weak, 
cut again to one bud, and repeat the operation as the first year. When the 
vine makes a strong growth the first §eason, it may be safely cut back to 
two buds, and from there we allow two slioots to grow, which must be at- 
tended to during their growth, such as tying to stakes, or trellis, and pinch- 
ing off laterals, as was done the first year. 

" The third year we are supposed to have two strong shoots from one root, 
and we are now ready to adopt the plan on which m'c intend to train our 
vine. Nearly all the systems now in use start from this point, whether it 
be the bow system, thomery, or the common trellis plan ; this seems to be 
the starting-point for them all. 

" A very simple plan, and one •which is peculiarly adapted for a trellis, is 
formed by bending down the shoots which we sliould have on our vine at 
the end of the second or third year, to form horizontal arms, leaving them 
about two feet long. The shoot that grows from the end bud we save for 
continuing the arm next season ; but it should not be lengthened more than 
two feet in any one season. Only the number of buds required for the up- 
right shoots should be left to grow upon these arras. The upright shoots 
are to be cut down to one or tAvo eyes every year, and from the young slioots 
that spring from these we obtain our fruits. 

" Another mode is t»^ut down every alternate shoot to one eye, and the 
others to four or five, the long canes bearing several bunches, and the others 
none. Next season this order is reversed, those bearing this year bear none 
the next, and so on. 

" Sometimes a vine is planted in a trench five or six feet from the trellis 
or wall on which it is to be trained, and each year a portion of the vine, 
say two feet, is layered, and thus we go on, step by step, until we reach 
the trellis, and have formed our two shoots for arms. The object of this 
layering is to get a large quantity of root before the vine is called upon 
to produce a large quantity of fruit. There is a sufficient amount of top 
allowed to remain on the vine each year (which is also allowed to bear 
fruit) to keep the roots active and healthy. Whatever system you adopt, 
let it be vigorously adliered to until yon succeed or fail ; and in case the 
latter is your fate, you may confer a great favor upon others by doing so, 
for it is often the case that the failure of one man is of more benefit to the 
community than the success of many. If you do not adhere to the one sys- 
tem that you start with, we can not tell whether it was your neglect or the 
fault.of the system that caused the failure. Of course we are supposing that 
there is no fault in the variety or in the cultivation." 

Mr. Fuller advocates the single eye system for propagation, as likely to 
produce the best vines in the shortest time. The old -wood serves to nourish 
the new shoot until it can send out new roots to sustain itself. The best 
plan for framing vines for family use is upon trellises. Ko vine should 



Sec. 42.] HOW TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. 651 

ever be trained upon an arbor for any other purpose than a shade. Never 
use an arbor to grow fruit. It is very difficult to arrange an old vine into 
any good shape; to malvc a good one, you must start ariglit Avith a new 
vine. Upon whatever plan you train your vines, make j-our fruit grow 
close to the grouud — that is, within reacli without using a fireman's ladder. 
He gives the following as the pliilosophy of autumn pruning : 

" During active growth of leaves and stems the liquid portion of the sap 
is exhaled almost as fast as it enters the vine. When cold weather lii'st 
checks growth, it does not affect the roots, Avliich continue absorbing food. 
In autumn, then, the vine becomes surcharged with sap, which, during win- 
ter, undergoing its natural change, would deposit solid matter througliout 
tlie entire length of the vine, so that each bud would be equally supplied 
with its quota of food to commence vegetation anew in spring. Now, sup- 
pose a portion of the vine is cut away in the fall or early winter, it is ap- 
l")arent that what remains has the whole root for its support, and it may 
receive all the strength that wonld have been diffused throughout the un- 
pruned vine. These few buds will of course put forth in spring mucli more 
vigorously, and continue to send out fruit-bearing wood in g:-eater perfection 
than it is possible for an unpruned vine to do. 

" The rule for pruning, then, should be : If the vine is weak, prune early, 
that is, as soon as it sheds its leaves. If your vine bears fruit, and is not a 
vigorous grower of wood, and you wish it to produce more, prune early- 
If your vine is a vigorous grower, but a shy bearer, 'prune late. If severe 
cold may soon be expected, at the time you are pruning do not cut the 
cane near a bud, but several inches above it. If desirable, you can cut 
away the spur above the bud after cold weather is past. The growth of 
wood or fruit is regulated more by pruning than by the soil in which the 
vine is grown. 

"It may be set down as a fact, that no vine in the climate of New York 
can ri])en a crop of fruit upon all the wood its roots will produce." 

In pruning, the vintner should have a two-fold object in view. First, to 
raise a good crop of well-developed and well-ripened fruit ; secondly, to get a 
supply of strong, well-ripened young wood, to give a good crop next season. 

Dr. Underbill says : 

"It depends upon the richness of the soil about summer pruning. If the 
soil is very rich, there is danger of the fruit-buds starting as soon as the lat- 
erals are pinched in. If the laterals and leaders are both pinched off, the 
tendency will be, in a strong, growing vine, to send out the fruit-bud form- 
ing, so as to have new grapes in autumn and no crop next year. In mod- 
erately fertile soil, the Isabella will bear pinching m pi-etty closely, but not 
upon highly fertilized vineyards. I do not of late stop the growth of my 
Isabellas. I think the practice of summer pruning inapplicable to the Isa- 
bella variety and all other strong growing plants. 

" The Catawba grows its wood more firndy, and admits the German cul- 
tivation better than the Isabella. No grape but one of slow growth will 



652 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

bear to be cu]tivatecl entirely on the renewal system. • I would put new 
plants into generous soil, and give tliera all the growth I could to ripen the 
wood thoroughly. Still, it is not best at any time to drive the growth of a 
vine too fast. A rapid growing vine, or a vineyard forced by high manur- 
ing, will not make as good wine as one of slower growth. Bones and com- 
post of muck and yard manure are the best fertilizers. I never use guano, 
nor any very heating manures, such as that from the hen-house or pig-pen." 

The advantage of taking off laterals off a very rapid-growing vine is to give 
the fruit moi'e sun and air. 

" In 1860 it was estimated that there were about four thousand acres laid 
out in vineyards in the State of Ohio, of which nearly one half were in the 
immediate vicinity of Cincinnati, and witli good weather that the yield 
would be 1,600,000 gallons of wine. 

" Propagating choice vines by layering should be practiced by all. 
When trimming your vines in the fall, save one or more of the canes of well- 
matured wood, and in the spring dig and manure the ground in a line for a 
trench, in which to lay down the vine, which at first you may cover about 
two inches deep. Drive some pegs over the vine to keep it fast, and when 
the eyes have sprouted and grown a foot or so high, tie them to stakes, and 
earth up around the base, and repeat this from time to time until the layer 
is six inches deep. The result will be that each upright will become firmly 
rooted, and be a good vine for transplanting next season." 

731. What Is a Merchantable Grapevine ? — A vine with a stem no bigger 
than a straw is not a fair merchantable vine. Such a vine, of one of the 
very rare sorts, may be sold to a purchaser present who perfectly under- 
stands what he is buying, but should not be sent out to fill orders. Neither 
should a stump of a vine, upon which a few roots have been forced to grow 
in a hot-house pot. No definite rule can be adopted as to the size of vines, 
because there is a great variation in growth of different varieties. The 
Isabella, the Catawba, the Concord, the Northern Muscadine, the Hartford 
Prolific, and some others, are strong-growing, rather coarse, woody vines, 
which at two years old might be twice as large as a good Delaware, Diana, 
Eebecca, Anna, or some other sort that does not make wood fast while 
growing. The Delaware, in particular, grows a small, hard, wiry vine, very 
hardy, and well rooted. 

A No. 1 Delaware vine, from an honest nurseryman, will have a cane 
as large as a pipe-stem, with three good eyes and a mass of fibrous roots, 
which will require a hole twelve to eighteen inches across to spread them 
out in, as they should always be in planting a vine. The Diana, Kebecca, 
Lenoir, and Anna are of the same character of growth, and should be of 
the same size to be " merchantable." 

The Catawba, Isabella, Herbemont, Concord, Hartford Prolific, Union 
Village, Canby's August, etc., being vines of a stronger growth, should be, 
when sold from nurseries, the size of one's little finger, with either entire 
canes or three eyes and plenty of roots. Such vines may be taken as a fair 



Sko. 42.] HOW TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. ^653 

standard, and people ■who are anxious to plant vines should not be cheated 
hj having inferior ones palmed off upon theni. It is that which discourages 
them, and sets back the grape cultivation more than all we have said in irs 
favor for years can set it forward. 

732. Grape Culture in f aliforniai — In no other part of the United States 
has grape culture advanced with such rapid strides as it lias, or rather does 
(1861), in California. The California Farmer of September 7, 1S60, speaks 
of a vineyard ■wliich the editor visited in Sonoma, on the estate of Gen. 
Vallejo, managed by Mr. Eyan, that looks like rivaling in a short time some 
of the large vineyards of Europe. It says : 

"TJie old vineyard called Laehrynia Monte, or 'Mountain of Tears,' was 
planted M'itli about 3,000 vines by the old Jesuits. The trunks of the vines 
are now like trees ; the balance of this vineyard — 7,000 vines — was planted 
in the years '56, '57, and '58. 

"The new vineyard, which contains 20,000 vines of California grape, and 
5,000 foreign varieties, was all planted on subsoiled ground thoroughly pre- 
pared, twenty to twenty-four inches deep, and these vines are now doing ad- 
mirably. 

" Dr. Victor Fourze is the vintner, and the wine vaults are five in 
number; four are 22 by 50 feet, and one 20 by 40 feet; the buildings are 
adobe, very thick walls, floors double, and admirably fitted up as wine 
cellars. Tlie stock on had now is about 8,000 gallons, and several parcels 
bottled of wine of '56 to '60. The amount anticipated this year is 15,000 
gallons, and he will make 5,000 or 6,000 bottles of champagne, besides 200 
gallons of brandy. 

" Col. Harasztby's vineyard is on a tract of mountainous land of about 
5,000 acres. Tlie vineyard covers 260 acres in all. There are now SiJ 
acres in bearing, with CSO vines to the acre, set 8 by 8 feet, which is the 
proper distance. The vines bore well last year, and made 4,000 gallons No. 
1 wine. They will make this year 60,000 gallons, valued at $1 50 the gal- 
lon, or $90,000. Some lots of vines averaged forty pounds per vine, and 
there were vines that gave 300 pounds ; these were California grapes. Col. 
Harasztby has already one hundred and eighty-six kinds of foreign vines, 
but has tested only thirty-six kinds. He has already contracted to deliver 
to Messrs. Grossinger, of San Francisco, 300,000 pounds of grapes this year 
at 3i cents per pound, four miles from the vineyard, the purchasers to find 
boxes. This will establish the value of grapes at wholesale for wine 
purposes. 

"The wine cellars of Col. Harasztby are made into the hill, composid tf 
concrete matter, chalk, lime, blue clay, and gravel stone. There are two 
cellars now, one is forty feet deep and the other one Imndred feet deep. 
There is a new one building, which is to be 400 feet deep ; the first one is 
fourteen feet wide and eight feet high, the last will be sixteen feet wide and 
^even and a half feet high. These are grand and complete cellars, being 
moist and dark. The temperature will be uniform ; it should be sixty de- 



G54 . THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII- 

gi'ees, and moist. Some persons object to moisture in wiue cellars because 
the casks decay, but the gain to the wine and less loss doubles the loss on 
casks, as the evaporation of wine in dry cellars is great ; in moist cellars the 
loss on a sixty-gallon cask is only one half gallon ; in a dry cellar, one and 
one half gallons. 

" The experience of Col. Harasztby is, that foreign vines are superior to the 
California grape for wine, and he will not plant any more California vines. 
There have been planted in Sonoma more than 1,000 acres. 

"It is getting to be so common a thing in California to find vineyards of 
eight or ten thousand vines, that they are not deemed particularly worthy 
of notice. So rapid is the increase of vines, and the manufactures of wine 
in this State, that the day is not distant when ships sent with cargoes — if 
they have anything to send — from New York will return freighted with 
wine-casks, and California wine will be as common in this city as wine from 
France. It is also asserted that raisins can be manufactured in California, 
and will be as soon as the price of labor finds a level corresponding with 
other grape-growing countries. 

" In France, a first-rate crop of grapes is 5,000 lbs. per acre, while 2,000 
lbs. is regarded a fair crop. In the grape-growing districts along the Ohio 
River, where a superior grape is produced, 8,000 lbs. is considered a very 
large crop — 4,000 to 5,000 lbs. is regarded as a good average; but in Cali- 
fornia, the ordinary crop is from 10,000 to 13,000 lbs. to the acre, and more 
is not unusual. 

" In the Old World, and in the Atlantic States, the grape crop frequently 
fails on account of trosts and disease ; here, it is sure to yield abundantly. 
There, the vine must generally be supported by poles ; here, it stands without 
artificial aid. There, a large amount of cultivation is costly ; here, it can be 
had for almost nothing. Tliere, the rains frequentl}^ interfere seriously with 
the ripening and gathering; here, during the vintage, we have an un- 
clouded sky. The returns of last year show the grape crop to have 
been 51,000 tuns, and the wine product 300,000 gallons, besides a large 
quantity of brandy." 

733. Grape Culture in Austria. — Although European culture is not alto- 
gether appropriate to this country, we think there are some things stated in 
the following excellent letter from Austria, written by A. Hamilton Gilberts, 
that are well worthy of preservation in this volume. He says : 

"At the first planting of a vineyard in this country they invariably 
use cuttings — so invariably that they would throw away a root and take a 
good cutting from the vine to set out in preference. The manner of setting 
out or planting is to dig a hole in the ground three feet long by two feet 
wide, and the rule for tiie depth is, as deep as to a man's knee ; and the cut- 
tings they use are the length across the bottom of the hole, up the side, and 
lying against the side to the top of the earth. They then put into this hole 
about five cuttings, spread along about two feet, the ends reaching six or 
eijlht inches above ground. The man then stands in the hole on the vines 



Sec. 42.] HOW TO PLANT AND CULTURE VINES. 655 

and cuts in the standing sides of the hole, treading the earth close upon the 
vine about six inches deep, and then hauls the balance of the earth in, and 
fills the hole up a little rounding. It is usual to throw in a handful of wheat 
among the cuttings before filling in the earth. Its value I do not know. 
The cutting in tlie side earth is to give a large, loose area to the roots. 

"They put in live cuttings to insure vines enough. They make the holes 
about nine to eleven feet apart in the rows, and the rows about twelve to 
fifteen feet apart. 

"The first and second year nothing is done to the vine except to keep the 
ground loose and free from weeds. 

" Between the rows they usually sow wheat or oats, or plant corn ; and I 
notice they always plow a shallow furrow one foot from the vines, and turn 
the earth away. If they do not plow they make this trench with a hoe. 

"The third spring from setting out they tiim the shoots down very close 
— say, leave one or two leaf-buds and set sticks to train the vine to, or what 
is more usual, they plant with the cuttings a slip of a tree, somewhat re- 
sembling the Lombardy poplar, which they head down, and only use to 
support the stock. This third year the vines yield a few grapes. The spring 
of the fourth year they take two or three of the most vigorous vines and 
bend tiiem over about the hight of the knee, and carry them along hori- 
zontally toward the next hill or cluster of vines, and bring some of the 
shoots from that cluster, and wind and tie them together. If they do not 
reach together, they cut a limb from the poplar and lengthen them out. 
From tliese horizontal vines. they expect their grapes. 

" It is of course a known fact that the climate of Europe, on the same 
]iarallels of northern latitude, is much milder than ours in New England. 
The region in which the vines I send you grew lies a little north of 45 de- 
grees, yet snow is rare, and ice on large bodies of water seldom seen over two 
inches thick. We have, however, cold, piercing winds occasionally until 
the middle of April. 

"The mode of cultivating the grape here is in some respects peculiarly 
adapted to a more inclement climate. They rarely allow the main trunk to 
grow much higher than the knee, and the vines are trained together by 
tying, and support themselves, or are helped temporarily by a stick in the 
growing season, and then they can be trimmed in November, and brought 
into a very small compass, and protected from the most extreme cold. 

"The Tesano Eefosco is the grape from which is made the choice wine of 
that name. It is quite peculiar to the province of Istria. A peculiarity of 
its manufacture is, that after the fruit is ripe, the vine on which the fruit is 
borne is cut oif, but suffered to hang in its place until it shrinks a little be- 
fore it is picked and the wine made. Tliis is not a good table grape. 

" The Muscats are of two varieties, the white and black. They are both ex- 
cellent for eating out of hand, particularly the white variety, and both make 
a good common wine ; that of the white is considered the best summer wine. 
They usually mix them together in planting. 



656 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

" The Tesano is tlie grape from which the best of the common red wine 
of this country is made, that is universally drank by all classes. Its retail 
price is about twenty cents a quart. About half a pint of wine and bread, 
worth a kreutzer — a little less than a cent — make the daily breakfast of tens 
of thousands from childhood to old age. Such wine is simply the juice of 
t!ie grape — a pleasant, cooling beverage, slightly acid. It is transported 
into the city in two huge leathern bottles, across the back of an ass, quite in 
the primitive way. 

"It is most customary, however, for the country people to bring the fruit 
into the city fresh from the vines, in large conical tubs, on rustic carts ; stop 
in front of the houses, and inquire if you wish to buy their wine ; if so, then 
they press it out and put it into barrels, and go on. It is then used with- 
out adulteration or refining, after the first fermentation ; and in this form I 
can readily appreciate it, with the corn and the oil, an inestimable gift from 
a beneficent Providence. 

" The Uva Bianca, or common white grape of the country — a large, delicious 
grape, very good for dessert — makes a good summer wine. 

"The Olovina, also a good table grape, large fruit, and from which, alone 
or mixed, as is common with the Tesano, a good red wine is made. 

"The common method pursued by those who make a large quantity of 
wine is to cut their grapes in clusters and put them in large vats, with a 
grating about midway of the vat, so fine as not to let the stems and leaves 
through, but to admit the pulps and skins to fall to the bottom; the grapes- 
are mashed, and usually turned once each day with a stick or ladle, for eight 
days ; then the wine is drawn off and put into barrels, tlie bung left loose 
four weeks ; it is then bunged tight or put into bottles. If kept in tlie bar- 
rel and drawn from that for use, the bung should be just drawn and a little 
fine sweet-oil poured in ; it makes a coating on top of the wine, and keeps, 
it from souring. 

" For the best wine for family use, tlie grapes are not mashed, but are 
suffered to buret by fermentation. The wine is more delicate." 

It must be kej:it in mind that the above rules of wine-makers, simple and 
easy as they may be in Istria, witli the grapes of that country, may not be 
so applicable in America, as the information we will give in the next section. 
But all who desire to make wine should read both directions carefully. 



Sec. 43.] 



CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WINE. 



657 




SECTION XLIII.-CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WINE-RULES FOR WINE- 
MAKING. 

,_ IST Section XXVI. we have given rules suited to domes- 
l'' tic wine-making, though principally intended for other 
fruits tlian grapes. Some of tlie matter of this section 
will be interesting to those who have, or may be about to 
plant, vineyards. The production of pure wines for home 
consumption is a subject not only of much importance as a 
matter of economy to us as a people, but of still greater im- 
portance as it relates to matter of health with the masses, 
and will continue to be so as long as so many will persist in 
drinking something besides water. We will not attempt to 
discuss the subject of total abstinence, or whether wine is 
better than water, but when we look over the past history 
of man, wo find him always attempting to improve or change 
the works of nature. He is not content with the fruits and 
vescctables of earth as he finds them, but is continually trying to bring about 
a change, or, as we express it, an improvement. A good and pure wine made 
from good grapes has been acknowledged for ages to be a drink that is con- 
ducive to the health and long life of the partaker. But it must not be ex- 
pected that a palatable wine can be made from a hard and unpalatable 
grape, and a wine made from such a grape, and made palatalde by mixing 
some foreign substance with it, is well known to be pernicious ; and we have 
been surprised to hear men state that large quantities of pure wine had been 
made from our Northern Fox grape, with only the addition of sugar, when 
they must know that when cane sugar is added to the juice of the grape it is 
no longer pure wine. 

A grape to make wine like the finer wines of Europe must contain sugar 
and tartaric acid in sufficient quantities to make it spirituous and vinous, 
but not strongly alcoholic ; although the alcohol that is generated by the 
fermentation of grape sugar is not the same as that produced by the fer- 
mentation of cane sugar, and it does not produce the same efl'ect upon the 
human system. 

Taste is simple, but flavor is compound. Thus, by high flavor in the 
grape, we mean the combining of grape sugar and tartaric acid along with 
that peculiar vinous aroma which belongs to the grape alone ; and when we 
drink of its juice we taste what we smell, and both sets of organs which 
constitute those of tasting and smelling are alike refreshed, invigorated, 
and delighted. The mouth is left cool and free from that acrid, biting 
sensation which is experienced when we partake of inferior grapes or wine. 
734. What Makes Good Wiue. — The great difficulty with our grapes has 



658 



THE VINEYARD. 



[Chap. VII. 



been that they did not contain sugar enougli to create alcoliol in sufficient 
quantities to prevent tlie wine undergoing tlie acetic fermentation instead of 
the vinous ; so tliat we had vinegar instead of wine — unless we added sugar, 
which produces rum, and grape juice instead of pure wine. Grape sugar 
and cane sugar are chemically different, therefore we conclude the alcohol 
produced by the fermentation of the two is different. Although chemists can 
not or do not tell us in what the difference consists, yet we know that they 
act differently upon the human system. A grape to make wine that is pal- 
atable and that will keep, must contain sugar enough to produce a certain 
amount of alcohol, but not in such quantities as we get in our imported 
trash, or in wines made from our poor sour grapes, with sugar added. None 
of the best pure light wines of Europe are ever imported, for the very reason 
that they will not bear a sea voyage unless they are recharged with alcohol. 
Those who have been accustomed to sweet wines and sweet drinks of all 
kinds, do not appreciate a pure wine if it is a little sour, as most of the 
pure wines which contain but a small per cent, of alcohol fft-e. The acid of 
wines is mostly tartaric acid, and therefore comparatively healthy. The 
preservative qualities are alcohol and tannic acid, with a small quantity of 
malic acid. Sometimes, when there is not sugar enough to produce alcohol 
sufficient to preserve the wine — and a sour wine is not objectionable — the 
juice is fermented with the stems and seeds, so as to extract more of the tannic 
acid which is mainly derived from these. The wines made in hot climates 
are more alcoholic than those of colder countries ; and when we get grapes 
here that will make wine that is sweet enough for our tastes, or our tastes 
become modified or cultivated so that we can appreciate a pure wine, then 
we may rest assured that this latitude of the United States will produce as 
pure and wholesome wine as any other country of the globe. 

735. Wiue from Several Kinds of Grapes— Per Cent, of Alcohol. — John L. 
Mottier, of Cincinnati, one of the best wine-makers in that city, has made 
wiue from the Delaware, Ilerbemont, Minor, Lincoln, Union Village, and 
Catawba grapes, nothing but pure juice, without the addition of any foreign 
substance, which has been pronounced equal to any foreign wine. 

The Isabella grape seldom contains sufficient sugar to produce alcohol 
enough to keep it. If the grapes are partly dried before they are pressed, 
the proportion of sugar to the juice is greater and the wine far superior, but 
we do not consider it a good wine-grape. The best six wine-grapes in the lati- 
tude of Cincinnati are named in the following order, and their relative quality 
gi'aduated by Mr. Mo; tier in the order they are named : 



1. Delaware. 

2. Herbemont. 

3. Miaor's Seedling. 



4. Lincoln. 

5. Catawba. 

6. Union Village. 



"With the Diana he had but little experience, but from the wine he had 
made from it, he was inclined to place it next to the Delaware, in the place 
now occupied by the Herbemont, that grape having proved to be very un- 
certain in its crops, as the viue is too tender for this climate. 



Seo. 43.] CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WINE. 659 

The DcJaioai'e wine was the richest, and preserved tlie real bouqnet of the 
grape, and it improved by age. The vintage of 1859 contained 81 j)er cent. 
of alcohol. 

Ilerhemont. — Very uncertain ; no good wine since 1850 nntil 1859, when 
the crop was good ; wine very good ; quite delicate ; will not bear trans- 
jwrting to any great distance. Alcohol, 5i per cent. 

Minoy's Scedlmg. — Quite foxy in flavor, but a fine light-colored wine. 
Alcoliol, 6 per cent. 

Lincoln. — A dark-colored wine ; resembles the finer grades of clarets, only 
much better tliau that we generally import. Alcohol, 4i per cent. 

Catau'ha of 1859. — Much body and strength ; light amber color. Alco- 
hol, 8 per cent. 

Union Village. — A beautiful dark-colored wine ; not much body or 
strength ; will make a fine, light, summer drink. Alcohol, 5i per cent. 

These wines were all made from the grapes without the addition of sugar 
or any other substance. Tlie grapes ai'e gathered when very ripe, and all 
green, broken, or decayed berries picked out and thrown aside ; all the aji- 
paratus that belongs to wine-making is kept in perfect order, and cleanli- 
ness is a prominent feature with all siich wine-makers as Mr. Mottier and 
Mr. Schneicke, as it always must be in every establishment where good wine 
is expected. The wines of Cincinnati have already become so celebrated 
that they sell for a much higher price than many of our imported wines. 
It is charged that large quantities of poor Rhine wines have been taken to 
Cincinnati and put upon the lees of the Catawba and fermented with them, 
and then sold at a profit for Catawba wine, for that will bring $1 25 per 
gallon, when cheap claret can be had for 50 cents. 

To show that our pure native wines are not so strongly alcoholic as many 
common drinks, we will give the amount of alcohol that some of these 
beverages contain. Of course they vary much iu diflfevent specimens, but 
this list will show very nearly the average : 

Currant wine 20 per cent. 

Porter 23 " 

Champagne (pure) 12 " 

Gooseberry wine 12 " 

736. Rules of a French Wine-Maker. — The following are the rules adopted 
by an extensive vineyard proprietor, as we find published in the Vignej'on, 
a French journal devoted to the interest of grape-growers. These rules, in 
all essential particulars, are as applicable in America as France, and are 
very concise and pertinent. 

"1. The grapes should not be gathered until they have arrived at com- 
plete maturity, that is to say, when they do not grow sweeter in a sensible 
degree. If the weather is good, they maj' be allowed to hang some time 
after this for the purpose of giving the wateny parts of the fruit time to evap- 
orate. This increases considerably the strength and sweetness of the wine. 
Black grapes intended for red wine should not be allowed to become too 
ripe; if they do, they injure the color of the wine. 



Elderberry wine 9 per cent. 

Cider 7J " 

Ale 7 

Tlie lowest Rhine wines 4i " 



660 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII- 

" 2. The vessels should be clean, and, above all, should not have con- 
tained soured wine. Care should also be taken that nothing should be al- 
lowed to fall into the must, which might cause acidity during the ferment- 
ation. 

" 3. "White grapes should be put into a tub and pressed as quickly as pos- 
sible, with the stems on. If obliged to wait before pressing the must, take out 
a portion at least of the stems, else the wine may taste of them. The must of 
weak and mucilaginous wines ought to be allowed to ferment some days 
with the stems, so that the tannin whicli they contain will assist in the pre- 
cipitation of the mucilaginous matter. For good wines, the mash or resid- 
uum of the grape should never be pressed, as tlie last juice which comes 
from the press usually contains a great deal of acid and but little sugar. 

"4. For sharp Avines of inferior quality, and for sweet and mucilaginous 
wines, it is indispensable to put the must into open tubs, and leave it there 
several days. There forms during this time a layer or stratum of a dirty 
browu color, which contains a great part of the mucilage, yeast, and acid 
rejected by the must, and which sliould be taken otf with care every time it 
forms, so as to remove all those substances which alter the taste of the wine, 
cause fermentation, and do a great deal of mischief. 

" 5. Care should be taken not to put the must into casks which are dirty, 
or which have been fumed witli sulphur. There are some wine-makers who 
think that the fumes of sulphur applied to casks preserve the sweetness of 
wine, and purchasers are cheated in the quality of the wine by tlie sugar 
which the unfinished fermentation has left without decomposing. Tlie fol- 
lowing summer these wines are found to be muddy, and ferment often with 
great force, become sour, and are often completely spoiled. Wine should 
be placed in casks which have not been fumed, and no obstacle to fermenta- 
tion should be opposed. There is no exception to this rule, save for those 
autumns which aic unusually warm, and which cause fears that the fer- 
mentation will be too strong. In such a case the vessels may be fumed 
with sulphur. 

" 6. The fermentation of red wine should be treated differently from that 
of white. The must of black grapes may remain twenty-four hours with 
the steius, so that tlie tannin contained in them may communicate itself to 
the must ; then the stems and seeds should be separated by means of a sieve, 
and the must poured into open vessels, which should be lightly covered 
during the fermentation. The temperature of the must, during the fer- 
mentation, sliould not be allowed to exceed 15 degrees of Reaumur (65f de- 
grees of Fahrenheit), in order to prevent the spirit from escaping. Every 
three or four hours the fermenting mass should be stirred, so as to prevent 
it from souring. 

" 7. At the end of fifteen or twenty days, when all action has ceased, and 
the skins have yielded their coloring matter to the must, it should be put 
under the press and strongly squeezed, so that all the coloring matter shall 
be extracted. The wine is then placed in casks not fumed, and if it is de- 



Sko. 43.] CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WINT;. 661 

Bired to increase the capacity for tannin, some of the sceds^whicii should be 
separated by a sieve from the mash — -should be added to it. 

" 8. If the weather is cold, the openings to the cellars should be closed, so 
that the fermenation may meet with no interruption. Persons should never 
enter the cellars until they have been tested for carbonic acid by a light. 
The carbonic acid may be driven from the cellars by opening all the issues, 
by lighting a tire on the stairway, by throwing hot water into them, and l)y 
scattering freshly-slaked lime in them. During the fermentation the bung- 
hole should be closed with vine-leaves, or by a little bag filled with sand — • 
the object being to prevent tiie air from entering at the same time that the 
carbonic acid is permitted to escape. 

" 9. Toward Christmas the clarification of the wine is about completed, 
and the yeast, which has become insoluble during the fermentation, is pre- 
cipitated. Four weeks after the commencement of the fermentation, the 
casks, which should not be quite filled up at first, become completely full. 

" 10. The racking or drawing off from the lees at Christmas is very im- 
portant and necessary. Tiiere always remains in the wine, after the first 
fermentation, a certain quantity of soluble leaven, and if this is not scat- 
tered, and the wine still contains undecomposed sugar, the liquid will be- 
come turbid, it will ferment again, and possibly be spoiled. In the first 
racking, toward the commencement of the year, care should be- taken to 
expose the wine as much as possible to contact with the air, in which case 
the oxygen of the atmosphere precipitates the insoluble leaven, and the liquid 
clarifies completely, so that the second racking may be retarded until the 
end of April, there being no further fear of fermentation. 

" 11. The following autumn anotlier racking should take place, after 
which the wine may be considered as completely made. In drawing off, 
great care should be taken not to mix the portion of the wine at the bottom 
of the cask, which is still turbid, v/ith the clear part which is above. Tiie 
turbid part should be placed in a separate vessel and submitted to a new 
racking before it is added to the other." 

Tlie author of these rules closes by saying : " If our wine-growers will 
strictly observe these prescriptions, without permitting themselves to be 
turned aside by local usages, the}' will obtain beautiful and good wines." 

737. Rules of an American Winc-Maker. — The following rules for wine- 
making we find given by Prof. Wm. Hume, of Charleston, S. C. He says : 

"The grapes are bruised and pressed, and the juice strained into a cask. 
To every gallon of this must let one pint of deodorized alcohol of 80 degrees 
be added, and the cask shaken to efl'ect a mixture before the bung is put in. 
The effect of this mixture is to coagulate and to precipitate all the fecula 
contained in the must, so that at the end of twenty-four or forty-eight hours 
a thick sediment is formed at the bottom of the cask and the juice brightens 
in color. At this period I filter the whole by piercing above the sediment, 
and allowing the clear portion to run first, and then the sediment. An up- 
ward cloth filter or a downward sand filter is necessary', as the fecula soon 



662 THE VmEYAKD. [Chap. VII. 

covers the cloth and renders it impervious. This filtration is practiced to 
prevent the putrefactive fermentation from proceeding in the fecula and im- 
parting a bad flavor. Its presence is of no possible advantage to tlie wine, 
and its absence secures us against the possibility of future fermentation. 
Whatever ferment there may have been in the must is now removed. All 
the sugar has been retained to secure sufficient sweetness, and the added 
deodorized alcohol has communicated no flavor or odor, and supplies the 
place of that which would have been formed had two pounds of sugar been 
added to the must. The original flavor of the grape is preserved, and with 
such accuracy as to enable any one to detect the kind of grape that was 
used to prepare the must. This quantity of alcohol, which is 10 per cent, is 
sufficient to preserve the must from any future change, and ranks it in 
strength to the Aveaker wines of France and Germany. The plan is so nat- 
ural and simple that the wonder is that it has not long been i)ut in practice. 
The nearest approach to the method is the practice common in Spain, Portu- 
gal, and Madeira, of- adding brandy to their wines in order to strengthen 
them to suit the taste of the English and American markets. A question 
of economy frequently arises on the introduction of a new manufacture. I 
am only anxious to point out those processes to which the grapes may be 
subjected to produce a wholesome, agreeable, and harmless beverage, which 
all may enjoy, at prices far below what is now paid for dangerous com- 
pounds whicli may have been made in Europe, but are also largely made in 
these United States." 

738. Wiiie-Making in California.— The old mode of making wine, still used 
by some of the old Californians, is to erect four posts four feet high, and 
forming a square about two feet and a half in size. Upon the tops of these 
posts the corners of a raw cow-hide are fastened, hair down, the middle of 
the hide bagging down in the center. This bag is nearly filled with grapes ; 
an Indian gets in, mashes the grapes with his feet by tramping about ; the 
juice is then dipped out, poured into a barrel, left a few weeks to ferment, 
and the wine is ready for use. 

The native Californians have a wine which they call Angelica (pro- 
nounced An-hd'-i-ca), whicli they make by mixing one gallon of grape- 
brandy with three of grape-juice, fresh from the press, and adding some 
sugar. It is a thick, sweet, and strong drink. 

Messrs. Froehling and Kohler, and probably others, liavc another way of 
making Angelica. They reduce the pure, fresh juice about one fourth or 
one fifth by boiling, tlien place it in barrels, and rack it off once or twice 
till it gets clear. Neither kind of Angelica ferments, the brandy and the 
boiling serving as preventives, though, no doubt, the Angelica made by the 
latter method would ferment if long exposed to the air in a warm place. 

The manufacture of champagne wine was commenced on a large scale in 
1858-9 by Messrs. Sainsevain Brothers, proprietors of the large vineyard of 
Alisal, at Los Angeles, with indications of great success. Don Pedro 
Sainsevain made a tour through the wine districts of France on purpose to 



Seo. 43.] CULTPRE OF GRAPES FOR WINE. 663 

study tlie business, and he brought with liiin an experienced and skillful 
wine-maker from the champagne districts. The firm have filled 50,000 
b:)ttle3 of the vintage of 1859, and they intended to make 80,000 bottles of 
the vintage of 1860. They use white wine, and mix with it about a fourth 
(.if old white wine of previous years. 

The first year they lost about one bottle in five by bursting; proof that 
the wine will be as vigorous as the best of France. No foreign substance 
is mixed with the grape-juice to make it lively; all the gases in it are jiro- 
duced from its own substance. 

Tiie grape used in California for making wine is of Spanish stock, and 
was introduced by the Spanish missionaries when they established their 
missions, between the years 1769 and 1780. The berry, when ripe, has a 
dark reddish-brown color, varying to a purplish-brown in the northern part 
of the State. The vine is hardy and healthy, the grape is juicy and strong. 
An acre is expected to produce, ordinarily, 1,000 gallons of wine per year, 
and never less than 800, though 400 gallons is considered a good yield in 
Ohio, Franco, Germany, Spain, or Greece. 

The California grape begins to ripen about the middle of September, and 
is gathered from that time until the end of the year, there being no frost 
and little rain to interfere with the harvest in the southern part of the State, 
which is the chief seat of the vine culture. The berry is considered to be ripe 
when the heart has taken a tinge resembling the darkness of the skin, when 
the berry is sweet and may be picked easily, and leaves no juice upon its 
stem, and when, on holding a bunch to the sun, the fibers running from the 
stem into the grape are nearly or quite invisible. The bunches are cut off 
with a knife, after nine o'clock in the morning, when the dew has disap- 
peared, put into a basket and carried to the press. 

Nearly all the wine and brandy made in California comes from Los An- 
geles County, which is, no doubt, better fitted in soil and climate for the 
culture of the vine than any other part of the State. It is estimated that 
350,000 gallons of wine were made in the State in 1859, viz. : 

Gallons. , Gallons. 

Sainsevain Brothers 73,000 Clements 5,000 

Froehling & Kohler 60,000 Julius Weiss 4,000 

B. D. Wilson 20,000 Others 146,000 

William Wolfskin 12,000 

Matthew Keller 10,000 Total 330,000 

It Avas also estimated that the amount of brandy would be 50,000 
gallons. 

A great many of those who make wine about Los Angeles throw away 
all the refuse and sediment of their presses and M'ine casks, thus wasting a 
large amount of matter, such as French brandy is made of by distillation 
of lees and waste. The manufacture of grape vinegar might be very much 
extended, where the refuse of wine is not used for making brandy. 

739. Rules for Making Domestic Wine. — "We have already, in ^ 469 to 475, 
given rules for making domestic wine, yet we will give one more here under 



664: 1'HE VINEYARD. [Chap. VH. 

the head of wine-making, from one who has been uniformly successful, who 
says: 

"The currants should be fully ripe when picked; put them into a large 
tub, in which they may remain a day or two; then crush them with the 
hands, unless you have a small patent cider-press, in which they should not 
be pressed too much, or the stems will be bruised and impart a disagreeable 
taste to the juice. If the hands are used, put the crushed fruit, after the 
juice has been poured oif, into a cloth or sack, and press out the remaining 
juice. Put the juice back into the tub after cleansing it, where it should 
remain about three days, until the first stages of fermentation are over, and 
remove once or twice a day the scum arising to the top. Then put the juice 
into a vessel — a demijolin, keg, or barrel — of a size to suit the quantity to be 
made, and to each quart of juice add three pounds of the best double-refined 
sugar, and water suflicient to make a gallon. 

"Thus, ten quarts of juice and thirty pounds of sugar will give you ten 
gallons of wine, and so on in that proportion. Those M-ho do not like very 
sweet wine can reduce the quantity of sugar to two and a half or two pounds 
per gallon. 

"The cask must be full, and the bung or stopper left oiF until fermenta- 
tion ceases, which will be in twelve or fifteen days. Meantime the cask 
must be filled up daily with water, as fermentation throws out the impure 
matter. When fermentation ceases, rack the wine off carefully, either from 
the spigot or by a siphon. Cleanse the cask thoroughly with boiling water, 
then return the wine, bung up tightly, and let stand for four or five months, 
when it will be fit to drink, and can be bottled if desired. 

" All the vessels should be perfectly sweet, and the whole operation done 
with cleanliness. In such event, every drop of brandy or other spirituous 
liquors added will detract from the flavor of the wine. The fermentation 
of the sugar gives all the spirit required." 

If any spirit is ever added to currant wine, or that made from any other 
fruit in a domestic way, it should be deodorized alcohol, called " pure spirit," 
for this is better than brandy for preserving fruits or fruit juice. 

740. The Missouri Wine-Growers' Association. — Every neighborhood wants 
just such an association as that at St. Louis, called The Wine-Growers' As- 
sociation, before vineyards for wine-making will be successfully cultivated. 
It is a business that no individual can undertake unless he is a man of very 
large means. At St. Louis, or vicinity, any one with means enough to plant 
one vine is sure of a market for his fruit at a fair price. In 1859 the Associa- 
tion paid from seven to ten cents a pound for Catawba grapes, and from 
seventy to one hundred cents a gallon for the juice. By this the poor vine- 
grower is encouraged, for he can immediately realize the value of his crop, 
instead of waiting to manufacture and ripen the wine. It was estimated 
that year that at least eight hundred acres were covered with vines in Mis- 
souri, within a radius of some eighty miles south and west of St. Louis, and 
that the fruit was nearly all gathered by the first of October quite sound, 



Seo. 43.] CULTURE OF GRAPES FOR WrNE. 665 

and would yield from tlirec to four hundred gallons of wine jjer acre in vine- 
yards that have received careful and judicious management. A letter 
says: 

"The Catawba is about the only grape grown in vineyards to any extent. 
Many experiments, however, are being made with other varieties by intel- 
ligent men, who are desirous of procuring a sort that will prove its superior. 
This, I think, will be found in the Delaware, and 1 look forward to the time 
when the Catawba, as a wine-grape, will give place to the Delaware on our 
hills of Missouri. It is now about fourteen years since William Glasgow, 
Jr., first planted a vineyard of Catawba grapes for wine-making, and it is 
from his example and success that a very great portion of the present faTor 
toward vine-growing is attributable." 

What a blessed thing it would be for a thousand other places if each had 
a William Glasgow to plant a vineyard and give the business a start, since 
there is scarcely a town in all the Middle States, south of latitude 43 de- 
grees, that might not have its vineyard as well as St. Louis ! Every warm, 
rocky hillside, now of little or no value to the owners, in Connecticut and 
eastern New York, might be made to yield " three or four hundred gallons 
of wine per acre." Every acre of Long Island that will grow scrub-oaks, 
if planted in vines, would yield grapes as well as the lands of Missouri or 
Ohio. 

The native wild grape is gathered by the Germans by hundreds of bushels 
in Missouri, and a heavy, strong, dark wine is made therefrom, much esteemed 
by them, and used by the Wine-Growers' Company for making claret. 

741. The German Vine-Growers of Missouri.— Ilermannn, the seat of the 
German vineyards, is about eighty miles from St. Louis. One who has vis- 
ited these vineyards thus pleasantly writes about them : 

" For miles away, on the side of the river where we were, there was a 
broken view of vine-topped hills, while the lower slopes were heavy with 
rich woods, and the valleys green with grain. There is something about a 
vine-growing country peculiarly suggestive of joy and gladness. We do 
not easily escape the old associations of Hebrew terms — ' the shoutings and 
singings in the vineyard.' 

" Most of the settlers, said Mr. R., were very prosperous, and their wine 
was coming into great demand. They covered the barren hilltops far in the 
interior with their vineyards. They lived a good deal by themselves, and 
had nothing to do with the slaveholding Americans, and he believed led a 
happier life than any other Germans in the Western country. The town had 
produced last year some 80,000 gallons of wine. 

" The good situations for vineyards cost from $1 to $5 an acre ; those 
which are already improved, $15 or $20. It needs three or four years' prep- 
aration before a vineyard pays its cost. During this time the vine-grower 
can support himself by farming and other work. Still, to succeed, each 
new immigrant should have some $200 or $300 capital to build his wine- 
cellar and house, buy his cattle, and pay extra labor. After three or four 



666 THE VINEYARD. [Chap. VII. 

years the vineyard will yield, on an average, from 250 to 300 gallons of wine 
to the acre ; a very favorable site has been known to produce 1,000 gallons, 
and 400 gallons was the lowest Mr. Tl.'s place had given. One man, with 
industry, can manage five acres. Tlie wine is worth from $1 25 to $1 35 
per gallon, so that $400 an acre is a common return. 

" The worst weather in Missouri is the sultry, moist heat of July — only a 
few sorts of grapes can survive this — but the frosts and storms of September 
and October, which destroy the vines or fruit in Germany, the American 
vineyards entirely escape. I asked Mr. R. what effect he considered this 
culture of the vine to liave on the habits of his countrymen. He tiiought 
that those living in this vine region were much more sober than the Ger- 
mans of the cities, and that the native M'ine was already driving out whisky 
and brandy from use among the Americans. He believed the making of 
cheap native wine the best of all means for checking intemperance witli the 
mass of the people, and he had already seen its cflects in this direction in 
Missouri. 

" Great care was needed in selecting sorts of vines. He had experimented 
with vines from California, from Spain, Italy, Hungary, and even from 
Palestine, and had at last settled on certain native sorts — the Norton Vir- 
ginia Seedling, the Isabella, and Catawba l^eing the best. He and others had 
also worked out a number of new varieties, and some they had introduced. 
Of these the most valued are the Clara (white), Eabee (red), Cassady (very 
white), Rebecca, Emily, Diana, and Concord. 

"The wines made are less alcoholic than the Ohio Catawba, and resemble 
both burgundy and the common Rhine wine. Of the space in the State for 
this culture, he says, with Prof. Swallow, that ' there is more good vine land 
in Missouri than in all France.' " 

742. Prize for a IVew Wiue Grape.— Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati, 
dffers a prize of $100 for the discovery of a new Fox grape, superior to the 
Catawba for wine. He says : 

" I have for thirty years believed that a Fox grape might bo found, among 
the thousand varieties which cover our land, that would prove superior to 
the Catawba for the purpose of making wine ; the Catawba, it is well known, 
belongs to the Fox family, and superior, also, to any wine grape in Europe 
on account of the fine aroma and flavor. The only fault in the Catawba is 
its not possessing more of the aroma and flavor which belong to the Fox. 
The common Fox grapes have these qualities in a high degree, but they 
have a thick skin, a hard pulp, yield but little umst, and are deficient in 
sugar and moisture. 

" I will give a silver goblet of the value of $100, or that sum of money if 
preferred, for grapes that will be superior to the Catawba for the purpose of 
wiue — the decision of the question to be left to our Vine-Growers' Associa- 
tion. I will also be pleased to send the person who may furnish me with 
the best quality of grapes a box of pure, still Catawba wine, with all charges 
paid." 



PLATE XVII. 

(Page GOT.) 

All that we have said of Plate XYI. we might repeat of this. 
It is one for careful study. It will give more information at one 
examination than we could convey in twenty pages of type. It is 
of the highest importance that every farmer should carefully study 
this plate, for here he will learn that in growing the staff of life, he 
has to contend with a host of enemies, and that he can not sit in 
peace under his own vine. Although we have devoted a chapter 
to the vineyard, we have not found room to describe these pests of 
the vine-groves and destroyers of grain, except in a few brief notes 
in Section XII., showing instead this more expensive, yet more 
valuable method of calling the reader's attention to this very im- 
portant study. We earnestly commend this plate to his careful 
consideration. 



l>-.SErTS L>-.ii-:Mnr,s Tt) viTjikat. 



XVII 




CHAPTER VIII. 

CEREALIA. 

SECTION XLIV.-WHEAT, RYE, OATS, BARLEY, MILLET, BUCKWHEAT. 



^NDEE, the title of tliis chapter we shall of course 
talk about Indian corn {sea mays), but as this is the 
great staple crop of America, it must have a separate 
section. Of all the cereals, wheat should really hold 
tlie first rank, because it is the parent of great men — 
the chief fountain of brain food. All nations whose 
principal food is derived from wheat are elevated in 
character over those whose food is derived from coarser 
materials. All food produces general results accord- 
ing to its quality, and as wheat ranks highest, the re- 
sults are most elevating to the human family. Let U3 
look about us upon the nations of the earth, some of 
whom live almost exclitsively \ipon the fat of sea ani- 
mals ; others upon the flesh of animals obtained in the 
wild woods ; others depend mainly upon insects and such things as can be 
readily picked up. Then approaching civilization, are found people who 
rarely taste animal food, living upon vegetables of a low order, some of 
which are subject to epidemical diseases. Compare any of these nations 
with one whose principal food is derived from the cereals, particularly wheat, 
and we shall at once see the importance of any work that treats upon its 
cultivation. 

743. Wheat — Preparation of Soil. — In virgin soils, such as those obtained 
by chopping and burning a forest, a wheat crop is often obtained without 
much labor in the preparation of the soil, because the seed finds tlie proper 
sustenance (o nourish its young shoot, and during all stages of growth, in the 
decaying vegetable matter, and in the ashes of the wood burned in the clear- 
ing. So upon the prairies, a good crop of wheat is sometimes grown upon 
the turned sod with but little other preparation. In old land, however, it 
will never answer to trust to making a wheat crop without the most thorough 
preparation of the soil, the first and best of which is underdraining ; the 
next, subsoil plowing ; the next, a crop of clover to precede the wheat ; and 
finally before sowing, deep plowing, and again subsoiling and complete pul- 
verization ; and lastly, a proper addition of the necessary manuring for per- 
fect fertilization. As to subsoiling, none doubt that deep digging in the 




CEREALIA. [Chap. VIH. 

garden is profitable, and none who try it under proper circumstances will 
doubt that deep j^lowing in the field is so. 

The subsoil plow is a valuable implement on most soils, in deepening the 
tillage and giving suflicient room for the descent of the roots of plants, and 
for the ascent of moisture in dry weather. 

Where no advantage has been found from the operation of subsoiling, the 
cause may undoubtedly be traced to the want of proper preparation of the 
ground by draining. 

Numerous examples have been given to the public, showing the great 
utility of this implement. By its use the subsoil is loosened deeply, mixed 
with the top soil, and gradually brought to the surface, where, by changes 
from the air, snows, and frost, it becomes improved, and restores in some 
measure many fertilizing substances that have been lost on old lands. 

An American subsoil plow, which is far superior to the English one, is 
the one generally known as " Mapes' Subsoil Lifter." Its form is tolerably 
well represented by a sixth part of an orange-peel, pointed at each end and 
rising in the middle, where a thin, flat standard is attached that connects it 
with the beam. 

74:4. Ftrtilization of Soil for Wheat. — Lime and salt are the first two things 
to be thought of on an old farm — that is, upon a farm where it is said the 
land is worn out so that it will not produce wheat, but M'ill produce clover. 

If five bushels of salt are dissolved in water to a point of saturation, 
and that water used to slake fifteen bushels of shell lime under cover, the 
mass left until it effloresces, and then applied to an acre of laud thoroughly 
pulverized, we venture to insure a good crop of wheat. We know whole 
farms, and many farms together, that have been raised from almost entire 
barrenness to a point that produces good wheat and clover crops by the use 
of lime alone, spread at the rate of thirty bushels of air-slaked lime to the 
acre on the surface after the wheat is sown. 

In Virginia, between the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers, there are 
large tracts of sandy land that had become so poor it would not produce 
five bushels of rye per acre, and this land has liecn made to produce fifteen 
to twenty bushels of wheat, followed by a fine growth of clover, from an 
application of 200 lbs. per acre of Peruvian guano. In some cases, a bushel 
of plaster per acre, sown in the spring, has benefited the wheat and been 
of the greatest importance to the clover crop. The use of guano as a fertil- 
izer of wheat has worked wonders in several of the wheat-growing States 
south of New York. 

Lime, plaster, guano, bone-dust, superphosphate, ashes, salt, potash, may 
be all profitably used as fertilizers of the wheat crop. But after all, the 
great fertilizer must be clover. 

A most celebrated successful wheat-grower in this country is Gen. Har- 
man, of Genesee County. He says: 

" We can take a wheat crop every third year and improve our land, if we 
feed ofi" the clover with sheep. I always sow timothy in the fall and clover 



Seo. 44.] FERTILIZATION OF SOIL FOR WHEAT. 669 

in tlie spring upon all wheat land, and so I do with all small grain. "We 
turn under the clover sod in June with the Michigan plow, and then work it 
with a gang plow till first of September, and then sow Mediterranean seed 
by a drill machine. If the sowing is delayed till October, the fly will eat it 
all up, or, rather, that was the case. I have not lately seen the Hessian fly. 
The Golden Drop and Dayton wlieat are much sown in my district. I tried 
spring wheat some years, but it does not pay for growing. Tiiere is a dif- 
ference of two weeks in wlieat maturing from seed of tiie same district. I 
have sown forty sorts of wheat in one year from all sections. The Virginia 
May wheat ripens earliest of any with me. All of the finest strawed wheat 
ripens earliest. I am not satisfied that seed from the South will ripen any 
earlier than the same sort grown here. I do not think there is any other 
crop that can be grown to so gocjd advantage as wheat. 1 turn down clover 
for corn, first spreading manure ; then I sow oats or barley, seeding again 
with clover and timothy, and that clover I plow under after mowing or pas- 
turing it one year, so that I get a wheat crop every tliird year. I do not 
plant all my wheat land to corn, as I have about fifty acres in wlieat and ten 
acres in corn. I average thirty or forty bushels of wheat per acre. I do 
not believe that there is a gradual decrease in the productiveness of wheat 
land iu this State, though the crop has decreased in consequence of the 
midge. The use of plaster on wheat tends to prevent its early ripening, yet 
I think one bushel of plaster and three bushels of ashes per acre will increase 
the crop four bushels per acre. Plaster sown broadcast will do more good 
than it will put on the liills of corn." 

Another successful wheat-grower iu the same county, Lewes E. Ileston, 
says : " My farm is on limestone soil. I drill two bushels of seed wheat per 
acre, usually after peas, and iiarvest twenty-five bushels an acre. The straw 
I feed to sheep. I think it desirable for the farmers to increase the wheat 
culture, as we can graze sheep on clover, and feed them straw in winter. I 
sow one peck of timothy with the wheat, and six quarts of clover-seed per 
acre in the spring. I do not cut clover for hay, but pasture it and plow it 
in. The soil is almost inexhaustible. I once spread the earth from the bot- 
tom of a cellar, and the wheat grew so rank that it did not head well. I 
cultivate 160 acres, and 50 of it in wheat. It is a common practice to sow 
clover and timothy upon all wheat land." 

J. Jackson, of Butternut Ridge, Ohio, gives the following as liis expe- 
rience in getting a good crop of wheat : 

" In 1857 I harvested a field of Mediterranean wheat that yielded 361 
bashels to the acre; the ground was prepared in the following way: When 
it had lain in clover one year after a crop of oats, it Avas plowed in the fore 
part of June, about eight inches deej), with one strong yoke of oxen, and 
harrowed three times. The third Aveek in August I gave it a light dressing 
of yard manure, about twenty loads to the acre ; cross-plowed and sowed 
the last week in August. The soil is a clay loam." 

It is the opinion of many that land which has ceased to be remuneratively 



670 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

productive in wheat would again bear good crops if the ground were put in 
a condition to allow the roots to penetrate deeply into it to search out and 
absorb new materials of stalk growth. The plant requires the mineral sub- 
stances of the lower strata brought up and mixed with the vegetable sub- 
stances of the surface, producing a mutual decomposition which will be fa- 
cilitated by the growing of the root plants, and jjenetratlon of their roots 
through all its comminuted grains. The roots of a plant will penetrate a 
great distance in search of food and drink if the soil is made friable, hence 
the productiveness of rich land is due to its naturally friable condition, 
which allows the roots to penetrate, rather than to the richness of the sur- 
face-soil. 

Of the use of plaster on wheat, one writer says : 

"The fact seems to be well established that plaster has a much better 
effect on clover than on M-heat, while superphosphate benefits turnips 
more than wheat. Liebig thought plaster drew ammonia from the atmo- 
sphere. To this there are two objections: first, it is very doubtful whether 
plaster will attract ammonia from the air ; and, second, if it does, an appli- 
cation of plaster ought to have the same effect as a dressing of sulphate of 
ammonia, but it has one just the reverse. Sulphate of ammonia improves 
wheat much more than clover, while plaster benefits clover, and has little, 
if any, efiect on wheat in the majority of cases." 

Top-dressing wheat land with manure well decomposed, or with a rich 
compost, will always much more than pay the cost \ipon all the old farms 
of the Eastern States. One farmer who has practiced it says : 

" On the part dressed with fine manure at the time of sowing, the seed 
grew a week earlier and produced double the crop of that on the land un- 
manured. It is true that the land that was top-dressed was higher and drier 
than the unmauured portion, but that only affected the start. Top-dressing 
gives the young plants a good start in the fall, enables them to withstand 
the winter better, and brings the crop rapidly forward to maturity." 

Salt for xolieat we consider as indispensable as it is for animals, and there 
are not many farmers who can be made to believe that their stock would 
not suffer without it ; and John Jolmson, " the old Scotch ftirnier" near 
Geneva, N. Y., believes just as fully that his wheat crop would suffer witli- 
out salt. In the autumn of 1858 he sowed five bushels per acre uj)on sixty 
acres of wheat, and we heard him say that he believed every bushel of salt 
used produced an extra bushel of wheat. But this was only a small item 
in the account of profit. The great advantage was iu hastening the ripen- 
ing several days, by which he escaped the ravages of the wheat midge, 
while his immediate neighbors suffered great losses. It is believed to bo 
also one of the best preventives known for rust, as it certainly stiffens the 
straw and gives it more vigor. 

The proper application of salt is five to eight bushels per acre, sown 
broadcast immediately after the wheat is liarrowed in. 

To prevent lodging, one writer recommends to sow several varieties together. 



Sko. 44.] SPRING WHEAT. 671 

for the reason that some kinds bend less in storm, which helps the weaker 
sorts to stand up, or get np after a storm, and a larger crop is gained. But 
we believe that any of the fertilizers that we have recommended, particularly 
salt, lime, potash, and bone-dust, will so strengthen the straw that it will not 
lodge. 

745. Naked Fallows for Wheati — This old-style system of fertilizing land 
for wheat we hope to see give place to more enlightened views — such views 
as those of General Ilarman, detailed in a preceding paragraph. A clo- 
ver fallow is altogether preferable to a naked fallow. A few farmers who 
follow the old beaten path of precedent, who seldom take the trouble to 
think, still hold to naked fallows. An advocate of them, writing to us of 
another's practice, says : 

"He plows once in §^x years, and lets the land lie fallow one year, that 
it may have the full advantage of the summer sun and the winter frost." 

The full advantage of a want of thought! Expose land to the full ad- 
vantage of the summer sun! What for? What is the object? What is 
accomplished by the process ? The land is drenched and washed upon the 
naked farrows, and some of the lightest portion takes its course toward the 
ocean's depth, never to return, except in costly guano, sea-weed, or fish 
manures; and it is baked and burned and dried in the sun, and its volatile 
properties set loose to float away upon the wings of the wind to enrich the 
growing crops of some farmer who never commits the great error of expos- 
ing liis soil to waste in naked fallow. There is one kind of land that is 
benefited by exposing naked to the action of the frost — it is a stiff clay. 
But there is a better way to ameliorate that. It is by aerification through 
tile drains and the furrow of the subsoil plow. We doubt whether autumn 
plowing can be advocated, in itself, as a good system of farming. It is only 
a resort of necessity, to help along the work of spring upon land not under- 
drained,, wliich remains too wet to plow without injury, long after the frost 
has left it loose enough. As a general rule, we do not believe that land in 
good tillable order was ever improved by a naked fallow. If it is to be left 
one year without a productive or salable crop, how much more sensible to 
sow the fallow-plowing with any sort of grass or grain, even buckwheat, or 
with turnips, but far better with clover, and let the crojj grow and fall 
down, shading, mulching, manuring, and really improving tlie soil. The 
man who practices in the manner quoted in the text of this item is spoken 
of as " a man of facts." What facts has he, or his biographer, or anybody 
else, to prove that naked fallows are more beneficial to lauds than green 
fallows? We should like to know. 

7i6. Spring Wheat> — Spring wheat can be more profitably grown than 
winter wheat in some sections of the country, even wliere the winter variety 
can be grown. In some sections, winter wheat is so liable to kill out that it 
is an even chance whether a field sown will ever be reaped. 

Mr. Walworth, a wheat-grower of St. Lawrence County, thinks spring 
wheat exhaTists the soil less than winter wheat. This opinion is entertained 



672 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

by a very large portion of the farmers in that section of the State, also in 
all of the New England States. It is therefore of the highest importance to 
find out the most improved varieties, since there is a difference of full twenty- 
five per cent, in several kinds in common cultivation. 

Ambrose Stevens, of Genesee County, IST. Y., speaks highly of a new 
wheat from New Mexico, that ripens earlier than Canada Club wheat, and 
almost entirely escaped the ravages of the midge that entirely destroyed the 
other sort in the same field. It is a red Avheat, the berry flinty and pearl- 
like in character; the straw medium in size and strong, the heads well 
bearded, and the chafl" thick and tough. It was sown on the Tonawanda 
Creek, April 10, and kept back by the cold, wet spring, and harvested 
August 1, yielding from a light seeding seventeen bushels per acre. Mr. 
Stevens says : " Had it been more plentifully seededy'and had the wire-worm 
not troubled it, it would probably have produced from twenty-two to twenty- 
five bushels to tlie acre; and it makes whiter flour and bread than the 
Mediterranean wheat; and when grown, so as to allow of a fair comparison, 
has yielded better." 

In the summer of 1861 a new spring wheat, supposed to be the same as 
the above, M-as grown in the east part of Westchester County, N. Y., that 
would average thirty bushels per acre, ripening in July a long bearded head 
and plump grain. 

George Miller, a large farmer in Canada, sows spring wheat upon ground 
that grew a crop of turnips in the previous fall, for which it was well ma- 
nured, and he says: 

" I can get ten or fifteen bushels an acre more of spring than winter 
wheat. I got from seven bushels of seed, which I sowed at the rate of less 
than a bushel per acre, 393 busliels of grain. I put manure upon all green 
crops. I carry manure in winter upon turnip laud, and put that in the 
turnip drills in June. I prefer to plow under my wheat seed." 

Hon. A. B. Dickenson, of Hornby, N. Y., does not lielieve in spring wheat 
in the southern tier of counties of New York. He says: 

" I have known fifty-four bushels of winter wheat per acre in this State — 
that can not be done with spring wheat." 

Mr. Bowen, Orleans County, says: 

"Some of my neighbors raised thirty-five bushels per acre of Mediter- 
ranean wheat. Some of them sow sixty acres. It is put in the last of 
August." 

How can a farmer spend a little time more profitably than in the ex- 
amination of the question of wheat-growing? First, whether by the use of 
proper fertilizers he can grow wheat profitably ; and second, which sort, 
winter or spring ; and third, which of the many varieties is the best. 

747. Wheu lo Sow Spring Wheat. — As a general rule, we have found tliat 
the earlier wheat can be sown in spring the better. If the ground is well 
plowed, and manured if necessary in the fall, we would advise putting in 
the seed with a drill, or cultivator, if you have no drill, just as soon as the 



sbo. u.] quantity of seed to the acre. 673 

frost is out of the ground, and is dry enough to work. And even if it is 
not very dry, the crop will probably be better than if deferred to a late 
period. "We have seen spring wheat put in upon the prairie of Indiana and 
Illinois when it was so wet that a man walking over the land would sink 
almost over shoe at every step. This was in March. Right alongside a 
piece was sown in May, when the soil was in excellent condition for working. 
That first sown was worth double that last sown. 

As a general rule, it is bad policy to work land while it is wet, but it is 
worse policy to wait a month after it is time to sow spring wheat for the soil 
to become perfectly dry. The only safe way to grow spring wheat is to pre- 
pare for it in autumn. 

748. When to Sow Winter Wheat. — The time depends somewhat upon lati- 
tude, but the rule must be to give it a chance to grow and spread out 
into a complete mat of leaves, covering all the surface before the ground 
freezes. 

It is a great object to get a good strong root to the wheat plant in the fall 
of the year, as it sends up more shoots, and the heads are more likely to 
ripen early. John Johnson says he would give a prize of $1,000 to any one 
who could tell him how to ripen his wheat ten days earlier than it does now. 
Even four days ahead of his neighbors is a great advantage, and saves him 
in a great measure from the ravages of the midge ; and this is one of tlie 
advantages that he has gained by the use of salt, lime, high manuring, and 
underdraining his land. His object is to have his wheat in ear from the 5th 
to the loth of June. 

The Ohio Cultivator says : 

" Between the 10th and 1.5th of September is the golden period for getting 
in wheat in Ohio and other States of the same character in soil, climate, and 
other agricultural condition. Peculiarities of season will vary this period ; 
as, for instance, we have known the best of crops raised from fields sown in 
August, and equally good from fields sown in October. It often happens 
that the midsummer drouth is at its hight in the early part of September, 
and grain put in at that time will not readily vegetate, or if sown shallow, 
will never vegetate at all." 

We indorse every recommendation to sow M'heat early. If the ground is 
very dry, sow deep. 

In 1861 we grew a small piece of excellent, beardless, white wheat, which 
was sown in the last days of August on dry soil, plowed in. 

71:9. How Much Seed to the Acre ? — "The quantity of seed to be sown to 
the acre is a matter of the very highest importance, and may be considered, 
first, with reference to the anticipated produce of a given quantity of land, 
and second, to the yield of the grain sown. There is no doubt but that by 
sowing thick a larger yield will be obtained than by sowing thin. East 
of the Alleghanies, on rich land, 2i bushels yield 35 bushels to the acre, 
when two bushels will only yield 30 bushels. In Mississippi, rich land, will 
2i l)usliels sown, yield 44 bushels ; with two bushels, 40 bushels. In Vf - 



674 CERE ALIA. [CnAP. VIII. 

ezuela, 2^ bushels will yield M bushels. In the environs of Paris, 2i bushels 
will only produce 25 bushels. In England, on the best soils, oi bushels. In 
Lonibardy, on irrigated lands, 25 bushels." 

Tlie following table shows the number of grains upon a square foot, yard, 
and acre at certain quantities : 

Graiii3 per sq. foot. Grains per sq. yard. Grains per acre. 

4 3t; 174,240— 1 peck 

8 72 348,480-2 pecks. 

12 108 522,720-3 pecks. 

16 144 090,960-1 bushel. 

32 288 1,393,020-2 bushels. 

48 432 2.090,880-3 bushels. 

64 576 2,787,840-4 bushels. 

80 720 3,428,800—5 bushels. 

" If any person will mark upon a board or paper a square foot of space and 
then divide it into four equal squares, and place a grain of wheat in the 
center of each square, he will have not far from one peck of seed to the acre. 
If he can place two in each square, lie will have half a bushel, which, if 
every seed should vegetate, Avould give as many plants as the land could 
well mature, unless very rich. But divide the foot into sixteen squares, each 
of whicli contains nine superficial inches, and place a grain in the center of 
each square, and it will give one busliel of wheat to the acre. If any per- 
son will e.xamine his winter wheat, he will find that if the plant liave a 
vigorous growth, each seed fully stooled covers more space than it would 
find in the area of nine inches. Put two grains of oats to each square, and 
it will give two bushels to the acre. Make three to each square, and there 
will be three bushels of seed to the acre. 

" Place three grains of clover-seed_ upon cacli square inch, and it gives 
less tlian a busliel of seed to the acre." 

The experience of the farmers over the whole wheat region of tlie State, 
after nearly or quite forty years' experience, is that sixteen pounds of good 
clover-seed is a heavy seeding to the acre. 

A Chenango County farmer says, " he knows two bushels of seed wheat 
per acre are better than one, which his fatlier taught him to sow." We know 
that it depends upon the soil, wliich this writer proves by saying that liis 
fields yield 28 to 32 bushels per acre, where formerly they only gave 15 or 
20 bushels from one sowed. That may be entirely owing to the increased 
maturing power of the fertilizers added to the laud. 

The writer also says : " I raised in my garden, from one grain of seed, 
3,275 grains of plunij> wlieat in C4 heads, besides two heads given away, and 
175 shrunk grains. Tlie land was in high cultivation where ashes, lime, and 
salt had been spread, and the seed was planted in August." What would 
have been the quantity of seed j^er acre required, and what the yield, if the 
same facts had been applied to field culture ? 

English wheat-growers seed heavier than Americans. On good wheat 
land two bushels, and on poor land two and a half bushels are recommended 
to be sown broadcast. If wheat is carefully drilled, we believe a bushel and 
a peck suflicient. 



Sec. 44.] WHEAT.— SEED PER ACRE.— DRILLING. 675 

All wheat for seed, should be washed thoroughly before sowing, to get 
every foul seed out, so that notlung but wheat grains will ho sown. If 
brine or solution of copperas or several other salts are used, the smut disease 
will be cured. 

750. Drilling Wheat.— The Hon. David Crocker, of Tompkins County, K Y., 
i-ecomniends farmers who drill in their wheat to set the gauge so as to drop 
only half the quantity of seed that they desire to plant per acre, and after 
going over tlie field once, turn the other way and put in the other half, so 
that the plants will stand in checks instead of rows. He puts in two bushels 
per acre, and tliinks it produces better from being so much more evenly 
planted over the whole surface, so that it more than pays for the extra labor. 
The.heads of the drilled wheat stand up side by side, and nearly every one 
has six rows. T!ie stalks of broadcast wheat are unequal in hight, and some 
have only four rows of grain in the head. 

One experiment showed a gain of nine bushels per acre in favor of drill- 
ing in the same field. An advocate of drilling wheat refers to the follow- 
ing Ohio farmers : 

" Mr. Sickman, Mr. Napp, Mr. Molan, and J. Shook, of Wayne County ; 
Isaac Smoker, of Ashland County; Squire Ililderbrandt, an extensive fiirmer 
of Stark County (who plants 200 acres of wheat annually); John Shaw, of 
Summit County; H. C. Kingsbuiy, of Medina County; John Fulton, of 
Richland County, can give the names of over a hundred farmers in Wayne, 
Stark, Medina, Ashland, and Richland counties, who urge all farmers, even 
those who only plant twelve acres of wheat, to buy drills, because at the 
very best they will warrant a yield of three bushels to the acre over that 
sown. 

" The seed is all deposited three and a half inches below the surface, in 
rows eight inches apart, at the rate of li bushels of seed to the acre, and is 
not as easily picked up by the fowls and pigeons. 

" Drilled wheat is not winter-killed as often as that sown broadcast, and 
being evenly deposited and well covered, it stands drouth better. The roots 
having a firmer hold in the ground, the stalks are not so liable to be thrown 
down ; and for the same reason, in seasons when the fly makes havoc in 
broadcast wheat, that drilled is but slightly injured." 

These facts prove that every man who annually plants ten acres of grain, 
Indian corn included, can well afford to keei) '^ drilling machine, even if he 
did not, as he undoubtedly would, have many profitable jobs from his neigh- 
bors, who only put in three or four acres, and who would be sure to hire a 
drill, though they were too" small farmers to buy one. As to the question 
of open or close drills, the following is to the point : 

Dr Ilartstein, Director of the Agricultural Institute at Poppelsdorf, in 
Prussia, has demonstrated the futility of the idea tliat wheat grows lietterin 
drills so wide that it can be cultivated. Four years of experiments have 
shown that fields planted in rows four feet apart produce but four fifths as 
much grain as that sown in the oi-dinary way ; it weighs, however, about a 



676 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

pound and a half more to the bushel, and produces but little more than half 
as much straw. 

751. Seed Wheat— Selecting, Preparing, and Mixing Seed.— Next to the thor- 
ough preparation of the soil, the most important thing to secure a good crop, 
is proper selection and preparation of the seed, and then just such careful 
planting as is effected by a good drill. 

Too much care can not be given to the preparation of seed wheat; the 
selection of variety, the growing of it, cleansing it, and then the time and 
manner of sowing it, as also the kind of soil, and the preparation of that 
soil. All the minutiae connected with that seed materially affects the crop. 
One man sorted some Chili seed carefully by hand, and sowed four kernels 
in a hill, and from one seed the product was nine hundred and twenty -seven. 
By another experiment with two seeds of Club wheat, the product was one 
hundred and thirty-two heads. One lot, planted in hills, required only eight 
pounds to the acre. 

Charles Brackett, of Rochester, Fulton County, Ind., says : 

"In July, 1856, I noticed some wheat in my tield— one root — bearing 
some two tiiousand grains. I planted several rows of this seed in my gar- 
den, which yielded at the rate of two thousand one hundred and sixty grains 
to the single grain of seed. The rows were eighteen inches, two feet, and 
three feet apart, and at harvest the heads were as thick as they usually ap- 
pear in a Held of sowed wheat, and were six and seven inches long, the 
smallest containing seventy-two grains, and the largest heads one hundred 
grains. Tlie wheat stood about six feet high, and was not lodged or in- 
juriously affected by the heaviest winds. The soil in my garden is a 
sandy loam, enriched by barn-yard manure, swamp muck, and ashes; the 
subsoil a mixture of sand and clay, colored by iron and underlaid by coarse 
sandy gravel. The surface soil to the red earth is from one to two feet 
deep." 

The following is the plan of an old farmer in selecting seed wheat : 

" He took his seed wheat on the barn floor, and threw a handful at a 
time across the barn, and none but the very nicest, plumpest kernels would 
reach the farther end of the floor : all the chess and foul stuff would not go 
half way across." 

Samuel Heirstcrn, of Chester County, Penn., says that he practiced mix- 
ing seed wheat sixteen years with the best results, and recommends that 
each farmer should every year exchange with another a part of his seed, and 
mix the two or more sorts together. 

An Ohio wheat-grower thinks it would be to the advantage of farmers to 
change their seed as often as once in three years, but that seed from milder 
climates — as Italy, for instance — is not beneficial. 

This is contrary to the opinion of some other farmers, who think seed 
from the South would ripen earlier and escape the midge. 

An Illinois wheat-grower states that his crop increased over three bushels 
per acre by changing seed. The effect, in our opinion, was not produced so 



Sec. 44.] WHEAT— SELECTING AND PREPARING SEED. 67T 

much by a cliange of seed, the variety being the same, as from tlic fact that 
the seed he obtained had been better selected. 

It would require but little labor for a small quantity of seed, compared 
to the value it would produce, to go through the wheat-field selecting the 
choicest heads. The next best way is to select the very best portions of the 
field, and cut them especially for seed. Many years ago, wiieu wlieat- 
growing was more common in the Eastern States than it is now, a farmer 
became noted in his neighborliood for his superior variety of M'heat, which 
he called "barrel wheat," and sold at a liigh price to his neighbors for seed, 
before they discovered that it was identical with their own ; the only differ- 
ence was in the manner of saving the seed, by which it got its name. And 
this was it: He selected the best sheaves from tlie field, and took them to 
his barn, and placed a barrel on its side upon tlie thrashing-floor, and 
took each sheaf separately and beat and Avhipped it over tlie barrel, 
by which the longest and best heads only were shelled, and tlie best grains 
saved for seed, and the process repeated year after year until he got a 
" new variety." 

If seed M'heat is taken from the bulk, it should not be sown before it has 
been screened over and over, until there is not a -grain of wheat or anything 
else that will pass through the sieve. In this way you may make a pretty 
good selection of the best portion of the wbeat, and exclude all small, 
shriveled, diseased grains, and all seeds of chess and weeds, except cockle, 
which defies the arts of machinists. 

There is not one farmer in a hundred that docs not know and acknowledge 
the advantage of selecting seed corn by gathering the most perfect ears in 
the field. If he will practice selecting wheat seed, he will probably become 
as fully convinced of its advantages. We believe that the wheat crop of the 
wliole United States can be increased as much upon every farm as the Illi- 
nois farmer increased his. 

752. Pickling Seed Wheati — The value of pickling seed wheat, as a prevent- 
ive of smut, is beyond doubt. It is a fixed fact. "Water saturated with 
common salt is esteemed sufficient by some. In Scotland, a common pickle 
is urine of cattle or people, saturated witli salt. Sulphate of coi^per, known 
]>y many as " blue-stone," used one pound to eight gallons of water, is highly 
recommended as a pickle for seed wheat. Sulphate of iron (copperas) is also 
highly recommended. In this pickle the wheat is thoroughly washed, and 
then dried by rolling it in dry, powdered lime, or ashes, or plaster (sulphate 
of lime), or dust. 

In putting the wheat in the pickle, let it be scattered in very thinly, so 
that any iuqaerfect grains or light seeds of any kind may float and be 
skimmed oft', if any such have escaped the screening process, which should 
be very perfect, so that none but the large, sound, heavy grains sliould go 
for seed. If there still remains, from some imperfection in the operation or 
incompleteness of the antidote, something that induces or produces some 
smut in the product of the immersed seed, what may be expected of that 



678 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

from seed taken right out of the heap as it comes from the thrashing-ma- 
chine and winnowing mill? 

753. What Becomes of Seed Wheat?— It Does Not all Grow.— Charles 
Bi-ackett writes as follows, July, 185S : 

" I wisli to present the following matter of vast importance in regard to 
the cultivation of wheat. 

" I planted last autumn five rows of wheat, with spaces between different 
rows of three feet, two feet, and eighteen inches; this was kept clean with 
the hoc, and the product is as follows — Average number of stalks from each 
seed, 32 ; number of grains to the liead, 72 to 100. 

" Now, if we count only thirty stalks from each grain of seed, and seventy- 
two grains in a head, we get at the rate of over two thousand-fold, and three 
thousand two hundred, counting the highest yield. From the year 1845 to 
1855 the average of wheat in this and parts of the adjoining counties, ac- 
cording to my record, was less than eight bushels to the acre, the very best 
being thirty-three bushels. 

"Tiiirty stalks to the square foot will give 104,089,600 grains to the acre, 
which, allowing 898,560 grains to the bushel, gives nearly 116 bushels to the 
acre. This estimate is a correct one, based upon actual facts, and, although 
it looks like a wild calculation, will prove so nearly correct as to help reform 
our present slovenly and extravagant mode of wheat culture. The quantity 
of seed required to plant an acre is only a trifle over five pounds, if put in 
as above described. 

" Suppose every seed of the bushel sown, per acre, grew and produced, as 
some wheat usually does, three stalks to the grain of seed, each bearing 
thii'ty grains, would not the acre produce ninety bushels? But how much 
does it produce? Eight bushels and less on an average. 

"What becomes of seed wheat? is an interesting matter for investiga- 
tion." 

The following table shows an English calculation of the number of grains 
of wheat in a bushel, as well as several other seeds : 



Buckwheat 1,404,000 

Red clover 15,000,000 

White clover 40,220.000 

Sweet vernal grass 9,250,000 



■Wheat 000,000 

Oats 072,000 

Barley 550,000 

Eye 1 ,230,000 

There is no doubt in our mind about the injury of wheat seed, by thrashing- 
machines, and consequently there is an incalculable number of grains of 
■wheat which will not vegetate. Careful experiments are needed to show 
the per-centage of loss upon machine-lhrashed seed over that thrashed by the 
flail, to determine whether true economy would not dictate a change, and 
that all grain for seed should be thrashed by hand. 

According to the above calculation of 660,000 grains of wheat to the 
bushel, there would be 2,640,000 grains in four bushels, and if we assume all 
to vegetate, there would be one wheat plant to every 2f superficial inches, 
if that quantity is sown upon an acre, as there are in an acre 6,272,640 
superficial inches. A good strong wheat plant, upon good soil, with plenty 



Seo. 44.] WHEAT— WHAT BECOMES OF ALL THE SEED SOWN? 679 

of room, will tiller ten-fold, and a field in proper condition should average 
that. Now let the advocates of thick seeding make their own estimate, 
and see how many plants they will have to the acre, and then go into 
the hest field to be found, and see how many are actually growing upon 
each foot square, and compare the result with the number that four bushels 
of seed pev acre should produce. In our opinion, a better preparation of the 
soil, a careful selection of perfect seed, and a careful planting of it, so that 
all would grow, and so that half a bushel would give better results than 
four bushels, would show the best economy. 

Before, however, any certain rules can be adopted by American farmers, 
tlie actual number of seeds in a bushel must be ascertained, and very care- 
ful experiments made. 

In the Xew York State Agricultural Society Transactions for 1S49 there 
are sonje experiments reported. It is stated that wheat sown in squares one 
and a half inches each way, taking nearly four bushels of seed per acre, 
gave a product of almost seventy bushels, while one fourth the amount of 
seed, in squares of three inches, gave fifty-one bushels ; and other trial plots, 
using two bushels of seed, and three fourths of a bushel, gave respectively 
products rating at sixty and at forty-five bushels per acre. English experi- 
ments give about the same result, pointing strongly to an even distribution 
of the seed over the ground on all clean soils. 

Under a perfect system of tillage — giving all the ground and all the 
strength of the soil to the one product of wheat — no doubt the rule would 
hold good, that the greater the number of perfect stems and heads per acre, 
the greater the amount of grain produced. 

Weeding wheat, where needed,' compensates for the loss of space in drill 
culture, and we are not without experiments showing thin seeding very 
favorably by the side of the more liberal supply, especially in cases of early 
sowing on rich or very carefully cultivated soils. 

These various discussions and experiments point at least to one fact for the 
guidance of the farmer — -but one not very generally known and considered — ■ 
that rich, deep, thoroughly worked soils do not need as great an amount of 
seed as those of a less fertile character. 

A new kind of wheat, or cheat, was extensively advertised in the spring 
of 1861, under the name of '• Japan wheat," which the issuers of the ad- 
vertisement pretended will yield " three hundred bushels per acre." That 
story is too big. It is a big effort to " raise the wind"' at the farmer's ex- 
pense. It is rather more than every grain of four bushels of seed per acre 
would j)roduce. 

75-4. Wheu should Grain be fnt? — A most important question for every 
farmer. Careful observation and some little experience during twenty years' 
residence in a great wheat-growing country, have convinced the writer that 
it is fully ten per cent, profit to cut wheat before the grain is fully ripe. Com- 
mence cutting as soon as the earliest part of the crop has passed from the 
milky into the dough state. There is no necessity to let it lie to cure, if 



680 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

cut wliile the straw is still partially green. Bind it up as fast as cut, and 
set the bundles in stocks, two and two leaning together in dozens or twen- 
ties, or any given number, so as to give an even count. Set in this way, 
the most unripe grain will cure and perfect itself. 

The advantages are: the grain is heavier, sweeter, and whiter; there is 
less loss of shattered grain ; the straw, where that is an object, is so much 
better feed as to make it worth while to cut early, even if there were a loss 
on the grain, which is not the case. 

For seed, the best portion of the field should be set apart and left to ma- 
ture until fully ripe, and then carefully cut by hand and very carefully han- 
dled, because the very grains which should be saved for seed are the ones 
most easily shattered. Give these bundles a slight thrashing, and give the 
grain a thorough winnowing; screen out all but the most plump kernels, 
and sow those for your next crop, and you will succeed in improving both 
quality and product. 

In the 2d volume of British Husbandry, pp. 136, 137, it is said that grain 
should be reaped, as a general rule, before the uppermost grain can be shaken 
out. But in this a medium course should be adopted, for although grain, 
if allowed to become too ripe, assumes a dull, husky hue in the sample, yet, 
if not ripened enough, it shrivels in the drying. 

Cadet de Yaux asserts that " grain reaped eight days before the usual 
time, has the berries larger, fuller, and finer, and better calculated to resist 
the attacks of the weevil. An equal quantity of the corn thus reaped, with 
corn reaped at maturity, gave more bread and of a better quality. The 
proper time for reaping is that when the grain, on being pressed between 
the fingers, has a doughy appearance, like a crumb of bread just hot from 
the oven." 

Mr. C. Howard, in the Report on Select Farms, says : '' Wheat ought 
never to be allowed to remain uncut till it is fully ripe. By permitting it 
to stand until the straw has lost its succulency, gains nothing in plumpness 
or bulk of grain, and loses much in its color and fineness of skin, besides the 
risk of shelling, by high wind, or by its being cut iinder the influence of a 
burning sun. 

" When fully ripened by standing in the shocks, no dry hour should be 
lost in getting it well secured." 

Loudon observes, that " in harvesting wheat, the best farmers, both in 
England and on the Continent, agree that it ought to be cut before it be- 
comes dead ripe. When this is the case the loss is considerable, both in the 
field and in the stack-yard ; and the grain, according to Von Thaer, pro- 
duces an inferior flour." 

An experienced Pennsylvania farmer of our acquaintance always cuts his 
oats while the straw is green. This he learned to do by accident, for it was 
contrary to the practice of his father and all his neighbors. His hay crop 
was short one year, and he determined to cut his oats green ; that is, a few 
days too soon, as he thought, losing the grain for the sake of the straw. For 



Sec. 44.] WHEAT— WHEN AND HOW HARVESTED. 681 

seed, lie left a strij) through the middle of tlie field, where the oats were 
best. Tlie grain of those cut was just in the dough and milky state, and 
he expected they would all shrivel up. Wiiat was his sur])rise when he 
came to thrash, to find the early-cut straw yielding as much and as plump 
grain as that which stood till it was dead ripe, while the straw was in- 
comparably better — in fact, the stock ate it as readily as they would tim- 
othy hay. 

We have known many instances where early-cut grain was saved, while 
that left to ripen was lost. A farmer offered two samples of wheat, one cut 
on the 20tli of July in a green state, when the crushed grain had the ap- 
pearance of thick dough ; the other, cut six days later in a ripe state, the 
ears drooping, and the grain firm and hard. Both samples remained in 
stack until the 17th of October, when the grain was thrashed, the green-cut 
portion was equally dry with the other, and the green-cut grain weighed 
twenty-eight ounces per busliel more than that which was allowed to stand 
till it was quite ripe, and produced a better sample of flour with one twelfth 
less bran. 

755. Shocking Wheat in the Harvest-Field.— It will be often found to be 
good economy to take the sheaves from the bunches or dozens which have 
been set up two and two to cure, and put them in hand stacks, when they 
can not be got into a permanent stack soon enough. The following is a 
good rule : 

Bring sufiicient sheaves together, say 100, and place them in a circle or ring 
of about fifteen feet in diameter, with the butts to the center. Set a good- 
sized sheaf in the center of the inclosed space on the ground, and lay down 
successive sheaves, elevating the heads at first by laying them across the 
first sheaf, and so on around this nucleus until a circular bottom is formed 
sufficient to receive the quantity of sheaves brought togetlier— always taking 
care to keep the heads of the sheaves duly elevated until the stack is fin- 
ished. The bottom should be made of ample size, so as to permit the 
sheaves to have due space ; otherwise the center will be too high and cause 
the sheaves to tumble ofi', or the whole to assume a leaning position. It is 
better, therefore, to allow full size, and then to draw the stack to an apex 
rather suddenly in finishing. This is more especially necessary when the 
sheaves are large, for it is diflicult otherwise to make the top sufiiciently 
pointed. 

With the foregoing directions faithfully observed, a man with ordinary 
judgment may rapidly secure his wheat in the field against all ordinary 
weather for a month or more. 

756. Storing Grain in Stacks. — In England, where, for a certainty, there 
is no lack of means to build barns, and where the climate is quite as humid 
at harvest-time as it is here, there is a vast amount of grain put up in stacks, 
and it is contended that there is less loss upon the average of grain stacked 
than upon grain stored in barns. In this country there is an anxiety on the 
part of farmers to have barn room enough to store everything, and stacking 



682 CEREALIA. [CnAP. VIII. 

is considered wasteful. And so it is, as stacking is generally done, but it 
need not be so ; the fault is in tlie stackers, not in the sj'stcm. 

In England, a fanner has a permanent stack-jard, with forms, or founda- 
tions upon which to build the stacks, and these are often made of stone pil- 
lars, capped with flat stones to prevent rats and mice from climbing up and 
getting into the grain. Here, some brush, old rails, poles, old straw, or a few 
loose stones may be placed under the grain or hay, though often the stacks 
are built right npon the ground, and we have seen a thickness of two feet 
of the bottom of stacks frozen together so firmly that the hay or grain could 
not be got at until after a thaw, and then only in a very poor condition. The 
tops are frequently built equally faulty, and we once had a stack where the 
lazy lout who built it clung to the pole and pressed the hay down around it 
to such a degree that water settled in the cavity and penetrated down 
through the center to the very foundation. Sometimes wheat-stacks are so 
faultily built that the butts of bundles on the outside are higher than the 
tops, serving as conductors of water to the center; and such stacks by hun- 
dreds may be seen upon the prairies coated with green during a warm Sep- 
tember rain. 

With so many evidences of wastefulness in stacking, it is not to be wondered 
at that American farmers are prejudiced against the system, and only adopt 
that plan of storing grain when compelled by necessity. 

Some of the remarks about stacking hay (835) will apply equally well to 
grain. So well satisfied are English farmers about the economy of storing 
grain in stacks, that wg see of late, in all the English agricultural papers, 
advertisements of iron stack bottoms — iron frames, supported by iron pil- 
lars, about a foot and a half high. 

757. Thra$hiug;-Machines vs. Flails. — Because wheat must be cut by ma- 
chines, farmers are apt to apply the same idea to thrashing. The rule will 
not always hold good. Upon the great prairie farms of the "West the grain 
nmst be thrashed by machines, because the work must be done in the open 
air, and it is like hay-making, it must be done while the sun shines, and 
therefore is usually done by a ponderous machine, driven by the power of 
four, six, or eight horses, attended by eight to twelve men ; that is, one to 
feed the sheaves into the thrasher, one to cut the bands and place the sheaves 
on the table convenient to the feeder, and one to three, according to the 
situation of the stack, to get the sheaves to the band cutter ; and three to 
six men to take away the straw and grain, and one to drive, and a stout boy 
to do a score of nameless things. It is a heavy and always dreaded job to 
have the thrashing-machine about the place, and M'hen we grew wheat on the 
jirairie the actual cost of thrashing was 12 to 15 cents a bushel. The straw 
was of no value, and was often burnt after the thrashing was done to get it 
out of the way. We once took the trouble to pile up the straw of fifty 
acres, thinking it might be useful in just such a hard winter as the one that 
preceded the harvest, for our own or some other one's stock, but it was not 
needed, and the stack stood iintil it gradually decayed several years after- 



Sec. 44] WHEAT— STACKING AND THRASHING. 683 

ward. In such places, where straw and chaff are worthless for cattle feed, 
it will be good economy to thrash with a niacliiiie and get rid of the straw 
in the easiest manner, which will be by hauling it away from tlie machine 
with a horse-rake. But where straw is valuable, either for feeding or bed 
ding, on the farm or in market, we think it good economy to thrash with a 
flail or with a one-horse machine in the barn from day to day, as the straw 
is needed. Upon this point we give the testimony of a very practical, ob- 
serving farmer, one who knows whereof he speaks— the Hon. Geo. Gcddes, 
of Fairmount, Onondaga County, N. Y., who has most sncccssfully con- 
ducted the farm that his father managed, and which his son is now con- 
ducting without deterioration in its productiveness. He writes under date 
of March, 1858, as follows : 

''I M-ill give you some of the reasons that make me think that the flail is 
better than the large thrashing-machines for most of the farmers of central 
New York, except in those cases that require the grain to be thrashed soon 
after it is harvested. The ordinary price for thrashing wheat with the travel- 
ing machines here is five cents per bushel, the owner of the machine having 
with it two men and four liorses that the farmer must feed. The farmer 
must provide six more horses, and from five to eight men — say an average 
of seven. All the expenses will bring up the cost of thrashing to ten cents 
a bushel. I have paid that for thrashing a large crop. "Wheat is the only 
crop that makes so good a comparison for the machine, for ten cents is just 
a fair price for flailing out wheat in the winter, the tlirasher binding up the 
long straw, and feeding the short straw during the day to the sheep and 
cattle. 

" Barlej' can be thrashed with a flail for three cents less than by machine. 
Oats about the same, and yet there are cases where we use machines. Last 
autumn we could sell our wheat for $1 50, and our barley for $1, so we 
hired a machine and put the crop into market, well knowing tliat the prices 
must fall before winter. We appeared to save about half a dollar on each 
bushel, but there is some drawback on that calculation. Our men being 
thrown out of this thrashing in the winter, we liave had to look up work 
for them that we really did not want to do, and we have lost our straw 
nearly, as the lieavy rains of October and November could not be kept from 
going down through the stacks and injuring them very much. Tiiough our 
sheep have had a vast amount of good hay, they are not in as good order 
as usual at this time of the year. Most of the farmers in Onondaga raise 
grain, make some butter and cheese, raise a few cattle, horses, and sheep, 
and intend, during the winter, to make their stock eat and trample under 
foot the straw of their grain, so as to get it into shape to manure their fields. 
The plan of thrashing it during the winter, either by flails, or stamping it 
out with horses on wide floors, or thrashing with a very small machine, that 
two horses and three or four men can handle, has this advantage, that all 
the sliort straw is fed from day to day as it is thrashed, and thus nearly 
every grain saved in some way. The farmer will find it to his profit to keep 



684: CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

this winter work for his men, wlio he can not do without in summer, and by 
doing this he can raise a few sheep, calves, and a colt or two, without losing 
money on them. 

"Thrashing is the only winter employment the farm can give hirelings, 
and in this view, thrashing, in fact, costs but little, for the money paid to 
these men during the winter enables us to employ them in the summer at 
reasonable prices. The result to them is constant employment ; to us, econ- 
omy in the first cost of thrashing. 

" Machines do not thrash cleaner than flails. I have had a great deal to 
io with machines, but I never saw one at my barns, or my neighbors', that 
did not leave grain enough in tiie straw to make the stacks green with 
sprouted grain as soon as the rain wet them. A good flail-thrasher will 
leave but little, and that little the sheep know how to find. And oats and 
barley are, when thus fed to stock, worth their usual market price, and wheat 
more than half. 

" If 3'ou find it necessary to employ machines, have a sufiicient number of 
able-bodied men to assist. Persons inclined to diseases of the throat and 
lungs should not labor in the dust created by the thrashing-machine. A 
moistened sponge, tied over the nostrils to prevent the entrance of dust, 
should always be used by those most exposed." 

758. Cleauing Grain for Marketi — ^The practice of sending wheat to markat 
in a very badly cleaned condition is injurious to the farmer's interest. In 
1859 the Chicago Board of Trade reported that some samples of rejected 
wheat, returned from New York, siiow that the grain was an originally good, 
fair quality of spring wheat, and in about the condition of Chicago spring 
wheat generally, but so badly cleaned that it had got damp and musty and 
unfit for use, emitting a sour, disagreeable odor. Another lot, considered 
standard, that passed inspection because dry, perhaps, was found to contain 
oats, barley, kernels of yellow corn, and plenty of dirt. The berry of this 
was so good that, if it had been properly cleaned, it would have jiassed as 
extra, and fully equal to a kind known as Milwaukee Club, whicii sold in 
New York at ninety cents, while the Chicago wheat brought but eigiity-two 
to eighty-four cents. Now, what is fact in this case is fact in others arising 
from the same basis, and no farmer can afford to be such a sloven. He can 
not put twelve per cent, of dirt in among the grain, which he must do to 
make up the difterence in price. But great as the fault is on the part of 
farmers, it is greater on the part of those who buy the grain of tiie pro- 
ducers, for they pay just as much for dirty as clean wheat, or if they find a 
load too dirty to pass without notice, they deduct from tlie jirice paid the 
producer, and then mix good and bad altogether, and it sometimes happens 
that a farmer who has shipped wheat on his own account, that he had taken 
exti-a pains to clean, only gets the average price of the whole cargo, his 
honesty being taxed for the benefit of the cheater ; with many the cheat is 
intentional — for dirt and cheaper grains have been purposely mixed in with 
wheat, because it would then bring just as much a bushel as the cleanest. 



SEa 44.] THE PRODUCT OF WHEAT PER ACRE. 685 

This may bo the case at first, but in tlie end, as in the case mentioned, the 
loss comes back upon the farmer, and unfortunately all suffer alike, for the 
value of the whole crop is reduced. The only remedy that we can suggest 
is for every man who does honestly clean his grain to set his face against 
all such cheating. Refuse to sell to a man mean enough to buy dirty wheat 
because he can mix it with yours that is clean, and so average it ; and refuse 
all countenance to a neighbor who purposely sells such grain. 

759. The Product of Wheat per Acre. — What is the average product of 
wheat per acre in any State, or in any given district, is a question very dif- 
ficult to settle, because the poor crops are never reported, nor is such a year 
as that of ISiO in the great wheat district tributary to Chicago, when the 
entire crop was blasted with rust, ever averaged upon the most fruitful 
years. There is generally, too, a disposition to estimate good fields too high. 
The following method of making an estimate of the yield per acre of a 
growing crop of wheat, rye, oats, or barley has been found correct in En- 
gland, and seems easy of aiiplication and approximately correct: 

Frame together four light sticks, measuring exactly a foot square inside, 
and witii this in hand, walk into the field and select a spot of fair average 
yield, and lower the frame squarely over as many heads as it will inclose, 
and carefully shell out the heads thus inclosed, and weigh the grain. It is 
fair to presume that the product will be , j jg „ part of an acre's produce. 
To prove it, go through the field and make ten or twenty similar calcula- 
tions, and estimate by the mean of the whole number of results ; it will cer- 
tainly enable a farmer to make a closer calculation of what his field will 
produce than he can by guessing. 

A year or two since a statement was published in the American Farmer^ 
at Baltimore, from M. T. Goldsborough, of Ellenboro, Md., that a field of 
27^ acres, carefully measured on the farm of his father, yielded 55 bushels 
of wheat to the acre, and nine of the best acres each yielded (S\\ bushels. 
The field had been subject to a rotation of corn, wheat, and clover for a 
number of years, and repeatedly manured with barn-yard manure, swamp 
muck, woods'-mold, marl or lime, and especially with large quantities of cal- 
careous manure obtained from the Indian oyster-shell banks. It was plowed 
six inches deep but once, and harrowed and rolled till the earth was loose, 
and not a clod could be seen. The seed was drilled in with a nine-inch drill 
on the 4th, Gth, and 7tli of October. For 18i acres, only 28 bushels of seed 
were used of white wheat frona North Carolina. The straw averaged five 
feet six inches in hight, but many specimens six feet four inches long were 
found. 

S. P. Mason, of "Walnut Creek, N. Y., tells us how he grew wheat at the 
rate of 80 bushels per acre from California seed. He inclosed with boards 
an exact rod of dry, gravelly soil, and spaded it 18 inches deep, mixing in 
well-rotted clayey turf, sifted, to the amount of a cart-load, and a peck of 
salt, half a bushel of ashes, and one pound of guano ; then marked the bed 
into squares of three inches, and planted, Sept. 10, one grain in a hole two 



686 CERE ALIA. [Chap. yill. 

inclics deep in the center of each square, using nine grains to each foot, 
which he thinks is too thick. It came up in eight days, and by Dec. 1 it 
was a perfect mat, so that the ground was hidden. On this he sifted three 
pecks of charcoal dust, and when the snow melted oif in March, tlio wiieat 
■was ver}' green. It was watered a little in a dry time, and harvested July 
10, after the birds had taken a share, and dried, and the grain weighed 29i 
pounds, or nearly SO bushels per acre. 

Tliat, the yield can be increased we have abundant evidence. One writer 
on wheat culture says : 

" If the season is backward, we may hasten the germination of our seeds 
by watering with a weak solution of chlorine, iodine, bromine, sulphate of 
iron, dilute sulphuric acid, or nitrie acid, and the compounds of ammonia, 
and afterward, by the proper application of suitable manures, we may con- 
tinue tlio develojjment of all parts of the plant during the entire period of 
its growth, and thus increase to an amazing extent the return of seed. 

" I once sowed two and a half bushels of wheat on a well-prepared acre 
of sandy loam ground, and it yielded me 1,600 lbs. of grain and 3,000 lbs. 
of straw. On an acre of rich, stiff soil, abounding in organic matter and 
calcareous earth, thoroughly manured, on a pea crop, the same quantity of 
seed yielded 2,000 Iba. of grain and 4,000 lbs. of straw. 

"The grain was placed in dilute sulphate of soda for two hours before it 
was sown, destroying the germs of parasites." 

760. The Ability of America to Produce Wheat, — ^Those who believe in the 
inexhaustibility of American virgin soil to produce wheat will do well to 
read the statistical facts in the following article prepared after the great 
crop of 1860 began to come into market. Our belief is, tliat under our 
present system the great wheat-producing regions of all the Atlantic States 
are gradually becoming less productive, and will in time be reduced to tlie 
condition of the New England States, where wheat is only grown upon 
favor'te spots highly fertilized, and only in small plats for family use. In 
thib view of the case, it becomes a serious question what is to be done to 
maintain our ability to grow wheat. 

"In 1790 the United States exported 1,018,339 bushels of wheat. In 
1820 tlie export had sunk to 25,821 bushels. In 1830 it rose to 408,910 
bushels ; in 1840 to 858,585 bushels ; and in 1850 to 1,026,735 bushels ; or 
onl}' 8,386 more than sixty years previously. These extraordinary vibra- 
tions in the export are measurably governed by the shortness or abundance 
of tlie croj) ; but the fact has long been noticed that our wheat-producing 
power is rapidly declining. In fifty years this great staple of Ohio has 
diminished from an average yield of 30 bushels per acre to less than 15. 
In eleven counties of that State, which in 1850 yielded 7,531,757 bushels, 
there were but 4,413,207 produced in 1857, thougii in the interval many 
thousands of acres of new land must have been broken up and sowed with 
wheat. Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware have ceased producing largely, 
while in New England the diminution is almost incredible. In 1840 Rhode 



Seo. 44.] THE ABILITY OF AMERICA TO PRODUCE WHEAT. 687 

Island produced 3,098 bushels, but ten years later only 49. Within the 
same period Connecticut fell from 87,000 bushels to 42,000 ; Maine, from 
848,000 to 296,000 ; Massachusetts, from 158,000 to 31,000 ; New Hamp- 
shire, from 432,000 to 186,000 ; Vermont alone maintaining her ground by 
yielding 535,956 bushels in 1850 against 495,800 in 1840. In the same pe- 
riod Tennessee fell from -4,569,692 to 1,619,386 bushels; Kentucky, from 
4,803,152 to 2,142,822; Georgia, from 1,801,830 to 1,088,534; and Ala- 
bama, from 838,520 to 294,044. The Avhole wheat crop of the Union in 
1840 was 88,513,270 bushels, while in 1850 it had risen only to 100,585,844 
bushels, an increase of only 12,072,544 in ten years, of which increase, Illi- 
nois, Indiana, and Wisconsin supplied every bushel— showing conclusively 
that all the old wheat regions were rapidly deteriorating. Within the same 
period only "nine of the fifteen slave States increased their crops, while the 
falling off in the whole fifteen was 2,200,316 bushels. 

" In New York the increase in 1850 was not ten per cent, over 1840. 
Many portions of the State, which once produced 25 bushels per acre, now" 
barely average five. An English traveler in 1775 was amazed at finding 
that the land around Albany yielded 30 to 40 bushels per acre witli the most 
imperfect husbandry, while in England their best managed land did not 
yield half so much. Yet in 1845 the average of the same Albany region 
had sunk to 7^ bushels per acre. In Dutchess County it had dwindled to 
five ; in Columbia to six ; in Rensselaer to eight, and in Westchester to 
seven. In some portions of Maryland and Virginia, wheat is no longer cul- 
tivated on land which forty years ago produced abundant crops. Oliio it- 
self, the second on the list of wheat-producing States, is rapidly losing 
ground. In Canada, the yield is so steadily diminishing that within a pe- 
riod of seventeen years it fell from 22,981,244 to 942,835 bushels, a diff'er- 
ence of over 22,000,000, 

"It is evident that the relative production of food to increase of popula- 
tion is annuall}' diminishing, notwithstanding the opening up of virgin soils 
to the plow. As these are opened, others are abandoned from exhaustion. 
Without these virgin soils to flee to, the failure of a single wheat crop would 
occasion a national scarcity. Actual famine can never occnr in this country, 
because in its enormous corn crop it will ever hold a granary almost ]ari!;e 
enough to feed the world. The boast has been that we could feed the world 
with wheat, but nothing could be wider of the truth. In the single month 
of October, one year, we shipped $6,000,000 of grain and flour to England, 
but in the same month of the preceding year we sent none. Such are the 
irncertainties of dependence on a market abroad, instead of upon one at 
home. The crop of 1848, amounting to 126,000,000 bushels, is held to he 
an average one. We then had 22,000,000 inhabitants, giving within a frac- 
tion of 5i bushels to each. But England consumes 166,000,000 bushels an- 
nually, or six bushels each. We send lier wheat whenever she needs it, bnt 
we spare it only because we have corn to fall back upon. If it were not Un- 
this peculiar product of our climate, all the wheat we raise would be insufh- 



CERE ALIA. [Chap. VIH. 

cient for our own wants. Our average export is 12,000,000 bushels. Onr 
poj^ulation doubles in about twenty years, yet the relative diminution of the 
wheat crop is so great that, unless our mode of agriculture is improved and 
the ratio per acre increased, the export will entirely cease, and we shall not 
produce enough for ourselves. The census of 1870 will probably establish 
this fact. 

" The gravest reasons exist for such an opinion. The prevalent belief that 
this whole continent is adapted to wheat-growing is a great misapprehen- 
sion. Our wild lands are not all wheat land. On the contrary, the true, 
reliable wheat region of this country is ascertained to be limited to ten de- 
grees of latitude and twenty of longitude, covering about half t«e States. 
Beyond these limits wheat is certainly produced, but it is almost exclusively 
spring wheat, an inferior article, giving less yield and always selling lower. 
As New England lies outside of this belt, it can never be a wheat producing 
region. Vermont alone increased her product in the last decade, the in- 
crease being only 40,000 bushels, and tliis in the face of legislative pre- 
miums held forth to stimulate its cultivation. Formerly she was a large 
wheat-exporting State ; now she does not export a busliel, but imports more 
than half of all the flour she consumes. Manufacturing has superseded 
agriculture, because more profitable, and the consumer having placed liim- 
sclf beside the producer, both are prospering. New England soil, when 
first broken up, produces good wheat, but exhaustive cropping has dimin- 
ished its productiveness ; everywhere, in fact, a virgin soil will wear out. 
The lands south of North Carolina have never been and never can be re- 
liable for wheat. In only four States south of this line has there been an 
increase in the last ten years, and that of only 150,000 bushels. In the ex- 
treme South the diminution has been enormous. The gain in Delaware 
and Maryland exceeded more than half the loss of the whole fifteen slave 
States. Florida, Louisiana, and Texas produced in 1850 only 43,373 
bushels. 

" Spring wheat is raised so readily on prairie soil that it is no wonder tlie 
yield of Illinois rose from 2,335,393 bushels in 1840 to 9,414,575 in 1850, 
and Wisconsin in the same period from 212,116 to 4,286,231. But the 
popular opinion that this region is to be the permanent granary of the Union 
may well be doubted. It will undoubtedly go on increasing its aimual 
product as new prairies are broken up, until the whole has been subjected 
to tillage ; but while the new lands are yielding liberally, tliose first tilled 
\vill be wearing out more rapidly than those of the Atlantic States. 

''On the great American plains, extending to the Eocky Mountains, per- 
petual barrenness rests. Thence to the Pacific is a wilderness in which 
Indians alone can dwell, because it produces game only. Nearly all Sonora 
is sterile, and most of New Mexico. No wheat can be grown over all this 
vast region, unless it be in a small portion of western Texas, and the nar- 
row belt along the Pacific. Ohio is the real Western boundary of the 
wheat-producing region. As a general rule, in those sections where no 



Seo. 44.] WHEAT-GROWING IN DIFfEIiENT STATES. 689 

heavy snows occur to protect the winter grain, wheat can nbt be raised to 
profit, and spring wheat must be the substitute. It is even doubted by 
close observers whetlier winter wheat has ever been grown to profit unless 
covered by a blanket of snow. This region embraces Ohio, the southern por- 
tions of Michigan and New York, all Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. 
It is proved by the census returns that the product of those States in 1850 
was 48,385,000 bushels, or 2,000,000 less than half of the whole national 
harvest. Geological research points to the large mixture of clay in all these 
soils as being indispensable to continuous production of wheat, and infers its 
absence from the Western prairies as foreshadowing their early abandon- 
ment as wheat fields. Ohio, with a clay loam, produces 16^ bushels to 
each inhabitant, while Indiana, with a richer soil, pi-oduces onlj' Si bushels ; 
and Illinois, with a soil still richer, yields only seven bushels to each in- 
habitant. 

" "While the ratio per acre has thus been steadily diminishing during half 
a century, British agriculture has been revolutionized the other waJ^ Hero 
we have been skinning the land to exhaustion, and like the wasteful cotton- 
grower, pulling up and moving ofl^ to newer land that needed no labor for 
manuring. There they have swept the battle fields of Europe for the bones 
of friend and foe, brought them at great expense to their own shores, and 
ground them up to fertilize their lands. Ships are often loaded at Kew 
York and Philadelphia with bones for English wheat fields that ought to 
have been retained for use at home. They have expended an untold sum 
for guano. More underdrains have been laid in England than in all the 
world besides. Fertilizers innumerable are consumed in immense quanti- 
ties. Roots have become a staple of the kingdom, feeding more cattle than 
ever, and producing manure in abundance. Under this renovating system 
the land is so enriched, that in England the average yield of wheat is 3(3 
bushels per acre, while crops of 88 bushels have been raised. Yet she has 
never been able to raise food enough for her vast manufixcturing population. 
A failure in her grain crop afiects the exchanges of the world. In Franco 
the same calamity produces revolution. AVe are now helping to feed botli 
nations, though England is our largest customer. Yet England is the 
greatest exporting country known. What we sell to her in flour and grain 
we buy back in cloth and iron, which we should manufacture ourselves, thus 
building up communities of consumers on this instead of on the other side 
of the ocean." 

761. Wheat-Growing in Different States. — Calif oniia soil is undoubtedly the 
most productive of wheat of any in America, or tlie world, unless it may be 
Australia. The following item from a California paper shows what that State 
is capable of producing, and our comments will show the fertilizer used : 

"The Indian Agent at Fresno, in charge of the Reservation there, ri'ports 
that the yield of 300 acres of wheat on the Reservation will probably 
amount to 30,000 bushels ; that is, 100 bushels per acre." 

As we know that farming upon these reservations is generally performed 



690 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

by Indian laborers, there can be hotliing in the mode of cultivation to 
account fur the yield, and we are naturally led to inquire what is in the soil 
to afford such a production so much above anything we are accustomed to 
on this side of the continent. Neither can we look upon this as an isolated 
case, for such a production is not new in California. Now Avhat is in the 
soil that makes it so productive i Nothing, probabl}', that is not in any 
good wheat soil of the Atlantic States. 

Then what is the fertilizer applied to make it so productive? 

That question we can readily answer. Although in this account it is not 
stated, yet we think, from our knowledge of what has been applied in other 
cases, where great yields were the result, and the only thing that we ever 
heard of being ajjplied, we know that we are safe in saying that the only 
fertilizer applied was water — water from an irrigating ditch, led through the 
field and spread out in a net-work of little channels upon the surface, moist- 
ening all the roots just when most needing it. And need it they surely do 
where there is no rain. Here, to make irrigation advantageous as it is there, 
we must connect it with underdraining. And then in the same parallel of 
latitude, say in Virginia, North Carolina, or Georgia, upon some of the first- 
rate wheat soils abounding in these States, who can say that one hundred 
bushels of wheat per aci"e will not yet be grown ? 

Illinois wheat-growing does not appear to be very profitable by the fol- 
lowing tables made up by these wheat-growers. " Making a calculation on 
thirty acres of wheat, and estimating the crop at twenty bushels per acre — 
a high rate, including the wliole State— and setting down the cost of seed 
and labor at what wo farmers paid last year, the result is as follows : 

37 J bushels seed wheat, at $1 S37 50 

Plowing thirty acres 37 00 

Sowing wheat, one hand three days, at 

$1 per day 3 00 

Harrowing twice, 6 days with teams, at 

$2 50 15 00 

KoUing ground in spring, 2 days 5 00 

Cutting with reaper, 75c. per acre 22 50 

7 binders, at $1 50 per day 21 00 

3 shockers, at $1 50 per day 9 00 

Boarding 12 hands, 72 meals, at 20 cents 

per meal 14 40 Total $425 00 

" Some may object to my estimate of the cost of thrashing ; but six cents 
per bushel is what was charged last fall in this section, the owner providing 
everything, and double that amount when he provided nothing. Thus we 
see that the cost of producing was very nearly seventy-one cents per bushel." 

Another one says : '" I consider it cost me last year to raise twenty-four 
acres of wheat as follows : 

Plowing land at $1 50 per acre SoC 00 

Seed, 1} bushels per acie, at $1 25 per 

bushel 52 50 

Sowing and harrowing at 75 cents per 

acre 18 00 

Harvesting at $1 50 per acre 36 00 

Hauling and stacking at 50 cents per acre 12 00 
Thrashing 660 bushels,' at 5 cents per 

bushel 33 00 



Feeding 4 horses 2 days, at 25c. per head S2 00 
Hauling, two teams and hands, at $2 50 

three days 1500 

2 hands stacking, 3 days, at $1 per day. , 6 00 

Thrashing at 12 cents per bushel 72 00 

Hauling from to 9 miles, at 6 cents per 

bushel 36 00 

Interest on 30 acres of land, $3 per acre. 90 00 
Interest on horses, wagons, harness, plow, 

etc 40 00 



Hands, two teams, board, etc., while 

thrashing $25 00 

Hauling to market at 5 cents per bushel 33 00 

Rent for land at $3 per acre 72 00 

Total cost *317 50 

Value of wheat at 50 cents per bushel . . "SO 00 

Gain on 24 acres of wheat S12 50 



Seo. 44.] 



"WHEAT-GROWING IN DIFFERENT STATES. 



691 



' The first year I broke twenty acres, and here is what 



Tlirashing 6G0 bushels, at 5 cents per 

bushel $33 00 

Hands, teams, and board 12 00 

Hauling to market at 3 cents per bushel 19 80 

Total cost $350 80 

Value of wheat at 80 cents per bushel. 528 00 



AiiotliL'r iiian says 
it cost mc : 

Fencing IGO rods SICO 00 

Breaking at S2 60 per acre 60 00 

Seeding, 1 i bushels per acre, at 80 cents 

per bushel 24 00 

Sowing and harrowing at 60 cents per 

acre 12 00 

Harvesting at SI 50 per acre 30 00 

Hauhng and stacking at 50 cents per acre 10 00 

" My gain was $177 20 ; or §8 86 per acre." 

A Wi6!consi7i wheat-grower sums tip the account of wheat-growing, which 
is very fair on ])aper, and very good in fact, every time it does not fail : '• I 
take one liundred and, twenty acres, and fence eighty with rails ten and a 
lialf feet long, got from the land. I used mortised posts, ten feet apart, 
making a fence with three rails, the lowest two and a half feet from the 
ground, making a strong fence against large stock ; stone handily got from 
a ravine and blutf near, to underpin at leisure. 

" The estimate is for debt and credit, as follows : 

WHEAT CEOP TO SUNDRIES, DR., VIZ. : 

To 120 acres of raw land, at S5 

To two months of man breaking, at 

$14 ; board $10 ...$38 

To use of team, plow, etc., for same 75 — 
To two mouths of man making and 

hauling rails, at S12 24 

To hoard SIO ; use of team, $10. . . 20— 
To two months making fence, at S12, 

$24 ; board SO 

To 120 bushels seed wheat, at 80 cents 

(present value of such wheat for St. 

Louis market) 

To harrowing and sowing 80 acres, at 

60c. (large estimate) 

To harvesting and shocking 40 acres, 

at $1 .' $40 

By 120 acres improved farm, at 

$10 $1,200 

To fanning mills, etc. , on hand . 50- 



To harvesting and shocking 40 acres, 

at SI 50 CO 

To stacking 80 acres, at 40 cents ... 32 

To board of harvest hands 20— $152 

To thrashing-shed and fanning-mill ... 50 

To four months' thrashing, at $12 ; 

board $20 68 

(Use of team, etc.. largely paid for by 

straw thrown daily to stock.) 
To one month man marketing, S12 ; 

board. So ; teams $40 — 57 

To raiscellanenous and personal ser- 
vices 100 

Total $1,362 



CONTRA, CR. 

I To 2,000 bushels wheat Dr. (52 

cents per bushel) 1,120 

1,250 I 



" The wheat used and parceled out would much more than meet the item 
for personal services, etc. Again, raw land in the neighborhood will not 
readily sell at $5, while irajiroved would readily bring over $10. My object 
has been to figure so as to make the wheat cost something. The real profits 
of the operation were fully $1,600." 

Will farmers please make a note of this fact. If j'OJi want to grow snnit, 
BOW it. . If you prefer to have clean wheat, sow nothing but clean wheat 
for seed. 

Michigan is a good wheat State in favorable seasons. 

L. G. Hunt, of Kalamazoo County, Midi., gives the following as first crops 
upon newly-cleared woodland. On ten acres, cleared and burned ofiT in the 
spring of 1855, and plowed ten inches deep, one half yielded fifty bushels 
per acre of Dent corn, and the other half twenty-five bushels per acre of 
eight-rowed yellow corn and three loads of jnimpkins. Sowed to wlieat in 



692 CEEEALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



October, the yield next harvest was eighteen husliels per acre. In 1S56, 
another ten acres yielded fifty bushels per acre of Dent corn, with the large 
trees girdled and left standing, and was sowed to wheat in September among 
the standing corn. In 1858, another ten acres, entirely cleared, gave forty 
bushels per acre of Dent corn, and now has a growing crop of wheat sowed 
among the standing corn. lie attriljutes his success to deep plowing, as by 
deep garden culture he has secured good crops of all sorts of vegetables. 

Minne&ota has just began to develop its capacities as a wheat-growing 
State. 

Hon. TV. C. Dodge, in a letter to the anthor, in 1861, speaks of an im- 
proved variety of spring wheat grown in that State. He says of this wheat, 
that " from two bushels sown on one and tliree fourth acres of land, there 
were produced, gathered, and thrashed eighty bushels. Tliis would make 
an average yield of forty-five and five seventli bushels per acre, which is 
tlie more remarkable from the small quantity sown per acre — being only 
about half the nsual quantity. It was grown by Messrs. Starr »fe Gay- 
lord, of Lake City, "Wabasha County, Minn., on prairie land, on which corn 
had been raised tlie previous season, and without manure of any kind. It 
was sown April 2d, and harvested July 15. Mr. Geo. Hendrickson, residing 
in Rose township, Ramsey County, near St. Paul, sowed the following kinds, 
with the results as appended : 

Number acres. Total yiehl. Tield per acre. 

Kind of Wheat. acres, rods. bush. bush. 

White Wheat 5 33 li;2.V 31 1-5 

Scutch Club 3 47 loSj 46J 

rao Grande 17J 572| 34 

Canada Club 7| 217 28 

"Average yield of whole crop, 33 bushels per acre. Of barley, 11^ acres 
produced 500 bushels, averaging 45 per acre. Of oats, Sj acres produced 
450 ; average, 53 bushels per acre. 

"Mr. Middaugh, of Red Wing, raised a crop of wheat of sixty bushels 
per acre, of sixty pounds per bushel, of sound, white, plump grains." 

Ohio shows, by the assessors' returns, that 1,695,412 acres of wheat were 
grown in that State in 1858. The product given is 17,655,483 bushels, 
showing an average of lOf bushels per acre. It was estimated that the crop 
of 1859, in Ohio, covered 2,000,000 acres, and that the average would be 15 
bushels per acre. 

The Ohio Farmer says that from 1840 to 1850, though the number of 
acres of wheat grown in Ohio largely increased, the number of bushels de- 
creased 2,084,310, which it attributed to bad farming. "We do not know 
about that. "We are inclined to think tlie cause is owing to destruction by 
insects, and perhaps to the natural deterioration of the soil in its ability to 
produce this important portion of the stafi" of life. It is true that high 
farming might correct the loss, but while all the West is open to settlement 
and cultivation of new lands, high farming does not appear to pay. 

Do the Ohio farmers, who perceive that the productiveness of their land 



Skc. 44.] WHEAT-GROWING IN DIFFERENT STATES. 693 

for wheat is failing, always sow it upon a clover lea, which proves bo ad- 
vantageous everywhere else? The falling off- in production is so great, that 
something for a substitute has already been talked of. C. W. Carpenter, of 
Mount Gilead, O., speaks very highly of a kind of spring barley from Italy 
as a substitute for wdieat. He says : 

"It weighs over 60 lbs. to the bushel, has no husk like the common bar- 
ley, but is smooth like wheat ; it must be sown very early in the spring, and I 
think it is as certain and will yield as well as oats — certainly better than 
rye or wheat ; it has always been sown very thin on the ground in order to 
increase it as fast as possible. It makes as white, nice flour, and bread as 
white and light as wheat. It can not be distinguished from wheat bread, 
on\j it is sweeter and more palatable. It is certainly the best substitute for 
wheat known." 

Pennsylva7iia feels the difficulty of " something wanting in the soil" to 
grow M'heat. In a letter from Joel Sneedley, dated Fulton, Lancaster 
County, Pa., 8mo. 9, 1858, he says: 

" I have for several years past been troubled with my wheat failing before 
maturity. I have been induced to believe there is something wanting in 
the soil to impart strength to the stalks. The system that I have imrsned 
for several years is to manure the corn ground in the spring with clover chaff, 
having a clover mill ; this method almost invariably produces good corn. Tlie 
next spring I sow the stalk ground with oats and clover seed. The oats fre- 
quently fall before ripe ; the clover is left standing the next season, and either 
mowed or pastured ; if the latter, the ground is manured from the barn- 
yard, and after harvest is jilowed and sowed with wheat ; the wheat stubble 
is again slightly manured from the barn-yard, plowed and sowed again with 
wheat and timothy seed, with the view of setting it with grass. My fields 
have all been hoed over twice, and some of them three times, within 
twenty years. If a practical remedy for the evil referred to can be sug- 
gested, a very important benefit will be conferred on a large portion of 
the farmers of this section of country, who have suffered in a similar way 
with myself." 

It has been suggested that the use of a roller would be highly beneficial 
in such cases as this. The rolling should be done as soon as the frost leaves 
the ground. In England, wheat that is not rolled is apt to fall down. It is 
first dragged by a large bush, and then rolled. One case is reported whei-e 
the portion of a field that was rolled produced 16 bushels more wheat per 
acre than the portion not rolled. 

As a remedy for weak straw, we should recommend lime, salt, potash, and 
drilling in tlie seed. 

A farm in Chester County, Pa., of 224 acres, owned by Wellington Ilick- 
man, which for ten j-ears has averaged 75 or 80 bushels of corn per acre, 
gave an average of 30 bushels of wheat upon 14 acres in 1850. The follow- 
ing is the statement of the entire products of the farm for that 3'ear, which 
has 200 acres in meadow, pasture, and plow-land : 



694 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

14 acres of wheat produced 420 bushels, at $1 40 $588 

17 " oats •' 1,200 " 3o 396 

It) •■ corn ■• 9b0 " 60 576 

Market value of grain crops on 47 acres $1,560 

42 acres of hay produced 75 tons, at $10 750 

THE STOCK. 

30 head of cattle, bought at an average cost of $40 per head, sold for S77 each ; 

prolit on the thirty, at $37 1,110 

72 ewes, bought at $2 50, sold with their 92 lambs at $4 25 ; profit on a total 

of 164 sheep and lambs 002 

Gross product of farm valued at $4,022 

Of coitrse tliis statement is larger tlian the actual net return of the farm, 
as the liay, and probably much of the grain, are counted a second time in 
the jjrofit on the live-stock consuming them. But that does not lessen the 
value of these figures for purposes of comparison. It will be perceived that 
the wheat averaged 30 bushels per acre, and the oats a fraction over 70 
bushels ; and that the money return was $i2 per acre for wheat, $23 29 for 
oats, and $36 for corn, or an average of §33 19 per acre for the 47 acres in 
the tliree grains, which is not by any means an unpleasant result to reach. 

Mr. Hickman considers that pasturing the land with sheep before breaking 
np for corn, and then putting a little salt in the hill, together constitute an 
almost sure protection against the cut-worm. 

702. Red and White Wheat.- — Though the white varieties maintain a supe- 
rior price over the red, both in our own and foreign markets, yet red" wheats 
are hardier, grow on poorer soils, and withstand the attacks of mildew, rust, 
and insects better than the white varieties, and are cultivated with most 
profit. 

Red wheat that is partly transparent, hard, and flinty, is best suited to 
the city baker, affording what is called strong flour, that rises boldly with 
yeast into a spongy dough, and contains the largest proportion of gluten. 
For bread of the first quality the flour should be fine as well as strong, and 
therefore a nii.xture of the two conditions of wheat is best suited for making 
the best quality of bread. 

" Generally speaking, the lightest colored white wheats indicate most 
opacity, and of course yield the finest flour, and red wheats are mostly 
flinty, and therefore yield the strongest flour ; for a translucent red wheat 
M'ill yield stronger flour than a translucent white wheat, and yet a red wheat 
never realizes so high a price in the market as white, because it contains a 
larger proportion of refuse in grinding." 

763. The Price of Wheat for Sixty Tears.— The following table exhibits 
the market price of wheat at Albany, at New Year's, from 1793 to 185J. 
It is from the minutes kept at the ofiice of the Van Rensselaer Manor, at 
Albany, where large amounts of rent are payable in wheat, or a cash equiv- 
alent, on the 1st of January each year; and as two parties are deeply inter- 
ested in the price, it is probably the most reliably correct of any record that 
can be obtained. There is quite a lesson in these figures — look at them : 



Sec. 44.] 



HOW WHEAT IS STORED AND HANDLED. 



695 



1793. 
IJ'J-i. 
1795. 
1796. 
1797 . 
1798. 
1799. 
1800. 
1801. 
1802. 
1803. 
1804. 



SO 75 


1 00 


1 37i 


2 00 


1 60 


1 25 


1 18| 


1 56J 


1 311 


1 00 


1 12.V 


1 25' 



1805. 
1806. 



1807 
1808 
1809 
1810 
1811 
1812 

1813 2 

1814 1 

1815 1 

1816 1 

1853 



1817 

18i8.... 
1819.... 
1820.... 
1821.... 
1822.... 
1823 .... 
1824.... 
1825.... 
1826.... 
1827.... 
1828.... 
..SI 18i 



,$2 25 
. 1 87J 
. 1 75 
. 1 00 
. 77 
. 1 12J 
. 1 25 
. 1 25 
. lOO 
. 87i 
. 1 00' 
. 1 00 
1854... 



1829. 
1830. 
1831. 
1!S32. 
1833. 
1834. 
1835. 
1836. 
1837. 

1838 1 62J 

1839 1 75' 

1840 1 12J 

$1 75. 



.$1 75 

. 1 00 

. 1 25 

. 1 25 

. 1 25 

. 1 00 

. 1 00 

. 1 50 

. 2 25 



1841. 
1812. 
1843. 
1844. 

1845. 
1846. 
1847. 
1848. 
1849. 
1850. 
1851. 
1852. 



87 i 
00" 
93i 
18| 

18J 
18J 
12J 
00" 



You -vrill notice that only six times in all these years wheat has been 
$2 or upward per bushel, while it Avas seventeen times at $1 or under — 
once at seventy-five cents. Only once in thirty-seven years — that is, since 
1817, to wit, in 1837 — has it exceeded $2. Tlie average price for the whole 
period is $1 38. For the last thirty years it is $1 25. 

The price of wheat at Chicago since that began to be a wheat market, say 
about 1840, has ranged from 40 to 90 cents as a general thing. The amount 
stored there in 1860 was almost beyond belief, considering the young age 
of the country and the town as a wheat market. 

764. liow Wheat is Stored and Handled. — AVithout dispute the city of Buf- 
falo is the greatest grain market upon the American continent. Here on a 
little creek, a convenient harbor for Indian canoes, just where Lake Erie 
contracts into tlie Niagara River, a trading post was located, out of which, in 
half a century, has grown a beautiful city. 

From accurate information, we are assured that the quantity of grain 
passing through Bnffiilo, including that in the flour, equaled thirty millions 
of bushels in one year. 

The lower part of the city is cut up with canals almost as much as Venice, 
which unite with the waters of the creek on a level with the lake. The 
creek is the harbor for all the lake vessels as well as for a fleet of canal boats, 
and is entirely too narrow for the great commerce centering here, and would 
be entirely inadequate but for the little tug-boats that pull the others here 
and there, so as to prevent an inextricalilo tangle. 

Along the north bank of the creek are located the warehouses and count- 
ing-rooms of the flour and grain merchants, and with one exception the 
steam elevators, by which all the corn, wheat, oats, etc., coming over the 
lake in bulk is lifted from the hold of the vessel and carried to the high- 
est loft of the warehouse, and thence spouted down to separate bins upon 
either floor, and thence into canal boats. One of the largest of these ele- 
vator warehouses is on the south side of the creek, having a slip under the 
center long enough to hold and load three canal boats at the same time, with 
a slip outside for a large vessel. This house can take in 57,000 bushels of 
grain a day, and deliver 65,000 ; it can store 400,000 bushels. There are 
eleven of these elevators on the creek, which are, altogether, capable of 
lifting 25,000 bushels of corn an hour ; there is storage room for 1,600,000 
bushels. 



696 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

The charge for taking a load of grain out of a vessel and delivering it in 
a canal boat is half a cent a bushel — one half to the vessel and one half to 
the boat. If the grain is stored, the charge is one fourth cent a bushel for 
ten days. The grain is accurately weighed as it is taken up, and that is the 
measure by which it is bought and sold. And all this work is done by four 
men — that is, 50,000 bushels of grain are taken up and accurately measured 
and delivered to the boats that take it away, or lodged in store in one day 
by four men, independent of the shovelers who throw the corn in the ves- 
sel's Iiold up to the buckets that carry it up as fast as twenty men can shovel 
it forward. The leg, as it is termed, that contains the elevating buckets, is 
lowered down when the vessel comes alongside, into the hold, and when the 
grain is exhausted from that end, the leg is lifted up and the vessel moved 
forward so as to receive it in another hatchway. It is for tiie protection of 
these elevators that we see those square towers on the main houses. If the 
owner of corn requires it, he can at the same time it is elevated have it 
screened and the weight made good for one cent a bushel. Wheat is 
screened at the same price, but the owner takes the screenings and suffers 
his own loss. 

Wiien a merchant desires to sell a cargo of grain, he takes a sample in a 
small box under his arm and goes to the Corn Exchange, where there is a 
general congregation of all parties at twelve o'clock each day. If the sale is 
made, the buyer receives the warehouse receipt and becomes the owner of 
the grain specified, which he may sell again or remove at his pleasure. A 
fluctuation of a cent or two a bushel often changes owners of immense quan- 
tities of grain in the space of a single hour, and it is no remarkable thiug to 
see a hundred thousand bushels started from the warehouse eastward in a 
single day. How could all this grain be handled without steam machinery, 
is the natural question of every one observing the magnitude of the grain 
trade at this immense granary of the world. The New York Central Rail- 
road Company have a very large freight-house on the dock, and an elevator 
by which they can take the grain from the vessel's hold up into their store- 
house and then spout it down and load a whole train of cars in less time 
than one car could be loaded by hand. 

In Chicago, Bufl"alo, and Oswego immense quantities of grain are all 
measured and handled by steam-power machinery. At Oswego there are 
eight elevators along the creek, live of which are double ; that is, two sets 
of elevating buckets to each building. Elevators are also to be seen at many 
other lake towns, and wherever they are known it would be considered the 
very hight of folly to persist in measuring grain in a half bushel. 

7G5. Preserving Wheat in Bins> — In sections where the weevil is trouble- 
some, it is the practice of some farmers to store wheat after it is thrashed, in 
the chaff. It is also stored that way on some prairie farms, where tight bins 
can not be provided to hold it after it is cleaned. 

The practice of putting stones or bricks in the center of a bin is good to 
absorb moisture, and prevent mustiness. The best way to prevent weevil 



Sec. 44.] SMUT— ITS CHARACTER CONSIDERED. 697 

from destroying -wheat that we have ever seen tested, is the one detailed 
below. Mr. II. Barber, of Juneau, Wisconsin, is also well satisfied that it 
is a preventive of sinut. Mr. Barber says : 

" When I thrash my grain I sjjrinkle in drv slaked lime with it in the bin. 
The lime absorbs the moisture, and when the grain is wanted for use, the 
fanning-mill blows out all the lime. This method I have practiced for years, 
and my seed I take from grain thus treated, and I never have any smut in 
my wheat." 

766. Smut — its Character Considered. — "What is smut? and, What causes 
it? and, What will prevent it?" are interesting and important questions. 
Some years ago, these questions were pretty thoroughly discussed here and 
in France. M. Philippar, professor of agriculture in the Normal School of 
Agriculture^ Versailles, France, asserts that smut is a parasite plant, belong- 
ing to the mushroom tribe of the genus Urcdo. M. Poiteau declares that 
it is a local disease, contagious by touch, and not a jjarasite plant. M. Tillet 
and Tezzien, M. Benedict Provost and M. de Candolle, have written much 
upon this subject, and have all expressed their opinion that it is a parasitical 
plant,^ of the mushroom kind, and argue in the main and more essential 
points with M. Philippar. 

"A parasitical plant is one that derives its aliment from that on which 
it grows. K fungus, a parasitical plant or production of a cellular texture, 
having no flowers, and deriving its nutriment from the atmosphere, and 
nourished also from the stalk, stem, or spawn. Its propagation is efiected 
by means of small and very curious seeds, spores, or spoi'ides, inclosed in 
skinny integuments, called Sjporidia, or spore cases. Animal and vegetable 
substances in a state of incipient decay are those which most generally pro- 
duce fungi, but those of the simplest organization frequently locate on tis- 
sues. Of tills class we may enumerate common mold as being the most 
familiar and best known. Of this, however, there are two types — the first 
of which, when examined by a microscope, is found to exhibit jointed 
threads, and to consist of a cellular structure, the small cavities or cells being 
arranged end to end, apparently independent of each other, and capable, 
under certain contingencies, of reproduction. The second type presents tlie 
asjject of a thread-like structure, the spores being elevated on the tops of the 
threads, or processes, and sometimes very thin and minute capsules or cases, 
which explode, and thus cause the dispersion and dissemination of the seed. 

"When smut was first declared to be a plant, the labors of the micro- 
scope, applied to botany, were very imperfect; matters were declared to be 
iircdos, erinees, and erysiphes, which have since been discovered to be 
insects' nests, or tissular maladies to which the plant was subject. Hence 
it followed that, as microscopic botany became better known, these pre- 
tended plants gradually disappeared from succeeding editions of botanical 
works. Now these plants have been generally classed in the category as 
the smut ; and as these have been proved to be not of the mushroom race, 
so may smut also. 



698 CEREALIA [Chap. VIII. 

" A most remarkable thing is, that if the thick oil which is distilled from 
siiiut by holding it over a hot fire, is placed in contact with sound grain, 
nearly one third of the ear will be afiected by smut." M. Poiteau maintains 
that this is altogether inexplicable, unless smut be contagious by touch. 

After fairly considering all these scientific arguments, we arc of the opin- 
ion that farmers should use all means within their power to kill the seeds 
of smut, so as not to grow it from seed of their own sowing. 

767. Chloroform for lasects in Wheat. — "A commission was appointed by 
the French government at Algiers to inquire into the means of protecting 
s'.ored grain from the ravages of insects. The commission state, as the result 
of their experiments, that thirty grains of chloroform, or sulphuret of car- 
bon, put into the interior of a grain-pit, hermetically closed, are sufiicient to 
destroy every insect in a metrical quintal (220 lbs.) of corn in four or five 
days. Or seventy-five grains of sulphuret of carbon, suitably divided amidst 
the grain, will do it in twenty-four hours. Chloroform operates rather more 
slowly. The sulphuret, in a still larger quantity, succeeds on grain laid in 
a heap and covered with an impermeable tarpaulin. A committee of the 
Academy of Sciences is to give its judgment upon the process." 

If, as a German writer says, there are thirty thousand diflferent insects 
that prey upon wheat, we think it will be a hard fight, even with all the 
aids of science, ever to get entirely rid of the pests ; but we must keep up 
the fight, and use all the preventives within our reach. One farmer says : 
" I have learned, or think I have, that wheat sown early, say in July, in soil 
properly enriched, will not suflPer from the fly." Then he will not need to 
buy chloroform. 

768. Whfat Heaving Out — a Preventive. — The disposition to heave out dur- 
ing freezing and thawing that is natural to some land, can be cured as cer- 
tainly as corn can be grown by the labor of plowing and hoeing. All that 
is needed to prevent the soil from so doing is to drain it of surplus water. 
Land that is saturated Avith water will heave out and destroy winter grain ; 
and sometimes the diflficulty is so great that timothy grass will not endure 
more than two winters. Thorough draining is the only remedy, and that is 
a certain one. 

Where the land is not drained, and the danger is great in the spring of 
the year of losing the crop by repeated freezing and thawing, we recommend 
rolling the land. If you have no roller, use a stone boat, or blunt-toothed 
drag, or a heavy bush, or turn a large flock of sheep on the wheat, and drive 
them about until they have trampled the ground thoroughly. The object is 
to compact the earth, and press back into the soil those roots which have 
been hove out by the frost. 

769. Rye — its Cultivation and Yield. — All that we have said about tne 
cultivation of wheat is about equally apj)licable to rye, which, though usu- 
ally sown upon poorer soil than wheat, with much less care in its cultivation, 
will always pay for extra care in its extra productiveness. 

The following account of a great rye crop is given by a correspondent in 



Seo. 44.] RYE— ITS CULTIVATION AND YIELD. 69D 

July, 1861, and is coinmenJed to the attention of those who doubt about 
a crop of rye being profitable. We grant it is not, where the straw is of 
no value, and where three bushels of grain per aero is all that can be 
made. 

' In July, 1859," says the writer, " I had land in grass that gave a vei-y 
light crop. It was plowed as the grass was taken from it. About the mid- 
dle of September it was again plowed, and subsoiled, manured, harrowed, 
and sowed with one bushel of rye to the acre. Grass seed was also put upon 
it. In July it was harvested, and in February thrashed by hand. The pro- 
duct was ninety-one bushels of rye from two acres and twelve rods of ground. 
The straw weighed 9,400 pounds." 

As this crop was made near New York, where the straw sells as high as 
timothy hay, it must be set down as a profitable one. 

Another farmer says : " "With regard to rye, I usually sow 2i bushels, and 
find it will thrive in nearly all soils, and in many that will not grow wheat 
at all ; the return of grain is nearly the same average as that of wheat. 
From an acre of land producing 25 bushels, 51: pounds to the bushel, there 
would be reaped 1,360 pounds of grain and 4,100 pounds of straw. 

" On land of the same quality, where I only sowed 1^ bushels to the acre, 
my yield of grain was 1,000 pounds and 3,000 pounds of straw." 

Every farmer should sow an acre of rye for jiasturing sheep in autumn, 
when all other herbage is dried up or consumed. By this means the flock 
will be strong by the commencement of winter, and able to withstand the 
rigors of that season. In spring this rye will afford the earliest and best soil- 
ing for horses or cattle, and will furnish provender for nearly a month before 
clover is fit to cut. 

Eye is grown as a common crop in all the Xcw England States, and often 
upon land that once produced a good crop of wheat. It is about the last 
effort of some of the worn-out lands of Virginia, and produces from three 
pecks sown, three bushels of rye upon an acre. When they will no longer 
produce that, they are given up to old-field-pines and sedge grass — -both 
worthless products. 

Kye is generally considered an exhausting crop, but we do not know why, 
uidess because it is a crop in a very exhaustive system, or rotation, that 
will exhaust any land ever cultivated, which is less fertile than the delta of 
the Mississippi. Such a system as corn upon a shallow-plowed field, with a 
little shovelful of manure in each hill, followed by oats sown upon the corn 
stubble, after splitting the hills with a single furrow, and this oat crop fol- 
lowed with rye, fertilized with nothing but the oat stubble and weeds, and 
that with buckwheat, and then corn again, unless, perchance, oats intervene 
to save the trouble of the volunteer buckwheat in the corn ; and so on for a 
scries of years, until the land can not produce more than three bushels an 
acre of rye, and then we hear that "rye is an unprofitable crop." So it is, 
and so have been all the crops ever grown by farmers who thus destroyed 
the natural fertility of their farms. 



700 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

Although rye, as a general thing, may not be as profitable a crop as wheat, 
we are satisfied that it will give a handsome profit upon land that can not be 
profitably cultivated in wheat, if it is treated M'ith a fair dressing of proper 
fertilizing substance, such as either of the following : that is, bone dust, at 
the rate of 10 or 15 bushels per acre ; Peruvian guano, at the rate of 250 to 
300 lbs. ; superphosphate at the rate of 400 to 600 lbs. "Wood ashes, 30 
bushels per acre ; or stable manure, 10 to 20 cords per acre ; or a cgmpost 
of muck and manure, 30 one-horse cart-loads, with 10 bushels of salt in it to 
an acre, all of them applied as a top dressing. 

But to make this treatment profitable, clover and timothy must be sown 
with the rye, and that must be dressed with lime, or plaster, or both. _^ 

Kemember that rye is not a profitable crop on barren soil — it is profitable 
on good soil, where the straw, as it does near New York, sells for as much 
as the grain. 

770. Oat-Growing Jarmers. — Those who usually devote their main atten- 
tion to the oat crop are seldom very energetic in draining, composting, and 
manuring — seldom go to any great expense to improve their breeds of stock, 
or provide for their comfort and thrift in winter. 

A dairy farmer gives the following account of his oat crop for the year : 
" Sowed about two and a half bushels per acre, on six acres of sandy loam, 
without manure, except one acre, which had about a dozen loads of horse 
manure after potatoes. This acre yielded about double any other acre in 
the field of six acres. 

" The j-ield was two hundred and sixty bushels, or forty-three and one 
third bushels per acre ; was the third crop of oats in succession, a kind of 
farming he can not commend. It requires either rest or manure to bring the 
land into grass, or the profitable production of any other crop, after being so 
exhausted." 

Oats are generally sown in the most hap-hazard sort of a way of any grain 
in this country. One man writes : " I take less pains in preparing land for 
oats than any other grain ; it does well as a first crop on newly-broken land, 
and succeeds best on a soil not much pulverized, sown after a single plowing 
as early in April as possible." This " less pains," is too true of many. 

The old fashion in New England was to split the corn-hills with a small 
plow and sow the oats, about one third of the seed falling upon fresh earth, 
and the other upon the hard surface, or in pools of water, or on the hard roots 
of the corn stubble. The seed was then very lightly plowed in, and perhaps 
seeded with grass or clover, under a bush drag. If the butt- stalks of the 
corn were not cut away when the corn was harvested in autumn, they were 
frequently cut and burned in the spring. And such land was expected to 
bring a crop of grain that requires and pays for manure as well as any crop 
planted, except, perhaps, Indian corn. We are not even certain that that 
does. We are certain that oats should always be sown upon land jiroperly 
dressed witli some sort of fertilizer. 

771. Quantity of Seed per Acre> — The qiiantity usually sown varies from 



.-EC. 44.] A GOOD CROP OF OATS, AND HOW TO MAKE ONE. 701 

one to two bushels in this country, though a few reading farmers have 
learned that it is profitable to sow more seed. 

In England, the common oats arc sown at the rate of six bushels per acre, 
and potato oats at the rate of five bushels, and one man v/ill sow sixteen 
acres a day. 

One American farmer publishes the following statement : " I sow from 
three to six bushels to the acre, according to the size and weight of the 
grain. If potato oats are sown, two bushels will always be ample, because 
it has no awns, consequently there is a greater number of grains in a bushel, 
and it litters better than any other oat. On medium soils, three bushels will 
be requisite, and on upland soils six will not be found too much. If an acre 
produce 2,260 pounds of oats, there will be 3,000 pounds of straw. This 
can not always be calculated upon, because there is no grain grown that 
yields so variable a quantity of straw as the oat. I esteem it very highly 
as fodder; and it furnishes a large proportion of my winter feed for stock. 
Its chief enemy is the wire-worm ; and if you find the ground impregnated 
with the larvte, defer plowing until May, when you will bury them so deep 
that the oats will grow beyond their reach before they can come to the sur- 
face of the ground." 

Another one says: "Two of my neighbors had each one acre of land, 
which they wished to seed down with oats. Their farms join, and the soil 
was the same, and treated alike, except that one neighbor sowed one bushel 
per acre, and measured up forty, of as handsome oats as I ever saw, as the 
result. The other man sowed three and one half bushels per acre, and 
measured up but thirty-three bushels. But he had a much larger quantity 
of straw. If these results were to decide the question, I should think that 
where the largest quantity of fodder was the most of an object, the heavy 
seeding would be the best. The man who has practiced seeding with but 
one bushel per acre, has received nearly the like results for the past two 
years." *■ 

772. When to Sow Oats. — As a general rule, there is no time to sow oats 
so good as just as soon as the frost is out of the ground, so that plowing can 
be done ; and if the land is not naturally dry, or has been underdrained, so 
as to plow very early in the sjiring, it should be plowed in autumn with a 
Michigan plow, and then it can be harrowed or scarified with a cultivator, 
and sown and lightly dragged. And it is even better to sow without any 
stirring of the soil previously, if it is very soft, rather than to wait ibr a 
good time. The year 1858 will be long remembered as one of unusual wet- 
ness in the spring, and one of failure of the oat crop. Yet in every instance 
where the seed was put into the ground early, where it had been previously 
prepared, or where it had been underdrained, the crop was good, both in 
straw and berry. 

773. Wbat is a good Crop of Oats, and how to Make One ?— In the spring of 
1860, wishing to sow a little patch of oats for soiling, if they should be 
needed, we proceeded as follows. The ground was corn stubble, it was 



702 CEEEALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

verj poor, and six hundred pounds of superphosphate to the acre had been 
applied in 1859. It was plowed in autumn, and the next spriii<^ plowed with 
a subsoil plow for the first operation. This new way of plowing attracted 
some attention. Several passers-by stopped to look and wonder, and say 
pooh ! After it was thus plowed, it received a moderate dressing, com- 
posed of barn-yard manure, well-rotted, and hair and spent lime, from a 
glue manufactory, and old ditch bank stuff, to which was added a small 
per-centage of the bulk of jirinter's roller composition, and about half 
a bushel of salt to a cord of manure. It was piled in autumn, and over- 
hauled once in the winter, and was not quite ripe when a portion of it was 
spread upon the oat ground. After harrowing over the manure, to break 
the lumps and mix it with the soil, three bushels of common black seed oats 
were sown, and plowed in with a light plow, and again harrowed. This was 
done about the 12th of April, and the season that followed was not favorable 
to the growth of a good crop. It was altogether too dry for the growing 
jilants to get the full benefit of the manure; but they grew, and I soon 
began to hear that " Robinson had the best piece of oats in the country." I 
wished every day that the j'iece had been large, as well as the oats. Mj' 
neighbors were sadly disappointed, I believe, that the crop did not all fall 
down before it was ripe, but it did not — onlj' part of it, and that part on the 
new ground — which is, say, two fifths of the whole. The great drouth in 
July prevented the plants from attaining as large a growtii as tliey would, 
particularly on the old ground, which is part of a piece noted for its povei'ly. 
A fair average sample of the growth upon the corn-ground was about four 
feet and a half long. Some of it on the new ground was full a foot higher, 
and stout in proportion. Intending to feed the crop without thrashing, I 
had it cut pretty green — that is, as soon as the most of the straw turned yel- 
low. That on the corn-stubble part, and a portion of the other, was bound 
up into very stout, double-banded sheaves, which were, when well seasoned, 
quite as heavy as I cared to pitch upon a pretty warm day. Of these sheaves 
we had thirty-one dozen, and the heads were well loaded with plump grain. 
The other part was mowed and cured like hay, and pitched up into cocks, s<i 
that wc could estimate it as though in sheaves, which we did, at full twenty 
dozen. I thitdv it was more, as it made two snug ox-cart loads, and more 
than two thirds the bulk and apparent weight of the other part. Then thero 
was, besides, a little load of rakings. I will call the wliolo fifty-two dozen 
stout, double-banded sheaves, which, if thraslied, would surely yield a bnshtl 
to the dozen ; and this was a good crop for land badly worn, upon a piece 
of ground of the following dimensions: the first side is loG feet; the one 
opposite to it, 183 feet; the two other sides, one is 16S feet, and the oppo- 
site 213 feet. The superficial contents, if I calculate rightly, are 32,290 feet. 
The superficial contents of an acre are 43,560 feet. Three fourths of an acre, 
then, contains 32,070 feet, so that my patch of oats lack 380 suiicific^il feet 
of surface of being three quarters of an acre ; and farmers hereabouts Cim- 
sider it a pretty good crop, and I want to know whether it is not worth 



Seo. U.] EUSTY oats. 703 

tlieii- wliilc to think about mauuring oat-ground ? And also think about 
plowing oat-ground with a good-sized subsoil plow ? And what do they 
think about plowing in the seed ? And finally, what about sowing four 
bushels of seed per acre, and harvesting sixteen-fold ? It is a matter which 
will do to think about. 

AVe have no doubt that it would be quite as profitable to apply manure to 
oats as to corn, and that there is no need of exhausting land with oats. 

To prove this, and also to prove that my neighbors were in error when 
they told me that wheat could not be profitably grown in this neighl)or- 
hood, and not at all upon oat stubble, and that grass and clover seed " would 
not catch," I plowed under the oat stubble, running a subsoil plow in every 
furrow, and gave the land another light dressing of manure, which was 
afterward plowed in with a liglit plow, and sowed wheat at the rate of three 
bushels per acre npon the rough furrows and harrow^ed in once, and liien 
timothy seed, a peck per acre— sowed and harrowed again. After the wheat 
was np it was dressed with plaster, two bushels per acre. 

The winter being almost without snow, and freezing and thawing fre- 
quently, was hard npon Avheat, and there were consequently several sago 
remarks in the spring, such as, " There, I told yon it was no nse to sow wheat 
npon oat stubble." No matter; the grass looked well, and that was the 
main object, and so four quarts per acre of clover seed were put on, and 
afterward salt, at the rate of about five bushels per acre, was sown, and 
after a while the wheat began to recover from its hard winter, and if any- 
body had a better yield or finer plump berries I am glad, and should like 
to see it. At any rate, I am convinced that wheat will grow npon oat 
stubble, and good timothy and clover afterward. 

Still, we would not recommend sowing wheat or any other grain upon oat 
stubble, because we prefer to sow grass and clover, and let that grow one 
year at least, so as to have a good sod to serve as manure. 

77i. Rusty OatSi — This is, compared with rusty wheat, a new disease, only 
appeai'ing to any extent in this country within five years. Some oat crops, 
badly rusted in Illinois, have been reported as producing death when the 
straw was fed to horses. An article in the Southern Homestead, when the 
disease first appeared in the Southwest, attributed it to insects. It says : 

" From microscopic examinations, we are satisfied that the cause of all this 
destruction of the oat crop is a living worm, too small to be plainly seen 
with the naked eye. A single blade or leaf of the oat sometimes contains 
hundreds of them. They lie incased in the tissues of the leaf or blade, where 
they have been generated, beneath the epidermis or thin pellicle over the 
exterior porlion of the blade, and as they progress in development, the skin 
of the leaf is raised into curious pufty blisters. The growth of the worm 
subsequently ruptures these, and it escapes to feed on the plant. When 
first released from their covering, they are of a beautiful clear red color, al- 
most transparent, but soon begin to change color and form, getting more 
opaque and dark in appearance, imtil in the course of transformation they 



704 CEEEALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

become a black bug, with legs and wings, when they attack the head or 
grain of the oats. 

" Under the microscope, the dnst which remains on the leaf closely re- 
sembles that on the wings of butterflies. 

" How this innumerable army of infinitesimal worms originated is yet a 
mystery. It is a singular fact, however, that wherever the greatest quantity 
of rain has fallen, there the oat crop has fared the worst." 

As cause and effect are often mistaken or misplaced, it may be so in this 
case, and that the rust was occasioned upon the oats by the excess of rain 
and heat, which does produce it on wheat, and the worms followed this dis- 
eased condition as they do disease and decay of many other vegetables. 

775. Barley Cultivation. — The cultivation of barley in the State of New 
York has largely increased since the destruction by the midge has been so 
great r.s to deter many farmers from all attempts to grow wheat. 

Tiicre are two principal kinds of barley as of wheat — winter and spring. 
"Winter barley is sown from the middle to the last of September, at the rate 
of two and a half bushels per acre, and will be ready for harvest the last 
of June. 

A correspondent in Kentucky recommends sowing winter barley after 
oats, rather than after winter wheat, for the reason that the land, having 
been plowed in the spring, can be got into better condition than that which 
has not becTi ploM-ed for twelve months. 

Our severe winters do not injure barley when it is sown on dry uplands, 
but it does not succeed on low, moist land. It should be sown early — 
tliougli many do not sow it till after they have got in their wheat, and it 
requires the same culture, and when sown on good soil, properly prepared, 
the yield is large. 

There is one thing that farmers must remember about barley — they can 
not grow it on poor land. Of the cultivation of spring barley, a New York 
farmer, who has grown it some years, says : 

" In the cultivation of barley I usually sow 2a bushels to the acre of the 
two-rowed Ilordeum distichon, which yields 38 bushels of 36 pounds to the 
bushel, or 1,368 pounds of barley and 2,800 pounds of straw. 

"The best season for sowing it is about the 1st of May, after some crop 
on which manure has been applied ; it will not succeed a summer fallow 
well ; the best soil is a rich, finely pulverized loam. I usuallj' sow it broad- 
cast, but it will do better in drills. On a contiguous piece of land I sowed 
li bushels to the acre, and found great disadvantage in it ; the season was 
dry, and few or no offsets were tiirown off. The yield was 1,000 pounds of 
barley and 2,000 pounds of straw." 

A Georgia paper recommends barley as a valuable crop for that section. 
The writer says : 

"This is one of the most valuable winter crops that can be grown at the 
South. "We give some directions for its proper culture. In the first place, 
the ground must be rich, and any time after the first to the middle of Oc- 



Sec. 44.] 



BARLEY CULTIVATION. 



T05 



tober is the risrht time for seeding. ISTew land that has been heavily cow- 
penned yields enormously. The ground should be well broken up, and 
about one bushel and a half sowed to the acre, and then plowed or har- 
rowed in. In its early growth pigs may run \ipon it, and after a while 
calves, but never full-grown stock. For horses and cattle, the grain is 
almost equal to corn, and there is no green food that sustains a working 
animal like it." 

In harvesting harlcy, it is important to cut it at the right stage, when 
neitlier too green nor too ripe. If rather green, the grain shrinks, and is of 
light weight ; if fully ripe, it shells easily, is liable to become discolored, 
aud the straw is of less value. When the head begins to assume a reddish 
cast and drops down upon the straw, tlie proper period of harvesting has 
arrived, and as after this the grain ripens rapidly, it should at once be cared 
for. It may be mown or cradled, or cut with a reaper; if the straw is long, 
it should be bound ; if short, with jjroper forks it can be pitched at once 
from the swath and stored without binding. Barley should be secured as 
soon as thoroughly dry, which will be soon in favorable weather. 

The varieties ofharley are numerous; Scotland has some tliirty, though 
really there are but three decidedly distinct sorts; that is, the two-rowed, 
four-rowed, and six-rowed. The two-rowed barley grows the largest grains, 
that is, 80 to the drachm ; the four-rowed, 111 grains to the drachm, and th^ 
six-rowed, 93 grains to the draclim. 

The use ofharley is principally for making malt for beer, but tliere is a 
good deal used for making pearl barley. It is not much used in this country 
for bread, though it makes a very sweet, nutritious food, and very palatable 
when eaten as hot cakes. 

The profits of a hurley crojy, reported for premium in 1859 by Hiram 
Mills, Lewis County, N. Y., were $31 98 upon two acres. The soil was 
clay loam, with hard clay subsoil. The crop in 1858 was peas on sward. 
The land was plowed in autumn, and in the spring 26 loads of cow-stable 
manure spread and plowed on the 9th of May, and sowed next day with 
two and a half bushels per acre of two-rowed barley, put in with a culti- 
vator and then harrowed. It was cut with a scythe Aug. 11th, and spread 
like hay to cure, and raked with a horse-rake, and hauled from wiurows to 
the barn, and thrashed with a machine Dec. 12th. The yield was a fraction 
over 122 bushels, of 48 lbs. per bushel, on two acres. The whole held of 
13 acres yielded over 50a bushels an acre. It sold at 75 cents a bushel, and 
the straw was valued at only $5 an acre. In some localities it would be 
valued much higher, so that upon the basis of this crop, growing barley 
must be accounted protitable. 

A Niagara County, xi. Y., farmer offers the following opinion upon the 
subject of growing barley. He says : " The question of the profit of barley- 
growing to the farmer is one whicli ought to be discussed. We are getting 
doubtful of the propriety of using our best soils for so uncertain a crop, 
while corn, oats, and hay are much surer, and hence, on an average, more 



706 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

remunerative. Besides, the use, or rather abuse, which is made of the great- 
est part of this product, is one tliat conscientious, tliinking men can scarcely 
reflect upon with pleasure. Barley requires, with us in Niagara County, 
the best land Me have, prepared in the most thorough manner ; and it must 
then have a very favorable season, free from drouth or excessive wet, to 
insure a fair yield. Barley straw, well cured, and not over-ripe, is freely 
eaten by cattle and sheep. It is worth more for fodder than wheat straw, 
and our cattle, while the grass is yet green, M'ill fill themselves from the 
straw-stack every night when they return to the yard. By elevating the 
straw-carrier above the lower sieves of the separator, when thrashing, the 
bearded chaff is thrown into the manure yard, thus escaping its presence in 
the straw to the injury of sheep by getting in the wool while eating. This 
straw is sometimes of small value, because overripe and weatherbeaten, or 
because carelessly saved and stacked. In our opinion, it is worth better 
treatment." 

776. Buckwheat as a Farm Crop.-^A large portion of the farmers of the 
New England States, and also some of the other Northern and Western 
States, raise a little buckwheat for family use, but few depend upon it as a 
farm crop, because most of them believe it to be an exhausting one, and 
some think a few successive sowings would utterly ruin land. Now, Is 
huchwlieat an exhaustlmj crop? We find this question answered according 
to our notion of facts in the Country Gentleman : 

" I will give an authentic case, coming under my own notice, at variance 
with the usually received theory. A neighbor of mine has grown buck- 
wheat on the same field (and a poor field naturally, at that,) for twenty-six 
consecutive year.s, with a fair average return, no other manure having been 
cari-ied on the field than the buckwheat haulm, which was regularly returned. 
Said neighbor having died, the farm came into the possession of others, who 
raised in the succeeding years good crops of corn, wheat, and clover." 

Buckwheat straw, if cut before frost, makes very good fodder, everybody's 
opinion to the contrary notwithstanding, and we have no doubt makes good 
manure for any other crop. It certainly does when turned in green. 

As to the profitableness of growing buckwheat we are well satisfied, pro- 
vided it is not, as is too apt to be the case, turned off upon the very poorest 
old field on the farm. With a fair chance it will average twenty -five or 
thirty bushels an acre. 

The premium crop of New York, 1859, was thirty-five and a half bushels, 
grown upon sandy loam in good order, where a crop of rye badly winter- 
killed had been plowed in July 1st, and the buckwheat sowed July 6th, 
one bushel per acre. It was harvested the last week in September, and sold 
at 62i cents a bushel. The whole field from which the acre was meajuied, 
yielded two hundred and two bushels upon six acres. The profit upon the 
crop was counted $11 2,\\ acre. 

We look upon buckwheat as the most important crop for planting late in 
the season of any of the substitutes for wheat. It may be sown as late as 



Sec. U.] millet AS A FARM CROP. 707 



the first of July. Some farmers consider Iialf a bushel of seed upon good 
land sufficient, as tlie more it branches the more productive will be the crop. 
It is a profitable crop, as it is easily cut and thrashed iipon the field, or 
it may be stacked and kept till winter. The grain, besides its use for human 
food, is one of the most valuable for poultry-feeding, and to fit up a horse 
quickly with a sleek coat there is no grain equal to buckwheat. For ordinary 
stock-feed it is not as valuable as corn, barley, rye, wheat, or peas. Indian 
corn should never be planted upon buckweat stubble. We are not aware 
that it injures any other crop. 

777. Millet as a Farm Crop. — Very few farmers sow millet as a farm crop, 
and many never saw it grow. Of late years, one variety has been a good 
deal extended at tlie West, under the name of Hungarian grass. That kind 
grows with a branching head, heavily loaded with round seed, somewhat 
larger than turnip seed. Another sort grows a spike-head, eight or ten inches 
long, and is generally called Syrian millet, and the other is called German 
millet. The botanical name of the millet mostly grown here is Panicum 
So7'(//nim, and it is largely cultivated in some parts of the world as a bread 
crop. It grows well in sand}' soil, and is really a productive crop, and one 
of the great advantages of it is that it may be sown after corn, oats, pota- 
toes, and spring wheat have been provided for. From the 1st to the 15th 
of June is the right time to put it in, and it is fit to cut after grass and grain. 
For poultry feed, millet is excellent, and well worth growing for that pur- 
pose. It is estimated that a fair crop of millet will produce three or four 
tuns jier acre of straw, and twenty bushels or more of seed. If the crop is 
sown for the purpose of making seed, it is recommended by those who have 
grown it most, to sow twelve quarts, and if the crop is intended to be cut 
for hay, sow half a bushel of seed per acre. When allowed to stand till all 
the seed is well ripened, thirty bushels an acre is a common yield. 

For a soiling crop millet is very good, particularly the large sort, which 
grows in rich soil with large succulent stalks, and makes as good feed and 
as large a burden as sowed corn, and often succeeds when that fails. It 
requires no more skill, and hardly as much labor to grow a crop of millet 
as a crop of oats. 

In districts where it is most grown in Europe, the opinion prevails tiiat 
millet yields more food for man and beast than any other cultivated grain. 
Cut for hay, the crop is large and of excellent quality, and, it is said, im- 
parts a vigor and elasticity to working cattle that is acquired from no other 
food. Stock, too, are very fond of millet hay. 

Writers in Europe, treating upon the cultivation of millet generally, con- 
cur in tlie following statements : 

If allowed to ripen its seed, it is an excellent grain for animals, possessing 
as much nutriment as Indian corn, but not its fattening property. In Europe 
it is often ground, and' where people are accustomed to its use, they are fond 
of millet bread. A rich, light soil is best, and it should be deep and finely 
prepared as for wheat. If grown for hay, from thirty to forty quarts of seed 



708 CEREALIA. [CoAP. VIII. 

should be sown to the acre. It should he cut while the seed is in tlie milkj 
state, and as soon as it is well wilted it should be put up and cured in cocks, 
as recommended for clover hay. If the weather is line, it Avill be sufficiently 
made in three or four days, when the cocks should be turned and opened a 
few hours before it is hauled in. When sown for tlie grain, from sixteen to 
twenty quarts of seed are required to the acre, and if put in with a good 
seed drill, the crop of seed would be much improved. 

No attempt should ever be made to secure both seed and hay from tne 
same iield. Plant one field for seed and one for hay. A good crop will yield 
five tuns of hay per acre. 

For seed, the upper parts of the heads must be ripe before they are cut. 

Tliere is one advantage in growing millet that ought to commend it to all 
farmers — it flourishes well in the driest seasons. 

Farmers who once commence the cultivation of millet seldom, if ever, 
abandon it. 

778. Grain Farms and Stock Farms. — In closing this section upon the 
cereals (except maize), we could write a long paragraph upon the subject of 
rmiting stock and grain farms, but will only copy from the New York 
State Agricultural Society's Transactions the following suggestive and in- 
structive paragraphs from Hon. George Geddes' Survey of Onondaga 
County : 

" In that part of the county best adapted to the cultivation of grain, our 
farmers generally intend to keep stock enough to manufacture their hay, 
cornstalks, and straw into manure. The teams to do their work they must 
have, and the cows to make their own butter, and perhaps a small surplus 
to sell ; the rest is generally made up with siieep, as the most convenient 
stock to handle, with the least labor. They calculate that eigiit merino 
sheep can be kept as well as a cow on the farm, and with far less labor. 
A good ewe should yield four and a half pounds of wool, worth 45 cts. per 
lb., which for the eight gives $1G 20 ; and the eight should raise six lambs, 
worth in the fall $2 each, which with the wool gives $28 20. We could 
not profitably devote all our lands that are good for grain to raising sheep, 
but we can connect them in proper numbers with grain-raising to advan- 
tage — we think to more advantage than any other farm-stock. 

'• To show the advantage of raising some stock in connection with grain, 
we have only to take Camillus, which is a grain-raising town, and we find 
that only ly'/o acres are devoted to pasture, yVo to meadow, for each head of 
neat cattle, of horses, and of eight sheep. This gives for pasture and 
meadow l/oV acres for each head. From this it is evident that the straw and 
cornstalks of Camillus winter about half the stock, and the pasture from 
grain-fields nearly half pastures them. If we carry this calculation fully 
out, the comparison between the purely grazing and mixed agriculture 
would be still more striking. The town of Camillus has a large number of 
horses engaged in other business than farming, the canal running through 
the town, and being near Syracuse, a considerable part of the hay is sold 



PLATE XVTII. 

(Page 709.) 

This picture, although not so showy and attractive to sight at 
first view, is one of the most valuable in the series. It should be 
most carefully studied by every farmer. He must learn to readily 
tell his worst enemies from his best friends. Here both are placed 
before him. He should examine them so carefully, that he can 
afterward distinguish them as easily as he can tell his own horse 
from that of his neighbor. The three classes of insects illustrated 
upon the upper part of this plate are the most destructive of all the 
pests of the farm ; yet the farmer who has not informed himself all 
about insects, would be just as likely to destroy those represented 
upon the lower part of the plate as he would the others. Yet 
they are his best friends ; without them he could not exist. The 
destructors of fruit and grain and trees would prevent man from 
growing a sufficiency of food, if it were not for the "insects bene- 
ficial to the agriculturist." 

The little that we have found room for under the head of Ento- 
mology (Sec. XII.) wiU only serve to whet the appetite to study the 
habits and character of all insects in works devoted to the subject. 
Without such works, much may be learned from this plate. Many, 
perhaps for the first time, will be made to understand that each of 
those pretty little spotted bugs which frequently swarm about the 
garden, which we have been merely taught the common name of, 
and because it is pretty, have called "the lady bird," is one of man's 
co-laborers in the garden ; and so are several others which he will 
see pictured in its company. We entreat you to study the picture 
of every one of these insects most carefully. 



I v.-<KrTS (virniix'S To (•'uci-v 



XMIL 




plum: WEEVII, o» cub.cl-i.io 



j^SitJSt. 



^^?^ ^8K (■o,llmsMoLh,lal..rpillar.-ui.lChrs-sa 







l,-hi.,-,i.n.,n KlvN:,!' 



Sec. 45.] 



HISTORY OF INDIAN CORN. 



709 



there. In the grazing town of Fabius, a small fraction over three acres of 
pasture and meadow is required for each head of stock, or eight sheep." 

Assuming this as the proper ratio, he makes a three-year-old steer cost, for 
use of land $36, care $18, total $54, or about five cents per day up to that 
age, and the expense is far from being over-estimated where stock-raising is 
carried on upon expensive land unconnected with grain-growing. 




SECTION XLV.-INDIAN CORN-ITS HISTORY. 

P NDTAN CORN (maize) is the poor man's crop. It is 
7 often grown by the new settler in the little opening he 
makes in the woods, amid stumps and fallen trees, by tiio 
aid of his hoe alone. Without Indian corn, this country 
could never have been settled and brought into such rapid 
cultivation. It is to America the most important crop that is 
grown. It enters into the food of all classes of people, either 
as bread or meat, so that it may be said that it is as much a 
universal food crop with us as rice is in India. It is more 
important than rice, for it produces a higher order of civil- 
ization. 

Indian corn takes its name from the American aborigines, 
among whom it was found growing before they knew the 
use or value of iron implements of husbandry. It has ever 
been a favorite food with them, and since we call them Indians, it is very 
proper to call this Indian corn. 

At first, Europeans who came to this country, as well as those who come 
now, were and are prejudiced against the use of this grain as food, not even 
relishing it when cooked in the milky state, of which Americans, like the 
Indians, have become so universally fond. The Irish, too, in time of famine, 
when sujiijlics of this great American breadstuff were sent them, considered 
it but little better than starvation to be obliged to sustain life uj^on food only 
fit for fatting pigs. The same people had just as strong prejudices at first 
against potatoes, now called Irish potatoes, because so many of that nation 
live upon them almost as exclusively as some Americans do upon Indian 
corn. The value of the corn crop to America is beyond calculation. The 
two next greatest — wheat and hay — do not equal ir, while lieside corn, the 
boasted cotton crop is a mere fraction. Its importance is universal ; no 
product common to all the States lias ever been so extensively cultivated. 
So important was it considered by the native inhabitants of America, that in 
Peru the jialace gardens of the Incas were ornamented with maize, with all 
the grains, spikes, stalks, and leaves, in gold and silver, representing the 
growth in its exact and natural shape ; a proof no less of the wealth of the 



710 CEREALIA. [CnAP. VIII. 

Incas than of tlieir veneration for this important grain. In further proof 
of tlie American origin of this phmt, it may be stated that it is still found 
growing in a wild state from the Eocky Mountains to the humid forests of 
Paraguay, where, instead of having each grain naked — as is al\tays the case 
after long cultivation — it is completely covered with glumes or husks. Co- 
lumbus found the natives of Ilispaniola cultivating it in extensive fields, and 
those of other places first visited by him wei'e also in possession of it. The 
first Englishmen by whom it was cultivated were those who settled in Vir- 
ginia in 1607. 

In all tlie wars against the Indians, the hardest blows given them were in 
the destruction of their cornfields. The burning of a wigwam town was 
misery to women and children, but destruction of tlie cornfields impoverished 
the entire tribe. The former could be quickly rebuilt, but the latter could 
not be replaced till next year. The Indians had not many varieties of corn, 
and its cultivation was a necessity with them, and the task was imposed on 
the women, who planted, gathered, roasted, pounded, and cooked the corn. 
The plowshare occasion.illy turns up, on the site of some forgotten wigwam, 
the rude stones which crushed the ripened grain. The whites quickly recog- 
nized the value of corn as food for man and beast, improved its culture, mul- 
tiplied its varieties, and by the invention of machines for shelling it rapidly 
and grinding it cheaply, raised it to the position of a staple so important, 
that if the whole wheat crop of this country wei-f5 suddenly annihilated, the 
corn crop alone would supply us plenteously with food. While Louisiana 
and Florida produce but 1,500 bushels annually of wheat, they give 
14,000,000 bushels of corn ; and slaves consume no more wheat than did the 
al)origines. Corn is their sole food, and if the corn crop could be annihi- 
lated, slavery would perish of starvation. It is cheap corn as well as high- 
priced cotton that keeps slavery alive. 

Corn hybridizes with great facility, so that varieties are constantly in- 
creasing, yet a rich reward is ready for whoever may propagate a new va- 
riety far surpassing any of the sorts now cultivated. It may be said of sorts 
now in use, that one is grown in one district of country because it was first 
introduced there, the growers being satisfied without looking farther. An- 
other, because great crops have been secured from it in a diff'erent section, 
where the soil had been found especially congenial. A thij-d, because the 
grain was large and the cob small. A fourth, because the s'alk grew very 
tall and yielded much fodder; while a fifth was preferred for peculiarities 
directly opposite. It happens, fortunately, that all varieiies are good for 
man and beast, and that where cultivation is well managed, good crops and 
certain profits are the result. 

Chemistry applied to detecting the peculiarities of Indian corn shows a 
great difi'erence in varieties. " A grain cut in half, and immersed in a solu- 
tion of hydrosnlphate of ammonia, will have the chit changed to a dark olive 
color, thus proving the presence of salts of iron. The exact limits of starch 
and dextrine contained in the grain are indicated by the tincture of iodine 



Sao. 45.] CHEMISTRY OF INDIAN CORN. 711 

striking an intense blue with tlie starch, and a deep port-wine red witli dux- 
trine ; so that this test, by producing a ricli violet, indicated the presence 
of both starch and dextrine. It" the oil be extracted from the transparent 
horny part of corn by alcohol or ether, the tincture of iodine will show the 
presence of starch in that part of the grain associated with the gluten. By 
these means one can readily cause any grain to define the extent and precise 
limit of each of its ingredients, and enable the naked eye to form a pretty 
correct estimate of their relative proportions in different seeds. The relative 
proportions of the i^osphates in grain depend on the appropriating power 
of each species or variety. Thus, an ear of corn being selected containing 
two different kinds, the Tuscarora and the sweet corn, and these seeds being 
split in two and initi}ersed in the same solution, soon gave evidence of inore 
than double the amount of phosphates in the sweet corn than in the other 
variety. The result was extraordinary, because the grains came from the 
same ear and grew side by side, yet they had obtained unequal quantities 
of phosphates from the same sap, drawn from the same soil." Thus, a crop 
of sweet corn will appropriate twice as much of the phosphates as the other 
variety, and will consequently sooner exhaust the soil of them. Hence 
ground bones are the specific manure for sweet corn. This variety has re- 
cently come into extensive use for table consumption, and is annually in- 
creasing. Its numerous growers should freely make use of ground bones as 
its most valuable fertilizer. Its origin is unknown, but it appears to Jiave 
been used by the aborigines of New England previous to the settlement of the 
country by the Pilgrims. In addition to a large proportion of the phos- 
phates, it contains a great quantity of sugar and gum, with but little starch. 
Its short and slender stalks take up a less proportion of the saline matters 
of the soil. 

Chemistry proves that corn possesses peculiar value as food for young 
animals, because it contains more of the phosphates than the smaller graiv.s. 
Farmers know, without knowing the cause, that the bones of young animals 
are greatly strengthened ly being fed on corn, and they may learn from 
chemistry not only how to raise corn, but how to use it. Chemistry indicates 
the relative power possessed by each kind of grain of appropriating the 
phosphates contained in the soil, and consequently its wants. As oats and 
buckwheat contain the least proportion, they may be raised on soil not fully 
sujiplied with phosphates. 

Tuscarora corn is one of the varieties which does not contain oil. Rice 
corn contains the most, pop corn ranks next, Canada corn third, and brown 
corn next. There is a curious difference observable in the mode of distribu- 
tion of the oily and glutinous parts of corn, the Southern variety always 
having it on the sides of the elongated seed, while the starch jirojects quite 
through the grain to its summit, and by its contraction in drying produces 
the peculiar pit or depression in what is known as "gourd-seed corn." The 
Baden corn, which contains a very fine white oil, is still more remarkable 
for this arrangement. 



712 CERE ALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

The uses of oil in corn are manifold. It is obviously to protect the grain 
from rapid decomposition in the soil, during long-continued wet, and to retain 
ii portion of food until needed by the young plant, as the oil is uniformly the 
last -portion of the grain taken up. It serves to keep meal from souring 
readily, and kiln-dried flint-corn meal will keep sweet for years, when put 
up properly, while the Tuscarora meal will sour in a short time. The oil 
imparts a decided taste to the meal, not pleasant to persons accustomed to 
use varieties containing no oil. 

There is from six to twelve per cent, of oil in corn, that of Southern 
growth containing less than Northern. When hulled by means of potash 
lye, the oil next to the epidermis of the grain is converted into soap, and 
the epidermis is detached. The caustic alkali also liberates annnonia from 
the mucilage around the germ. When corn is used for the manufacture of 
whisky, the oil is saved dnring the fermentation, as it separates and rises to 
the surface. It is held that 100 bushels of grain will yield 15 gallons of oil 
valuable for illuminating purposes. 

The colors of Indian corn depend on that of the epidermis, or hull, and 
of the oil— the latter, when yellow, showing its color through a transparent 
epidermis. In white varieties the oil is transparent and colorless, and the 
epidermis being also free from color, the meal is wiiite. The Golden Sioux, 
a twelve-rowed variety, is colored by the oil. Ked and blue owe their lively 
hues to the colors of the epidermis, and not to the oil. On inspecting very 
thin slices of corn under the microscope, the epidermis is found to be made 
up of hexagonal cells much larger than those of the glutinous and oily parts 
of the grain. The starch globules are distinctly seen in the starchy part ; a 
drop of diluted tincture of iodine brings out their forms and character with 
beautiful distinctness. The phosphates are probably in the state of a fine 
powder, while the ammonia is in combination with the organic matters, 
forming a kind of ammid in the mucilage around the germ. 

Corn contains all the elements required for the perfect development and 
support of the bodies of animals. The ingredients make it a highly nutri- 
tious grain. The gluten and mucilage contain nitrogen, an element essen- 
tial to the formation of fibrous tissue, muscle, nervous matter, and brain. 
The oil is nearly-formed fat, easily convertible into animal oils by a slight 
change of composition. Starch also is convertible into fat, and into the car- 
bonaceous substances of the body, and during its slow combustion in the cir- 
culation gives out a portion of the heat of animal bodies, while in its altered 
state it goes to form a part of the living frame. From the phosphates are 
derived the substance of bone, as well as the saline matters of brains, nerves, 
and other solid and fiuid parts of the body. The salts of iron contained 
in the food of animals go to the blood, and constitute an essential portion 
of it, enabling it, by successive changes of its degree of o.xydation during 
the circulation through lungs, arteries, and veins, to transport oxygen to 
every part of the body. 

" Chemistry has proved that ' flesh is grass,' that vegetable and animal 



Seo. 45.] INDIAN CORN. 713 

iiber are identical, as are vegetable and animal albumen. Plants are tliere- 
fore organs of reduction, animals mere organs of combustion. Vegetables 
produce neutral nitrogenized matters, fat matters, sugar, starch, and gum; 
decompose carbonic acid gas, absorb heat and electricity, and are an ajj- 
paratus of reduction. Animals consume what the vegetables produce, at 
the same time producing carbonic acid gas, giving out heat and elecfricitj, 
being an apparatus of combustion." 

Corn is imquestionably the prime national staple, and in every season of 
deficient crops of other grains, the corn crop has ]>roved a granary upon 
which the nation could live, and the yield is annually increasing. In ISiO 
it was 377,000,000 bushels; in 1850 it was over 590,000,000; and in 1860, 
900,000,000. In 1840 our whole export of corn and its manufactures 
amounted to only $800,000. In 1847 the famine in Ireland swelled the 
amount to $18,096,000, since which the export has never fallen below 
$2,000,000, while in 1855 it rose to $8,198,693, and in 1859 to $6,187,4-16. 
When a bushel of wheat is worth 95 cents, one of corn is worth 77, nutri- 
ment alone considered ; yet when corn has stood at $1 per bushel, wheat 
has stood at $2 50. Thus, iu buying wheat, we obtain, for any given 
amount of money, a little less than half the nutriment we obtain when 
buying corn 

1840. 1850. 

Product of the slave States bushels, 252,443,802 348,992,282 

Product of the free States " 124,988,072 242,018,650 

377,4:31,874 591,610,932 

Thus the increased production in the free States was about 75 per cent., 
while in the slave States it was only about 39 per cent. The greatest corn- 
producing State in 1810 was Tennessee, whose crop was 44,986,188 bushels. 
In 1850 it was but a little over 52,000,000. In the same jieriod Indiana and 
Illinois had risen from 50,790,098 to 110,611,347 bushels. Iowa had in- 
creased her yield nearly 500 per cent., Wisconsin as much, while New Jer- 
sey, Ohio, Vermont, and Maine nearly doubled theirs. In Michigan the 
increase was more than double. In only two of the slave States, Missouri 
and Arkansas, was the production double. Virginia made poorer relative 
progress than any other State. These figures show that the great corn em- 
pire of this country is to be in the West. Nearly one sixth of the Ohio crop 
has heretofore been converted into whisky. 

In 1855, Ohio had 2,205,282 acres in corn, producing 87,587,434 bushels, 
an average of 39.7 per acre. In 1859, tlie quantity in corn was 2,431,312 
acres, producing 68,730,846 bushels, an average of only 28 3. For ten years 
the average yield has been steadily declining; in two only, within that 
period, rising above the yield of 1850. It then stood at 36.8 per acre, and 
in 1859 at 28.3. 

Indian corn is the great American staple — the grand necessity of all Amer- 
ican agriculture. The grand success in its production is, first of all, in the 
preparation of the seed, and the soil iu which it is to be planted. 



714 CERE ALIA. [Chap. VIII. 



779. Corn Crops, North and Sonthi How to Grow them Better. — We think 
tliat in all the Soutiiern States, excluding the alluvions, the average ])er acre 
will not equal ten bushels of Indian corn, while a crop of forty bushels upon 
some of the richest river bottoms is considered a tirst-rate one. It is not 
surprising that the yield is so light. Look how it is planted. In all of the 
slave States the little one-horse shovel plow is in common use. Tiiis plow 
is made of a piece of thin iron like a ])ointed shovel, say nine inches across, 
which is fastened to the standard under the beam, and the whole is so light 
that I have often seen a negro girl of fourteen or fifteen years old, mount 
her mule and take her plow on her shoulder or on before her, to ride to the 
field. With this tool the ground is scratched over, and corn planted and 
tended by the same implement. As the subsoil is hard, the roots only 
spread through the loose earth on the surface, and the after-plowing serves 
to tear them to pieces. In lower Virginia it is common to throw the land 
all into beds about a foot high, five feet apart, and grow stalks one in a place, 
from two to four feet apart. The crop is ten to twenty bushels. One of the 
largest planters on the Roanoke cultivates about 3,000 acres in corn. His 
land is very rich, and subject to overflows. lie does not manure, and bnins 
his stalks and cobs to get rid of them. The yield averages ])erhaj)3 thirty 
bushels. In the same vicinity the Messrs. Burgwin have brought the ave- 
rage yield of their land from seven bushels to thirty, principally by deep 
plowing. They plant rows five feet apart, and stalks one to two feet apart. 
Uplands in that vicinity, plowed by one horse and the little shovel plows, 
produce five to ten biishels to the acre. It is planted about the 20th of 
April, 4 by 4i feet, one stalk in a hill without manure. On the bottom 
lands of James River the average yield may be about twenty-five bushels. 
On the Sandy Point estate, where the land is a true loam, and plowed with 
a three-mule team, and planted about 25th of April, five and a half feet be- 
tween rows and one and one fourth feet between stalks, the yield is thirty- 
five bushels average. The seed is covered with a harrow, and the crop 
fended with a double shovel plow. The annual crop is five hundred acres. 
Gen. Peyton, above Richmond, took an old plantation and renovated it by 
deep plowing. He runs what is called a coulter, which is a small subsoil 
plow, to mark the rows, and then again on each side after the corn is up. 
This lets the roots down sixteen inches to search for food and moisture. Ed- 
mund Ruffin has i-enovated an old farm on the Pamunky, east of Richmond, 
by the use of marl and deep plowing. lie plants 4 by 5 feet, two stalks in a 
hill, and 5 by 2 feet, one stalk in a place. Mr. Ruftin is the champion 
of calcareous manures, and has caused many thousand acres of worn-out 
land to be restored. The Sandy Point estate has been limed three times, with 
first, fifty bushels ; second, thirty-five bushels ; third, thirty -five bushels; and 
cultivated on the five-field system — that is, corn, wheat, clovei", wheat, fal- 
low. The annual wheat crop is 1,000 acres, which has been increased from 
an average of three bushels to seventeen. There are 2,r00 acres of plow 
land in one field. The corn crop is from 15,000 to 20,000 bushels a year, 



Sec. 45.] OORN CUOPri— IIUW TO GROW TOEM BETTER. 715 

about two tliirds of •n-liich is sold. This place will be long remembered by 
" the army of the Potomac," as the one where the Cliickahominy was crossed 
on the pontoon bridge. 

On Edisto Island, and upon the coast of South Carolina generally, the cul- 
tivation is all done by hoes. A negro will tend six to eight acres in cotton, 
corn, and ])otatoes. Upon the plantation of Mr. Townsend, wlio has made 
cflbrts to induce people to use the plow, the task of his hands is five acres 
of cotton, three acres of corn, and one of potatoes to each field-hand. In all 
the Southern States there are thousands of acres planted every year, upon 
ground scratched over by the little shovel plow, that does not yield ten 
bushels per acre, and much of it not five bushels. The great fimlt evei-y- 
where is shallow plowing, and that is the reason why corn crops do not 
average better in all the corn-growing States. 

A negro scratches two or three marks about two inches deep in the loose 
earth, in the place where the rows are to be, leaving the " middles" to be 
"broke out" after the corn is planted and has come np. This is a part of 
the cultivation, or " tending the crop," on land never manured. 

At the West, the average yield of all the acres planted is not thirty bush- 
els, although crops of ten acres each have averaged over one hundred and 
fifty bushels per acre, and crops of one hundred busliels are not unusual. 
Upon rich prairie soil, forty to sixty bushels per acre is accounted first-rate, 
and fully satisfactory to the producer. 

Most of the cornfields of all the Eastern States might be made to double 
their yield by the use of a plow that would reverse the surface ten inches, 
bringing the lower five to the top and leaving them loose and friable, and 
then following in the same furrows with a subsoil lifter that would loosen 
the compact earth eight or ten inches deeper, to say nothing of the advan- 
tage of turning under a strong grass or clover sod to decay and furnish food 
for the grain at the very time when it was most needed. All this is inde- 
pendent of manures, either from the farm-yard, or sea-side, or muck-beds, or 
city streets, or from Pern, or any of the manufactories of artificial fertiliz- 
ers, and is within the reach of all corn-planters who nmy be unable to pro- 
cure the other means of fertility and increase of the crop, withoit some of 
which it is now useless to attempt to grow Indian corn in New York or 
New England. 

In the old States, Indian corn can not be profitably grown npon land that 
has not been nnderdrained or subsoil plowed, and that is nou plowed at least 
eight inches deep for each croj), aad most thoroughly pulverized before the 
seed is jjut into the ground. As a general rule, half the labor of after- 
culture will be saved by proper preparation of the ground before planting. 
One of the best implements ever used for marking out the rows is a subsoil 
lifter. We have seen an ordinary plow coulter, eighteen inches long, fast- 
ened to a beam with handles, used for marking the rows with decided ben- 
efit, as it made a temporary drain for the young plants, which every farmer 
knows can not bear any excess of water, even for a few hours, in a hot sun, 



716 CERE ALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

without serious injury to all the after-growth of stalk and production of 
grain. 

Fpon the virgin soil of the prairies, or upon the bottom-lands of some of 
the "Western rivers, men will not, of course, follow these directions, because 
they can get a large acreable yield with less labor, and some of them have 
been so long in the practice of raising corn in the slovenly, careless manner 
they do, that it is as nseless to ask tliem to improve -as it is to ask. a New 
England farmer who never grew 40 bushels of corn upon an acre to believe 
that his neighbor has grown 80. Both East and West, and North and South, 
the mass will still work on in the old way, notwithstanding all the facts 
spread before them, yet we will hope that one or two may be induced to re- 
solve upon improvement after reading this article. 

Upon the rich prairie soil of Indiana and Illinois, corn has been grown on 
contract for five cents a bnshel. The late Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth had 
3,000 acres one year grown by persons who contracted with Mr. E. to plow, 
plant, till, and grow the croj) ready for harvesting for $3 an aci'c, and the 
yield gave sixty bushels per acre. 

One of the premium corn crops of Connecticut was grown by Nathan 
Hart, Jr., of West Cornwall. The soil was a rich, friable loam, which had 
been in grass for the last forty years, and had received no manure except 
the droppings of the cattle. It had probably been pretty well manured in 
this wa}'. "Twenty-four ox-cart loads of manure from the barn cellar were 
applied; the land was plowed seven inches deep on the 9th and 11th of 
May. The seed was of the Button variety. It was soaked for thirty-six 
hours in a warm solution of saltpeter, and rolled in plaster and planted May 
23, four kernels in a hill, the hills from two to two and a half feet apart in 
the row, and the rows three feet apart. It was hoed three times by hand 
after the horse-hoe at intervals of eight days, commencing June 13. 

" The crop was cut up by the roots during the week commencing Sept. 
17, and husked the first week in November. The yield was 98 bushels, one 
peck, six quarts per acre. 

Estimated value of crop, including stalks and pumpkins $103 43 

Cost of raising 37 50 

Balance profit of the crop SOS 93 

" Wm. H. Putnam, of Brooklyn, grew another prize crop. The soil was 
a wet, black loam, with a heavy, compact subsoil, which had been three 
years in grass, with no manure. Sixteen full loads of stable manure from 
under cover were plowed in, and ten loads of compost, made from fer- 
mented stable and hog manure, well mixed with rather poor summer-made 
yard manure, were put in the hill. His land was plowed eight inches deep, 
and corn dropped upon the manure, in furrows three feet aj^art, and the 
corn two and a half feet apart in the furrow, and plaster ujion the corn ; six 
quarts of seed to the acre of the Rhode Island premium variety, planted 
May 27. Cultivated and hoed twice, and thinned to four stalks in the hill, 



Sec. 45.] WHEN TO PLANT CORN. T17 

and when ripe, cut up by tlie roots and stacked. The yield was 95i bushels 

to the acre. 

Value of the whole crop , . . $96 40 

Cost of cultivation 26 50 

Balance of profit $69 90 

"James A. Bill, of Lyme, took the third premium. His soil is a gravelly 
loam, cultivated tlie two previous years in corn, and the third year previous 
in grass. Forty loads of liarn-yard manure were plowed in deeply for each 
crop of corn, and a dressing of 150 bushels of ashes the first year. No ma- 
nure was applied to the land when in grass. The land was plowed June 1, 
and planted June 5 with si.x quarts of Diitton corn three feet and a half apart 
each way. The seed was soaked until nearly ready to sprout, and ten days 
after planting it was up and hoed ; and again the last of June ; and the 
thii-d time about the middle of July. The land left ]icrfectly flat, no hills 
being made. The crop was cut Sept. 30, and yielded 89 Ijushels per acre. 

Whole value of crop $95 50 

Cost of cultivation 9 50 

Balance of profit $86 00 

The value of the manure is not estimated, which would take off at least $20 
from the profit, leaving it about the same as tlie other premium crops. It 
will be noticed that Mr. Bill plants very late, June 5. This is his practice 
every year. He plants, also, six inches farther apart one way, and a foot 
farther apart tlie otlier. AYith a smaller variety of corn, and closer planting, 
we think this acre would have taken the first premium." 

Now, these crops were grown in as unfavorable a season as we have had 
in many A'ears, in a State not marked upon our country's map as one of the 
corn-growing States, and not, so far as we can see, with a very extraordinary 
amount of labor, and yet with a very handsome profit, leaving the soil in 
better condition than it was before. 

780. U'liea (0 Plant foril.— There is a rule, and one of no little import- 
ance, homely as it may seem, for fixing the proper time for putting the seed 
corn in the ground. It is a day in the calendar of the aborigines, which our 
Pilgrim fathers found established among these original corn-planters. In 
answer to the question, " Wliat time in the spring do you plant corn V the 
answer was, "When the leaves upon the oak-trees are as large as the ears of 
the squirrels that sun themselves on the bi-anches, then our squaws plant the 
seed tiiat has been so carefully preserved in the smoke of our wigwams." 

There is much truth in the old Indian rule, both in preserving the seed, 
which was hung up in clusters of ears, by the braided husks, to the poles of 
the wigwam, and in the time of planting it — the time pointed out by nature, 
not the almanac, when the ground had become sufficiently warm to insure 
rapid vegetation. 

Experience has ]irovcd that the 20th of May, as a general rule, corre- 
sponds very well with the time of putting forth oak leaves " as large as a 



T18 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

Bquirrel's ear," and then it is the fittest time for planting. The next most 
fitting time is when yon are ready, for upon getting land ready, and proper 
cuUivalioii, depend all yonr success. 

With straight rows, and a practiced hand to hold the cultivator, it leaves 
but little work for the hoes. Corn should be cut about the middle of Sep- 
tember by the roots, and shocked. There will be more corn and better fod- 
der. This process will give us corn at 50 cents a bushel or less. 

781. Seed foru— Selecting, Saving, and Preparing: it to Plant.— Any man 
claiming the name of farmer who does not systematically select his seed 
corn in the field before the crop is harvested, can never be written down in 
our books as a good iarmer. And this is a work, too, that must not be 
trusted to a graduate from any Corkonian institution. It is the business of 
the farmer himself No ear, however large and sound, should be taken from 
a stalk that does not carry two full-sized, sound ears. No ear that is not 
well filled out with perfect kernels to the vei-y point, should be accepted for 
seed, if a farmer — and a good farmer does — desire to improve his crop. 
The eflTect produced by Baden, by this practice of selection, was a universal 
regular production of four to seven ears upon all the stalks, until at length 
" Baden corn" became known as an improved variety. It is an improve- 
ment that any farmer can make. If you would grow great crops, the great- 
est [lains must be taken with the seed. It should be carefully selected, and 
that from crops grown north of j'our own location, if only half a degree. 

Many farmers contend that no kernel should be planted wliich has not 
been soaked to the point of sprouting ; not one should be planted deep. 
Then if you do not neglect the after-cultivation, you ma}' have a good crop 
of Indian corn, notwithstanding the discouraging character of jn-ospects in 
the spring. 

If the weather is such that you can not plant a groat quantity, remember 
that you can have more bushels now from half the number of acres intended 
to be planted than from the whole, if the manure and labor are concentrated. 
But always bear in mind that tlie first and most important step toward a 
good crop is in the careful selection of seed. Mr. Thomas Spencer, of Cape 
Girardeau, Mo., increased the yield of corn in three years, upon the same 
ground, fully one third by simply selecting the seed in the following man- 
ner : Wlien iiis corn was just coming into the proper state for roasting ears, 
he passed tiirough his field, marking the ripest ears, judging by the silk. 
If there were two cars on the same stalk, he selected the upper one. When 
gathering his corn in the fall, these ears were carefully put away for seed. 

Farmers ! think of tiiis every year. If you have neglected this course, 
or if the selection has been neglected while the corn stood where it grew, do 
not neglect it while yon are husking. Save the best car of all stalks that 
carry two or more, until you get an ample supply, and then put it away in 
a, perfectly dry place. If you wish to change your seed, make it the busi- 
ness of a day to go about the country and see who has the best, and make 
your selection while it is on the stalk. The best time to gather seed corn is 



Sec. 45.] SEED CORN— SELECTING AND PREPARING IT TO PLANT. 719 

when it lias just fully ripened, and the best way to keep it is to tie the ears 
in bunches by the husks and hang tliem up to the rafters. If in the loft of 
a smoky log-cabin, all the better. Sinoke is as good for preserving corn as 
for corn-fed pork. Freezing weather in autumn injures more seed corn than 
anything else. It should always be saved before frost. 

Many of the improved varieties of -corn are accidental. This is said to 
have been the case with the Improved King Philij), an excellent variety, 
which produces ears of unusual length, as long as the best Dutton, the 
kernels being very large and deep, eight rows on tlic cob, and it ripens per- 
fectly in one hundred days, producing very nearly double as much as the 
ordinary King Philip. 

One of the curiosities c\ this improved variety is, that it does not appear 
disposed toward further improvement nor change. We liave grown it in- 
termixed with half a dozen sorts, all of which hybridized, while the Im- 
proved King Philip remained as pure as the seed we planted. 

One of the best recommendations in relation to seed is this : Let each 
farmer plant, expressly for seed, from ten to a hundred hills in the richest 
ground he has, placing the hills six feet apart and allowing ncjt more than 
three stalks to stand in eaijji hill, so as to encourage each to develop three 
or four ears if possible. Let some of these hills be planted in the midst 
of potatoes, melons, cabbages, or other low plants, so as to secure them 
abundant air and sunsiiine, and thus no ground will be wasted, and in all 
probability seed will be obtained that will increase the next cro^j ten bushels 
per acre. It is an experiment that is worth trying. 

Farmers can i.ot be too careful about providing good seed. If you liave 
it not of your own, buy it. Even if an exorbitant price is demanded, it will 
be economy in the end, for it requires labor to re[ilant corn, and tiie second 
planting rarely amounts to anything in the way of ears ; the first planting 
shades, and gets so much tlic start of it. 

In some seasons the corn is generally uncertain about germinating; then 
it is best to get corn of the previous year for seed. If you can not get old 
corn, select new corn that you think will grow, and take one kei'nel from 
each of fifteen or twenty ears ; put it, with some moist, mellow dirt, in an 
old crock or dish, and wet it occasionally with tepid water ; keep it in a 
warm place, and you will soon have a test. In one experiment, where nine 
out of thirteen grew, we planted six or seven, instead of four kernels. If 
the germ of seed corn is feeble, and particularly if planted too deeply, the 
blade will curl up under the ground, and a great deal of it will never see the 
light; while some that does reach tiie top of the ground is so exhausted by 
the eftbrt that it never recovers. Planting good seed, or so much poor seed 
that a sufficient amount will grow, is of more importance than may be im- 
agined. Some farmers lose hundreds of bushels of corn by carelessness in 
this particular, and a general carelessness would maferially affect the entire 
crop. One of the best farmers in New Jersey says : 

"I would only use the best grains in the center of the ear. The land 



720 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

should be deeply prepared, and marked each way three and a half feet by 
tliree and a half feet, with seven or eight grains to a hill, and five stalks 
left to stand. "We cover one inch deep, and cultivate with Knox's horse- 
hoe, and never hill up. "We use the subsoil plow in preparing land and in 
cultivating. We prefer to plant in May to a later day. The "White Flint 
corn is the most productive sort we grow. I have never known crows to 
eat corn. They certainly pull it up, for I have seen it lying upon the 
ground uneaten where they pulled it out. Our greatest pests are the 
blackbirds, which destroy a good deal of corn that Dushes its point out of 
the husks." 

A kind of corn called Dutton, much grown in the State of New York, is 
a Yellow Flint variety, eight-rowed and long ears, and jjroductive of good 
crops, and this, if planted June 1, would generally ripen in the latitude of 
Albany. It requires one hundred days to come to maturity. There are 
several valuable hybrids of this variety that will ripen in the same period. 
If corn is ever heated in the crib, its germination is destroyed. Great care 
should be used to plant corn when the earth is in exactly the right condi- 
tion of temperature. 

From an experiment reported in the papers 51 few years ago, to test the 
question whether the seed taken from the middle of the ear is better than 
that from the ends, we gather the following facts, which are at least sug- 
gestive, if not conclusive, and should induce farmers to continue the exijeri- 
ment for several years, until each one is entirely satisfied. The following is 
the statement : Two acres were planted on a light soil, well adapted to 
Indian corn ; manured with seven and a half cords of barn-yard manure to 
the acre, spread l)roadcast and cultivated in, and ten bushels of leached 
ashes and one hundred pounds of gypsnm to the acre put in the hill. The 
corn was planted on the 3d day of June, in alternate rows, with seed taken 
from the large ends, middle, and tops of the ears. It was hoed three times 
in the course of the season. One acre was harvested and husked with care, 
and the result noted on the 19th of Octobei-. 

The rows planted with seed taken from the large cuds of the ears pro- 
duced 738 pounds of sound corn, 77 pounds of soft corn on the ears and 
1,360 pounds of stover. 

That from seed taken from the middle produced 663 pounds of sound 
corn in the car, 164 pounds of soft corn, and 1,290 pounds of stover. 

That from seed taken from the small »eds produced 747 pounds of sound, 
53 pounds of soft corn, and 1,320 pounds of stover. 

Comjiaring the crops on this acre, and estimating the sound corn at 1 and 
the soft corn at half a cent per pound, and the stover at 7 dollars the ton, 
the value of the crop, the seed of which was taken from the large end, 
was, 738 pounds sound corn, $7 38 ; 77 pounds soft do., 39 cents ; 1,360 
pounds stover, $4 55. Total, $12 32. That from middles— 663 pounds 
sound corn, $6 63 ; 164 pounds soft do., 82 cents ; 1,290 pounds stover, 
$4 51. Ttital, $11 96. That from the small ends — 747 pounds sound corn, 



Seo. 45.] WHEN TO PLANT CORN. 721 

$7 47 ; 53 pounds soft do., 26 cents ; 1,320 pounds stover, $4 62. Total, 

$12 35. 

From this experiment it appears that the very portion of the ear usually 
selected for seed is the least valuable, and the portion containing the small 
kernels actually produces the most sound corn, the least soft corn, and 
greatest quantity of fodder, and slightly exceeds either of the three divisions 
in cash value. Taking this one caSo as a basis, and it proves that it is hardly 
M'ortli the while of any farmer to shell off portions of the grains of an ear, 
rejecting one and saving the other for seed. An experiment made by Lan- 
sing Wetmore, of Warren, Pennsylvania, upon four adjoining rows, gave 
eleven and a half bushels upon those with unprepared seed, and seventeen 
bushels upon the other. The preparation consisted in soaking the corn over- 
night in just enough soft water to cover it, in which one ounce of copperas 
to each quart of corn was dissolved. To a peck of corn, when you take it 
out of the steep, stir in a pint of soft soap. Then add plaster enough to make 
it dry, so that you can liandle it easily for dropping. The argument used by 
those who favor the various modes of prejiaring seed, is that it gives the 
young plant a vigorous start into healthy life before it could look abroad 
for pabulum. " An old farmer" says, about saving seed corn : " My own 
observation and experience, during forty years, convince me that the best 
preparation and treatment of seed corn is to keep it on the cob till the 
ground is prepared to receive it. No coating — no saturating— no soaking. 
At the proper season, pulverize the ground well, and put the dry corn in 
immediately from the cob." 

Still there are other farmers, of equal experience, who strenuously con- 
tend for the advantages of soaking seed corn, not only to hasten its vegeta- 
tion, but to save it from tlie attacks of destructive vermin. A young farmer 
writes that " an old gentleman not far from me says : ' Soak the seed over- 
night in copperas water, and the wire-worm will not trouble it.' Who 
knows whether this is so or not?" To this question another correspondent 
makes this answer : " A good many years ago, when I was farming in Mas- 
sachusetts, we had a field of corn that was at least two tliirds destroyed by 
the wire-worm. A half dozen of tliese troublesome fellows were sometimes 
found sticking in a single kernel. We planted the second time, after soak- 
ing our seed over-night in a solution of copperas water, and I do not know 
tliat a single kernel failed. In after-years, we tried niter with equal suc- 
cess." Probably the best remedy against wire-worms is not to grow tliem. 
Keep no old meadows. Break them up. Plow all your sod and stubble 
land in autumn. Either bury your worm seed too deep to get out in time 
in the spring, or else freeze it to death in the winter. There is probably no 
remedy equal to deep plowing in autumn. 

Another correspondent is equally sure that tarring seed corn is a sove- 
reign remedy against all pests. lie says: "Dissolve a pint of tar in hot 
water, sutficient to immerse a bushel of corn, and you will coat every kernel 
so that plaster, bone-dust, or ashes will adhere and cover each grain ; 



722 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

and this not only makes an unpalatable morsel for crows, squirrels, and 
other pests, but it will fertilize the young shoot so as to give it a vigorous 
start. Every variety of seed that vermin depredate upon may be tarred 
with great advantage." 

But another one says : "Tar is oftener injurious than otherwise. So are 
all other applications to seed corn — whether to keep off devourers or to 
promote growth. A better preventive is to scatter corn on the ground 
around the margin of the field, and through it in different parts, if the iield 
be large. As much corn as crows will eat, thus fed to them, will be found 
cheaper than scarecrows of any kind." 

782. Fertilizing Seed CorUi — A great deal has been written of late upon 
the advantage of fertilizing seeds by soaking them in a solution of some 
substance that has the property needed to give increased vitality to the 
young shoot. Dr. Chamberlin, of Chicago, has made some experiments 
that convince him that nearly half tlie time miglit be saved in germinating 
the seed by the use of chlorid of lime. In one of his experiments he had 
in his office four boxes ; in the first, the corn planted without soaking the 
seed, had not germinated, when the second, with seed that was soaked in 
warm water, had just commenced to germinate. In the third, seed that was 
soaked in a solution of chlorid of lime, showed green blades just peeping 
from the ground. In the fourth, seed soaked in a solution of chlorid of lime 
and copperas, in equal parts, showed blades nearly three inches above the 
ground. All the seeds taken from the same ear were planted at the same 
time, in the same quality of soil, and the boxes all had an equal share of 
heat and light, and equal advantages. 

This experiment should attract the attention of farmers, and if from four 
to six weeks may be saved by the use of chlorid of lime and copperas, it is 
a matter of no ordinary moment, since a delay in the germination of two 
weeks niay place the crop within reach of frost in autumn. The copperas 
used in soaking tends to prevent birds, squirrels, and worms from eating the 
seed. One pound of chlorid of lime and one pound of copperas, costing not 
over twenty-five cents, should be dissolved in sufficient water to soak seed 
enough for twenty acres ; so every farmer could afford to make the exj^eri- 
ment, even if he should fail to derive any benefit from it. 

783. Shall we Grow Two Ears upoa a Stalk ?— It is the general opinion 
of farmers, that a field wiiich averages two ears upon a stalk would give 
more bushels of corn per acre than a field of stall^s bearing one ear each. 
But we have a statement from O. S. Murray, of Warren County, Ohio, that 
gives proof to the contrary of this position. He says : " After having my 
attention often turned to the subject, by what had been so repeatedly pub- 
lished in the agricultural papers, I went about taking observations for my- 
self, several years ago. The result was, that in more than ninety-nine in- 
stances in a hundred, the largest ear on a stalk having but one had more 
grain tlian tlie largest two ears, or all the ears on any stalk having more 
than one. In a field of two acres, very well eared, I searched in vain 



Sbo. 45.] PREPARING GROUND FOR CORN. 723 

throngliout to find a single instance where two or more ears on a stalk bad 
as much grain as I could easily and often find on the largest and best ear 
where there was but one. In another season afterward, I mentioned the 
matter to a man who was helping me harvest a field of eiglit acres of supe- 
rior growth. He was astonished at my suggestion, and quite imbelieviflg. 
So we went about the search and comparison — he looking for two ears or 
"more on a stalk, and I for one. In a single instance, and that instance only, 
he found more on two ears on a stalk than I could find on one. We made 
numerous comparisons, and in every other instance my single ear had de- 
cided advantage over bis two or more in amount and quality of grain ; 
generally the difi'erence would be considerable. Tiiese observations led me 
to the conclusion, that in the cultivation of our larger varieties, the true 
philosophy is to ascertain as neai'ly as possible the largest number of stalks 
that can stand on a given area witli the largest single ears. Stop reducing 
the number of stalks at the point where in the first single instance the 
second ear will shoot on a stalk. Besides increasing the quantity and quality 
of grain, you save one half the work of husking. It is more work to husk 
a small ear than a large one. The swelling of the latter opens and loosens 
the husks for more ready removal." 

In relation to planting corn very wide apart, Mr. Murray thinks there would 
be liability to failure of perfect filling on the cobs. Except in the most 
favorable conditions of weather as to winds and showers, there could not be 
a sufiicient number of successful communications from the anthers to the 
stigmas at wide distances. 

7S4. Preparing Ground for Corn.— This is the most important in all the 
laborious part of the work of making a crop of corn. Our choice would be 
a clover sod turned under in autumn, with a good growth of green clover, 
running the subsoil plow in each furrow, or else, if the soil was already in a 
deep mellow condition, we would plow it with the Michigan, or double- 
share plow, and in the winter, while the ground was frozen, haul and spread 
such a dressing of manure as we intended to give it, and then plow that in 
with a light plow, so as not to turn up the sod. We would mark the rows 
with a small subsoil plow, or else with a coulter, neither of which will make 
a furrow for you to plant in below the level of the surface. Indeed, upon 
wettish ground the following plan has been successfully used : Instead of 
plowing a furrow and planting the seed below the surface, where it will rot 
in wet weather, use an implement that will draw the loose surface-soil from 
each side of the line of the row into a ridge, or rather a flat elevation, and 
plant the seed upon that. -In the lower part of Virginia, nearly all the 
land, •particularly on the river bottoms, and what are called the " flat 
lands," is plowed in ridges. But we do not commend the plan, unless it 
is upon flat lands that can not be drained. On the other hand, we condemn 
the practice of planting in the bottom of furrows upon any land. If the 
soil is well prepared, by surface and subsoil plowing and harrowing, if the 
ground has broken up in lumps, there is no way that the seed can be jo 



724 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

■well put in as with a drill. If farmei's would spend more time in destroying 
the weeds before they go to seed, it will pay better than almost any other 
work. Three hundred years ago, Toralio wrote in Italy that the soil dug 
over eight times was better than manuring. The old Indian mode of 
piling up the loose earth around the stalks was a mere thing of circum- 
stances by which they were surrounded, and like a great many other men 
before them, our sires and their sons became imitators. They never stopped 
to inquire or think why it was done. It was because the ground was not 
previously well prepared. If your ground was plowed in autumn or early 
spring, it has, of course, been beaten down by the rain, and is unfit for 
planting until plowed again. If you can not afford to do that, do the next 
best thing. Mark your rows with a subsoil lifter, or a long coulter, and 
commence using the cultivator or plow as soon as the corn shows above 
ground. If June proves dry and hot, the growth will, in default of deep 
plowing, be likely to fail ; and, if the land has not been previously plowed 
deep, the use of the subsoiler, run close to the rows upon each side, may be 
the means, perhaps the only means, of saving the crop from ruin. 

785. Autumn Plowing and U'ire-Worms. — Speaking of autumn plowing, a 
farmer of Livingston County, X. Y., says: " If the ground on which corn is 
intended to be planted the coming season is sward land, and infested with 
wire-worms, I would not, by any means, advise you to plow in autumn, but 
just before planting, giving only time to suitably prepare the soil — -even 
two or three weeks' difference in the time of plowing made more than one 
half difference with me in a crop of corn. It would be folly to think of 
planting the same ground to corn the ensuiiig year without plowing deep, 
and very late in autumn, for the wire-worms would most certainly destroy 
the crop." By this it appears that his only reason for not plowing in 
autumn is on account of wire worms. If he will dress this sod ground with 
three to ten bushels of salt per acre, a few days before the corn is plant- 
ed, we will insure him against the worms, and also insure the crop to be 
enough larger, on account of the salt, to pay for its cost. Dr. G. J. Locke, 
of Danby, Rutland County, Vt., gives the method by which he is suc- 
cessful in raising corn, which he thinks might be beneficially adopted by 
others : 

" Plow sward land six to ten inches deep ; then drag smooth with a heavy 
bush ; then spread twenty two-horse wagon-loads of barn-yard manure per 
acre; then harrow till m'cU mixed with the soil; tlien mark off and put a 
handful of dry hen manure in each hill, and cover it two inches deep ; then 
drop the seed and cover it lightly with a hoe. Since I have taken this 
course, about four years, I have not had a hill of corn eaten by worms, 
while most of my neighbors have complained of having theirs destroyed. 
Whether it is the general chemical action in fermenting, or whether there 
is one or more elements in the hen dung tiiat keeps the worms from the 
corn, I do not know. If the corn is planted on the hen guano, without its 
being covered with earth, it destroys the vitality of the corn. In this way I 



Seo. 45.] DEPTH AND DISTANCE APART OF PLANTING CORN. 723 

get from 40 to 85 bushels to the acre. Twenty liens kept through the win- 
ter, in a good hen-honse, as they should be, letting them run out in the day- 
time when convenient, with the chickens I usually raise, will furnish suffi- 
cient manure for one acre of land, and will pay their keeping if properly 
taken care of, leaving the eggs as a clear profit." 

We have one suggestion to add to this, and that is, that the sward be 
turned with a Michigan plow, which buries all the sod, and leaves several 
inches of loose earth on the surface, in admirable condition for receiving 
the dressing of manure. The recommendation of saving hen manure, and 
the profit of it, we fully indorse. Remember never to put lime or ashes in 
the hen-house, but you may use plaster, charcoal dust, fine muck, or loamy 
earth, so as to keep the mass, as it accumulates, quite inodorous. 

One who has tried it, says that an eflPectual way to prevent cut-worms 
from destroying the first planting of corn is to sow broadcast half a bushel 
of seed per acre, and harrow it in, and then mark off and plant as usual. 
The sowed corn sprouts first, and the worms eat it, and let that in the hills 
alone. At the first hoeing, if any hills are missing, fill them with plants 
from that sown broadcast, and plow under the balance. It will not hurt the 
soil any. An old corn-planter says : " To prevent the black grub from eat- 
ing corn, take strong ashes and plaster in equal parts, and put a good hand- 
ful on each hill as soon as planted." A Michigan farmer plows in clover 
sod in autumn, and applies all his manure to it in the spring, working it in 
thoroughly with the cultivator and harrow. He says : " Hoeing the corn 
fits the ground well for wheat, and I sow it as soon as the ripening of the 
corn will admit. After the wheat comes off, I plow in the stubble, and in 
the spring sow oats, timothy, and clover. I get three crops of grain, one of 
them wheat, in three years, and get the land back to clover in the time. 
Last year my corn yielded 100 bushels of ears per acre, and the wheat this 
year, on the same ground, averaged 14 bushels per acre,'though it was badly 
shrunk These crops were raised on laud which was thought nearly barren 
when it came into my possession." 

786. Depth and Distance Apart of Planting Corn. — If you prefer corn in 
checks rather than drills, we recommend putting at least five kernels to a 
hill, two of which may be pulled out if all grow. Let it be the law of j'our 
farm never to cover seed corn very deep ; if it is, it will be delayed in its 
growth, and some will never reach the surface, and some that does will 
look yellow and feeble. You may be pretty sure that corn planted three 
and a half to four feet apart will grow as luxuriantly, and will be far 
better than if planted more sparsely ; for, in the latter condition, the silk 
does- not receive the pollen so freely. Tlie outside row, growing quite as 
rank as the other, is, for the above reason, not usually as well filled. As a 
general rule, the closer the ground is planted, the better the corn grows and 
ears, if the soil is naturally or artificially strong enough to carry a heavy 
crop. Upon sparse planting, an observing fiirmer says : " I have always 
noticed that where single stalks have come up from seed accidentally drop- 



726 CEREALIA. , [Chap. VIH. 

ped in a garden, Low rich soever tlie soil ftight be, they bore nothing but 
miserable pig ears. I account for it thus : the stalk standing alone, the wind 
blows the pollen from the spindle, not upon its own silk, but away 
from it." 

In the Southern States, sparse planting is the rule. A farmer gives as a 
reason for shallow planting, that " corn planted at three quarters of an inch 
deep came up in six days; and corn at two inches, nine days; and five 
inches, seventeen days — the same seed and same preparation in the same 
field. I lost half of a crop once from deep planting. I would put the ma- 
nure four inches deep, covered with soil, and the corn covered only half an 
inch diiep. All self-planted corn grows from shallow planting; and this is 
the case with all tree seeds. Much depends upon the state of the weather 
at planting, as well. as the condition of the soil. The distance between hills 
should depend upon the kind of corn. For Southern and AVestern, five feet 
is about near enough for a profitable crop. For Button, three and a half to 
four feet. For Early Canada I planted once twenty-two by twenty-four 
inches, four kernels in a hill, and I had one hundred and one measured 
bushels on a measured acre." 

787. f ultivation of f orili — One who advocates early planting says : " As 
a general thing, it is much less work to tend the crop. I say, drills for corn 
by all means. Each time you haul dirt to the stalk, it throws out a new set 
of roots, as corn requires breathing tubes at the ends of its rootlets. Go 
into a cornfield which has been left ' decently alone' after it is two feet 
high, and try to find an inch square of ground without corn rootlets pro- 
truding from it ! Does the plant know best what it requires ? If not, cut 
and haggle away at its roots, as your grandfather did before you !" 

From all that we can read or hear aljout corn, and after some experience, 
our motto is level culture, and such preparation of the ground as to fit it so 
as to require but little after-cultivation. There is no labor on the farm, per- 
haps, that will pay ])etter than working corn at the proper time, and in a 
drouth, all the time. Instead of hand hoeing, use some of the light horse 
hoes, with which one man will do more good than ten with hand hoes, fol- 
lowing a mold-board plow. As for manuring corn, that is a necessity in all 
tlie Eastern States. Upon the rich lands of tiic West it will not pay. It is 
idle in the older States to plant corn upon a majority of the farms without 
purchasing some kind of fertilizer. Wo have never recommended a farmer 
to neglect his barn-yard manure, but to add to that guano, bone-dust, im- 
proved superphosphate, and everything of the kind that he can buy, be- 
cause no farmer can make as much manure as he can use profitably. It is 
nonsense for a farmer to be content with forty bushels of corn per acre when 
he can get eighty bushels by $3 more expense. It is nonsense to say that 
barn-yard manure is all that is necessary to be applied to any land, or that 
it is not profitable for a farmer to purchase just such specific manures as 
analysis or experience shows the land requires. As to working among corn, 
commence as soon as the rows show, using a subsoil plow, two furrows be- 



Sko. 45.] POP-CORN IS PROFITABLE AS A CROP. 727 

tween each pair of rows, running as close as you safely can to the corn, and 
follow with a horse-hoe to brush over the unbroken surface and kill any re- 
maining weeds, but leave the surface as nearly level as possible. In two 
weeks repeat this operation, keeping farther from the corn with your plow. 
Once or twice thereafter run through the field with a cultivator or horse- 
hoe, and if .any weeds remain, uproot them with the hand or hoe, but do 
not let any plow go down three inches below the surface after the plants are 
a foot high. If the corn looks well, pull one or two of the feeblest stalks in 
each hill at the second plowing. If you have not applied ashes or plaster 
before planting, throw a handful of the two mixed upon each hill before 
plowing the second time. The distance traveled in cultivating an acre of 
corn is greater than most persons suppose. We have seen one statement 
made from actual calculation, that gave sixteen hundred miles as the aggre- 
gate travel in growing a hundred acres of corn. Is* it not worth the time 
and calculation of some farmers who grow very small acreable products to 
inquire how much they have traveled to produce each bushel, and what 
they shall do to lessen that distance? If it requires sixteen miles of travel 
with a horse to each acre of corn, farmers must get a better yield than some 
of them do to make the business pay a fair compensation for so much 
travel. 

788. TransplaatiDg Corn. — Transplanting corn can be done with as much 
ease and certainty of success as cabbage. For early roasting ears, corn could 
be started in frames so as to give it three or four weeks the start of corn 
planted the usual wa}'. Transplanting would be valuable also in the field 
where hills are missing. The safest way to do it is to make up a mixture 
of cow-dung, loam, and water, of the consistence of thick porridge, and dip 
the roots in it as they are taken from the ground with a transplanting 
trowel, and carried in this to tlieir place, where, being carefully set, and 
shaded, if it is sunny, with a bush or some artificial shade stuck in the 
ground, they will be almost certain to live and grow. Like all transplant- 
ing, it is best done when the soil is wet. 

789. Pop-Corn is Profitable as a Crop. — It is said of a Boston merchant 
now engaged extensively, that he commenced business as a peddler of pop- 
corn by the cent's worth. Is it any wonder that he grew rich — that is, rich 
enough to enlarge his sphere of action — particularly if he raised his own 
corn, or got it of those who did, at about first cost? Let us look at the 
profit. A writer in the Heio England Far^nei- " calculates the value of an 
acre of pop-corn, at the prices which city residents pay for the article when 
fitted for their palates — that is, when parclied and on sale by the grocers 
and candy men — at four cents a quart, and calls a quart the product of a mid- 
dle-sized ear. The corn may be planted three feet by eighteen inches. Al- 
low eight ears to the hill, which is not equal to the average, and it would 
be about eight thousand hills, or sixty-four thousand ears to the acre. This 
is 8-)560 per acre, paid by those who eat the corn. Take away half the 
amount, if you please, for every contingency which may be thought of, and 



728 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

we still have $1,280, which the consumers pay for the product of an acre of 
ground ; and wlio among them pretends to call pop-corn dear eating ?" 
But this, the farmer will say, is the price of the article manufactured. It is 
not what I should get. True, but still the price is liberal. The crop of 1860 
we sold at 87^ cents per bushel of ears, wholesale in New York, and we are 
told it has been worth that price, or more, in previous years. W^c are sure 
that one hundred bushels per acre cau be easily grown, and the stalks being 
small, make excellent fodder. It is well worth growing to feed poultry ; 
and as a crop, we are fully satisfied that pop-corn is profitable. "VYe have 
treated largely of its value as food (see 418), and now add the chemical 
cause of the effect produced by heat. The popping of corn is in reality 
chemistry made eas}', by bringing it to the very fireside. It was formerly 
attributed to the conversion of the water contained in the starch into steam, 
but modern science has proved this phenomenon to arise from the rupture 
of the cells in tlie glutinous part of the grain by a conversion of the glob- 
ules of oil into gas. If an attempt be made to pop the Tuscarora corn, 
which contains no oil, it will never succeed. Popping effects a change in 
corn of considerable importance, for it is much more digestible by man 
after this decomposition and extrication of the oil, though not so fattening to 
animals 

790. Various Experiments in Growing Corn.— -Table showing the results 
of experiments on Indian corn, made in 1857, near Rochester, N. Y., by 
Joseph Harris, editor of the Genesee Farmer • 

A. B. C. D. E. F. O. H. 

1 —No manure CO 7 67 — — — 

2 — 100 lbs. pl.aster (gypsum, or su/p/»a(« q/" /imc) 70 8 78 10 1 11 

3 —400 lbs. unleached wood ashes aud 100 lbs. plaster (mixed)... 68 10 78 8 3 11 

4— 150 lbs. sulphate of ammonia 90 15 105 30 8 38 

5 _300 lbs. superphosphate of lime 70 8 78 10 1 11 

— 160 lbs. sulphate of ammonia and 300 lbs. superphosphate of 

lime (mi.'cedi 85 5 90 25 — 23 

7 — 400 lbs. unleached wood ashes (uncertain) 60 12 72 — 5 5 

8—150 lbs. sulphate of ammonia and 400 lbs. unleached wood 

ashes (sown separately) 87 10 97 27 3 30 

9 — 300 lbs. superphosphate of lime, 150 lbs. sulphate of ammonia, 

and 400 lbs unleached wood ashes 100 8 108 40 1 41 

10— 400 lbs. unleached wood ashes 00 8 G8 — 1 1 

II — lOOIbs. plaster, 400 lbs. unleached wood ashes, 300 lbs. super- 
phosphate of lime, and 200 lbs. Peruvian guano 95 10 105 35 3 38 

12 — 75 lbs. sulphate of ammonia 78 10 88 18 3 21 

13— 200 lbs. Peruvian guano 88 13 101 28 6 34 

14 — 400 lbs. unleached wood ashes, 100 lbs. plaster, and 500 lbs. 

Peruvian guano Ill 14 125 51 7 58 

A. No. of the plots. 

B. Descriptions of manures and quantities applied per acre. 

C. Bushels of ears of sound corn per acre. 

D. Bushels of ears of soft corn per acre. 

E. Total number of bushels of ears of com per acre. 

F. Increase per acre of ears of sound corn. 

G. Increase per acre of ears of soft corn. 
H. Total increase per acre of ears of corn. 

The superphosphate of lime was made on purpose for these experiments, 
and was a pure mineral manure of superior quality, made from calcined 
bones ; it cost about 2i cents per pound. The sulphate of ammonia was a 
rrood commercial article, obtained from London at a cost of about 7 cents 



Sbo. 45.] VARIOUS EXPERIMENTS IK GROWING CORN. 729 

per pound. The ashes were made from beech and hard maple {Acer Sacchar- 
nhcm) wood, and were sifted through a fine sieve before being weighed. 
The guano was the best Peruvian, costing about 3 cents per pound. It was 
crushed and sifted before using. In sowing the ashes on Plot 7, an error 
occurred in their application, and for the purpose of cheeking the result, it 
was deemed advisable to repeat the experiment on Plot 10. 
The following table gives the results of the otlier experiments : 

A. B. C. D. E. F. G. n. 

1 — No manure 75 12 87 — — 

2 — 20 loads barn-yard manure 82i 10 92i 7J — 

3-150 lbs. sulphate of ammonia 85" 30 115" 10 18 — 

4— 300 lbs. superphosphate of lime 88 10 98 13 — — 

5— 100 lbs. Peruvian guano 90 30 120 15 18 — 

6 — 400 lbs. of " cancerine " or fish manure 85 20 105 10 8 18 

A. No. of the plots. 

B. Descriptions of manures and quantities applied per acre. 

C. Bushels of ears of sound corn per acre. 

D. Bushels of ears of soft corn per acre. 

E. Total number of bushels of ears of corn per acre. 

F. Increase ears of sound corn per acre over unnianured plot. 

G. Increa.se ears of soft corn per acre over unmanured plot. 
H. ToNtl increase of ears of corn per acre. 

As before stated, the land was of a stronger nature than tliat on which 
the first set of experiments was made, and it was evidently in better condi- 
tion, as the plot having no manure produced 20 bushels of ears of corn per 
acre more than the plot without manure in tlie other field. 

Plot 4, with 300 pounds of superphosphate of lime per acre, gives a total 
increase of 11 bushels of ears of corn per acre over the unmanured plot, 
agreeing exactly with the increase obtained from the same quantity of the 
same manure on Plot 5, in the first set of experiments. 

Plot 3, dressed with 150 pounds of sulphate of ammonia per acre, gives 
a total increase of 28 busliels of ears of corn per acre over the unmanured 
plot, and an increase of 22^ bushels of ears per acre over Plot 2, which re- 
ceived 20 loads of good, well-rotted barn-yard dung per acre. 

Plot 5, with 400 pounds of Peruvian guano per acre, gives the best crop 
of this series, viz., an increase of 33 bushels of ears of corn per acre over 
the unmanured plot, and 2Ti over the plot manured with 20 loads of barn- 
yard dung. The 400 pounds of " cancerine," an artificial manure made in 
New Jersey from fish, gives a total increase of 18 bushels of ears per acre 
over the unmanured plot, and 12^ bushels more than that manured with 
barn-yard dung, though 5 bushels of ears of sound corn and 10 bushels of 
"nubbins" per acre less than the same quantity of Peruvian guano. 

The result of the following detailed experiments was published in the 
Rural American. Ten equal quantities of "White Flint corn were treated as 
follows : 

No. 1, I soaked in tar water eight hours, until it was perfectly black, then 
rolled in lime. 

No. 2 was merely immersed in tar water, ana rolled in lime. 

No. 3, soaked in clear water over-night, then immersed in tar water, and 
rolled in lime. 



730 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

No. 4, immersed in tar water, and rolled in ashes. 

No. 5, soaked in clear water over-night, then dipped in tar (not tar 
water), and rolled in ashes. 

No. 6, soaked over-night in clear water, immersed in tar water, and then 
rolled in ashes. 

No. 7, soaked in tar water eight hours, until perfectly black, and then 
rolled in ashes. 

No. 8, immersed dry in tar, and then rolled in lime. 

No. 9, soaked in clear water over-night, and dipped in tar, and then 
rolled in lime. 

No. 10, immersed dry in tar, and then rolled in ashes. 

On the 23d of May I planted the several prepared parcels in similar soil, 
at an equal depth as nearly as possible, and each parcel received like treat- 
ment and culture throughout the season. Now mark the result : 



JUNE 8. 

No. 1. Only about one quarter of the grain 
germinated — looks weakly. 

No. 2. All the grains up — looking middling 
well. 

No. 3. Every gr,iin up, and looking nicely. 

No. 4. All up ; look tolerably well— not so 
well as No. 3. 

No. 5. Tardy — just up — very weakly. 

No. 6. Every grain up — looLs firat-rate. 

No. 7. Only one half the grains germinated — 
weakly. " 

No. 8. Every grain up— looking well, and 
growing finely. 

No. 9. About one third the grains up — rath- 
er weakly. 

'No. 10. Only about one tenth of the grains 
up — weakly. 



JULY 26. 
About one half the grain up. 

Somewhat backwai4j but promises better 
than No. 1. 

Growing finely — promises well. 
Backward, weakly, and spindling. 

"Very backward. 

Thrifty — promises well. 

Middling — rather better than Nos. 4 and 5. 

Looking exceedingly well — the best of the 
ten parcels. 
Tolerably well — a trifle better than No. 7. 

Remained long in ground before it germin- 
ated — very backward — about the same as Nos. 
4 and 5. 



Soon after the corn came up, No. 6 appeared to be the most thrifty and 
promising ; No. 3 looked nearly as well, but No. S soon shot ahead of No. 
6, and remained so througli the season. 

Nos. 4 and 5 were the most backward of any. 

On July 26th, Nos. 3, 6, and 8 I judged to be from two to three weeks in 
advance of Nos. 4, 5, and 10 ; the former Nos. being silked and tasseled, 
while none of the others were. No. 8 was the most forward — ears best set, 
and largest. 

No. 8 finally produced the best corn, and the most of it. So of all the 
above preparations I give that mode of preparing the preference. 

There is an evil I think, however, attending the application of tar in any 
shape to corn previous to planting ; it retards the germ, while at the same 
time I know of no benefit I have received from its use. 

791. The Yield of Corn per AcrCt — This question causes mucli controversy, 
as the modes of measuring have been so diverse. Weighing the ears grown 
on an acre is certainly better than measuring oif one square rod, and shell- 
ing the corn, and multiplying by one hundred and sixty. "A good deal de- 
pends upon M'hat we call a bushel, as corn will shrink from December to 



Seo. 45 ] YIELD OF CORK PER ACRE. 731 

May fifteen per cent. A good crop is sixty bushels per acre. Premiums 
are often awarded to a very rough manner of measurement. Never count 
your crops until sold ; upon whatever they measure then, estimate the 
yield per acre." Some say that corn shrinks twenty-five per cent, in weight 
between the time it is ripe enough to gather, and the next summer. If you 
wish to estimate liow much an acre of corn will yield while standing, count 
the hills, or estimate the number upon an acre, and shell the ears from a 
given number, and measure the grain, and calculate from that base. If you 
have four thousand hills per acre, and a pint of corn per hill, your acre will 
yield sixty-two and a half bushels, as it measures at that time, and so in 
proportion. To make one hundred and twenty-five bushels per acre, each 
hill must give a quart, and there must be none of the number missing. You 
may find now and then a square rod that will yield a quart per hill, but who 
gets such a yield from every rod of an acre ? and if one could, let him be 
sure that it does not cost too much. If we can grow sixty or seventy bush- 
els per acre, we are doing well. 

It is certified that James Armstrong, of Ivnoxville, Tenn., raised, in 1859, 
upon forty acres of land, four thousand bushels of shelled corn, measured 
in the half bushel, which weighed sixty pounds per bushel. The best acre 
of the forty gave one hundred and sixty-six bushels. The same forty acres 
produced, with the corn, fifty two-horse wagon-loads of pumpkins, forty 
bushels of Southern peas, and ten bushels of beans, yet we do not believe 
that the average yield of all corn crops in the Southern States is ten bush- 
els. The yield of nine lots of ten acres each, entered for premium at the 
State Fair of Kentucky a few years since, is given by the committee as fol- 
lows : 

Bbls. Bnsh. Qt. Bbls. Bnsh. Qt. 



J. Matson, of Bourbon 37 4 1 per acre 

Peter Pean, of Clarke 37 4 

S. H. Chew, of Fayette 27 J 

J. Hutchcraft, Bourbon 23" 

A. Vanmeter, Fayette 21 Si 



A. Hedges, Bourbon 21 2 1 per acre. 

E. W. Hocaday , Clarke 20 

Dr. Dudley, Fayette 20 

H Varnon, Bourbon 19 3 " 



A barrel of corn in Kentucky is five bushels of shelled com. 

About the year 1840 (or 1841), Mr. Bryant, and Mr. Young, of Jessa- 
mine County, Ky., each grew a crop of five acres, Mdiich averaged one 
hundred and ninety bushels per acre, according to a well-certified report. 

Over one hundred bushels of corn per acre, in Maine, are reported by 
John II. Willard, of Wilton, Franklin County. He says : 

" I have repeatedly, within a few years past, raised from eighty to one 
hundred and ten bushels of dry shelled corn to the acre. All my farming 
is on a small scale ; but the same cultivation would produce the same re- 
sults on a large as on a small scale. The best crop I ever raised was in 1853, 
which was the best corn season we have had in this vicinity for many years. 
The produce that year was fifty-five bushels and eight quarts from half an 
acre. I proceed to give an account of the various steps I pursued in raising 
that crop, and shall persevere in following nearly the same course till I learn 
a better. The soil is a gravelly loam, and the land stony. The stones near 



732 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

the surface had been removed, and put into a wall. As to the component 
parts of the soil, I am as ignorant as most farmers are respecting theirs, 
having no means of ascertaining. I only know it contains a fair portion 
of lime, having previously raised a good crop of wheat on the same land. 
The wheat was sown on the sward newly broken up. Soon after the wheat 
was cut, I plowed in the stubble, and plowed very shallow, say from two to 
four inches deep, so as to just cover the stubble, and not disturb the sward. 
In the spring, put on six cords of manure, twelve to the acre, one half 
spread, and the other half in the hill. I spread the manure, and harrowed 
previous to plowing ; then plowed and cross-plowed about ten inches deep, 
being a little deeper than the land was previously broken ; plowed fine, that 
is, in narrow furrows, not more than two thirds the width the plow would 
turn. After harrowing, I furrowed the rows straigiit, three feet eight 
inches apart, and put the hills two feet four inches apart ; covered the ma- 
nure in the hills before dropping the corn, which I put in liberally, nearly 
double what I wanted to grow ; covered the corn thoroughly from two to 
three inches deep ; hoed the corn thoroughly twice, having run a cultivator 
twice between the rows before each hoeing, and having thinned the corn to 
five stalks in each hill previous to the second hoeing, by pulling up the 
poorest stalks. I cut the corn up at the roots, when the stalks were wilted 
above the cars, and green below, and cured in shook before husking. The 
seed was thoroughly dried by the ears being hung near a fire. The manure 
used was stable, part cow and part horse, with a good deal of straw litter, 
kept under cover till spring, and one or two hogs kept on it. The largest 
part was from horses well grained. The coarsest part, or last made, was 
first hauled to the field and put in a heap to ferment for the hills, the other 
spread. When the heap got into a higli state of fermentation, 1 pitched it 
over to prevent its burning. I know it is said that manure must be thor- 
oughly decomposed before it is food for plants ; hence many infer it must 
bo in that state when put on the ground ; but I have had the best luck 
when I put it into the hill in such a state of fermentation as to be uncom- 
fortably hot to the feet through thick boots, and planted and covered imme- 
diately before it cools. I had no potatoes, jiumpkins, or beans, and but few 
weeds among my corn, for weeds are the most unprofitable crop I ever 
raised." 

We hope a good many small farmers who read this account will pursue 
the same course, and raise an equally good crop. The way to do it is simple 
and sensible. 

Dr. John T. Tuttle, of Rye, twenty-five miles northeast of New York 
city, near Long Island Sound, gives the following interesting statement of 
what kind of a corn crop can be produced upon such a forbidding soil as 
the most of the land in this region of country : 

" According to request, I send you an account of my crop of corn grown 
on two fields, one containing eight and a half, and the other six acres, mak- 
ing fourteen and a half acres. I paid $150 per acre for the land. It being 



Sbo. 45.] YIELD OF CORN PER ACRE. T33 

too -wet, naturally, for good corn land, I determined to drain it, and accord- 
ingly laid six hundred and forty rods of three-inch sole drain tile, which 
was sufficient to thoroughly drain the fourteen and a half acres. Tlie tile 
was laid about three feet deep ; this is necessary, in order to get it out of 
the way of the frost. If laid too near the surface, and permitted to freeze, 
it will crack, fall in, and destroy it. This land being originally very poor 
and neglected, I was obliged to bestow much labor on it, in order to re- 
claim and make it productive. Completing this result, I valued my land 
at $400 per acre. I then plowed it, turning the soil up eleven inches deep, 
following with a subsoil plow, so that the entire piece was mellowed to the 
depth of eighteen inches. I then carted on three hundred loads of good 
composted manure, and harrowed it in. I marked out eight and a half 
acres for planting, three feet each way, and planted it with Improved King 
Philip corn, four grains in each hill ; the balance of the plot of six acres I 
marked out three feet in drills, and planted it nine inches apart in the drill, 
one grain in a place. The fourteen and a half acres yielded two tiiousand 
two hundred and seventy-six and a half baskets of ears ; each basket yielded 
eighteen quarts of shelled corn, making an average of eighty -eight bushels, 
one peck, two quarts per acre for the entire plot. The six acres planted in 
drills was much the best corn, and the yield much the largest ; this I esti- 
mated at one hundred bushels of shelled corn per acre. I shonld recom- 
mend this mode of planting in drills; the yield is much larger than the 
hill system. I think the Improved King Philip the most productive corn in 
cultivation, and as it ripens in less than one hundred days, is sure to escape 
the early fall frosts ; it is a most valuable variety of corn. The following is 
the average result of the fourteen and a half acres : 

Dr. 
Interest on 1 acre, value per acre, I54OO. .S28 00 

Twenty loads of manure, per load $1 . . . . 20 00 

Plowing and subsolling, per acre 6 00 

Harrowing, per acre 1 00 

Marking out for planting 75 

One peck corn seed 25 

Planting, per acre 1 28 

Running cultivator through four times . . 4 00 

Hoeing once 1 25 

Cutting up com from the ground 1 50 

Gathering 160 baskets, at 3 c. per basket 4 80 

Total $68 83 

The following is the corn crop of an Ohio farm : About five miles below 
Chillicothe, Ohio, there is a tract of high river bottom-land, known as the 
" Claypool Farm," now owned by the widow of James Davis. The corn crop 
of 1858 was forty-seven thousand bushels, sold at seventy-five cents a bushel 
to a distillery. We submit the problem to political economists, of how many 
persons the products of this one farm would have fed one year, and how 
many its products will make miserable after passing through that distillery. 

792. Two Hundred Bushels of Corn per Acre. — It has been published — 
and, so far as we can see, duly certified — that Dr. J. "W. Parker, of Colum- 



Eighty-eight bushels, one peck, two qts., 

at "5 cts. per bushel S66 23 

Three tuns stalks, at $5 per tun 15 00 

Four and one half cords pumpkins, at 

$2 per cord 9 00 

Seventy-five bushels turnips, at 20 cents 
per bushel 15 00 

Total.. $105 23 

Profit $36 40 



734 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

bia, S. C, grew, in 1857, upon his fai'm near that town, two hiindred bush- 
els and twelve quarts upon one measured acre of ground, and one hundred 
and sixteen bushels and six quarts upon another acre. 

In the report to the State Agricultural Society, Dr. Parker states that the 
seed selected for planting was from North Carolina, and designated " Bale 
Mountain Corn." After soaking it during the night in a strong solution of 
niter, it was planted from eiglit to twelve inches distance in the row, cov- 
ered with hoes, and the ground rolled, leaving it perfectly level. The land 
was the border of a small creek, underdrained, and prepared by plowing in 
November, and manured in December with twenty-five two-horse loads of 
cow-house manure, plowed in, and followed by a subsoil plow drawn by two 
mules. About the first of March another coat of good stable and cow ma- 
nure was spread, and plowed in. Early in April, three cart-loads of air- 
slaked lime, and two sacks of salt were spread over each acre, and lightly 
plowed under. On the 14th of May the ground was thoroughly plowed 
with Glaze's large iron plow, harrowed level, and laid off thirty inches apart 
with a shovel plow. Guano and plaster were sprinkled in the furrows, near 
two hundred pounds of the former, and three hundred pounds of the latter 
to each acre. 

On the 14th of May the corn was plowed with a long, very narrow plow, 
and dressed over with hoes. On the 5th and 17th of June the same work 
was repeated, each time leaving the ground level. About the first of July 
it was necessary to draw a ridge about the roots of the corn to prevent its 
falling. During a protracted drouth, acre No. 1 was twice irrigated, and 
acre No. 2 had the water turned on it once. 

The yield of acre No. 1, as before stated, exceeded two hundred busliels. 
No. 2 was partly replanted, which the committee say prevented the yield 
being as large as the other. 

True, this crop cost labor and manure, but does it not j^ay better than the 
tens of thousands of acres that do not yidd ten bushels per acre, for such 
are as common as blackberries all over the Southern States. The land iised 
being " sand-hill branch land," required the high manuring, as it; is not 
naturall}^ fertile enough to produce such crops. The secret, however, is in 
the underdrainiiig, the frequent plowing, and subsoiling and irrigation. 

793. liow to Bind Corn Shocks. — Iliram Harris, of Ohio, has made the 
world a gift of a valuable invention. It is a Avay easily to bind shocks of 
cornstalks, which have been cut and set up ready for binding, and which 
have to be hugged together tight enough to put the band on. This new 
plan saves tliat dirty, hard job. Any one can make the implement. It is 
a wooden spindle, round and smooth, sharp at one end, and long enough 1o 
thrust through the loose shock at the point where it is to be bound. On 
the other end is a crank and turning-pin, like the crank of a grindstone. A 
few inches from the crank is a cross-piece on the spindle, of a few inches in 
length, to one end of which a stout cord is attached, long enough to go 
round the shock and hitch a loop on tiie other end of the cross-piece. Now, 



Sko. 46.] HARVESTING CORN. 73.5 

by turning the crauk, the cord is drawn tight, compressing the loose stalks 
as firmly as may be desired, when the band is put on firrtfly and the crank 
unwound and applied to another shock. It enables the operator to do 
double the work, doubly better than he can without it ; and as there is no 
strain upon the band in the attempt to draw it tight, as is usual in trying to 
compress the shock, there is no breaking of bands in putting them on, and 
they may be made of stalks, straw, bark, or twine. Any farmer can make 
one of these little implements, which saves so much labor. Indeed, a smooth 
young hickory, sharpened at one end, with a crank at the other, will be the 
best material. The rope should be small and very strong. 
79i. Requisites in Harvesting CorUi — 1. Have a good corn-cutter. 

2. Lay the corn (2 or 4 hills in a place) so that the tops of the second 
two rows will lie toward the tops of the first two, the tops of the fourtli 
two toward the tops of the third two, and so on. By throwing the left 
arm over, never under the stalks, bending them down slightly, one blow of 
the cutter will generally bring down the whole : and a large field may be 
leveled at short notice, far quicker than the top stalks can be cut. 

3. Make yourself a good corn-horse. Take a small pole, about three 
inches through at the large end, 10 feet or so in length, light and dry ; if a 
little curving, so much the better. With an incli-and-a-half auger, bore two 
holes near the large end, so as to insert two legs, standing outward and for- 
ward, the curving side of the pole being upward. Next, bore a horizontal 
hole about 2i feet from the largo end, into whicli a broken rake-handle or 
smooth slick may be run. Here we have a complete corn-horse all ready 
for use ; the horizontal stick forming with the other four corners, around 
which we may set up the corn, 16 to 32 hills in a stook. Then tie firmly 
with wilted suckers or small stalks, or, what is better, rye straw bands, and 
bend down the tops and tie a small band over them, to shed rain, and then 
draw out the horizontal stick ; take hold of the horse just behind the legs, 
draw it along a few feet and run tbe stick in again, ready for another 
stook. 

. The husking may be greatly facilitated by first breaking off the ears. 
This is done by pressing the thumb and fingers firmly against the butt of 
the ears and bending over with the other hand. One may acquire the habit 
of breaking them off so that many ears will have few, if any, husks left. 
The stooks need not be untied. By a little ingenuity at contrivance, one 
may fix a low bench three feet M'ide, or so, throw a stook upon it, sit down 
with feet under the bench, begin at one side to break oti", and make clean 
work as he goes; or he may kneel down to the stooks as they stand, or lie 
ou the floor. If possible, let the corn be fairly glazed before cutting ; but if 
a cold September morning, which threatens a hard frost at night, finds a 
field standing unglazed, I should prefer cutting and stocking, with the 
wilted side inward, to letting the frost take it. In such a case, it will harden 
oflT better in the stook than in the field. 

The corn-horse described above has been used by many, and declared by 



736 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

all who have used it to really save one third the time usually employed in 
cutting up and stooking corn. Never top corn, and why ? The sap which 
is elaborated in the leaf and upper part of the stalk is fitted to perfect the 
grain. The best farmers in the country settled that question years since. In 
a large field of corn one topped several rows, left the same number to ripen 
unmutilated, and ciit up by the ground an equal portion at two diiferent 
periods of growth, viz., one when the kernel was fairly seared, and another 
when the corn was thoroughly seared. The result proved, conclusively, that 
the corn cut at the ground when fairly seared was the best and heaviest, 
and the fodder was also best of all. 

If you have not yet become fully convinced of the folly of cutting stalks, 
try the following experiment : Cut the stalks on fifty hills of corn at the 
usual time, cut up fifty hills at the ground when the corn is glazed, and let 
it mature in the shock, and let the stalks remain on fifty hills until fully 
ripe, and weigh the corn on each when dry. And try this : Plant the same 
quantity of ground with corn of the same kind, with compost manure, at 
the rate of twenty-five loads to the acre, and with guano, at the rate of 260 
pounds to the acre, and weigh the corn in the autumn, keeping an account 
of the cost of each kind of manure on the land, and which ground is easiest 
kept clean of weeds. 

When there is no danger of frost, adopt the rule to cut no stalk till the 
corn is rij^e, and do not try to swindle nature by fishing for a crop of beans, 
or turnips, or pixmpkins among tiie corn. One good crop each year is 
enougli to exact of land in this latitude, and these extras often hinder the 
harvest as much in tiie loss of corn as they are worth. 

T95. Corn Harvesliug MacbiueSi — The following is the description of a pa- 
lent corn-cutter : 

A driver sits upon a small cart, drawn by one horse walking between 
two rows of corn planted four feet apart, either in hills or drills. Attached 
to the forward end of the body are two circular saws, arranged to work just 
as near the ground as may be desired. 

These saws are diiven by gearing attached to the cart-wheels, and one is 
designed to cut a row one side and the other on the other side ; the horse 
walking forward saws ofi" the stalks right and left, and, like all circulai 
saws, the faster they run the easier they will do their work. The stalks as 
they are cut ofi" are held by an arm so as to fall on a platform upon each 
side, which tips them off out of the way of the machine. It will be easy to 
arrange a machine to cut rows of any regular width apart, and the plan 
looks, on jiaper, as though it would work well on land, and be a real labor- 
saving machine. 

Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, when he was growing corn upon a large scale 
in Illinois, contrived a very cheap corn-cutter. Two pieces of wood, like 
the sides of a triangular harrow, were hinged at the point, and held apart 
at the wide end by a piece of hickory, represented by half of a stout hoop. 
The side pieces were armed with short scythe blades. The frame was sup- 



Seo. 45.] CORN HARVESTING ifACniNES. 737 

ported upon blocks that raised it above the surface, and ran on the ground 
like sled runners. This frame, drawn by one horse between two rows of 
corn, had the blades pressed against the stalks l)y the spring, and cut them 
off as fast as the horse could walk ; men following picked them up rap- 
idly, setting them in shocks. The objection urged against this machine was, 
that unless the stalks were gathered row by row, as they were cut, they 
were apt to become tangled together, and the men said made, instead of 
saved, labor. 

At the New York State Fair of 1861 we saw a corn-cutting machine that 
looked as though it would prove effectual. A few stout cutters are fixed 
upon the bar of a mowing machine, and a box to hold the corn as it falls, 
until enough accumulates for a bundle, when the driver by a slight move- 
ment opens the box and drops the com. The horses walk by the side of the 
row to be cut, just as they do by the side of the grass. The additional ex- 
pense to a mowing machine was stated at twenty-five dollars. 

A corn-shock cart is in use in "West New Jersey, which we thought a great 
labor-saving machine, by which a boy and one horse would move more 
shocks of corn in a day, where the distance was not over half a mile, than 
two men and a team could do in the ordinary way. A horse-cart, with a 
frame to tilt, having rather long shafts, and a windlass on the shafts be- 
hind the horse, with a stout rope fast at one end of the windlass, cousti- 
tutes the machine. The cart is backed up to a shock, and the frame tilted 
up against it, and the rope thrown over, and the loose end hooked on tlie 
windlass, which is turned by a crank or arms, and winds up both ends of 
the rope, drawing the shock tight upon the frame, and that down to its 
place, when the windlass is fastened by a catch, and the horse trots off to 
the barn, or oixt upon the grass at the side of the cornfield, if the object is 
merely to clear the corn-ground, and then the catch being loosened, the 
frame and shock tilt back by their own weight, and the corn is set upriglit 
upon the butts, just as it stood originally. A pair of old city dray-wheels 
answer a good purpose to make a corn-shock carrier, and such a machine 
will be found extremely useful to those who wish to sow rj'e or wheat upon 
the corn-ground. 

796. Husking in the Field.— A letter from Tioga County, Pa., recom- 
mends pulling down four shocks of corn toward a center, and tiien 
throwing the corn to that point from all, thus making one pile instead of 
four; and also laying the stalks, as tlie ears are stripped off, in, bun- 
dles of equal size for binding. In commencing to husk a shock, stand u]) 
and drop the first stalks at your feet ; then kneel upon them until you got 
enough to form a seat, when tired of kneeling. Tliis change of position is 
said to be a great preventive of fatigue. It is recommended to pull down 
the shocks in the morning, when the dew is on, and bind them at evening, 
when a little moist. The best time to gatlier the ears of corn and store 
them in the crib is when they are hot and dry in the sun. The ears never 
should be thrown upon wet nor frozen ground, except the weather is cold 



738 CEREALIA. [Ch^p. VIIL 

enough to keep it frozen. But, after all these directions for husking in the 
field, it is a question whether it is not altogether the best economy, where 
stalks do not grow larger than they generally do in the Northeastern States, 
and where they are valuable for fodder, to haul tlie shocks of corn up to 
the barn, so that all the fodder can be saved in good order, as fast as the 
ears are husked. Filling a large shed, or the barn floor, with the sliocks 
of corn, to be husked on rainy days or evenings, is a good old fashion that 
need not be lost sight of in days of modern improvement, and the machine 
described in 795 will be found a very useful thing to those who wisli to 
pursue this good old fasliion. 

A Pennsylvania farmer, John F. Overshire, of Athens, Bradford County, 
gives his mode of cutting up and husking corn in the field, which appears 
to be a very good one. He says : " I cut and set my corn in stooks of 
thirty-five hills to each, set in squares. I do not leave a hill uncut to 
support the stook, but bind a bundle to set in the center ; and I never 
throw tiie corn down, but set it up as fast as cut, which takes less time, 
and there is no liability to injury fi'om rain while lying upon the groiind. 
In husking, never throw sound corn on the ground, but in baskets, sorting 
it at the same time. Empty the baskets into a cart or wagon, and thence 
to the crib. I place a husking bench between four stooks, and pull them to 
it, and it saves many hours of back-aclie and cramps of limbs. A good 
busker can put sixty bushels of ears in the wagon in a day. The bench is 
two by five feet, made of inch boards nailed upon cross-pieces that hold 
legs put in a two-inch auger hole, so as to stand two feet high. The legs 
at one end being set back from where the busker stands against the end of 
the boards, he can crowd his stalks in a pile down between his own and 
the legs of the bench." 

797. Sowing Corn Broadcast or Drilling for Fodder • — There are not many 
farmers who would not find a small plot of sowed corn the most profitable 
crop of the whole annually planted. Laud produces of sowed corn a greater 
burthen of excellent fodder to use green, and, if cured, makes more of win- 
ter food for stock than any other grain. 

We have sown corn broadcast upon a mellow piece of ground, plowed in 
after the first of July, and got a very heavy crop. It should not be plowed 
in unless the land has been previously plowed, because plowing the land 
as deeply as the crop requires would bury the seed too deep. The best way 
to plant this fodder crop is with a wheat drill. The next is to sow broad- 
cast and cover with a gang plov/, or share cultivator, that will turn the 
seed nearly all into straight rows. Some persons sow it wide enough be- 
tween rows to be cultivated. 

Warren Hutchins, Bethel, Yt., says . 

" I plow evenly, sowing the seed in every third furrow, and roll the 
ground and harrow liglitly in the direction of the furrows. I run a culti- 
vator once or twice between the rows. If the crop is to be plowed in for 
manure, I commence about September 1, with a plank fastened on the 



Seo. 45.] DOURA CORN-SOILING CROPS. 739 



beam to break clown the stalks, so that they will turn under well, making 
my furrow across the rows. I find this a cheap way to enrich land that lies 
far from the stables. 

"This day, June 1, I have sowed an acre for fodder, with the assistance 
of a boy half a day. Last year, a half acre left to ripen had 25 bushels of 
ears, besides a great yield of fodder." 

It is preferable to cut the corn for fodder before the ears get of any con- 
siderable size, and as a general tiling the crop is most valuable when grown 
60 thick that ears are not likely to form ; and when sown broadcast upon 
rich soil, and plowed in lightly, the last of Juno, it will grow of sufficient 
size and maturity for good winter fodder, before the usual time of frost, 
which in this latitude is usually about the first of October. 

798. Doura Corn for Fodder. — This is one of the varieties of sorghum, 
much esteemed by some farmers for a fodder crop. Its great advantage 
over corn is that it will sometimes grow when and where Indian corn will 
not. One farmer says : 

" Having found from experience that where stands of corn are broken it 
does not pay either to supply breaks with seed or to transplant, I have, for 
years past, done neither, but always plant Doura corn or sugar millet in 
all missing hills in my cornfields, and I have found it to do and pay well. 
When planted early, the Doura corn will make two or three heads to the 
stalk, and the first head will shell as much as an ordinary ear of flint corn ; 
when planted late, say in April or May, it will still make as mucli as the 
corn, and it answers as an excellent substitute for corn to feed to poultry, 
besides making very good bread." 

The above word is spoken of a region where February and March are 
the corn-planting months. In a wet season, the Doura corn here would 
grow a good fodder crop 'after the first of August. It is only by experi- 
ment that it can be determined which is the best for the purpose, the Doura 
corn or sorghum saceharatum, known as Ciiinese sugar-cane. 

799. Value of Sowed Corn for Soiling Milcli Cows. — For a soiling crop we 
do not know of any plant cultivated that is of greater value than Indian corn. 
In a large milk dairy, where sowed corn is much used at the time of our 
usual summer drouths, when pastures fail, the following results were noted : 

From the first of April to the first of July there is a gradual increase in 
the quantity of milk produced ; during the month of March it is stationary ; 
it increases in April, as warmer and pleasanter weather comes on ; and 
thenceforward the quantity keeps exact pace with the growth of grass and 
the advance of the season, until the maximum is attained in the first week 
of July. This point once turned, the yield decreases, by slow degrees at 
first, but with greater rapidity as the autumn months aj^proach, and it can 
only be increased by feeding the green corn, and then the gain is sufiicient 
to pay a large profit upon the soiling crop. For sowing broadcast it will 
require two bushels of seed per acre, and some prefer to sow three busliels. 
When used green, the objection urged agninst broadcast corn, that it is diffi- 



740 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

cult to cure it, does not apply. "With xis the trouble about saving the stalks 
for winter -was overcome with one heavy crop in this way.% "We com- 
menced cutting and setting the stalks against the fence, and after clearing 
a strip aliout 30 feet wide, hauled poles from the adjoining woodland, and 
laid them on forked posts, and then cut another strip and set the stalks on 
each side of the poles, and so on through the field. This plan will only 
answer where woodland is very convenient. The stalks, however, may be 
bound in small bundles, and set up in rows, and will cure perfectly. "When 
partially cured set them in shocks, to prevent bleaching. But we look 
upon this crop as more valuable for soiling than for preserving for winter 
use. In all cases where pastures are liable to be short in autumn, have a 
resource in reserve in a soiling crop of broadcast corn. 

800. Corn in Drills or Hills. — A correspondent in East Hamburg, Erie 
County, N. Y., gives the following as the successful practice of "Win. Ilam- 
bleton, of that place, in raising corn : 

" After a faithful plowing, he makes furrows with a light plow, one way 
at 3i feet apart. These furrows are then nearly filled with such a compost as 
usually accumulates every year about farm buildings, or by well-rotted 
stable manure, and on this the corn is drilled, the kernels six inclies from 
each other in the row. From beginning to end he is death on the weeds, 
and the labor of raising corn in tills -way is hardly more than by the old 
method, while the harvest is doubled by it, and sometimes averages 100 
bushels to the acre ; and the greatly enlarged quantity of stalks pays every 
expense of cultivation." 

"We are much in favor of drilling corn, but not in favor of sustaining the 
practice by such statements as this, that " the harvest is doubled by it." 
If the land is rich enough to sustain corn in drills, six inches between stalks 
and 42 inches between rows, it will give 24,891 stalks to an acre 10 by 16 
rods square; and the same land would grow four stalks in each hill, planted 
tliree feet apart each way, and that would give 19,360 stalks; and, as the 
stalks will produce equally, the result will be that if the drilled acre pro- 
duces 100 bushels, the acre in hills will produce 79 bushels ; or, say one 
fourth more, instead of doubling the crop ; and that, we think, sufiBcient to 
induce any one to adopt the drill system. Tiie estimate of Southern corn is 
100 ears to a bushel. The ordinary Northern corn will require nearer two 
hundred than one hundred ears, as they average through the field, to make a 
bushel ; but suppose we say 150 ears to the bushel, and that the stalks 
average one ear to each, the product in bushels per acre will be 165 bushels 
for the drills and 129 bushels for the hills. Is this result produced in one 
field in a thousand ? and, if it is not, is it not a question worthy of considera- 
tion by the owners of the 999 fields, whether the rule should not be reversed 
so far that in a good season not one field in a thousand should produce less 
than 100 bushels per acre? 

801. Measuriug Corn in Bulk. — A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer 
gives a rule for ascertaining the number of bushels of shelled corn in a crib 



Seo. 45.] YIELD OF STARCH PER BUSHEL, AND ITS USES. 741 

of ears, b}' multiplying the cubic feet in the pile by (t'orty-fivc hundredths) .45. 
" Example : In a crib or bin of corn in the ear, measuring ten feet in lengtli, 
eight feet high, and seven feet wide, there will be two hundred and fifty- 
two bushels of shelled corn. Thus — 10 x 8 x 7 x .45=252. This rule agrees 
with weighing corn— seventy pounds to the bushel in the ear. Assuming 
this rule to be correct, it will be very important to keep it where it can be 
readily referred to at times when it will be found very useful. But the rule 
applies only to localities where three heaped half bushels of ears make a 
bushel of shelled corn. In the Eastern States, where it takes two bushels 
of ears to make one of shelled corn, in order to use said rule we must pro- 
ceed as follows: To find the contents of a crib ten feet long, eight feet 
wide, and seven feet high, 10 x 8 x 7 x .45=252. Then 252 x 3=756-^2=378, 
the number of bushels of ears, or one hundred and eiglitjiv-niue bushels of 
shelled corn of Eastern varieties. It would probably come nearer the truth 
to multiply the cubic contents in feet by 3i, and cut off the right-hand 
figure, to wit : the number of Imshels of shelled corn. Thus, 10 x 8 x 7=560 
feet; 560 x 3^=182— cutting off tlie right-hand figure." 

802. Corn — Shrinkage in Dryingi — Experiments have been tried where 
the quantity of newly-gathered ears supposed suflicient to make a busliel 
of shelled corn, weighed seventy-five pounds, which, after being thoroughly 
dried, oidy weighed sixty pounds — nine of cobs and fifty-one of grain. 
The proportion of cob by weight to grain will generally average about one 
sixth ; and we think the difference in weight of ears between the time of 
harvest and spring is never less than ten per cent., unless the corn stands 
nntil very ripe, and is then gathered in a very dry time. The shrinkage is 
more in the cob than in the grain, but there will be a considerable loss upon 
the grain, stored in a good crib, from autumn till spring. 

803. Yield of Starch per Bushel, and its Fses. — As the starch in corn is 
the principal ingredient of value as food we should grow the varieties that 
afford the most. The average yield is about thirty pounds per bushel, 
and if not separated from the other ingredients, it will not prove too nu- 
tritions, although we generally take our food in a highly concentrated 
form, that is, too much starcli to the bulk. All grain is more wholesome 
when used without separating its parts. Starch will not make as mucli fat 
as corn meal, though it is much used for food, and saves flour. It is also 

.used in calico printing, not only as starch, but, by a chemical process, to 
make a sort of gum much required. It is very doubtful whether the largely 
increased manufacture of corn starch has proved beneficial to mankind, if 
it is true, as it has been stated, that nine tenths of it lias been used for 
human food, since a corn-meal pudding is far more wholesome than a 
farina pudding, notwithstanding one is vulgar and the other fashionable — 
one tickles the eye as well as palate, while the other is the subject of an 
apology whenever oftered to guests, even at a farm-house. 

The increased demand for corn starch within a few years past has caused 
the building of imnjense manufactories ; one in particular, at Oswego, N. Y., 



742 CERE ALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

is very large ; and the process, which is very simple, though requiring large 
space to conduct it in, separates all the starch contained in tlie corn, and 
makes as pure an article as can be made from any other substance. Indian 
corn yields a larger amount of farinaceous food to the acre than any other 
grain, and it is the most certain crop ever planted, but there is a great loss 
in going over a large space of ground — better make the same number of 
bushels usually made, upon one third of tho space. 

804-. Coru and Pumpkins Together.— A writer in the Genesee Farmer 
objects, with a good deal of reason, to growing corn and pumpkins together, 
on account of the shade the vines give the land. He says : " I believe 
more than the value of the pumpkins is subtracted from the value of the 
corn crop. In Illinois we raise them in great perfection on the prairie sod, 
the first season after breaking. An acre of land cultivated entirely in 
pumpkins will yield an immense quantity ; and I think this method pref- 
erable to planting among corn. The crojj is a valuable one — I have made 
excellent beef with no other feed but pumpkins and hay. The pumpkins 
should be cut up, and fed in a clean trough. I bad two hogs, one of which 
I intended to fatten, and the other to keep through the winter. As soon as 
pumpkins were ripe enough to gather, I shut them apart, and fed one on 
corn all he could eat, with an occasional pumpkin for sauce, with slops of 
the house, and milk. The other I fed entirely on pumpkins. They were 
both of an age, and size very nearly alike. In December I killed the one 
fed on corn, which weighed about three hundred pounds; the other was as 
heavy, but not quite so fat. I then concluded to fat the last one, and fed 
him on corn and pumpkins all he would eat. In about a month he was 
very fat, and weighed nearly a hundred mure than the first. This experi- 
ment convinced me that jjumpkins were good feed for hogs, and that corn 
and pumpkins fed together were much better than corn alone." Several 
other farmers are convinced that there is no profit in growing corn and 
pumpkins together. 

805. t'orn Hybridizing. — We planted one season some of the Improved 
King Philip corn, side by side with several other sorts, all of wliich liybrid- 
ized, while the King Philip remained pure. The sort most affected was the 
little rice corn. Now, M'hat is the philosophy of tiiis mixing and running out 
of old sorts ? Nature never works at random, nor is there a foolish thing 
to be found in all lier works. They are full of mystery, but not of wasted 
forpes. In this, as in a thousand other instances of liybridization, there is 
something to be learned. My own theory is, tluit tiiis rice corn is a very 
low type in the family, perhaps only one remove from tiie original wild 
state, where each kernel is enveloped in a separate husk; and therefore 
nature, ever willing to aid man in improvements, makes a greater show 
upon this tlian any of the others, toward a variety that will be more valu- 
able for cultivation ; for that, though toothsome in its green state, is not to 
be compared to some of the best varieties of sweet corn for the table, and 
is not near as productive. The stalks are low and bushy, and may grow 



Sec. 45.] THE COST AND PROFIT OF A CORN CROP. 743 

close together, the ears small, and set near the ground. The principal 
ohject in growing it is for popping. The Improved King Philip has reached 
a high point toward perfection, that is difficult of further improvement. 
Hence it does not mix freely with any other sort. Xature* shows plainly in 
this, that it has already expended its main force in bringing it up to its 
present point. 

SOG. Corn and Crows. — Until the mooted question is settled, whether 
crows do more damage to farmers than they do good, we shall say : 
Frighten the crows, bat do not kill them, except one to use to keep his fel- 
lows off your corn. Pick off part of his feathers, and scatter them on some 
spot in the field easily seen, and near by lay the carcass of the dead crow, 
and 3'ou will see his late companion sailing over the field, and looking 
down upon what has been done, but very careful not to light where he, too, 
might fall a victim. If you can not kill a crow, jou may make a very 
good show of a dead one with a black hen. Crows are too valuable as ver- 
min-destroyers on a farm, to be wantonly destroyed because they pull up a 
little corn. One farmer says : " In protecting fields from crows, he has 
found the best remedy to tie young crows to strings stretched across the 
field. Their calls drew a great many old crows, which came to see what 
the matter was, and went off, and kept off that year and the next." 
Another one says : " A very troublesome case of crow depredation was 
cured by suspending young crows dead, which so alarmed the old ones 
that they left in disgust. I find tarring corn seed a good preventive." If 
crows are to bo kept off by any kmd of scarecrows, they must be put up 
as soon as the corn is planted, before the thieves get a taste. That is 
the " ounce of prevention" that is "worth a pound of cure." 

807. The Cost and Proflt of a Corn Crop.— The growing of corn ; the 
varieties grown; the manner of planting; liow cultivated; whether high 
manuring, and much labor to jjroduce a great yield per acre; whether corn 
shall be grown — particularly in the Eastern States — -will always depend 
upon the cost of production ; which, in all but the great fertile corn region 
of the West, is not less than thirty cents a bushel. There it can be grown 
for less — there it has been often sold below twenty-five cents a bushel. 
For many years in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, a sort of 
universal price of corn prevailed, at a dollar a barrel, which is a local 
measure of five bushels. Yet during those years we have known large car- 
goes delivered on the bank of the Ohio, or its tributaries, at half tliat 
price ; of course, for that is the custom, always in the ear, and at the 
rate of three heaped half bushels of ears for a bushel of grain. The gene- 
ral price of corn upon the Illinois Central Eailroad during the summer 
of 1861 was ten cents a bushel, delivered in the ear, at a measure that 
would make a bushel of shelled corn. On the rivers it was not worth 
as much, and we heard of sales upon interior farms at tRree cents a 
bushel. At these prices corn does not pay ordinary farm-laborers' wages 
to grow it. The price it has sold for also proves that the great value of 



744 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

land is not its richness ; the great source of profit is not the great crops 
produced, but the market for that produce; and land is valuable just in 
jiroportion to its nearness to a place -where its produce can best be sold. It 
ought to be a leading feature in the calculation of every land purchaser, 
Where is the market ? Every producer should also keep this question con- 
stantly before his eyes, and shape his productions accordingly. Before the 
age of railroads the price of wheat in the interior of Indiana and Illinois 
was twenty-five to thirty-five cents a bushel, " store pay." It was not a 
cash article, because there was no market. Indian corn was still more a 
cheap drug on hand, and maiiy a " broad horn" has been loaded upon the 
Wabash and other rivers for the far-oft' New Orleans market, with corn at 
six to ten cents a bushel. The strongest incentive to high farming is a high 
market. Is it profitable to grow corn in New England ? 

808. Early Ripening Sweet Corn. — Sweet corn, Avhich is the kind .'i.it 
shows shriveled grains when fully ripe, and tastes sweet, is not an eaily 
ripening corn. Our pop-corn is fit for boiling two weeks before the sweet 
corn ; but neither pop-corn, nor any other kind of corn, is to be compared 
to the sweet corn for table use, and is only tolerated by those who grow 
sweet corn until that is large enough to boil. There is a black variety of 
sweet corn that ripens earl}' ; biit this we would only grow for early use, 
on account of its color, and that probably is one of the causes of its early 
ripening, as all dark-colored things absorb the rays of the sun. Some of 
this black corn has black cobs and husks ; others, the grains only are 
black. We have grown an excellent sweet corn with white grains and 
dark-colored husks, which is quite early ; that is, in ordinary seasons, fit to 
eat in July. 

809. The Value of Sweet Corn.— There is no variety of corn that affords 
the farmer so much value, or gives so great a return for the labor of grow- 
ing it, as sweet corn ; and it should be grown in sufficient quantity to give 
every farmer's family an unlimited supply for the table at every meal, if 
desired, and also for the children and servants to roast and eat between 
meals, from July 20th to October 20th — three full months. 

Th^re is no food that can be fui'nished so cheaply, and none that is more 
nutritious and wholesome. It is always a welcome dish to chance guests, 
and in case of deficiency of other food at such a time, a dish of ears of 
green corn can be gathered, husked, cooked, and put upon the table in 30 
minutes. And upon two or three ears a hungry man makes a satisfactory 
meal, with very little other food. In firsrt cost, in c6st of preparation, in 
value as food, is there anything equal to green corn ? In value as food, so 
far as nutriment is concerned, sweet corn is 25 per cent, above any other 
sort, and 50 per cent, above as regards its wholesomeness. Being softer it 
is easier masticated, and goes into the stomach in better condition for diges- 
tion ; and being almost entirely destitute of oil it is believed to be more 
easily digested than the common field corn. 

Sweet corn should be planted for family use in hot-beds for transplanting; 



Bko. 45.] BROOM CORN. 715 

or, if you liave no hot-bed, in bits of inverted sod, in a box ia the kitchen, 
EG as to have them ready to put out in a rich warm spot as early as possible, 
and at tlie same time you should plant a few hills, and after that every 
two weeks till the middle of July. Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn can be 
planted so late that it will barely mature so as to be eatable when frost 
comes, previous to which if it is cut up and shocked, or packed closely in a 
room, it will remain fit for boiling till New Year's. Green corn may be 
preserved very late in autumn, by tying a bundle of straw, or cornstalks, 
around a hill of corn while it is growing, and before it is injured by frost. 

Another value that sweet corn has is for drying for winter use. Scald 
the ears when the grains have acquired their full size, and cut them off and 
dry them in the sun, or in a very slow oven, leaving the door open to allow 
the moisture to evaporate. When dry, store it away for winter use in a bag 
of open texture, hung up in a dry store-room — on the rafters in the garret is 
a good place. 

It may be cooked by soaking and boiling alone, or with beans, as " suc- 
cotash ;" and when boiled it may be eaten with meat or with milk, or with 
sirup; or it- may be stewed in milk, adding butter and salt, and form an 
excellent breakfast dish. 

A variety of sweet corn, known as the Excelsior, is considered the best 
where but one sort is grown. It grows two or three ears to the stalk, with 
twelve or fourteen rows to the ear, and is very rich when cooked. 

810. Broom Corn — How it is Grown, and Value of the Crop. — We are aware 
that broom corn docs not come properly under the head of this section, be- 
cause it belongs to the Sorghum family. But as it will be more likely to 
attract attention under the head of Corn, we give it a place here. 

In some sections of the country, particularly on the Mohawk River, broom 
corn is a leading crop upon many of the farms. It requires the best kind of 
soil — that is, soil that would produce forty or fifty bushels of Indian corn 
per acre. It also requires the best kind of preparation by disintegration and 
manuring, and then the seed is planted in drills or hills, like Indian corn, 
at about the same time in the spring, and it should be tended in the same 
yzaj, thinning out the plants, which will probably grow in excess, as the 
seed is usually planted very thickly, and it must be carefully attended to at 
the first and second hoeing. When the broom corn is matured sufficiently, 
the heads are bent down before cutting. If the seed is to be saved in a 
mature condition, the corn is allowed to stand until the heads are well filled, 
but not dead ripe, when the heads are bent down by a man walking between 
two rows and bending all the heads inward. It is then allowed to stand 
until ripe, but not dry, when it is cut by a man walking between the same 
rows with a keen knife — a large-sized shoe-knife is about the best kind that 
can be used — cutting ofi:' the brush with six or eight inches of the stalk at- 
tached. The brush is thrown in bunches by the cutters, and is or should be 
immediately gathered up and carried to the barn, or somewhere under cover. 
It must not be cured in the sun. It is frequently stripped of the seed as 



746 CEREALIA. [Chap. VIII. 

fast as it is cut, and spread all through the barn, over the hay and grain 
lofts, or under sheds, or tied in bunches and hung against tlie walls. 

The seed that is to be saved must be handled carefully, as it is very liable t(j 
heat. It may be cured in the sun, or spread upon the barn floor, or on a loft 
witli a very open floor, and it must be frequently' stirred so as to give it air. 

Sometimes the brush is cured with the seed adhering, but it is not as 
well, as it is more diflicult to cure it perfectly, and it is bulky and heavy 
to haadle, and really in the end requires a good deal more labor. It is 
said, also, that the dry brush scrapes much harder than when first cut, 
and certainly it is more liable to be injured. For some work tlie brush 
must be cut and cured quite green before the seed is mature. Then it is 
scraped off and fed out at once, and is of about the same value as hay. Tlie 
ripe seed, cured for winter feeding, is considered by some nearly equal in 
value to oats. "We have never been satisfied that it was worth half as mucli. 
Perhaps it would be if ground. The stalks are not considered nearly as 
valuable as Indian cornstalks. If neat cattle are turned into the field after 
the brush is cut, they will pick off" the leaves, but never eat the stalks. So 
tliey will if the stalks are cut and cured, and fed out in the winter. About 
the best use that the stalks of broom corn can be put to is to litter yards in 
winter to give cattle dry beds. Tliey may also be used to make temporary 
shelter, or wind-breakers, for stock, or for covering root piles, or protecting 
more valuable forage from the weather. They are not valuable for manure, 
and would probably be the most so as mulcfi. It is the most common prac- 
tice to let the stalks stand till spring, letting the stock pick and trample 
what they like, and then cut and burn the remainder on the field. 

Scraping off the seed is a laborious job. A machine has been extempo- 
rized for this purpose, and is described as follows : 

" Take an old fanning-mill (a new set of wheels in a strong frame, so that 
you could use a balance-wheel, would be better), put on two plank wheels in 
place of the fans, then take slats of the length you wish to make your cylin- 
der, three inches wide and three fourths of an inch thick, hollow theni a 
little at the ends, so as to fit the wheels ; drive eight or ten wrought nails 
through each slat, and nail it to the wheels with the nail points out, in 
such a way that they will not be in straight rows around the cylinder, but 
bristling all over. One to turn tlie crank pretty smartly, one to hold on the 
brush in handfuls, and a boy to hand it up, will scrape two or three wagon- 
loads a day." 

The value of the crop is the most important consideration to those who 
may be tempted to embark in the business. We have seen various estimates 
of the amount of produce per acre. We think that a tun of brush from five 
acres is a pretty fair estimate, and this will sell at from $100 to $150, or it 
will make up about one hundred and twenty dozen brooms , and any man 
of tolerable skill as a farm laborer can soon learn how to make gi>od twine 
or wire brooms. There are machines used by broom-makers which greatly 
facilitate the work. They cost about $35 each. 



Seo. 45.] BROOM CORN. T47 

The quantity of seed grown upon an acre we have seen rated as high as 
sixty bushels. We do not believe that one crop in ten will give that. The 
writer of an article now before us estimates the value of well-ripened seed 
for horses, sheep, and poultry higher than oats. The stalks, when left to 
ripen the seed, are of no value for cattle food. The seed is more valuable, 
but the brush is not; that is most valuable when cut green, and when the 
straw is tine, and retains a bright, lively color. 

In January, 1S60, it was estimated that 2,000 tuns of broom corn had 
been received in this city within a year past from Illinois ; from Ohio, 500 
to GOO tuns, and the same quantity from the State of New York. The 
quantity grown in the New England States is mostly manufactured before 
it reaches the city. 

The average price of broom-corn brush is six cents a pound for the green 
sort, and four cents for the red brush. The average crop per acre at the 
"West is 400 pounds ; in this State, 350 pounds ; in New England, 250 
pounds. 

It is not considered profitable to grow broom corn on a small scale ; but 
as a ci'op it does appear to be so. There is a dwarf variety which has been 
recommended as more profitable for cultivation than the large and more 
common kind, because it furnishes finer and higher-priced brush ; but for 
cultivation on a large scale there are serious objections against this variety 
— the sheaf of the upper leaf adheres so closely to the stalk it is very diffi- 
cult to separate it. For family use this would not be so objectionable. It 
would only make a little work for small fingers, while larger ones were 
making brooms in winter evenings. 

Shaker brooms are so common, that people generally suppose that broom 
corn is one of the staple crops of the Shaker Society. It may be in some 
families of the community, but not in all. The largest and oldest Society 
in the country, that of New Lebanon, Columbia County, N. Y., find it more 
advantageous to use their tillable land for some other purpose, and buy the 
brush, which they manufacture extensively, from the broom-corn farms of 
the Mohawk Valley. The soil there is not only productive in this crop, but 
the quality of the product ranks higher than it does upon the richer lands 
of the West, where the yield is larger, but the brush is coarser and less 
valuable. 

In conclusion, we advise caution about embarking in the culture of broom 
corn, without more knowledge than we can impart. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE GRASSES-CULTIVATION AND USE. 

SECTION XLVI.-MOWING AND PASTURE LAND-SEEDING LAND TO 
GRASS- VARIETIES OF CULTIVATED GRASS.-WHAT IS GRASS? 

HAT is grass ? maybe more important to the bot- 
anist than to the farmer ; but what farmer's son of 
ordinary intelligence would not like to be able to 
answer that question ? How can he, if he is never 
taught? AVho has told him that clover is not grass, 
and that Indian corn and sugar-cane do belong to 
the grass family ? But it is not so much our present 
object to answer the question, as it is to speak briefly 
upon several practical things about the cultivation 
of grass and clover, and making them into winter 
feed for farm stock, and all matters that pertain to 
this very important crop. We are sure that every 
one who studies what we have compiled under the 
head of the grasses, particularly young readers, must 
be instructed in very important useful information. Natural grasses extend 
over the whole globe. Very curious and various provisions are made for 
the diffusion of the seeds ; many of them are furnished witli creeping roots. 
They are not, like other plants, injured by the laceration of their herbage. 
The making of artificial meadows is an art yet in its infancy. "We never 
hear of them in England prior to a. d. 1681, nor in tbis country until about 
A. D. 1720. So little is known of natural or uncultivated grasses, that very 
few know the names of the grasses growing on their farms, nor can they 
distinguish one from another. One sixth of all the plants on the globe 
belong to the family of grasses — two hundred and thirty genera, including 
three thousand species, are already known, and new sjjecies are constantly 
pvesenting themselves. Six tenths of the cultivated area of New York is 
devoted to the growth of grass, and the grass crop of the United States is 
estimated at $300,000,000 annual value. Think of that, and you will see 
the importance of every treatise upon tliis farm crop. 

811. Varieties and Value of Grasses Cultivated! — J. Stanton Gould, of 
Columbia County, N. Y., has devoted much attention to the study of 
grasses. Of those most commonly cultivated, he gives the following brief 
description. First, of the Fescues : 




:m; 







PLATE XIX. 

(Page 748.) 

This plate needs no explanation. It is a beautiful picture of some 
of the most valuable of our cultivated plants, which, collectively, 
make a farm crop so much more valuable than that which has been 
flilsely called king, that when the two are fairly compared, "king 
cotton" dwindles into insignificance. Compared with gi-ass, it is no 
more than a word. Without cotton we can live. Without grass, 
the world would be a desert, and man and beast would perish. It 
is because it is of such vast importance, that we have devoted a 
whole chapter to its consideration ; and for the purpose of attract- 
ing attention to it, we have placed this picture as a frontispiece. 
Each one of these grasses will be found pretty fully described in 
the following pages, which should be studied with careful attention. 
The pictures may be depended upon as true representations. 



Sko. 46.] VARIETIES AND VALUE OF CULTIVATED GRASSES. 749 



'•'■Festuca ovina is essentially a grass of the thin soils resting upon rocky 
uplands, as on the mountain limestone, and most mountain ranges. 

"7^. durluscida. — In the valleys between such hills, and in tlie more shel- 
tered pastures of the upland districts. 

"i^. rubra. — In the more sandy loams of the lowland meadow, and by the 
sea-shore. 

"i^. loliacea. — Rich meadows on river banks, or under irrigation. 

'■'•F. pratensis. — Best lowland meadows, not liable to floods. 

"i^. clatior. — On sandy clays, or other stifi' and strong lands, especially 
on the sea-shore. 

" The fescues are invariably present in our best pastures, and especially 
present in those of the most famous cheese districts. 

" The F. pratensls is worth $3 33 when timothy is worth $5 per ton. 
It follows next after meadow foxtail {cdopecurus) as an early grass, and af- 
fords a bite earlier than orchard grass. 

" The ^/"o/wM* family has a very bad name, being neither agreeable nor- 
nutritious to cattle. Bromus erectus is said to be the only perennial species 
in the genus. Early mowing is recommended as a means of extirpating 
this family. 

'■'■ Lolium perenne, or lye grass, is the favorite grass of England, and occu- 
pies there the same place that timothy does with us, and is probably better 
adapted to a wet climate like England than to a dry one like ours. Sixty 
varieties are cultivated in England of this one species. 

'■^Lolium Italicu7n, Italian rye grass, is worth $2 09 when timothy is 
worth $5. One hundred pounds of it give twenty-four and a half pounds 
of dry hay. It is best adajited to limestone and light soils, and is one of 
the most desirable varieties for irrigated meadows. 

" Triticum rep>ens, known as ' cpiack,' ' twitch,' or ' dog' grass, is very 
easily recognized by its spikelet of etght or ten-awned flowers placed flat- 
wise toward the sachis. It is a terrible pest in alternate husbandry, grow- 
ing in all sorts of soils, and robbing the cultivated plants of the richest por- 
tion of their food. In very dry seasons it may be killed by plowing it very 
thoroughly in July, and sowing the ground with buckwheat. Its stalks 
sometimes attain an altitude of three feet, but it ordinarily stands two feet 
high. It forms a tolerably good hay, and is much relished by the stock as 
a pasture grass. It operates as an emetic on dogs, and is very useful in 
binding the sloping banks of railroads. 

'•'• Anthoxanthum odoraturn, sweet-scented vernal grass, is not very valu- 
able for hay or for pasture, as one hundred pounds of it gives only nineteen 
pounds and three cpiarters of dry hay, and an acre three quarters of a ton. 
It starts very early in the spring, and continues to throw out leaves during 
the summer. 

" Glyceria nervata grows in wet places. Its culms are extremely succu- 
lent; it is the hardiest grass in existence, and always grows more vigorously 
after a severe winter than after a mild one. 



750 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

Poa serotina, or fonl-meadow, is one of the earliest grasses cultivated 
in this country, and is still among the best. It does not injure by standing, 
as do other grasses, but may be cut at almost any time. It is easily made 
into hay, and never seems hard or harsh, and produces sound seeds in great 
abundance. 

" Trisehim sithspicatujn is a mean, stingy grass, growing on stiff clayey 
side-hills which have a northern aspect. It is only fit to be grown on soils 
that will bear nothing else. 

" Zigatitia aquatica grows in places wholly covered witli water. It is 
very sweet and nutritious, and cows fed upon it have a copious flow of 
milk. In favorable situations it produces five or six tuns to the acre, grow- 
ing to the liight of nine feet. Its seeds resemble rice. 

'•'■ Phleum j)ratensis. — According to the analysis of Professor Way, timo- 
thy yields more dry liay from a given amount of grass, and more of albu- 
minous, fatty, and heat-producing matters, from a given amount of dry 
hay, than any of the grasses upon which he experimented. But it must be 
remembered that Professor AVay did not analyze either Poa compressa or 
Poa serotina. 

A crop of pure timothy on the farm of George Geddes, near Syracuse, 
N. Y., gave three tuns to the acre, and it is reported that John Fisher, Car 
roll County, Md., cut from an acre five tuns and one thousand six hundred 
and twenty-two pounds of dry liay. 

The proper time for mowing timothy is just when the first dry spot 
appears above the first joint. If mowed earlier, the plant is injured. If 
left to a later period, the starch and sugar are converted into indigestible 
woody fiber, and the nitrogenous compounds, on wliich its value cliiefly 
depends, are transferred from the leaves and culms to the seed, which 
mostly drop out before they reacli the manger. Timothy is not well adapted 
to Iiot sands, gravels, chalks, nor liard, sterile clays ; but thrives on peaty, 
damp soils, and especially on most calcareous loams, where it exhibits its 
fullest perfection. 

" The great drawbacks to its utility as a permanent meadow grass are, the 
very little after-math it produces, its liability to run out after two or tlirce 
years, and the injury it receives from insects with which it is infested. 

" Alopecurus (Meadow Foxtails). — There are five varieties of tliis genus, 
viz. : A. pratc7isis, A. ayrestis, A. gemculatus, and A. ristulahis. The .1. 
pratensis may be distinguished from its allied species by the equality of 
length in tlie glumes, and by a twisted arm twice the length of tlie blossom. 
It rarely exceeds three feet in length, and does not usually yield over one 
tun to the acre. It is very watet'y in its composition ; one hundred jjounds 
of the green grass give only nineteen pounds and three quarters of dry liay, 
while an equal quantity of timothy gives forty-two pounds and three quar- 
ters. If one tun of green timothy be worth $5, the foxtail will be worth 
$2 07, if Professor "Way's analysis can be relied on. It is found abundantly 
in some of our best pastures, is one of the earliest to start in the spring, and 



Sec. 46.] VARIETIES AND VALUE OF GRASS CULTIVATED. 751 

the first to mature its seeds ; its after-math is exceedingly abundant, start- 
ing up iimncdiately after mowing, and if the weather be showery, will, in a 
week or ten days, give a fair bite to the cattle. It is not well adapted to 
alternate husbandry, as it requires three or four years to bring a meadow 
to full perfection. It is very difficult to procure good seeds, as many heads 
are entirely destroyed by the insects. It is bettor adapted to pasture than 
to meadow, flourishes most luxuriantly on rich, moist, strong soil, the pro- 
duction from a clayey loam being three fourths greater than from silicious 
soil. 

" Setarla glauca is good for nothing in meadows and pastures ; it should 
be exterminated as soon as possible, which may be done by a thin coat 
of horse manure applied in autumn. 

" Dactylis glomerata, or orchard grass, sometimes grows five feet high, 
and has produced five tuns, one thousand eight Inindred and fifty-nine 
pounds to an acre. One hundred pounds of it produces thirty pounds of 
dry hay ; it contains nearly as much of fat and flesh-forming matter as 
timothy, but contains much less of heat-forming matters. If the latter 
is worth $5 a ton, orchard grass will be worth $3 59. It flourishes well 
in shady places, and receives its trivial name from its adaptation to orchards. 
Its disposition to grow in tussocks may be prevented by harrowing and 
rolling in the spring. It flourishes well in almost all soils and climates ; 
best in sandy loam. It is known in England as cocksfoot. In this country 
it is most common in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, 
and less common in most of the other grass-growing States. We say grass- 
growing States, for, strictly speaking, the cotton States are not so, not- 
witlistanding the planters are always grumbling about being overrun with 
grass. It is, however, an annual that troubles them most, and in all tliose 
States very little grass seed is sown to produce a crop eitlier for hay or 
pasture. For both purposes, orchard grass is good, but most especially 
for pastui'e, producing good milk, beef, m'ltton, or wool ; and every kind 
of stock eats it freely, and thrives well upon it ; and after being mowed or 
fed ofi", it throws up a new growth rather more readily tlian any other grass. 
It is not inclined to run out in any situation where it once gets good root, 
though as easily subdued by plowing as timothy ; it is better than that to 
mix with clover, ripening more nearly at the same time. For pasture, we 
would mix orchard grass with several other sorts. 

'■'■ Poa pratensis (the Kentucky blue grass) does not grow higher than 
two and a half feet, and can not be relied upon to yield more than a tun 
and a half to the acre. One hundred pounds of the gi'ass yields thirty-two 
pounds of dry hay, and is worth $3 20 per tun when timothy is worth 
$5. Butter made from this grass will keep sweet longer than that made 
from any other species. Its after-math is very luxuriant, and it stands the 
cold better than any other, but is liable to burn up in hot, dry weather. 
Its favorite locality is a limestone soil. 

"/"m coviprcssa (wire or blue grass) is believed to be the most nutri- 



752 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

tive of our grasses ; it grows heavy, about twenty inches high, standing 
thickly on the ground. It causes an abundant flow of very rich milk, and 
horses fed upon it alone do well. Sheei> fatten upon it, and all grazing ani- 
mals eat it with avidity. 

' Agrestis vulgaris (red top) grows about two and a half feet long, and 
yields about one and a half tuns to the acre. It is not a first-rate grass, but 
seems to be better relished by working oxen than by aiiy other stock. It 
grows in very moist land. 

'■^ Agrestis alba (white top) seems better adapted to sandy soils than the 
preceding, but resembles it very nearly in its botanical character." 

No country can be a prosperous agricultural one that imports its hay. 
Yet we find that South Carolina has done so ; not merely from Maine and 
other ISTorthern States, but from Holland. From a remarkably able report 
by Oscar M. Lieber, State Geologist of South Carolina, upon " the Agri- 
cultural Capacity of the State, and the Obstructions to its Full Develop- 
ment," puljlished in March, 1860, he very plainly shows how a country that 
neglects grass culture will deteriorate. lie points out many instances where 
the original condition of the soil was very desirable, which is now the re- 
verse, because the owners import hay, and leave their own soil naked. lie 
says : 

" There are other considerations, such as thorough manuring, which should 
be duly remembered ; but it is certainly owing, in the very first place, to 
these causes, that those once fertile lands are now in many instances de- 
populated and abandoned by their former owners ; that a district as promi- 
nent in her vii-gin productiveness as Fairfield is gradually losing her origi- 
nal legislative representation, and that a section of the State, capable of 
supporting pei'haps ten times the population of our entire Commonwealth, 
is now, to a very considerable extent, thrown out as irreclaimable. But how 
is the system to be changed? Kothing easier. Clothe your barren hill- 
sides will) grass — decrease the area of your cultivated crops — manure highly 
with commercial and compost manures — and, to enable you to do the latter, 
keep cattle, sheep, and hogs; feed them well, and make them pay you in 
rich returns." 

812. Grasses Rscommtnded by the New York State Agricultural Society.— 
A committee, composed of Wm. Kelly, J. Delafield, B. P. Johnson, to whom 
the suliject was referi'cd by the New York State Agricultural Society, reports 
as follows : 

"The following described grasses are, by common consent, admitted to be 
the most valuable now cultivated in England. There are others of great 
value, which might, perhaps be profitably cultivated in our climate, but 
for the experiments now proposed, your committee recommend only the 
varieties here named. 

Meadow Foxtail — {Alopecurus pratensis). — ^This is a very early grass, 
productive, and exceedingly nutritious. It is the principal grass in all rich 
pastures, is a favorite with sheep and cattle, and is one of the most per- 



Skc. 46.] VARIETIES RECOMMENDED. 753 

manent of the cultivated grasses. The objections to it are these — that 
it is slow to establish itself and acquire its full growth, and in England 
does not produce its seed perfectly. Not more than one third of the seed 
sown usually germinates. In our climate there ought to be no difficulty 
of this sort. 

Meadow Fescue — {Festuca pratensis). — Fibrous root. This is one of the 
most valuable grasses. It is nearly as early as the foxtail, and equally 
nutritious, though not so productive. It is found in all the richest natural 
pastures, is much liked by cattle and horses, and is among the most per- 
manent .of grasses. It thrives best in the clay districts of England. It 
ripens its eeed well, but, like the meadow foxtail, is slow in arriving at 
maturity. 

KouGH Stalked Meadow Grass — {Poa trivialis). — -This is a superior pas- 
ture grass. It has fibrous roots, and in a moist, rich soil is productive and 
very permanent ; but on dry and exposed land its product is inconsiderable, 
and it soon dies out. It is not remarkable for its nutritive properties, though 
cattle seem fond of it. 

Feetile Meadow Geass — {Poa fertilis). — Is a native of Germany ; roots 
slightly creeping ; is productive, one of the earliest grasses, and is remark- 
able for the large crop of after-math, sending up a succession of flowering 
culms till the frost arrests it. It grows well on any good land, but thrives 
best in moist ground ; is among the most nutritious grasses, and ripens its 
seed well. 

Sweet-scented Vernal Grass — {AntJwxanthum odoratum). — Tliis is one 
of the earliest as well as one of the latest herbage grasses, is extensively culti- 
vated in Eastern Pennsylvania, and imparts the peculiar richness of flavor to 
Philadelphia butter. 

Perennial Ete Grass — {LoUum jJeremie). — The root is fibrous. It is the 
most generally cultivated of the herbage grasses in England. It is adapted 
to a wide range of temperature and soils, soon reaches maturity, ripens an 
abundance of seed, is early and productive, but not particularly nutritious. 

Rough Cocksfoot, oe Orchard Grass — {Dacfylis (jlomeraUi). — Said to 
be a native of Virginia, is cultivated with us, but does not rival timotliy ; 
yet in England it ranks very high. It is always sown there in mixture with 
other grasses, and by experiment is the most productive of all, yielding a 
greater weight of forage per acre, though less nutritious than other favorite 
sorts. 

Meadow Cat's Tail, or Timothy — {Phleum pratensis). — ^The cultivation 
of it in England is recommended in mixture with other grasses, but not 
alone, as with us is most common. 

Farm, or Bent Grass — American names are Herds-grass, Foul Meadow, 
and Red Top — [Agrostis vulgaris, and Agrostis stolonifera latifoUa). — In 
England, several varieties are recognized, tire largest of which is Farm, or 
large leaved creeping Bent ; this is more productive, though not so well 
adapted to upland, as the common Bent Grass, or Herds-grass. 



754 CLOVER— ITS CULTIVATION AND USE. Chap. IX. 



Smooth Stalked Meadow Gkass — American names: Spear Grass, June 
Grass, and Blue Grass — {Poa j^ratensis). — This grass is indigenous, and is the 
ordinary growth of our roadsides. It is very early, and continues its growth 
throughout the season until very late in the autumn ; it resists drouth, 
makes a close sod, and is a great favorite with sheep. As a hay grass, it is 
not so valuable as many others ; it is very permanent. 

It is asserted that upward of two hundred varieties of grass are grown in 
Great Britain, mostly indigenous. In a single sod taken from a rich pasture 
were found thirty varieties, and there are usually twenty-six or more in all 
first-rate pasture land. 

If we expect to rival natural pastures, we ought to imitate nature in scat- 
tering a variety of seeds, instead of confining ourselves to one or two sorts. 

813. George Gcddes on Growing Clovert — "The agriculture of Onondaga 
County is based on the c\ovei\'^hint, Tfi/'olii(?)i jnritense. It is used for 
pasture, for hay, and for nianiare. Strike this plant out of existence, and a 
revolution would follow that would make it necessary for us to learn every- 
thing anew in regard to cultivating our lands. "We have this most valuable 
treasure and appreciate it; its infiuence and importance to us demand an 
extended account. 

" There are two varieties of red clover, known among the farmers as the 
large and small. The large is but little cultivated, and is generally con- 
sidered of less value for hay or pasture, and yields but a single crop of hay 
in a season; but where wanted for manure only, it is sometimes preferred 
for its heavy growth. 

" Clover seed is usually sown on winter wheat, in March or April, in 
quantities varying from two to ten quart? to the acre : eight quarts is gene- 
rally sown by the best farmers. Sometimes this seed is sown on oats, barley, 
and spring wheat ; but as it can be sown before the spring frosts are over on 
winter wheat, it is more certain to be covered by the freezing and thawing 
of the earth, and for this reason success is more certain than with any other 
crop. 

" Gypsum, at the rate of a bushel or more per acre, is usually sown after 
the ground is settled and the crop has commenced growing. Sometimes 
the sowing of the gyjjsum is deferred until the wheat is harvested, and then 
sown on the stubble as soon as convenient. If the season is wet, and there- 
fore a growing one, the small kind of clover will be in full bloom before the 
frosts of autumn kill the plants. 

" It is common to pasture this young clover moderately in autumn, and 
opinions are somewhat divided as to whether this injures the future growth 
of the crop. 

" In the following spring, gypsum should be again sown on the clover, 
at the rate of a bushel to the acre. By the 25th of Jime or the 1st of 
July the small variety is ready for making into hay, and slio;ild yield a tun 
and a half to the acre. Various opinions have been entertained as to the 
i>r<>i)L-r stage for cutting this hay crop ; but the general practice is to cut 



Sbo. 46.] CLOVER— ITS CULTIVATION AND USE. 755 

when in full bloom, or as soon as the earliest heads sliow signs of ripening. 
The true process of curing is to handle as little as possible, and to cure 
mostly in the cock. As soon as the hay is drawn away, gypsum, at the rate 
of a bushel to the acre, should be sown. By about tlie first of October 
the second crop will be ready to cut for seed. This crop sliould be allowed 
to rijien so that the seeds are full and mostly hardened ; and should be care- 
fully cured, or it will heat in the mow to the injury of the seed. In winter, 
the seed is thrashed out at a cost of about one dollar a bushel. The straw 
and chaff are eaten with avidity by cattle and sheep, and ai'e of considerable 
value for forage — perhaps enough to pay for cutting, curing, and putting 
the crop in the barn. The seed generally averages three bushels to tlie acre 
— sometimes six busliels have been saved — and sometimes the crop of seed is 
a failure. The usual market price is about six dollars a bushel. 

" After the seed crop is removed from tlie ground, there is a considerable 
part of the crop of hay left, particularly' if it was cut higli, as it should be. 
This stubble is usually pastured to some extent. 

"In the spring following, the ground is plowed, unless wanted for pasture. 
If plowed, corn, oats, barley, or spring wheat is sown, and a good crojj is con- 
fidently expected. If it is intended that the clover sliall remain on the 
ground more than one year, other seeds are sown with the wheat so as to 
make a more perfect covering of grass, and aid in filling the soil with roots. 
Timothy (herds-grass), Phleum pratense, sown in September with the wheat, 
will aid in every part of the cultivation of the clover. The crop of hay will 
be benefited, and the surface of the ground will be more perfectly covered, 
and thus weeds kept out, and in case the second year is to be for pasture, it 
is important. 

" According to Boussingault, one acre of the perfectly dry roots of clover 
will weigh 1,275 lbs., and these roots are valuable manure for the next crop, 
and the same may be said of the tops that are plowed under. The roots run 
deep into the soil, and thus pulverize it, so that a single perfect plowing 
brings it into a most satisfactory condition. Some of our best farmers plow 
their fields once in a few years, and then shallower plowing of this clover sod 
will show the long tap roots that have been pulled up from the subsoil by 
the plow, projecting above the surface all over the field, looking quite like 
dead weeds. These roots have transferred the fertilizing matters of the lower 
soil to the surface. 

" If our soils require improving we turn the clover crop under, and repeat 
the operation iintil there is suflicient fertility to allow us to carry the clover 
off. The oftenor we can fill the soil with roots, and then plow them under, 
and thus allow them to rot, the sooner we cxuect to get our land in condihon 
to crop with grain. 

" A very considerable part of the cultivated land of this county has never 
nad any other manmnng than this clover aiul gypsum, and its fertility is not 
diminishing. Fields that are distant from barn-yard manure are rarely 
treated to anything but gypsuai and clover. These fields are no: cropped 



756 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. li. 

with grain as often as those that have tiie benefit of barn-yard manure, but 

they are manured at much less expense. 

The cost of a fourth of a bushel of clover seed, at S6, is. . . . .^ SI 50 

do. sowing is about 08 

do. three bushels of gypsum at the mills is 24 

do. drawing same 12 

do. sowing at three different times 38 

Total cost of manuring one acre with clover $2 32 

"A field treated as described, having the first year given a crop of hay 'and 
another of seed ; the second year, an acre will nearly or quite pasture a cow 
from the 20th of May until the middle of August. If then plowed six 
or eight inches deep in the most perfect manner, it will be in the best pos- 
sible condition for winter wheat ; or if not wanted for wheat, the land may 
be used the second year for pasture the whole season, and put into corn or 
anv other crop the next. Clover is a bieuuial, and two years is all that one 
seeding should stand." 

814. Clover Seed— now Much to Sow per Acre. — John Johnson, " the old 
Scotch farmer" near Geneva, N. Y., says: "I never have sown over twelve 
pounds of clover seed to the acre, unless done by mistake, and I have always 
liad large crops if any one else had in the neighborhood. My man once ac- 
cidentally sowed, by the use of a machine, twenty-four quarts per acre of 
clover seed. The result was, the clover never got taller than the natural 
white clover we some seasons have in such quantities, but which is generally 
too short to cut ; while that sown at about 10 lbs. to the acre was as good as 
1 could wish." 

Eobcrt L. Pell, of Ulster County, N. Y., once stated that he generally 
sowed a bushel of clover seed per acre. Upon this Mr. Johnson remarks : 
" I read that Mr. Pell sows one bushel of red clover seed to the acre. ISTow 
such nonsense as this should not go out among farmers, a great many of 
whom are opposed to anything like book tanning ; and when they see a record 
of such folly, it is less wonder that they should believe nothing that is writ- 
ten on agriculture further than their own practice." 

The statement was, like many others, tnade without proper consideration, 
and liable to mislead others. The quantity named by Mr. Johnson is correct. 
Can any one tell the true value of an acre of clover, and whether it is worth 
more to plow in than it is to rot upon the ground, or cut and cure and pass 
'hrough animals, before it is given back to tlie earth as manure? And who 
can toll the value of a tun of manure ; that is, as a smelter of ore can tell tlie 
value of a tnn of it which he puts into the furnace? Does not the farmer 
piit the manure into the earth for a similar purpose? One draws out refined 
metal, and if that is worth more than the ore and fuel and laboi', then he 
makes a profit. 

The other has for an object to change the mass of dirt into corn, wheat, 
and fine flour, which, after all, is notiiing but refined dirt, and upon the 
process depends the profit, and one should be just as well able as the other 
to tell the value of the crude article. 



Siio. 46.] GROWING AND HARVESTING CLOVER SEED. 75T 

Slo. Growing Clover Seedi — Clover will produce only one crop of seed in 
a season, and it'M'e allow it to grow until it has blossomed, and then permit 
it to stand until the seed begins to form, or until the seed has formed, and 
some of the blossoms begin to turn brown, we can not reasonably expect to 
have much of a crop of seed the next time the clover is cut, because the 
seed-producing substances have been too much exhausted to mature another 
crop the same season. There is usually too much anxiety to get a good crop 
of hay, and afterward ji crop of seed. It is better to be contented with less 
hay in the first crop, and have more seed in the second crop, than to lose a 
dollar's worth of seed for a dime's worth of hay. 

It is said that the application of plaster to the clover field in spring will 
secure a better yield of seed from the second crop, while a direct application 
after mowing the first growth is found to increase the rankness of the hay at 
the expense of the filling of the heads with seed. 

816. HarvestiMg Clover Seed. — We recommend cutting when two thirds of 
the head are brown. The chance of good weather is l)etter, and there is less 
loss from shelling while handling ; and the straw is of greater value as fodder 
than if allowed to stand until the whole is dead ripe. Besides, the later 
ripening heads are poorly filled with seed. Sometimes, however, both the 
first and second growth may blossom largely and yet produce very little 
seed — from some cause not well understood. 

The best inijdement for harvesting is a reaper — the grain platform at- 
tached, with a board at the back edge to retain a larger amount of clover — 
when full, to be pitched or raked oflf in heaps. If clover stands well, it may 
be cut high ; it saves time in curing and labor in handling, and leaves 
the dryer portions of the stalk upon the field. As soon as fairly dry it 
should be drawn to the barn, as it can not be secured in the cock against 
rain. When spread out, however, as when left in the swath, or in small 
gavels from the reaper, it is little injured by rain, though heavy storms may 
wash off a portion of the seed. 

In cutting with the scythe, we may turn two swaths together to facilitate 
the work of ra.king. With good weather it will be cured sufiiciently to di'aw 
in the second day after cutting ; if not, it may be raked, when slightly 
damp, into small bunches, or pitched together with a barley-fork. Care in 
handling is requisite to prevent loss from the dropping of the heads, and, 
from the stiff bush-like character of the straw, it may be placed in the mow 
in a greener state than hay or grain, without injury. The moisture should 
be dried oft', but an occasional juicy stalk will do no harm. 

The seed can be separated from the straw with a common thrashing ma- 
chine cjdinder, having a long shaker or box full of holes attached, so that 
the heavier part of the chaff, which contains the seed, may fall through. 
This work is best performed in freezing cold weather, when no dampness is 
present in the seed or air. To get the clean seed, a clover-huller is em- 
ployed — a machine which rubs the seed from the chaff, wdiich is passed 
through it again and again, until the separation is complete. Wherever the 



758 THE GEASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

crop is much grown, there are farmers who make it their liusiness to go 
from barn to barn with these machines — thrashing, hulling, and cleaning 
the seed at a specified price per bushel, usually about one dollar. 

If grown only in small quantities for home use, clover seed may be 
thrashed with flails or trodden out witli horses and sown in tlie chafi", which 
is full as certain to catch, and perhaps more sure than that cleaned ever so 
nicely. Still it is diflicult to regulate the quantity as closely, or distribute 
as evenly, as with tlie clean seed. 

817. futtiug Clover for Hay. — Clover for hay should be cut when the 
heads arc about two thiids open, and it may be housed the same day, and 
salted with a peck to the tun, and will keep perfectly sweet, though sweat- 
ing and turning almost black. We prefer to cock clover to cure, cover- 
ing it with hay caps in case of danger of rain. The value of a crop of clover 
for hay is esteemed great by all farmers, and some have learned to value it 
higher for improving the soil for future crops than they do for hay. One 
advantage over any olher crop grown to improve the soil is that its roots 
arc earth-workers, and when they decay, they not only manure the soil, but 
leave it light and porous. It is a question well wortii the consideration of 
farmers, where clover grows heavy, so as to effectually shade the land, how 
much is lost by not plowing under while green. Some suppose that the 
shade, together with the mold of the clover on top of the ground, would im- 
prove the land as much as plowing under. Others think the benefit pretty 
much lost, and others still would consider it a dead loss to devote a crop of 
clover to manurial purposes. They will cut it for hay, haul it home, and 
haul the manure back again. 

White Clover is seldom cut for hay. Its greatest purpose is for pasture. 
Its growth should be encouraged by all who keep bees — it is good bee-pas- 
ture. Tlie growth of white clover on soils natural to its production may be 
encouraged and promoted by a top-dressing of plaster and ashes. 

818. Lucern, Alfalfa, Lupins, etc. — Several of the plants named in this 
paragraph are used for forage, though not jiroperly called grasses. They are 
worthy of farmers' attention. 

Medicago sativa (lucern) succeeds best upon limestone loam. It is par- 
ticularly liable to be injuriously affected by weeds, to avoid which it is 
generally sown in drills, and hand hoed in England, where its cultivation 
has been mostly in small patches for soiling, for which it is very valuable. 
Mr. Gould says : 

" The best soil for it is a sandy one, resting on a porous calcareous sub- 
soil. Its roots penetrate fourteen feet in depth, and hence a hard subsoil is 
fatal to successful growth. It arrives at its greatest perfection after three 
years. In one recorded case, eleven acres sufficed to keep eleven liorses 
two hundred and ninety-nine days. In another, a field of eight acres kept 
eight horses three hundred and fifteen days. In both cases a large number 
of sheep were fed on the ground after the last cutting for the horses. Chan- 
cellor Livingston, in Columbia County, N. Y., cut twenty-five tuns from an 



Seo. 46.] LTJOERN, ALFALFA, LUPINE, ETC. 759 

acre in five mowings. It is ready for cutting about the first of May, and 
may be cut over every thirty days thereafter. It is remarkably adapted for 
milch cows, where the milk is sold in the market, but butter made from it 
is not so sweet as from other grasses. It is greatly relished by horses and 
cattle ; one hundred pounds of it will make twenty-five pounds of dry hay, 
and its nutritive powers bear such a relation to those of timothy, that it is 
worth $3 13 per tun where that grass is worth $5. The only diffioulty witli 
lucern is to get it started. It must be sown in drills, and carefully hoed 
iintil it is large enough to cover the ground. If this precaution is taken, and 
a drouth does not occur just as the young plants are starting, it will be pretty 
sure to succeed, and will last for twenty-five or thirty years. If, however, it 
is overrun with weeds in the beginning, or a severe drouth occurs, it grows 
feebly, and soon dies out. The seed is covered with a very hard "and coui- 
pact coat, which, if the weather be dry, will greatly retard vegetation^ It 
is therefore generally the practice to steep it in warm Avater, to soften tlic 
coat, for six or eight hours before sowing. From fourteen to eighteen pounds 
of seeds are usually sown on an acre ; but, as many of the seeds are imper- 
fect, and as fine and succulent plants are more desirable than coarse and 
rank ones, it is better economy to sow twenty -five pounds." 

Alfalfa, sometimes called Peruvian clover, is l)eginning to be appre- 
ciated in California. It can be cut several times a year, and aflTord a very 
heavy crop. In deep soil the roots jjcnetrate so fat* that drouth does i;o; 
prevent its growth, like ordinary grass or English clover. It should be cul- 
tivated here for soiling cattle. 

Lotus corniculattis (bird's-foot trefoil) is a prostrate perennial, common 
on open grassy pastures and drj"- places. It is a leguminous plant, erpially 
nutritious as clover, and is instantly eaten down whenever cattle have accc. s 
to it. It is one of the commonly cultivated artificial grasses of Engla.d. 
and is always recommended as worthy a place in all mixtures for perma- 
nent pastures, and especially for lawns, orchards, and shady places. 

Mcdicago liipulina is another leguminous plant, a fibrous-rooted peren- 
nial, very common in dry pastures, especially if of good loamy qualiiy, 
where it forms, with other plants, a thick sward. The pods are short, black, 
twisted, and arrayed in oblong heads. It is not equal in nutritions quali- 
ties, perhaps, to red clover, but is valuable on dry, jioor soils, where, how 
ever, it is apt to run out in a few years. 

White lupine is highly recommended as a fertilizing crop on sandy land, 
where no other crop would grow. Portugal has been highly benefited by 
growing lupine for soiling and manuring. It is of very rapid growtli, 
]iroduces a large amount of vegetable matter, and draws from the subsoil a 
large quantity of alkalies. It is rarely or never injured by drouth or in- 
sects, and is admirably adapted for enriching unfruitful sandy soils , while 
its strong stems and roots oj^en and ameliorate, as well as enrich, heavy 
tenacious clays. M. Vilmorin, of Paris, says it is sown in that vicinity 
about the middle of April, after all danger from frost is ]iast. lie says the 



760 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

green niamire yielded by this plant is excellent. The seeds, soaked in water, 
form a good cattle food, and the young plant is readily eaten by sheep. 

Spcrijula Arvensis (Spurry). — !No plant has been more lauded for enricli- 
ing sandy soils than spurry. Von Vogt states that by its use the worst 
shifting sands may be made to yield remunerative crops. 

Vicia Sativa (Vetch or Tare). — In England this is an exceedingly valua- 
ble plant, especially on heavy soils. It can be sown in autumn or spring — 
the latter generally yielding the heaviest crop, though the former is the 
earliest. Vetches are principally used as a green food for horses ; an acre 
of good vetches, fed in the yard or stable, will keep more horses than six 
acres of the best pasturage. They succeed best in a wet season, and on this 
account are not likely to do well in this country, though we have seen them 
in Canada, and sheep and horses both fatten upon vetches foster than upon 
clover. They are good, too, for all horned cattle, particularly milch cows. 
Pigs eat vetches as well as clover, and thrive witiiout grain. Mr. Lawes' 
experiments on vetches, extending over many years, prove that, like peas 
and beans and clover, vetches are an enriching rather than an impoverish- 
ing crop. 

Barn Grass. — The editor of the Maine Farmer thinks that very common 
plant in New England, known as barn grass, would prove as profitable for 
cultivation in that section as Hungarian grass of Iowa notoriety, which it 
very much resembles. Both are annuals, and if grown upon a good corn 
soil will produce a heavy crop of green or dry feed, but no grazing after 
being mowed. Wc have never considered the barn grass a valuable forage 
plant, and do not believe it will ever come into general use, because Indian 
cornstalks are more nutritious, and will produce more per acre when sowed 
in drills or broadcast. In a dry season, and on good soil, it will produce 
more than most of the grasses that we cultivate. Horses and cattle like it 
when the seed is in the milk. Horses and poultry like the seeds. There is 
as much farinaceous matter in the seeds, in pi'oportion to the size and weight, 
as in some of the cultivated grains. 

819. Hungarian GrasSi — This is a new name for an old thing. It was in- 
troduced into France in 1815, and has met with much favor. It germinates 
readily, withstands drouth to a remarkable degree, remaining green even 
when other vegetation is parched up, and if its development be arrested by 
dry weather, the least rain restores it to vigor. It has numerous broad and 
long leaves, so that it affords a great amount of nutrition for stock. 

According to Mr. Flint, Hungarian grass flourishes in somewhat light 
and dry soils, though it attains its greatest luxuriance in soils of medium 
consistency, well manured. One of its characteristics will go far toward 
recommending it to farmers. Mr. Cornell says that one piece of his was 
blown down by storms three times in succession, and each time i-ecovered its 
upright growth. He thinks it twice as heavy as timothy. On poor soil it 
attained a hight of two and a half feet, but on a small patch, more highly 
manured, it grew to even three and a half feet. This grass is a good forage 



Seo. 46.] HUNGARIAN GRASS. 761 

crop on the rich lands of the West. It will exhaust soil, and if it is not rich 
it will not produce a profitable crop. Tlie time of sowing is the same as 
tliat of oats. We would use a peck of seed per acre, and cut for hay before 
the seed is in the milk. It should be cured like tiiuothj', and stock will eat 
it as well — many say better. The Hungarian grass is millet. Whether 
precisely the old German millet or not, which has long been cultivated in 
this country, is no matter. It is, at least for the prairie farmers, a good 
crop plant. The sellers of "honey blade grass seed" are knaves of the 
meanest sort, when representing the seed they sell as anj'thing but millet, 
and millet is no new thing in this country. In some sitiiations it certainly 
is a good thing, and we liope its cultivation will rapidly increase, but we 
object to humbugging anybody into it under the impression that they have 
found a new variety of grass, under the name of " Hungarian." 

A farmer in Illinois says: "As a forage plant for milch cows and cattle it 
is, I believe, an excellent article, when sown thick and not allowed to ripen 
the seed, or to feed after the seed is thrashed out. For horses, it will not 
do to feed with seed. Wliere it does not produce death it reduces the 
animal's strength, though not always his condition as to fat or lean. From 
feeding with this grass I have lost three horses. The seed is to horses a 
stimulating diuretic, acting upon the kidneys energetically ; and when used 
continually, the increased diuresis produces irritation and inflammation of 
the kidneys, weakness of the loins, shortness of breath, inability to undergo 
mucii exertion, and death ensues, unless tlie cause is removed and remedied. 
I do not think it too rich a food, but the oil contained in the seeds is injurious. 
It operates upon cattle also as a diuretic, and rather more so than I like in 
mileh cows, unless fed upon shorts or bran at the same time. My opinion 
is tliat the straw is a good feed when not too coarse, but with the seed, in- 
jurious to horses and sometimes to cattle. In one experiment made with 
Hungarian grass upon two acres, tlie seed, sown the first of July, ripened 
before frost, and two tuns of hay per acre were cut. A third of a bushel of 
seed sown broadcast suffices for an acre." 

The j^orthioestern Farmer says : " It is well known to those Avho have 
fed the Hungarian grass, that it is remarkably nutritious, and that horses and 
other stock thrive more rapidly when fed on it than when fed on any other 
kind of coarse forage. Hence it should be fed more sparingly. If any 
injury has resulted from feeding it as stated, it can only be accounted fo-r in 
the action of the seed upon the animal organism. The seed is as rich as 
Indian corn, and should 'be fed with care, as horses are liable to eat too 
much." 

One farmer says of it: "I have been told that it is not safe to feed to my 
horses, as it Avould obstruct tlie flow of urine. My opinion is the reverse. 
I tliink it somewhat diuretic and aperient, especially for animals that are 
worked hard. 

" If I have a horse, colt, cow, or calf that appears unwell, I feed Hunga- 
rian hay as a remedial agent, and have been gratified upon all such trials to 



763 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Cdap. IX. 

see how soon the animal would begin to gain. I consider it the Lest hay 
we can have, if fed properly. I would say, never confine your working 
liorses to this hay alone, but alternate with prairie hay or some other kind. 
If fed in mangers in tight stables, a dust arises from it that will make horses 
cough." 

From all we have learned by our own experience and that of others, we 
can not commend its cultivation to farmers in the Eastern States ; and this 
we find to be the opinion of many others. We liave, however, one cor- 
respondent at Bristol, Addison County, Vt., who is jubilant over his siiccess 
in growing Hungarian grass — two tuns of dry grass and nearly twenty-five 
bushels of seed from four quarts sown. He says : " It is a very nutritious 
and sweet grass, and a great favorite with horses and cattle. Sowed June 1, 
it matured by August 1, standing dry weather well. Tlie average yield 
is said to be six tuns of dry grass and thirty bushels of seed per acre. The 
stalk is finer 'than timothy of the same length, witli fine, succulent leaves. 
It forms a large stool from a single seed, and, although an annual, will pay 
better than most of the perennial grasses, as the hay is good when mature 
enough to ripen its seed, which is as valuable as oats." 

Tlie followiug statement about Hungarian grass is from the Oenesee 
Faritur, the editor of which, we believe, would not say a word for or 
against it which lie did not believe to be strictly true. As lie is a man of 
scientific acquirements, his statement that it is nearly or quite identical with 
tiie common millet, may be accepted M-ithout hesitation. He says : 

"This grass has attracted a large share of attention at the West, where it 
has supplied, to a great extent, the place of timothy grass, wliich it is difli- 
cult to grow on account of winter-killing. It is nearly or quite identical 
with the common millet, Setaria Germanica, growing, perhaps, not quite as 
large straw, and a trifle smaller seed, or about the same as millet, on rather 
poor soil, sowed quite thick. That it is valuable as a forage plant, all know 
who have ever grown the millet to any extent ; and to the farmers at the West 
it has been a great boon, from its quick and luxuriant growth. It is an annual, 
thriving best on warm, rich, sandy soil, and may safely be calculated to 
yield from two to three tuns of cured hay, which horses and cattle prefer 
to the best timothy. To be obtained in the best form of hay, it should be 
cut as soon as the seeds on the tops of the stalks begin to turn, and before 
the bulk of them are I'ipe. We commend it, either as Hungarian grass or 
millet, to the attention of fai'mers, not for making their fortunes, but as an 
excellent auxiliary as food for farm stock. This is the testimony of farmers 
in Monroe County, N. Y., who have grown it, and liave no seed to sell, either 
as millet, Hungarian grass, or honey blade grass." 

820. How Much Grass Seed per Acre ? — ^The answer to this question would 
vary in almost every neighborhood. To answer it understandingly, we must 
know the number of seeds contained in a pound or in a bushel. 

A table, in an English work, gives the following calculation of several 
^inds of seed : 



Seo. 46.] 



SEEDING GEATN LAND WITH GRASS. 



763 



Seeds per lb. lbs. per bus. 

Italian rye grass contains .. . 270,OUO 18 

Red clover 250,000 60 

White clover 687,000 61 

Sweet vernal grass 925,000 

Drumhead cabbage 112,000 

Scotch drumhead 127,000 



55 



Seeds per lb. lbs. per bus 

Swedish turnip 154,000 54 

Buckwheat 26,000 54 

Eye 22,000 56 

Barley 15,000 60 

Wheat 11.000 60 

Oats 21,000 32 

tliat 



An important condition to the l.ealthy germination of all seeds 
they sliould have become perfectly ripened before being collected. 

Another condition is, that they should not be sown too early in the spring, 
as no seed has ever been known to germinate belOw the freezing-point. 

It is of the first im]3ortance in raising any kind of crops, tliat the seed 
sown should be perfectly good, fresli, and thoroughly ripened. It is gene- 
rally kept in shops for so great a length of time that it is often in a state 
unfit for vegetating when purcliased by the farmer. 

In rich, well-disiutegrarcd soils, every good seed grows, while in poor, 
badly tilled soils, be the seed ever so good, half of tliem will fail, particularly 
in diy seasons, and a third of those that come up will die afterward. 

Rich soils are supposed to require a smaller number of seeds tlian poor 
soils, as in the rich earth they have a much better chance of growing and 
becoming luxuriant, thus individually occupying greater space. 

In deciding upon the proper quantity of seed to be sown, the farmer must 
consider whether the season is favorable or not, or he may meet with serious 
loss. Our opinion favors a very liberal seeding of grass and clover. Timothy, 
say twelve quarts sown with winter grain in the autumn, to which add 10 lbs. 
of clover in the spring. It is a good plan to sow it on the last snow. Red- 
top seed is sown in the chaft', three bushels per acre. Orchard grass in tlie 
chaff, one and a half to two bushels. It is good economy to sow grass seed 
and clover with every crop of small grain. Tlie growth of only a few 
months, say from the haiwest of winter grain till time to plow for Indian 
corn, makes a great deal of manure for the next crop. As a rule, never 
leave the earth naked. 

The globe is a mass of vegetable life. Plants are the universal covering — 
the dress of the naked earth. Their functions are to reclaim naked, barren 
spots, and improve all its snrfoce. They are the basis of animal life and ex- 
istence ; their very beauty, their social and benevolent language, render even 
this troubled scene a place of delight. He who communes and meditates 
among trees and flowers shall find his Maker there to teach liis listening heart. 

821. Seeding Grain Land with Grass.— If a field of wheat is well harrowed 
in, and the ground is fresh, it may be sown with timothy without doing any- 
thing further; the first shower will cover the seed sufficiently. If the sur- 
face is not entirely smooth, it will pay to drag over it a large bush when the 
grass seed is sown. Some land that is pretty wet is apt to send the timothy 
ahead of the wheat in the spring, and injure the crop. Such land had best 
not be sown till spring. It is a good plan to sow upon a light snow, if tliere 
is one at the right time. "When it melts, tlie grass seed will be sufficiently 
covered. If there is not a snow, or if the laud is dry, the grass seed may be 



764 TOE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATIOIf AND USE. [Oit.vp. IX. 

sown ill March, and liglitly harrowed or bushed in without any harm to the 
wheat. If wheat land is to be seeded to clover, we would mi.\ the seed with 
plPvSter, and sow it in March or April, without harrowing. The quantity of 
timothy or clover seed per acre varies from four to eight quarts, and plaster 
from lialf a bushel to two bushels. In sowing grass or clover seed upon oat 
ground, care should be taken to sow it directly after the oats, while the 
ground is fresh ; and it will be an advantage to roll the land, or drag it 
with a bush. There is no method of manuring land so clieaply as sowing 
grass or clover seed, and turning in the sod with a Michigan plow for a 
hoed crop. 

The foundation of all good husbandry upon any farm not devoted to some 
special crop, as cotton, sugar, rice, fruit, is an abundance of grass. And this 
grass, either as grazing or winter keeping, must be fed on the farm to 
domestic animals. It can not be sold off" without endangering the fertility of 
the land. Every Northern farmer who would be successful, must devote his 
energies to making his farm productive in grass. 

822. Seeding Indian Corn Land with Grass. — It is not uncommon in some 
places to seed corn-land with some sort of small grain, not so much for the 
crop as to protect the grass or clover with which it is desirable to seed the 
land. Sometimes corn-ground is put in small grain at considerable trouble, 
for the purpose of seeding it to grass or clover, the grain crop not being 
considered an object, as it is, compared with other crops, not a profitable 
one. "We presume such farmers never think, because they never heard, that 
they could just as well sow their grass seed among the Indian corn as among 
the wheat or rye stalks, and that oue would serve as a shade for the young 
plants just as well as the other. 

Where it is intended to seed corn-land, care must be taken in the last 
working of it to leave the surface as level and smooth as possible ; then sow 
the seed and harrow with a light, fine-toothed one-horse harrow both ways, 
or else rake between the hills where the harrow teeth do not touch, with an 
iron-toothed hand-rake. 

If the stalks are cut above the ears, in the way common in all the East- 
ern States, we would pluck the ears wlien ripe, and Iea,ve the but-stalks 
standing till spring, and then roll them down. If the corn is cut up by the 
ground, the stubs may be rolled or beaten down in the spring ; and if there 
are any sjJots where the grass seed did not take well, they may be re-sown 
and harrowed, raked or bushed. 

There is probably no way in which land can be cheaper or better seeded 
than by sowing the seed among corn ; and a good mixture will be found to 
be composed — of clover, five pounds ; red-top, one peck ; timothy, one and a 
half pecks per acre; and if for pasture, we would add four or six quarts of 
orchard grass, and we would not take any pains to level the surface. In the 
spring we would sow at least a bushel of plaster per acre, and we are sure 
that the change from corn to grass will be quicker, easier, and more certain 
in this way than in any other. 



Beo. 46.] SOWING GRASS SEED IN AUTUMN. 765 

An Illinois farmei* gives his experience in seeding corn-land as follows : 

" The men Avere set to work about the middle of August, or a little be- 
fore, with garden rakes to smooth the rough places and prepare the ground 
for seed. We then sowed liberally with timothy. We cut the corn up at 
the ground as usual. In the spring we rolled the ground while rather soft, 
and have seldom liad fields left in smoother and better condition for the 
mowing machine. The seed took remarkably well, and produced the next 
year a fine croi) of excellent hay." 

Farmers need not fear to sow grass seed and plow it in among corn. 
Some farmers of our acquaintance have tried the experiment of plowing it in, 
and are convinced it is the best way of planting. It is contended that where 
it is deeply buried it will vegetate and find its way to the surface in time, 
and having roots deep set it withstands the drouth l)etter than it does when 
sown upon the surface or only slightly covered ; and, besides, it is not so 
likely to heave out. 

One man says : " I have practiced sowing g-rass seed and plowing it- in 
for twelve years, and I have sown on five different farms in this way, and 
on every variety of soil, from gravelly ledge to black muck, and n 'ver 
failed to get a fair crop of grass when seeded in tliis waj' ." 

823. Sowing Grass Seed iil Autumn. — P. Morrill, in the Maine Farmer, 
offers the following reasons for sowing grass after harvesting tlie grain crop, 
instead of with it in the spring : 

" Grass seed should be sown in autumn, because it is tlie natural time, as 
much so as winter rye or wheat. By turning under stubble for sowing 
grass seed, you give it the clean possession of land. If sown witli grain in 
the spring, the tender grass plants are cro\Vded by grain and weeds above, 
and their roots below, and for three months they have a hard struggle for 
life in the shade. All plants derive the chief part of their bulk and value 
through their leaves, and in harvesting the grain by mowing the grass- 
leaves are nearly all cut off, leaving the bare stalk suddenly exposed to the 
scorching, withering rays of the sun. I plow the land just deep enough to 
cover the stubble completely, harrow with a light harrow, tlien sow the 
grass seed, and brush it in thoroughly." 

Another farmer says : " The best way I have found to raise good timothy 
is to get your ground in good order, the same as you would for wlieat, and 
harrow very fine, and then the beginning of September sow one bushel of 
timothy seed to four or five acres, and give a light harrowing after." 

A writer from Buchanan County, Iowa, says that lie prepared ground in 
September, harrowed and sowed six quarts of timothy seed per acre in 
March, and from nine acres made twenty tuns of good hay in July. 

Anotiier says : '^ I would always sow timotliy in autumn, and I have had 
considerable experience in sowing and raising grass, especially timothy, and 
have always found wliere I sowed a peck to the acre, the grass was sufli- 
ciently thick, "and sometimes too thick, and have come to the conclusion 
that one bushel sown to five acres is nearer the proper quantity." 



766 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

824. Seeding Prairie Sloughs to Red-Top.— An old farmer of Cedar 
County, Iowa, wants ns to advise all prairie farmers to turn their sloughs 
into red-top, as it is a much more valuable crop than the natural growth. 
He says : 

" As soon as the ground thaws enough in the spring sow your seed, say 
one liushel to six acres, and harrow well to cut the sward, so that it will 
take root and grow. Then mow it before harvest, so as to give it a chance 
by the aid of autumn rains. If left too late, the wild grass will smother it 
out. Do not be discouraged if it does not head out the next year, but mow 
as before, and ever after you may look for an unfailing crop — say two or 
three tuns per acre. AVhen there is plow-land on either side it can be got 
in around the edges without the use of tlie harrow, as the wash will spread 
over so that it will take root. I choose this method in preference to break- 
ing. Some jjrefer ditching, but this is an error. Only where the water re- 
mains during the whole year is ditching necessary. For pasture, one acre 
of red-top is worth three of the slongli grass." 

In many places, particularly in Northern Indiana, there is a native red- 
top grass that is equal to anything of the name for hay for all kinds of 
stock. ISTo doubt that could be extended by cultivation upon the plan above 
recommended, which we know is a good one. 

825. A Cheap and Speedy Way to set a Grass Plat.— A iady gives the 
following plan : " At different times during last season, in improving the 
grounds about the homestead, we had occasion to sod several pieces, but no 
rich, thick-set grounds were convenient where we could procure the turf 
entire ; we therefore adopted anotlier plan. We procured less perfect sods, 
cut without care, and threw them into the cart promiscuously ; and after 
plowing the ground well to receive them, we chopped them up into small 
pieces, say from one to two inches across, more or less, and worked these 
under the surface, barely covering the roots. After the first rain, these 
small pieces of turf sent up numerous blades, and in a short time the 
ground became entirely covered with grass. Tiiese experiments were tried 
several times from July till September, and always with ]ierfect success, 
though of course the latest planting did not become so thickly set before 
cold weather set in." 

In all ordinary cases we should prefer this method to entire sodding, even 
if turf was at hand, on account of the saving of time and expense. Blue- 
grass roots are very tenacious of life, and when scattered in the way above 
named, so as to cover one quarter of the ground, will soon spread so as '.o 
make a thick-set lawn. 

820. The Way to Harvest Timothy Seed.— If the timothy is very tall, 
and not too heav}', cut it with a grain-cradle, as high as practicable, and 
after it is raked and bound, set it up in long shocks, to cure about three or 
four days — then it is hauled to the barn. Then cut the stubble close to the 
ground for hay. Sometimes when the bottom of the grass is not very thick, 
cut it with a machine close to the ground, and leave it in small gavels for a 



Sec. 40.] NOTES ON MEADOWS AND PASTURES. 767 

day or two, if the weather is favorable foi- hay-making ; then turn them 
over, stir them up a little, aud bind, and when cured, haul to the barn, and 
spread over a large surface, so as not to injure the vitality of the seed. 

Another way is to mow the grass with a scythe as soon as the seed is ripe 
enougli, and allow it to remain about one day in the swath ; and the next 
day, turn the swaths upside down. Should there be some very thick, green 
bunches, they should be stirred up, so that the whole would dry out in a 
day or so if the weather is favorable. 'As soon as it is cured, we would 
bind iu small bundles, aud shock it, and allow it to cure for several days, 
when it may be stacked or put in the barn. Most farmers allow their seed 
to remain too long in the field after it is cut. 

In mowing timothy grass for seed, it is very desirable to have it all laid 
evenly aud straight, as if it had been cradled, so that we can bind it. In 
order to do this properly, a man must be not only a good mower, but he 
must have the knack of fetching his scythe around at every clip in such a 
manner that his swath will not be tumbled over and over, as it sometimes is 
when we mow grass for hay. It is almost impossible to give the necessary 
directions on paper how to do it; but, in the first j^lace, it is very important 
to point in low. This must be done by dropping the entire scythe, from 
heel to point, flat on the ground, and keeping the heel down on the ground 
through the entire clip or sweep. 

827. S»teS on Meadows and Pastures. — The follo^ving excellent 'article is 
from tlie pen of Professor Buckman, of England : 

" Plants are weeds in pastures, if tliey do not add to tlie crop either of 
grass or hay. The following plants take up spaces, but yield no produce. 
That is : Bjoad-leaved plantam {Plantago media) ; Dandelion {Leontodon 
taraxacum) Daisy ; {Bdlis pereiims). The leaves of these grow too close 
to the ground to be eaten off by cattle or be cut by the scythe. 

"Cowslip {Primula veris) ; Primrose {Primula vulgaris) ; Green-winged 
orchis {Orchis mono); Early purple orchis {Orchis masctdo). These take 
up room in growing, are not eaten by cattle, and being dead before hay- 
making, add little or nothing to the rick. 

"Wo have just been examining a pasture full of the first three sf)ecies 
of the above list. Of the plantain wo made out as many as twenty-five 
iu the square yard, varying from two to six inches across ; we removed 
them, and bare patches to the extent of a quarter of the surface was the re- 
sult. Of tlie dandelion we have as many as six tufts in the square yard, 
each more than half a foot across: we remove them, and in so doing have 
sown some hundreds of flying seeds over the rest of this field, or sent them 
to our neighbor. And now for the ' wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower,' 
looking So bright with its silvery stars dotting the green field, surely this is 
not a weed ? Alas ! yes, all is not gold that glitters, or silver that is bright, 
and on the spot where the daisy is growing, a grass root is not, and we liave 
just stepped out to look at a meadow half daisies. However, as regards 
these three plants, there is no doubt that the first two are the most mis- 



768 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

chievous, and the question of how to keep plantains and dandelions out of 
the pastures, and still more out of lawns, is one worth more attention than 
has yet been given to it. With respect to the plantain, we know of no 
better method than absolutely cutting them up with a common knife and 
dropping a bit of salt in each hole, as without tliis they spi'out up again 
from any part of the old crown that might be left in. 

" Mr. Bail}'' Denton invented an implement for this kind of weed destruc- 
tion, which would eject a caustic fluid as it cut up the plants, and he named 
it the scorpion spud. A boy with a knife can easily clean pastures very 
foul with plantain and dandelions, at one shilling an acre, a cost which 
Avould be amply covered by the first hay crop, for it would, indeed, be a 
comparatively small admixture of plantain that did not take up the space 
that would grow a hundred weight of hay. 

" As regards seeds for laying down 2:)ermanent pasture, care should al- 
ways be exercised to prevent this |)lant from being sown, as a few seeds 
will soon stock the ground ; and if the new pasture is left pretty much to 
itself, for some two or three years the plantams will increase very rapidly. 
It should be considered that a single root may in one year produec from 
three to six thousand seeds. 

" Care should be taken to prevent the seeding of dandelions in waysides 
and waste places, as each flower-head may produce one hundred and sev- 
enty seeds and twelve heads to a single root at one time, and they keep on 
forming for several months ; it is indeed of consequence always to prevent, 
if jiossible, all weeds from seeding. 

" ' One year's seeding, seven j'ears' weeding. 

"There are many other plants in meadows that die out before grass- 
cutting ; but still, as they grow with the gi'ass, and take up space at the 
most critical time, as far as yield is concerned, tliey are very detrimental, 
and to its hindrance ; they are, besides, evidence of poverty and bad man- 
agement, wliich only exists in bad grass-farming. Cultivate on proper prin- 
ciples a meadow in wliich tliey occur, and the amount of success M'ill be 
indicated by their more or less rapid decrease. 

" Plants which, tliough innocuous, yet take ixp space, and so dilute the 
quality of the hay and injure the productiveness of the pastui'age, are 
named below. This oflers a somewhat large list, as all the plants found in 
pastures, which have a tall growth, have neither spines nor other mechanical 
hindrances, nor any poisonous qualities, must be ranged under tliis head. 
These are injurious, simply because they take up space whicli niiglit l)e bet- 
ter appropriated to the growth of grass or some nutritious herbage ; for, as 
they have no qualities to cause them to lie eaten by cattle, so in the hay 
they do not nourish but simply dilute the bulk. 

'• Blunt-leaved dock {Rumcx obtusifolius) ; Crisp-leaved dock {Bumcx 
crispua) ; Marsh dock {Rumex 2Mlustris). All tiiree are rather common 
meadow plants, especially in damp places. 
. '• Burdock {Arcthcm lajypa). Often found in the borders of fields. 



Sko. 46.] KOTES ON MEADOWS AND PASTURES. 769 

" Butter burr (Petusites milgaris). Occupies tlie sides of water-courses. 

" Cowparsnep {Ilera'cleum sj)hondi/lium) ; Wilcl-heal<ed parsley {Anthris- 
cus vulgaris). These two umbelliferiE are very common, and most imsiglitly. 

" Ladies'-smock {Cardamine prate7isis), found in wet meadows, and Com- 
mon yellow rattle {RlnnantMis crista gaUi) in very poor meadows, and the 
Ilawk-weeds and others (the several Composite^)., everywhere. 

"These, though only offered by wa_v of examples, yet in themselves make 
up a formidable list of plants injurious to the pasture. Their large roots 
and tall stems take up much space to the injury of the grass ; and though 
it is quite true that they go far in making up weight in the trusses of 
hay, yet the hay will always be of an inferior description ; and in fields 
where plants of this character prevail we shall often have a good pasturage 
for cattle — that is, the animals will get on well on the grasses, of which 
only they will partake ; and then one is too apt to be astonished that good 
feeding meadows shouhl yield a poor hay ; but the truth is that hay, with a 
fourth of its bulk and weight of these objectionable plants, is diluted to that 
extent by rubbish with no feeding qualities, and well indeed is it if they do 
not many of them contain positively injurious principles. 

" IIow, then, are we to get rid of these pests ? The simplest answer, 
with regard to the docks and umbelliferre, will be — Let them get tolerably 
strong in their stalks, and then take the opportunity, when the ground is 
soft, to pull them out of the land. They must not be mown, as in this way 
small branches, or buds that will make branches, will seed before the sum- 
mer is over, and then fifty new plants will apjiear for one old one that wo 
have destroyed ; but by pulling, we take out the crown, and usually enough 
root to destroy it. 

" But now, as regards pulling docks when the flower has advanced, it is but 
right to caution the farmer against the practice of putting them in a corner 
of the field, out of the way, for the thick succulent roots will have sufficient 
vitality, and especially if kept moist by companionship, to grow again." 

S28. Remedy for Short PastiireSi — ^Those who have but a limited raiige of 
pasture, and keep stock enough to crop it close, are always at the mercy of 
the weather. If there chance to be favoring rains, and a good season for 
the growth of grass and clover, all is Avell ; but if, as frequently occurs, 
there comes a long period of drouth, the brown fields, already close cropped, 
fail entirely, having little to protect the roots from the full power of the sun, 
and the cattle suffer, and milk-pails show serious diminution, the dairy 
profits shrink, and the effect of the drouth will be felt throughout the sea- 
son, for much of the pasture being thus summer-killed, the full flow of milk 
can hardly be regained. 

This may be guarded against by putting in a small plot of corn, sorghum, 
millet, or other suitable crop for cutting and feeding green. An acre of 
corn sown broadcast will very soon yield sufficient to give great relief to 
the short pasture. It is not necessary to stable the cows ; cut a good supply 
for them, and feed night and morning before they leave the yartl ; they will 



770 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



eat it with a relish, and make ample returns in the milk-pan and tlie churn. 
Even if the threatened droutli does not come, and abundance of grass should 
grow, the soiling crop need not he lost. Cut at the proper season, and pro- 
perly cured, it will not come amiss next winter. 

829. Mixing Stock iil PasturCt — In Nos. 24 and 110 we have treated upon 
overstocking the farm, and how many cows an acre of good pasture should 
support, hut no one will get the full value of his pasture if he has but one 
kind of stock. There is just as much economy in grazing bullocks and 
sheep upon the same farm, as there is in having hogs follow the herd while 
feeding corn. Every feeder knows that hogs will fatten well upon the drop- 
pings, and every grazier who ever tried it, knows that sheep will fatten upon 
herbage rejected by the bullocks, and the paBture for both classes of animals 
will be improved, and if not overstocked, both will do better than one sort 
alone. 

830. Improving a Wild Pasture by Sheept— Mr. Fay, of Lynn, Mass., states 
" that on a tract which was overrun with woodbine, briers, and other shrubs, 
he turned 150 sheep. At that time a cow could not have lived on tlie 
whole tract. The sheep were kept there several j^ears, and so killed out the 
wild growth that the tract now affords good pasture for 15 cows." We sup- 
pose the sheep were fed elsewhere, and were occasionally turned on this 
waste land merely to enrich it by their droppings, and kill out the useless 
herbage and shrubs. 

We have known a great deal of this work of killing out bushes and briers 
done by the aid of salt — fine salt thrown upon the leaves while wet, to induce 
the sheep to browse them off. In this way a thick plat of hushes may be 
so killed out in a single year, that the land will take grass seed. 

831. Cattle Forage— How to Produce and how to Use itt — Tliis is one of 
the most important questions for the stock farmer, both summer and winter. 
Manuring pastures is not as unprofitable as some persons suppose. A dress- 
ing of either lime, ashes, plaster, superphosphate, guano, hone-dust, niter, 
jjotash, salt, upon pasture, will almost always increase the feed to a value 
much above the cost of the application. If pastures fail in drouths, catlJc 
must be fed. The question is, upon what ? We answer, any green food that 
can be grown in season. At one time, rye — another, oats — then, corn, buck- 
wheat, turnips, etc. Grinding grain increases its value. 

One writer suggests grinding the entire straw and grain together. Will 
that pay? We doubt it. Mucii has been said and done about grinding 
cobs to increase the forage. We would give just as much for basswood 
rails as for corn cobs, to grind for any kind of stock. For hogs, we believe 
cobs are absolutely worthless. For horses, neat cattle, or sheep, clean cut 
straw is better than ground cobs. As to grinding corn fine or coarse, it 
does not make so much difference, if fed immediately to the hogs. For any 
other purpose on earth, coarse meal is better than fine; and for human food, 
fine meal that has been ground a month is absolutely deleterious — it is not 
fit to eat. 



Sbc. 46.] AMOUNT OF FODDER KECESSARY. 771 

One farmer says : " I found that cob meal lessened the richness of the 
milk, tliougli one animal fed with corn and cob meal did thrive better than 
upon corn alone. 

" Corn cobs weigh seven pounds to the bushel, and some of my neighbors 
say it will not pay the extra cost of grinding the cobs, as it costs a quart 
more corn to grind a bushel of the cobs and corn together, than it does to 
grind the corn alone, so that in fact we give a quart of corn for seven 
pounds of cob meal. I have ground a good many cobs, and luive now 
thrown away my cob-mill, and would not give it house-room. I can not 
afford to grind cobs, nor to feed any grain ungrouud ; and I can not afford 
to feed hogs with uncooked meal. I cook meal six or seven iiours, and I 
practice feeding it to hogs hot. The corn cob has some value, but not 
enough to pay for grinding. We can not grind cobs fine without great 
expense." 

832. Amoiiut of Fodder Necessary. — " The Springfield (Mass.) liepuUican 
states that William Birney has wintered forty-two cattle, three horses, and 
four sheep on the produce of sixty acres of land, which, supposing the whole 
stock to equal forty cows, gives an acre and a half of land for the annual 
sustenance of each animal. Wheat bran and oil-meal are purchased and 
used for the stock, which is balanced by the disposal of corn and hay of 
equal value. The amount of fodder consumed daily by Mr. B.'s stock is 
stated as follows : 

378 lbs. of chaffed com fodder and straw. . $1 89 

77 lbs. lonr; hay 70 

120 lbs. wheat bran 1 20 

10 lbs. oil-meal 17 

10 lbs. cob-meal 12 

" This makes a cost of about seventeen cents a day for each animal. It is 
stated that the stock is in fine condition, and that the quantity of milk 
diminishes when steamed food is withheld. Mr. B. generally cooks twenty 
bushels of roots per day for his stock, and on feeding, by way of experiment, 
the same quantity raw for three weeks, there was a diminution equal to a 
quart of milk a day to each cow." 

Estimating the roots at fifty pounds per bushel, and adding that to the 
other articles, will make 1,595 pounds of food daily ; divided between forty 
cows, is within a fraction of forty pounds of food to each, which is 14,600 
pounds for the year. This is seven tuns three cwt. per annum for each cow, 
M'hich looks like pretty strong feeding ; but we have just read a statement 
of a writer who declares that it will require from five to six tuns of the best 
timothy hay, or its equivalent, to support an animal twelve months ; and as 
no land in this country has produced this quantity, he argues that no man 
can sustain a cow per acre. With him, two horses and sixteen cows, 
mostly dry, consumed a tun of hay per week, besides brewers' grain and 
turnips in abundance. 



20 bushels roots S2 00 

Fuel for steaming the above 40 

Total $6 48 




772 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 



SECTION XLVII.-HAYING AND HAYING MACHINES. 

^ N the single, eompreliensive word haying, we have the 
y most important matter connected with American agri- 
cnltnre. The hay crop is of more vahie than the cotton, 
the corn, or the wlieat crop, or any other single article of 
farm produce, and upon many fiirms of more value than 
all others combined. Of what immense importance, then, is 
haying. Of what vast consequence to individuals, and to 
the whole country, that the best of all appliances that modern 
ingenuity has provided should be brouglit into use to save 
the hay crop — tlic crop upon which tiie lives of three fourths 
of all the horses, cattle, and sheep in the United States de- 
pend from November to April. One lialf of the year, in 
the States that produce the working animals, as well as 
beef, butter, cheese, hides, mutton, and wool — these animals 
so necessary to our existence as a civilized people, must be mainly sup- 
jKirted u])on ha}'. We could find a substitute for every other crop grown. 
For hay there is none. 

Farmer! have you thought liow much depends upon the four weeks of 
haying time ? Are you provided with the tools necessary to secure this im- 
mensely important crop in the short season that nature gives you ? For you 
must " make hay while the sun shines ;" and tliat never again will shine 
enough during the haying season, in this country, to enable you to make it 
with poor old hand-scythes, fastened to crooked sticks cut in the woods, and 
forked sticks for pitciiforks, with rakes to match — such as were in almost 
universal use in New England fifty years ago. 

You can not secure j'our crop with such tools. Fortunately, you have no 
need to use such. None but a sloven will. None but a bad manager will 
use hand tools, excellent as they now are, except to a very limited extent, 
because Y'ankce ingenuity has been at work, and machines have been in- 
vented, tried, improved, tried again, and now are extensively manufactured 
in an almost perfect state, by which liorse-power is substituted for man- 
power to mow the grass, to spread it, to rake it in windrows, and, in some 
cases, to pull it togetlier in cocks, or to the stack ; to lift it from the ground 
to tlie stack, or upon the hay-cart, and then to lift it again from tlie cart to 
the mow — all by horse-uower. Have you got these machines, or any one of 
them ? 

833. Jlowing Machines> — As most important of all farming tools, have you 
got a mowing machine? Of these, the family is numerous — all children of 
the original American reaping or mowing machine, invented and put into 
successfid operation by Obed Ilussey, of Baltimore, within the last twenty 
years, and all, with slight variations, working upon the same principle. 



Seo. 47.] nATING AND HAYING MACHINES. 773 

Upon Hiissey, McCormick improved, and carried off the palm of success, 
until "McCormick's Eeajjer" lias become of world-wide renown. 

Thougli both of these original machines would cut grass, they were not 
successful enough as mowers to come into general use. The honor of a suc- 
cessful mowing machine was reserved for Kctclium, of Buffalo. His first 
machines gave great satisfaction though requiring a strong team, and were 
too heavy and costly for small farmers. "Wood's Improvement" of the 
Ketchum machine has been generally considered an important one. 

Of mowers, up to the haying season of 1858, the great want was a one- 
horse machine tliat would do the work as perfectly as the best two-horse 
machines, with speed proportioned to the power. In short, a machine for 
small farmers, such as compose nearly nine tenths of the population of all 
the JSTortlieastern States. 

Since that date, such machines have been extensively manufactured. One 
made by Joel Nourse, of Boston, we have seen in successful operation. It 
is a machine that no man who has five acres of grass to cut can afford to be 
without. 

It is constructed entirely of iron, with a movable cutter bar, adapted to 
uneven surfixces, or it can be raised from the ground and held stationary 
while driving from field to field ; it certainly looks as though it liad all the 
elements of strength and durability, and yet it is not heavy. One of tlie 
advantages of such a macliine we will state: A gentleman bought a small 
place, which was mostly in what the owner called grass ; it was, however, 
more than half weeds, upon a rough surface, and the first year afforded a 
meager crop of poor hay, cut at one mowing with a scytlie. In t!ie spring, 
he procured one of these little machines, and as soon as the weeds were 
large enough, he harnessed his carriage horse to it, and mounted the seat 
and shaved the lot. During the summer he repeated tlie operation, again 
and again feeding the crop to the horse and cow. The consequence is, that 
the weeds are killed, and the grass much improved. 

The swath cut by one of these machines is about four and a half feet wide, 
and the work done is at the rate of six or eight acres a day of heavy grass ; 
and it will stop and start anywhere without-clogging. 

It has another advantage : it costs somethmg like fifty dollars less than a 
two-horse machine. 

It works so easily that we have seen one man pull it through grass stout 
enough to make a fair swath; and one horse can work it without fatigue, 
and in very small inclosures— in almost any situation where mowing can be 
done with the hand scythe. 

Tlie advantage of such a machine in a hilly region is very apparent. 'No 
farmer can afford to do without one mowing machine, and some can afford 
to have two. Every one who has one of heavy draft, or Avith any serious 
imperfection, can afford to buy a new one. The great hay crop hereafter 
7iiiist be cut by horse-power. 

There is another great advantage besides substitutinj: brute for man 



774 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION' AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

power. "With the scythe, tlie man must cut the grass while the dew is on, 
and that requires extra labor to cure it and extra labor in saving it. With 
the machine, the grass is more easily cut dry, and time is afforded to do it; 
and the man, while riding and guiding his mower, has no fear of the bitrn- 
ing sun. It is the horse that sweats, not the man. He rides at nearly as 
much ease as he would in his wagon on the road to mill. 

834. liorse Rakes aud other Haying Machines. — Of horse rakes there are 
several patterns, all good, and sonie of thena operate with as much ease to 
the man as the mower; for he sits in a chair, mounted upon a pair of 
wheels, to which the rake is attached. To rake hay by hand, when it can 
be so much more speedily done by horse-power, shows a great want of 
economy and sound judgment. 

Unloading hay at the barn by horse-power is such a simple operation, 
that it seems wonderful how a sensible farmer can continue the excessively 
hard labor of lifting it, a forkful at a time, in the stifling heat of the barn, 
of a July afternoon. 

To unload by horse-power, a tackle-block is attached to the ridge, the 
fall being brought down to a snatch-block at the door, to which the horse 
is hitched, and as he walks off on the ground, up goes the " horse-fork," 
with almost a fourth of the wagon-load at once ; it is pulled to its place by 
a guy rope, when, by unloosing a catch, it is upset all in a heap. 

Stacking is done by the same operation ; using a set of shears — three poles 
in a triangle — set up over th-e wagon, to sustain the tackle. 

We have now indicated some of the most important labor-saving imple- 
ments of the hay-field, to which should always, on a large farm, be added 
a tool-wagon, made convenient to carry all the hand-tools, always including 
a grindstone, and the spare clothing of the men, and a large refrigerator of 
ice water as a substitute for that accursed old black jug that has been the 
ruin of so many men in haying. 

With this we close our homily upon haying, and repeat the question to 
every farmer, Are you ready ? Have you got any, or all of these appli- 
ances? If not, there is no time to lose; the haying season conies round 
with the revolving seasons, always once a year. 

833. Stacking Hay. — We ask the reader here to refer to what we have 
said in 75G upon stacking grain, as it is equally applicable to stacking hay, 
and in both cases we must advocate stacking in an economical jioint of 
view. Stacks of hay or grain, well built, will keep, with an amount of 
■waste absolutely less than the interest of the money that barn shelter would 
cost. Whatever the size of a stack, a hen's egg should be taken as the 
model of form, the small end up, which should be made to shed rain as per- 
fectly as the roof of your own house. The most perfect mode of doing this 
is to take straw, or long, coarse grass, and commence at the lower part of 
the taper, and thrust a little handful at a time into the stack until you en- 
circle it, leaving the long ends hanging straight downward, and then put in 
another course a little above, lapping over the first one, and so on, tying the 



Sbo. 47.] HAYING AND HATING MACHINES. 773 

apex to a little stick thrust into tlie top, making, with two or three lionrd' 
work, a thatch that will preserve the stack for years. 

"We have seen the thatching of a stack made somewhat as tassel fringe is 
made, by twisting the long hay into a small hay-rope on the ground, until 
enough was made to cover the stack-top, the whole being rolled up iti bun- 
dles as large as a man could carry up a ladder, when it is unwound and 
pinned to the stack. This is more work, and only better when there is 
danger of the thatching blowing out when put on in the manner first de- 
scribed ; and that difficulty can be obviated by drawing hay-ropes or cords 
of twine around each course of thatching. 

After the stack of hay has settled, if it is found that the stacker did not 
allow enough for the settling, and the bulge comes down too near the 
ground, take a hay-knife and cut away enough to give the stack its proper 
egg-shape. If a mistake has been made in a grain-stack, it can not so well 
be remedied. Always remember that a well-formed stack will be, after it 
has settled, smaller at the bottom than it is a few feet above. In a stack of 
si.x tuns, there should be room enough for a man to lie down under the 
bulge and be well sheltered from a shower. 

In building ricks, or long stacks, the same rule as to form should govern 
the builder as in building a round stack, so that looking at the end we should 
see the same egg-shape ; and in building ricks or stacks of sheaves, the 
secret of success is keej^ing the middle full, so that the butts of all the 
sheaves are a third lower than the tops. Such a stack will always shed rain. 

There is no doubt that hay or grain may be put up in a stack much 
greener than in a barn, with perfect safety, and if we make a hollow stack, 
as is sometimes done in England, by setting up four poles, three feet apart 
at bottom and joined at top, we could stack our hay as soon as it was what 
we now consider half-cured. This country, as a general thing, has a good 
deal yet to learn of the art and economic value of stacking hay and grain. 

836. A Machine to Stack Uay is in use in some places in Ohio, but very 
little known in others. A mast is framed with braces into a foundation that 
moves like a sled, and can be drawn about from place to place in the field, 
or carried on wheels to distant fields. At the top of the mast is a yard, 
braced by a rope at one end, with a tackle-block at the other, from which a 
fork is suspended, upon whicli as much hay can be hoisted at once by a 
horse as a man could fork up at a dozen times. Sometimes the stack is so 
situated in relation to the cocks, that they arc brought up to tiie frame by a 
drag-rope, and hoisted bodily to the top of the stack. 

A very convenient implement for moving cocks xip to a stack may be 
cheaply made as follows : Two white oak or ash poles, about twenty feet 
long, framed together in the middle by three cross-pieces, three feet long, 
are formed like shafts of a wagon at one end, sharpened at the other and 
smooth, to run under a cock of hay. The shafts should be cut and framed 
while green, and then bent and seasoned in the proper shape, so that when 
attached to the horse the rear part will rest flat upon the ground. A boy 



770 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [CnAP. IX. 

can operate it as well as a man. He trots rapidly between the stack and 
cocks, leading short distances or riding long ones. He backs np to a cock, 
running the poles under it, and then throws a rope around, which is attached 
by one end to the off-shaft, and draws it tight and liitches the other end by 
a loop to a hook on the other shaft, and then trots back to the stack, casts 
his rope loose without stopping, and hurries back for anotlier load. It is a 
very rapid, easy way of stacking Iiay — a man and boy and two horses will 
haul and send up the hay as fast as the best stacker can place it. 

837. Storiug Hay— VcntilatiODi— Many tanners, those of New England in 
particular, have a custom of storing hay in large masses in the barn, in a 
place called " the buy," without a sign of any ventilation under the bulk, 
winch usually rests upon a few loose poles or boards on the damp groxmd. 
A " bay" should have ventilation, not only under it, but up through it, by 
means of a chimney made of four poles fastened together by rounds like a 
ladder. A loose stone foundation could bo laid for tlie hay bottom, with an 
air-chamber from the outside leading to the chimney, directly over which 
there should be a ventilator in the roof. This simple contrivance would not 
only save many a tun of hay from mustiness, but it would enalxle the owner 
to put in his hay in a much greener state. That next the chimney would 
always come out very sweet. 

It is also an excellent plan to ventilate stacks. It can be done by setting 
up four rails, two feet apart at the bottom, fastened close together at the top 
with a rope, strip of bark, or a withe. We once put up a very large rick of 
M-heat, that is, a long stack, which was thought too green to keep well, but 
it did, for we took a convenient rail fence and built a flue sixty feet long, 
big enough for a man to crawl througli, in the center of the foundation, so 
that a current of air passed up all through the wheat. At another time, in 
building an immense rick of prairie hay, we made an air-tube of brush, 
which greatly aided in tiie preservation of the hay. A good timber bottom, 
elevating the whole stack so that air would circulate under it, would be still 
better. 

838. Hay Caps, their Value — How Made. — "We jook upon hay caps as we 
do any other labor-saving implement in Jiay-making, and they are of such 
great advantage that we never heard of any one who had once learned their 
value, who was willing to forego their use. They are the means of saving 
thousands of tuns of hay after it is well cured, every year, in Massachu- 
setts, where they appear to be best known and most used. Simply cotton 
cloth caps, pinned with little sticks over the haycocks that are in danger 
from an approaching storm, are the kind most in use there. Grass may 
be cocked as soon as wilted, and hay improved, if you are provided with 
hay caps. One of four feet or four and a half square is considered ample 
size ; and of compactly woven, good, though light sheeting, much better 
than heavy, and a simple ring-loop of cord sewed in at each corner, but left 
so as to slip, finishes the cap ready for use. It is fastened at the loops by 
pins fourteen to sixteen inches long. Take care not to pack them or let them 



Sec. 47.] THE BEST TIME TO CUT GRASS. 777 

lie in a heap wlien wet or damp. A season may pass, and they will be of 
no use ; but another time they may pay the whole expense in protecting the 
hay through a single storm. A sheet twelve or fifteen feet square should 
always be kept on hand to cover a half-finished stack or load of hay caught 
by a sudden shower. 

839. The Best Time to Cut Grass should be authoritatively settled, and 
not left to mere assertion ; one farmer contending tliat it is best to cut it in 
the blossom, and another not until the seed is partially ripe. 

Levi Bartlett, who is good autliority, says : " As far as practicable, we 
cut our herds-grass when the seed is in the dough state, and before the bloom 
is much shed. It is said by those who have carefully investigated the mat- 
ter, that too early mowing of herds-grass results in great injury to the next 
year's crop, much more so than to that of other grasses. It being a bulbous- 
rooted plant, if cut too soon, the bulb has not stored up the necessary nutri- 
ment in it to secure a vigorous after-growth. Clover should be cut when 
about half the blossoms have turned brown, and cured mostly in the cock.'' 

When should grass be cut ? Our answer to the question is this : Wliile it 
is grass, and not after it has become hay. To make good food for cattle, the 
grass must be cut and cured, not cured and cut. A new and rather thinly- 
seeded piece of timothy will grow coarse stalks, which must be cut while 
younger than the crop of an old field which was thickly seeded, and has 
grown thick and fine. The field where the growth is thin we would cut as 
soon as it blossomed. The field where the stalks grow thick and fine we 
would allow to stand still until the seeds in the but-end of the heads were in 
the milk, and after the grass was cut, a portion of them would mature so as 
to grow. Other grasses and clover we would cut in full blossom, taking 
care not to dry them to death in curing. We would never mow while the 
grass was wet witli dew or rain ; and if cut with a machine, we would not 
care how soon after it was cut it was raked into windrow? with the liorse- 
rake. If cut with a scythe, turn the swaths over as soon as the top is well 
wilted, and, after an hour or two of hot sun on the other side, let a man 
with a three-pronged fork begin to pitch the swaths together into wind- 
rows. If not previously bleached, grass will stand a hard rain in swath or 
windrow without serious injury. It should always be put in good-sized, 
well-made cocks before it is diy, and then let it sweat. It may even turn 
black without injury, but it is preferable not to allow it to reach that stage, 
for fear acetous fermentation should take place. No matter how green the 
grass or hay of the cock looks, or how much it smokes from the sweating 
process when you pitch it on the wagon, if the air is hot and windy, it will 
dry out so as to keep perfectly in the mow or stack by the time you have 
pitched and carted and pitched again, and then again in mowing it away. 
Grass cut at noon may be cocked at four o'clock and hauled the next morn- 
ing and make better hay than it would if cut in the morning and afterward 
spread, and stirred, and raked, and pitched about, and finally cocked in the 
afternoon, and the cocks opened and shaken up again the next afternoon, 



778 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

because tliey felt a little warm inside, and finally, after getting as dry as 
tinder and pufly as feathers, hauled away to the barn. In our opinion, there 
is a foolish fashion of cutting grass with the dew on, and an unnecessary 
labor in curing it, and an altogether causeless fear of putting hay in the 
barn too green. It should be put away in such a condition that it will be 
grccu in color when fed out in winter. We can hardly set too high a value 
on flavor in hay. The relish with which food is eaten makes part of its 
value; and it goes further with man or beast than that which does not relish. 

8-iO. Wheu to flit Timothy for Seed.— When the heads have simply turned 
brown, the seed is fully matured ; and if it is cut then, but little of it will be 
lost by shelling, and the stalks and leaves will make, sometimes, tolerably 
good fodder, especially if it is run through a straw-cutter. 

The spot for seed should be selected early in June, or July, where the 
timothy is the best and tallest, and where the heads are longest, and if there 
are any noxious weeds, improve some leisure hours in pulling or cutting 
them all out. When we come to cut it, if a single weed has escaped notice, 
let it be taken out at that time. We have known several prairie farms 
stocked with weeds, where none grew before, from sowing what was bought 
for pure grass seed. 

8A1. How much Grass can Land Produce? — It has been published that, 
lipon the Earl of Derby's land, a field of one hundred acres was dressed with 
liquid manure, by a steam-engine and pipes, and a hydrant and hose to each 
ten acres, and this land was mowed seven times, and gave upon one acre 
one hundred tuns' weight of grass, and estimated an average of seventy-five 
tuns upon each acre. The meadows near Edinburgh, watered with sewer- 
age water, grew fourteen feet of grass a year, which, cut at several times, 
weighed some eighty tuns. In Ayrshire, similar treatment of forty acres of 
land has enabled its owner to feed one hundred cows. If the grass upon 
one acre should weigh one hundred tuns, perhaps it would not make over 
twelve tuns of dry hay. Mr. Lincoln, of Worcester, Mass., has done some- 
thing like tills. 

842. IIow much Hay must we Provide ? — IIow much hay to provide, or how 
much to feed to each animal, is a matter not sufiiciently understood. The 
following is the English rule, said to be made from careful experiment with 
good sound English hay. An ox requires two per cent, of his own weight 
in hay per day if he does not work, and two and a half per cent, if he 
works. If you have an ox that weighs 1,500 lbs., he will require 30 lbs. of 
hay per day if he does not" work. Apply this rule to all neat stock, and 
give to each animal twice as many jDounds as it weighs hundreds. In this 
la'iitude, the period of winter feeding is never less than one hundred and 
fifty days, and oftener one hundred and eighty, and it is not safe to calcu- 
late upon less than two tuns a head of sound hay, or its equivalent, for a 
stock of oxen, cows, heifers, and steers. The equivalent in turnips is 5 lbs. 
to one of hay. So if an animal i-equires 20 lbs. of hay, and it is thought 
best to give only half that quantity, and make up the required quantity in 



Sko. 47.] HAT RIGGING OF CARTS AND WAGONS. 779 

turnips, 50 lbs. must be given. The equivalent of corn meal is estimated at 
about 8^ lbs. of meal to 15 lbs. of liay ; but we have no doubt that a milch 
cow or a working ox would do better upon 10 lbs. of hay and 5 lbs. of meal 
than upon 20 lbs. of hay. Of milch cows, however, it should be remarked 
that tliey must have more than two per cent, of hay, or its equivalent, to 
give a profitable yield of milk. Carrots, beets, turnips, ruta bagas, may 
bo calculated at nearly double tlie value of white turnips. In England, 
mangel-wurzel is preferred to all other roots for feeding milch cows. 

843. Pea Viue Hay. — In the Southern States, the vines of the " cow pea" 
(j)/iascolus), are sometimes used for hay. The peas are usually planted 
among corn after the last working, in hills four feet apart, midway be- 
tween the rows. For liay, the vines should be gathered while the pods 
are green, and well cured under shelter before stormy weather, or the 
leaves will mold. A planter in Mississippi says : " I gather my pea 
vines about October 1st, and cure them in windrows by turning several 
times daily. 

We know of no reason why this kind of pea could not be grown for hay 
in most of the Northern States. There is a sort called the Oregon pea, that 
originated in the State which gives it the name, which could be grown on 
this side of the continent, as far nortli asitgrowsattlie "Far West." 

84i. Hay Rigging of Carts and Wagons.— A properly constructed hay wagon 
is one of the important haying implements that should not be, as it too 
often is, neglected till the last moment, when a rack is patched up " so it 
will do for now," and like nearly all patclied-np tools it does very poorly. 
Every farmer should have a well-constructed hay-rack, made to iit the 
wagon or cart, of light, strong materials, put together with screw-bolts, so 
it could be readily taken apart for storing away when not in use. With the 
hay-rack there should be a light, strong, folding ladder, attached so that it 
could always go with the wagon, without occupying any more room tlian a 
round pole tliree inches diameter and of only a few pounds' weight, easily 
drawn out from the load, and in one minute you open out a ladder twelve or 
fifteen feet long, being not only convenient, but a real labor-saving imple- 
ment — saving time, strength, and danger, in climbing on or oif a load of 
hay or stack. 

As it would be a great annoyance to have a wagon-tire come otf while 
hurrying home a load of hay to avoid a shower, you must guard against such 
a misfortune by having the wheels manufactured in sucli a way that tires 
will never get loose. See that they are made of thorouglily seasoned wood, 
and then, before putting on the tire, saturate tlie felloes with linseed oi). 
To do this in the best manner, a cast-iron trough will be required in which 
to heat the oil and keep it boiling — not burning hot. Hang the wheel on a 
stick through the hub, so as to turn freely, and suspend a portion of the rim 
in the oil, where it must remain one hour or more for each portion. Then 
set the tire, and it will never run away and leave the wheel, since no cliange 
of the hygrometrical condition of the atmosphere will aflfect wood perfectly 



780 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [CnAP. IX. 

saturated with boiling oil, and, besides that, it will be much more durable. 
An ordinary painting of felloes is of no more value than a coat of boot- 
blacking would be. It is washed and worn off in the first mud puddle. 

8i5. Carting Hay to Marked — The following is the statement of work 
done by one Long Island farmer, iu carting hay to the New York market. 

Ten years — 70 loads each, carried 24 miles, and the return journey added, gives 48 

miles per load of travel — equal to, say 33,600 miles. 

Then by simply straightening the road, which should have been done at 

first, the distance was lessened six miles : 

Ten years — 70 loads each, 18 miles, and the return, making 36 miles per load of 

travel, equal to 25,200 miles 

Eleven years— 60 loads each, same distance 23,760 miles 

Making 82,560 miles 

that this farmer has traveled on his hay wagon. His loads have averaged 
about a tun and a quarter in weight, so that in his 2,060 journeys, he had 
carried 2,575 tuns of hay, which sold for over $40,000. In that thirty-one 
years, and for that amount of work, he used but four teams, and at sixty- 
five years old he was still in hale health, as we should su])pose a man 
would be who was so much exposed to pure air and engaged in moderate, 
healthful employment. Although tliis man may have done well, it is a 
matter Nvorthy of consideration whether he could not have done better if he 
had fed all this hay upon his farm and sold the animal products, for then 
ever}' tun would have reproduced itself from the manure, if well saved and 
increased hj use of muck, and carefully applied to the land. 

840. Number of Cubic Feet in a Tun of Hay.— It is important for every 
farmer to know how many tuns he has stored, because the number of 
cattle he may winter is always based upon the number of pounds of hay he 
can feed them. It is also im^iortant in case of buying or selling hay, be- 
cause if the quantity in a mow can be approximated by measurement, it 
will save the labor of weighing and something in the value of hay, which 
will be deteriorated by the handling necessary to weigh it with the appli- 
ances ordinarily at hand in the country. 

In estimating for our own use, we would always count gross tuns. In 
buying or selling, it should be as we could agree ; the custom of the locality 
would govern the calculation. 

An old farmer thinks that to those living at a distance from hay-scales, 
the following plan will be desirable. It is this : 

" Multiply the length, breadth, and bight into each other, and if the hay 
is somewhat settled, ten solid yards make a tun. Clover will take from tea 
to twelve solid yards per tun." 

This statement has been extensively circulated, and we print it here to 
prove that it is erroneous, which we do by the following testimony. We 
hope all who have circulated this error will inform their readers that, in a 
well-settled mow of good hay, where ten to twenty tuns are stored together, 
they may ascertain the number of tuns approximately, by careful measure- 



Seo. 47.] NUMBER OF CUBIC FEET IN A TUN OF HAT. 781 

ment and calculation of one tun to from four hundred to seven hundred 
cubic feet, according to quality and the degree of pressure. Nowhere but 
in the bottom of a large mow of timothy hay will four hundred feet make 
a tun. But to the testimony. One writer says : 

" At or near the bottom of a large mow where twenty tuns are stored, four 
hundred and fifty feet will make a tun ; while near the top of the same it 
would take seven liundred to seven hundred and fifty feet. It rarely takes 
one thousand feet, where hay has lain together a length of time, unl'ess it 
be coarse and near the top, when it may sometimes require even that 
number of feet." 

E. Pratt, Jr., of Freeport, Me., says : 

" In a mow forty feet long, sixteen feet wide, and fourteen feet deep, 
well settled, the common estimate is from four hundred and twenty-five to 
five hundred cubic feet for a tun. For some fifteen successive years I have 
pressed hay in my own barn from a mow less than the above, and tlic aver- 
age number of cubic feet required — including tare, which is about five per 
cent. — has been about four liundred and twenty -five feet per tun." 

C. "^V. Fairbrothers, of Saxton's River, Vt., says : 

" I have had some experience in measuring and weighing hay, and find 
that of what we call seaft'old hay, not pressed, of a coarse quality, it takes 
some seven hundred feet to the tun. But of scaffold hay pressed by grain 
being put on the top of timothy and red-top, free from clover, we have a rule 
to allow eight feet cube, or five hundred aud twelve cubic feet to a tun, and 
the same rule will apply to a mow of considerable size and same quality. It 
takes somewhat more clover to make a tun." 

A farmer of West Enosburg, Vt., says : 

"When there is a large quantity together, four hundred cubic feet will 
make a tun ; but where only a small quantity like a scaflTold is stored, it 
will take for a tun not far from five hundred cubic feet. It dej^ends some- 
thing on the quality, but I am speaking of good herds-grass hay. I saw a 
scafibld measured and weighed a few days ago; it was twenty-six feet long, 
eleven feet wide, and nearly five feet high, making one thousand four hun- 
dred and thirty cubic feet ; it weighed five thousand eight hundred 
pounds — so you must see that it varies but a fraction from five hundred feet 
to the tun." 

A Jefferson County (N. Y.) farmer gives a cube of seven feet of good 
hay as a tun, by actual measurement and weight, in a large mow. Scaffold 
hay, he says, " I buy or sell at five hundred and twelve -feet, or eight feet 
cube for a tun." 

William Pease, Oswego, says, March 16th : " I have just measured and 
weighed a mow of hay, two thirds clover and one third timothy, cut wet 
and dried, and pitched with a horse-fork, and stored six months in a mow 
twelve by twenty-six feet, ten feet deep, which took five hundred and forty- 
nine cubic feet for a tun." 

II. Robie, Georgetown, N. Y., estimates five hundred feet as the fair aver- 



782 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTIVATION AND USE. [Cni.r. IX. 

age for a tun of hay in well-settled mows, and seven liundred feet on scaf- 
folds. 

C. W. Ingerson, New Bremen, Lewis County, N. Y., says: 
" I have carefully measured and weighed several mows of hay ; in all 
cases it was weighed in the barn, and varied but little from four hundred 
cubic feet for a tun. A piece cut from the middle of a good-sized mow, 
seven feet square by eight feet deep, or three hundred and ninety-two feet, 
will weigh a tun. And there is not the difference generally supposed in the 
top and bottom of a hay-mow which has lain from harvest until winter. I 
speak of timothy or herds-grass, cut when the seed had nearly matured, 
mowed in the forenoon, and secured in the afternoon of the same day." 
J. W. E., "West Almond, Alleghany County, N. Y., says : 
" I filled a mow that is fifteen by thirty feet with common timothy hay, 
60 that it settled to twelve feet high. I weighed out twelve tuns, which is 
four hundred and fifty feet to the tun." 

J. T. Keeley gives the following weight and measure of his mows : 
" Mow No. 1, twenty-one by twenty-one feet square, thirteen feet in 
deptli, required four hundred and sixty solid feet to weigh two thousand 
pounds. This hay was timothy, not very coarse ; cut while in blossom, and 
well mowed away by two men. 

" Mow No. 2, ten by twenty feet square, five and a half feet in depth, the 
hay the same quality as No. 1, required six liundred and fifty solid feet to 
weigh two thousand pounds. 

" Mow No. 3, eleven by twenty-four feet square, fourteen feet in depth, 
timothy hay, part of it rather too ripe when cut ; required five hundred 
solid feet to weigh two thousand pounds. 

" My experience is, it will require five hundred solid feet of timothy hay, 
cut in season and mowed away as it should be, to weigh a tun taken from 
the center of a mow twelve by twenty-four feet square and ten feet in 
depth." 

J. W. Cressinger, of Sullivan, Ashland County, Ohio, writes, March 20th : 
" That the result of weighing that day was one hundred and forty pounds 
to a cubic yard from a mow fourteen by sixteen feet, the hay lying about 
twelve feet deep, and that taken out to-day was half way down. This was 
timothy, with a trifle of white clover, cut the second week of June, when the 
first blow was off. Previous weighing has clearly proved to me that timothy 
hay, cut when the blow is off, and before it is ripe and properly cured, will 
weigh from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty-six pounds to 
the cubic yard, and clover from one hundred and twenty to one hundred 
and forty pounds to the same. I find that fourteen and a half cubic yards 
of mow or stack hay well packed, if taken below half way down, will 
make one tun where there are more than four tuns put up togetlier ; fifteen 
cubic yards, taking the whole together, will make one tun where there is 
not too much clover among it ; and clover will take of an average sixteen 
cubic yards." 



Sko. 47.] NUMBER OF CUBIC FEET IN A TUN OF HAY. TS3 

A fanner of Cass County, Mich., says, March 4th : 

"I havcjiist measured ten feet square, thirty inclies deep, of a well-set- 
tled mow, which weighed one thousand pounds." 
. G. G. Snelling, of Soutli Thomaston, Me., says: 

" I have sold hay from tlie bay or ground mow, four hundred cubic feet 
to the tun ; but in doing so, have discovered that I generally suflered loss. 
Hay on scaffolds requires more cubic feet to the tUn than hay in bays. 
Since reading your article, I sold from the bottom of a hay-mow, thirty feet 
long, ten feet wide, and originally fourteen feet high, two tuns and tiirce 
quarters of very fine hay, and found on accurate measurement that it occu- 
pied eight hundred and thirty-one cubic feet, or a fraction over three hun- 
dred and two cubic feet to the tun. From the top of another mow, the liay 
a little coarser, I cut a square, eight by ten feet, and took off the hay to the 
depth of three feet, and found it weighed one thousand one hundred and 
seventy pounds, which is about four hundred and ten cubic feet to the tun. 
Hay, according to bulk, weighs more some years than others. Last hay 
season I discovered, on examination, that the stalk where it was cut by the 
scythe was entireh' filled — a circumstance whicli rarely occurs." 

J. Farnum, of Uxbridge, Mass., gives four hundred feet for a tun in a 
mow twenty feet high, twenty feet long, and twenty feet wide, as the lowest 
number of feet he ever heard estimated. 

"In a scaffold of liay eleven and a half feet by eleven and a half feet 
square and nine feet high, making one thousand one hundred and ninety 
and one quarter solid feet, there was by actual weight five thousand and 
seventy-six pounds of hay, or a little over two tuns and a half of hay. 
The hay was what is liere called intervale upland, a kind resembling the 
English red-top, though not so valuable. This estimate gives a fraction less 
than four hundred and sixty-nine cubic feet to the tun. Under ordinary 
circumstances, five hundred solid feet of well-packed, not very coarse hay 
is considered with us to be a fair estimate for a tun." 

Harvey Head, of Paris Hill, N. Y., says : " I have two barns tliirty by 
forty feet, each of whicli has a bay across one end sixteen by thirty feet, 
which at fourteen feet liigli to the plates gives six thousand seven hundred 
and twenty feet as the contents when filled. For the last fifteen years I have 
usually sold one of tliese mows, generally by weight. I find by looking over 
the account that nine tuns and eight hundred is the least I ever weighed 
from one of them, and that fourteen tuns and seven hundred is the largest 
amount weighed from tlie same hay. In the case above, the mows were 
filled above the plate with oats in the bundle. You will see by the wide 
difference above, that I have long understood that without a good sound dis- 
cretion to back it, there was no safety in buying or selling hay by measure. 
For while it will be difficult to get a tun of coarse clover and -timothy hay 
into seven hundred feet, it will require no very sliarp practice to get a tun 
of pure timothy that will make about twenty to thirty hundred to tlie acre 
into four hundred feet. The heaviest hay we make here is timothy. Take 



784 THE GRASSES— THEIR CULTUTIVATION AND USE. [Chap. IX. 

a field of it not so tliiclc but the sun shines quite to the ground among it, 
cut when a little past full in blossom ; if good weather, get in the same day ; 
the mow will steam just enough to pack solid, and four hundred feet make 
a tun. Dry the same hay crisp, so that the mow never warms, and it will 
take four hundred and fifty feet or over for a tun. On the other extreme, 
take a field of coarse-lodged clover sparsely sprinkled with coarse timothy all 
out of blossom, and it requires seven to eight hundred feet in large mows 
to make a tun." 

Asahel Burnham, Jr., of Arkwright, Cattaraugus County, N. Y., gives 
four hundred feet as the mile for a tun. 

B. P. II., of Onondaga, says : " Tlie hay tliat grows on old, worn-out 
meadows is much heavier, according to bulk, and far more nutritious than 
that on meadows recently stocked down ; besides, the qualit-y and weight 
of hay on the same meadow varies from year to year ; in a very wet season 
you get a greater bulk; in a dry season greater weight; and clover hay 
occupies a quarter more space tiian timothy, so all rules are uncertain." 

C. II. Harroun, of Patterson's Mills, Iowa County, Midi., says his expe- 
rience in selling hay is, that timothy mixed with one fourth clover, cut 
when timothy begins to ripen, and cured in cocks, and packed in a mow 
eighteen by thirty feet, and kept over summer, weighed a tun to four liun- 
dred cubic feet. Clover took five hundred and twelve feet to a tun. 

A. S. Myrick, of JeflTcrson "Valley, N. Y., says : " Dederick's presses 
make a bale of three hundred and seventy-five to four hundred and twenty- 
five jjounds in twenty cubic feet (four feet by twenty-four inches by thirty 
inches)." 

The weight of the testimony is that four hundred cubic feet of the bottom 
of a large mow are required on the average for a tun ; five hundred feet in 
the middle, or as the average of a mow ; and seven hundred feet for a scaf- 
fold of a few tuns of what is often called English hay, and about a quarter 
more for clover, The calculation of ten yards is a blunder. If you doubt 
it, try it. Measure across a mow fifteen feet wide a strip of six feet, and 
take off the hay three feet deep and weigh it, and see if it makes a tun. 
The statement, just as soon as you begin to analyze it, will appear ridicu- 
lous. The smallest quantit}" given for a tun'is a cube of seven fee^ — three 
hundred and forty-three feet. As a general rule, it will do to calculate 
every culie of eight feet in a large mow as a tun, and imloss the hay is 
packed solid, it will take more rather than less than such a cube to make a 
tun, particidarly if the tuns are estimated at gross weight, which we think 
is the general custom. 

With the above estimates, based in most cases upon actual weight and 
measiirement, the farmer will have but little difficulty in determining how 
much hay ho has stored in any particular place. 



CH AFTER X. 



ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. 




SECTION XLVIIl.-POTATOES, TURNIPS, BEETS, CAUIIOTS, PARSNEPS, 
ONIONS 



HE value of root crops other than potatoes has never 
been appreciated in this country as much as in Eurojje ; 
^.^ for instance, turnips in England and beets in France. 
^ The potato, Solanum tuherosum, is considered iii- 
^-5 dispensable in Middle and Northern States; and 
the sweet potato, Convolvulus iatatas, in Southern States. 
Within a very recent period, American farmers have 
legun td regard cari'ots and ruta bagas among tlic im- 
portant farm crops. Tiie common white turnip has long 
jeen grown by most JNortiiern farmers in a small way, but 
as a great iield crop, as it is in England. Many farm- 
ers, who know very well how easily turnips are grown, have 
no faith in tlieir value as feed for stock. Tiiey have faith in 
pofatocs, and as they are considered the most valuable of all root ci"ops in 
America, we will open this chapter with their history, and give opinions of 
practical men as to the value of various kinds and modes of culture. 

847. History of the PotalO. — Historically, we are told that it originated in 
South America, jirobably within the torrid zone. 

It was introduced into Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh about the year 
1580, and into Ireland in 1610, and as a field crop in Scotland in 1728. 

At first its culture was confined to the gardens of the nobility of England. 
In 1613, the price of potatoes is stated, in the household expenses nf Queen 
Anne, at Is. per lb. 

English writers estimate that twice as much food is produced from an 
acre of potatoes as from an acre of vrheat. 

No theory of climate, soil, or culture can as yet explain the phenomena of 
its growth, or the nature and cause of the disease which of late years has 
reduced it from the most certain to the most uncertain of crops. 

Though a native of the torrid zone, it grows most luxuriantly in the 
Northern States and British provinces of this continent, while in Ireland its 
culture attains the highest relative importance. In Sweden it is cultivated 
as far north as the sixty-fourth degree. The origin of the various sorts now 
in use is from planting the seed of the balls, or where the seed has ac- 
cidentally sprung up and produced tubers. 



786 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

The potato known as the Mercer, or Nishenock, was first grown about 
forty-seven years ago, in Mercer County, Penn., on Big Nishenock Creek, 
by Jolm Gilkey, who called it the Nishenock Koyal potato, and it got the 
name of Mercer from Mr. Bevan Pearson, who carried a few in his saddle- 
bags to Darby, below Philadelphia, from which point they have spread over 
the United States under the name of Mercers, while from the original point 
they have spread under the other name, which has been corrupted into Nesh- 
anocks, Meshanocks, Chenango, Bone's potato, and several other misnomers. 

Rev. Chauncey E Goodrich, of Utica, 'N. Y., has originated more new 
potatoes than any other man in this country, and some of remarkably good 
quality. He says of the origin of the potato : " In a state of nature, it is 
found on the sides of the Andes, and in the adjacent valleys. At the base 
of the mountains, the tamarind, yam, and banana; the melon, corn, tomato, 
and pepper come higher up ; and above these is the belt where the potato 
thrives most vigorously, the climate being equable, and the root not ex- 
posed to the frosts." 

8i8. The Character of Several Promiuent Sorts of Potatoes. — The. char- 
acter as well as origin of several sorts of potatoes in general use is given in 
the following notes, by Nathan R. French, of New York, who has paid 
great attention to the cultivation, salableness, and value of potatoes as a 
farm crop. He says : "As a general rule, yellow potatoes are rank and 
strong — white ones, good flavored. ' 

"The Mercer has been for many j-ears the standard variety. When first 
introduced, it was objected to on account of the blue streaks pervading the 
otherwise white meat, but the excellent quality and reliable yield has kept 
the Mercers in general use. This and other parti-colored varieties are very 
much whiter when raised in this latitude than at the North, and if Northern 
seed of these sorts be carried South, tho product will be much whiter and 
handsomer than the original seed, taking precedence in market over the 
same varieties of Northern growth. The Mercer seems to be now on the 
decline in many sections, and likely to be succeeded by new varieties of 
Northern growth. 

"The Carter is one of the finest table potatoes ever grown. It is white 
throughout, slightly oblong, with deep under-set eyes, and when boiled has 
a dry, light, flour-like appearance, with great delicacy of flavor. It origi- 
nated some twenty years ago with a Mr. Carter, near Pittsfield, Mass., and 
was soon cultivated largely by the Shakers. From them the culture spread 
northward, and is now mostly confined to "Washington County, N. Y. 

" Tho Carter ripens late, and has failed of success in this latitude — is very 
liable to rot, and is now running out where it has succeeded best. 

" The White Pinkeyes, or Pink-eye Kidneys, are an old variety of excel- 
lent quality, rambling growers, generally yielding fairly upon rich and well- 
adapted ground. 

"Junes, Yellow Pinkeyes, Northern Whites, and Rock Whites are all of 
the same family, or nearly related. They are yellow-meated, watery, and 



Sec. 48.] SEVERAL PROMINENT SORTS OF POTATOES. 787 

sometimes rank flavored. They mature early, parfieularly the Junes, on 
wliich account they are a good deal cultivated, and generally escape the 
rot, and yield fairly. 

" California potatoes are oblong-shaped, yellow-meated, parti-colored skin, 
great size, immense yielders, strong, watery, unfit for the table (of Chris- 
tians), but are fit successors to the old and discarded Merino potatoes, once so 
poimlar throughout New England, and still cultivated in some places for stock. 

" Tiie Dikeman is a native of Oneida County, 'N. Y., where it was started 
from the seed by a farmer whose name it bears. The tubers are round, 
white, with pink eyes; it ripens earlier than the Mercer, and generally 
escapes the rot ; is a good yielder, and is extensively cultivated as an early 
potato for this market. It degenerates rapidly, however, in this vicinity, so 
that a yearly renewal of seed from its native locality is necessary. 

"AVestern Keds are one of the best of the yellow-raeated varieties, and 
when raised on Long Island or in New Jersey, are very fair table ]3otatoes. 
They are in large demand for shipping, and are exported to Bermuda for 
seed, their product — the highly prized Bermuda potato — being returned to 
us in the spring. It is remarkable that all other varieties tried in the Ber- 
mudas have failed. 

"The Black Mercer was introduced into New Jersey some years ago from 
"Western New York. It is shaped much like the Mercer ; the flesh is 
entirely white, the skin very dark and thick. It is very late, requiring the 
whole season to mature ; yields largely, producing twice as much as the 
Mercers. If peeled before cooking, the quality is good, particularly in the 
spring, though not so dry and light as !he Mercer. The dark skin is preju- 
dicial to the sale, and it has rotted badly some years, so that many are now 
abandoning its cultivation. 

"The Buckeyes have been grown in Monmouth County, N. J., with 
remarkable success. They are handsome, round potatoes, white throughout, 
except a little bright pink at the bottom of the eye; cook dry, mealy, and 
fine flavored. They were introduced from Ohio to the vicinity of Rochester 
by D. S. Whitlock, from whom J. S. Whitlock, of Monmouth County, N. J., 
obtained seed and planted three acres of sward ground, which averaged 250 
bushels per acre ; on coi-n stubble he had an average of 165 bushels per acre. 
His brother, G. S. Whitlock planted three acres corn stubble which averaged 
200 bushels per acre — in both ijistances giving a yield more than double 
that of Mercers in the same fields. "While all other varieties in the same 
neighborhood rotted badly, this was sound, and brought the highest price 
in market. 

"The Prince Albert is a seedling imported from EnglaTid, and introduced 
into Massachusetts a few years ago ; in shape oblong, a little flattened, 
entirely white, with very few eyes, which lie upon the surface, scarcely 
indenting the thin, smooth skin, being one of the most beautiful potatoes 
ever grown, ripening early as the Mercer, of handsome size, sometimes very 
large, and very productive. 



788 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

" Tlie Peach Blows and Shepard Reds are seedlings from the "Western Keds 
started by Mr. Shepard, of Saratoga County, N. Y. They ai-e round, with 
M-hitish-yellow meat and deep eyes. The former have a parti-eolored skin ; 
the latter a rough red skin with pink streaks in the outer portions of the flesh. 
The Peach Blows are very fine table potatoes, cooking dr}^ and light. They 
have been grown to some extent in Monmouth County, N. J., with promis- 
ing success, though they did not attain the size of those raised at the North. 
The quality, however, was decidedly improved by change of climate and soil, 
being smoother, whiter, cooking dryer and lighter, and selling fifty cents 
per barrel higher than those of Northern growth. The Shepard Reds have 
a less attractive appearance. Both varieties ripen late, and like all late 
potatoes are more liable to rot than the early sorts. 

"Dover potatoes are small, round, red, with deep eyes, white flesh, and from 
their superior quality sell to a limited extent at good prices. They are not 
economical for the table, and we presume their yield is light. They grow 
principally in Rhode Island." 

James F. C. Hyde, of Newton Center, Mass., speaks highly of "Davis' 
Seedling." "This is one of the very best potatoes grown, taking into consid- 
eration size, productiveness, and hardiness. I do not mean to say it is of 
the best quality for eating when compared -with the State of Maine or Car- 
ter; but I do mean that it is a good eating potato, which, added to all its 
other good qualities, makes it a \crj desirable variety. Its color is red out- 
side and white inside, slightly tinged with pink just under the skin; large 
size, and very free from rot. This variety originated in Sterling, Mass. It 
is far superior to Peach Blows, Vermont Whites, and Pinkeyes. It yielded 
better than any other out of the forty kinds I raised last year. 

" State of Maine is a fine eating potato, unsurpassed by any in the 
whole list, not excepting the Riley or Carter. It is not more than half as 
productive as the Davis', but superior in quality for the table. It is white 
outside and inside, and shaped somewhat like the White Chenango (Mer- 
cer). This variety is quite early, being not more than a week later than the 
Chenango, to which it is superior. Should not consider it so profitable a 
variety for the market, except for early, as the above-named varietj'. 

"Jackson While. A sort of recent introduction, and promises well. I 
have grown it two years with fair success, but have never had it dry and 
mealy as the State of Maine. This is a white potato, nearly round, medium 
size, eyes deeply sunk, fair as to productiveness and hardiness, worthy of 
trial. 

"St. Helena. This is an old and well-known sort that was formerly culti- 
vated in this region, but for some years has been neglected. It now comes 
out under otlier names, such as Laplander and White Mountain Seedling. 
It is a veiy productive sort, very handsome on account of its good size and 
whiteness. Quite free from the rot. This potato is apt to be soggy, and 
for that reason is not so highly esteemed." 

A Mexican potato, said to have come from seed of potatoes found growing 



Sec. 4dg SEVERAL FKOMIireNT SORTS OF POTATOES. 789 

■wild in Mexico, has beea disseminated somewhat in Western New York, 
•witliin the last dozen j'ears ; it is highly reeouiuiended as having a rich 
white flesh of good quality, with very smootJi thin skin and shallow eyes. 
The tojDS or vines are remarkably small, and from tliis fact may be planted 
closer in hills than other varieties, or in drills three to three and a half feet 
apart and six inches in the drill. May be cut as small as a single eye on a 
piece, and set four eyes in a hill, one in each corner of a square of four inches. 
Six bushels will be sufficient to seed an acre of ground. 

"Wing's New Mercers. Mr. Benj. Wing, of Rochester, N". Y., says the 
seed came from Vermont. ,They resemble the old standard Mercer in shape, 
but have much less of the blue tint in the meat and skin, being nearly white 
throughout. They have a smooth skin, and cook as white and as dry as the 
old Mercers. Tiie vine is larger and more luxuriant; they grow as com- 
pactly in the hills, and have yielded fully 25 per cent, more than the old 
Mercers, on the same field, and with the same opportunities. They have 
been called in some instances Sherman's Seedling, or Seedling Mercers. 

"Tiie Keeper Blue is a Western variety of large size, round, with dark blue 
skin and white meat, and of excellent quality. A few planted as an ex- 
periment in Monmouth County attained only moderate size, with light 
yield, ripening rather late; but the quality of this product surpassed the 
original stock, being in every respect most excellent — equaling the famous 
Carter in its best days. 

"The Kew Hampsliirc White, raised in Monmouth County, is a very larn-e 
oblong potato, white throughout. 

"The Wood's Seedling is similar in shape and size, Avith pale red skin mot- 
tled with white. Both yield very largely, but are not very good table 
potatoes. 

"The yellow-meated, poor-flavored potatoes, such as Western Reds, Junes, 
Eoimd Pinkeyes, English Whites, and Rock AYhites, sell at prices 50 per 
cent, below the choice white varieties." 

The State of Maine is a new variety lately introduced, and another from 
Maine, called the Poggy potato, both of which are highly recommended. 

Alleghany potatoes is the name of a new sort, described as excellent and 
free from disease, by D. Edwards, of Little Genesee, N. Y. 

The Wood's potato and Jenny Lind potato are described by John C. 
PoUey, DeWitt, Clinton County, Iowa, as identical, and he gives the followino- 
as its history, which is valuable information, and proves that old thin"s are 
sometimes sold at extra prices as something new. 

"Isaac N. Wood, a farmer, living in Holland, Hampden County, Mass., in 
the fall of 1845 or 1840, gathered a few potato-balls from the vines of the 
Peach Blow potato, and the following spring planted some of the seeds. 
They grew feebly the first year, the tops bearing very little resemblance to 
those of potatoes. In the fall he harvested about two quarts, varying in size 
from that of a grape to a crow's egg. There were three distinct varieties in 
this first crop. The following spring he planted theni in a sandy soil, and 



t90 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

raised from one kind about ninety pounds, most of them of large size. The 
two other varieties yielded very little, and were not preserved ; the former 
were carefully stored for seed. Their appearance the second year from the 
original seed was the same as it is to-day ; and it seemed as mature then as 
it was after years of cultivation. It had the same rough ajjpearance then 
that it lias now ; the eyes were numerous and deep-set. The next year he 
cut these ninety pounds of seed in such a way as to leave but one eye on a 
l^iece, and put three pieces in a hill. The hilJs were one and a half feet 
apart one way, and three and a half the other. Seeding in this way, he had 
enough to plant one fourth of an acre. The ground was dry and sandy, and 
highly manured. I saw them several times during the season, and have 
never seen a greater growth of tops tlian on that piece. It was impossible 
to tell, by the tops, which way the rows went, even while they were stand- 
ing up, and befoi'e they M-ere thrown down by the wind and their own 
weight. lie harvested from that piece one hundred and thirty bushels of 
potatoes; some of them were remarkably large, weighing from two to three 
pounds. He used of this crop only enougli to test thoroughly their quality. 
The next spring he sold them in small quantities to his neighbors for seed at 
an extra price. My father procured some of the seed, and raised them 
for many years, and always considered them a valuable variety, especially 
for feeding stock. They were not so good for table use as many other kinds ; 
but they grew better toward spring, and perhaps at that season of the year 
they are on an equality with our best varieties. They will go further in 
seeding than any other kind I now remember, and yield much better than 
the average. I think them a valuable addition to tlie already numerous 
potato family." 

The Woodbury Red, California, and Early June potatoes, in Litchfield 
County, Conn., Dr. Beckwith of that State says, "were not afl'ected by 
disease. The Woodbury Red yields large crops, but the quality is coarse." 

Mr. Sperry, of Bethany, Conn., considers Merinos, which are also called 
Long Johns, the most profitable potato. He has adopted the plan of plant- 
ing potatoes only on poor soil, to avoid the disease. Tiie drier the land the 
I less the rot. Planted on straw between tlie ridges on corn-land they did 
well; also laid on the ground and covered four inches deep with straw; 
the yield was small, but the tubers sound. 

Mr. Brown, of North Stoninglon, has tried Wiiite and Black Mercers, 
Peach Blows, Covers, Californias ; of these the last rotted the least and 
j yielded the best. Tiie Dover is a fine potato, but the yield is very small. 

Mr. Sperry, of Cheshire, has abandoned the culture of the Mercers on ac- 
I count of the rot, and regards the Sand Lakes the best; they are prolific, and 
j an excellent table variety. A peculiarity of this sort is that the tubers form 
j on roots at a distance from the hill and fill the wiiole ground, and do not 
rot. His practice is to dig as soon as the tops die, and keep the tubers ex- 
cluded perfectly from the light. He uses poor, worn-out laud, with lime 
and plaster in tlie hill, and level culture. 



Seo. 48.] IMPORTANCE OF THE POTATO CROP. 791 

Mr. Peck, of Chaplin, plants on old pasture grounds, using ashes in the 
hill, with uniform success. Ho regards the Dovers as the best potato now 
raised in Windham County. lie has raised 75 to 100 bushels of Dovers per 
acre. 

Gen. Pratt, of Rocky Hill, says: "The Scotch Gray was the common 
sort some years since, but of late English Whites, Pinkeyes, and Wliite 
Mercers are the preferred kinds. Potatoes do best on corn-ground, which 
was well manured with the corn, the potatoes receiving in the bill a table- 
spoonful of ashes and one of plaster, mixed. In one experiment the potatoes 
rotted less upon ground purposely left full of weeds than where it was kept 
clean. The longer potatoes are left in tlie ground the better. The Mercer 
potatoes sell highest. Carter potatoes and Ladyfingers, and Dover or Irish 
crop potatoes are good, and the last named keep good till spring." 

Mr. Colburn, of Union, says: "The kind known as Peach Blow potatoes 
was almost exclusively grown in the northern part of Tolland County, and 
gives it as his experience that early planting and flat culture are best. He 
plants as early in April as possible, and thinks that the crop of an early 
planting is less likely to rot. He disapproves the use of animal manure in 
the hill, and prefers to plant npon land manured the previous year, or upon 
sward ground, with ashes for a fertilizer." 

S¥J. Iin]iortaiice of the Potato Crop.— ISTotwithstanding disease, bad cro{)s, 
and all other difficulties in the way of growing potatoes, the average yield 
per acre is at least one hundred bushels, and the average price in New York 
for years has been about equal to Indian corn, and sometimes as high as ' 
wheat, and twice as high as oats. They have often been so high that it was 
no object for a baker to use potatoes with wheat flour, and they have actually 
been retailed from the same store, pound for pound, with good wheat flour, 
at the same price. Under such circumstances, the importance of the potato 
crop will warrant us to devote some pages for its consideration. English 
and Irish farmers may well wonder at the statement of the price at which 
potatoes are sometimes sold at retail in tliis city ; that is, at the rate of eight 
or nine shillings sterling a bushel of fifty -four pounds, and at this price tliey 
have been used as food in immense quantities for manj- years. ISTotwithstand- 
ing the great advance of price, the consumption has enormously increased, 
which may be attributed in part to the immense number of six hundred 
thousand immigrants annually. If we estimate that each individual uses 
but five bushels of potatoes, which is a moderate estimate, it will require 
three millions of bushels to supi^ly this demand. The reason why this 
class use potatoes so largely is because they can be so easily prepared, 
and because the taste for other cheap food, such as corn meal, has to be 
acquired. 

In September, 1861, when potatoes were considered very low-priced, 
owing to an abundant crop just coming on the market, the wholesale price 
was q\ioted at $1 12 to $1 50 per barrel, and the avei'ago quantity in a barrel 
is not over two and a quarter bushels, making them at the lowest 50 cents a 



792 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. Chap. X. 

bushel. At the same time wheat was quoted from 91 cents to $1 27 a 
bushel ; rye, 67 ; oats, 28 to 31, Indian cofu, 47 to 65, and good wheat flour 
for family use at $4 50 to $G a barrel, say only three times the price of ' 
potatoes, with all their weight of water and waste in cooking. Who will 
doubt the importance of the potato crop in America at present prices ? 

850. Some General Rules for Potato Culture. — The first grand rule is, plow 
your ground— do not scratch it and call it plowed. We should prefer the 
Michigan plow, run twelve inches deep, with a subsoil plow following in 
each furrow, twelve inches deeper; and the potatoes planted and cultivated 
on the level system, the work all being done by horse-hoes instead of hand- 
hoes. 

The best potato land is a dry, mellow loam. Do not select muddy soil or 
ground that was manured high last year with unfermented stable or hog- 
pen manure ; and do not use either of these manures on the crop. Remem- 
ber that soil as well as climate has much to do Avith the nature of crops. 
Gravel or loamy soils arc best, especially when they contain a large propor- 
tion of vegetable matter. If potato-ground is well prepared, and then be- 
comes packed afterward, it will not injure the product, but will increase it ; 
treading the hills upon sandy ground will be beneficial. In planting, we 
would nse medium-sized whole potatoes, dropped in furrows three inches 
deep, and fill the furrow with loose dirt, well beaten down. 

For manure, use none but the very best compost or guano, thoroughly 
mixed with the soil. Use lime, plaster, and salt, one or all. Twenty bushels 
of salt or fifty bushels of lime per acre would not frighten the potatoes out 
of one year's growth ; and a handful of plaster upon each hill would tell 
you a most interesting story. Freshly dag niuck, taken from salt or fresli 
marshes, thrown into drills underlying seed potatoes, will be found to be an 
eflicient manure, while the decomposition of this muck, consequent upon 
the abstraction of some of its constituents by the roots of the growing 
potato, prepare it for minute division in the soil by the next year's plow- 
ing, and thus sandy soils may be made to yield large ci-ops of potatoes, at 
the same time providing themselves with the conditions which will render 
them retentive of manures for all time. Use salt and lime broadcast at the 
first or second tending, mixing with the soil by the cultivator. The plaster 
may be put on at any time after the vines are well grown. Sods or straw 
laid in the furrow over the seed are good, because they maintain an equal 
temperature beneath them. 

The best aspect for a potato field is a northern one, as a southern heats - 
too much, and an eastern heats too rapidly after a cold night. Seed pota- 
toes we prefer to plant whole, because it is a law of nature that the tuber 
or seed furnishes food for the young plant. We would plant early, because 
early planting gives the plant a slow, hardy growth in the comparatively 
wet weather early in the season, which fits it to better withstand the sudden 
transition of midsummer. In Mississippi, potatoes are planted in Novem- 
ber. We have planted in February north of New York city, and got a 



Sko. 48.] GROWING POTATOES UNDER STRAW OR TAN BARK. 793 

good crop of early potatoes. Early maturing sorts are the surest of late 
years. In the culture of potatoes it should be borne in mind that they are 
tubers ; that the roots which are thrown forth never yield potatoes attached 
to themselves, tiie new growth always occurring on the stems, and hence the 
mode of culture should be such tiiat after the proper number of tubers have 
appeared upon the new growing stem, no others should be induced, so that 
all the pabulum collected by the roots may be reserved for the use of the 
first fonnod tubers. If this rule be strictly adiiered to, all the potatoes 
will be of full size, and we shall not have assorted crops, part large, part 
small, part ripe, and part ixnripe. As soon as the plants are three inches 
high, turn furrows toward them so that they will be partially covered, but 
do not make ridges. Keep your culture upon the flat system. Take care to 
keep the field clear of weeds, cost what it will, and you can grow potatoes 
in these latter da^'s with more profit than you ever did in ancient times of 
great crops and low prices. There is no better implement to use between 
potato rows than a subsoil plow. Planting in drills wo prefer to hills ; level 
cultivation in preference to ridges ; but the ground must be deeply prepared. 

851. Culture of Potatoes by the Plow without Hoeiug. — A Connecticut 
farmer is successful in the following mode of growing potatoes, doing all the 
work of covering with the plow instead of hand hoe : After plowing deep, 
he laid out the field with the plow for the seed, di'awing furrows three 
inches deep, two feet and a half apart ; in these were dropped potatoes fif- 
teen inches apart. They were covered by throwing a ridge over each row, 
four inches above the general level — the potatoes therefore being buried 
seven inches deep. Ten days after the piece was cross-harrowed level, or 
nearly so, and then left till the* rows could ])e distinctly seen ; then the earth 
was again thrown in ridges, covering the potatoes ; this was done by plow- 
ing twice to each I'ow ; then, the same day that which was ridged was liar- 
rowed flat, there being no more plowed than could be leveled before night. 
When the plants had attained a bight of six or eight inches, the}^ were 
tilled either with Shares' horse-hoe or with a light plow, according to the 
soil (which in some parts was too grassy to use the horse-hoe to advantage) ; 
by this operation the potatoes were pretty well earthed up. Afterward the 
horse-hoe M-as used again as a weedcr, and nothing more done, save to go 
through once and pull the few big weeds which were in the rows. The hand- 
hoe was used in a few spots only, where sods on the surface made it neces- 
sary. As the result of this mode of culture there were three acres of pota- 
toes, and not a weed in sight. 

852. Growing Potatoes under Straw or Tan Bark — R. B. Bamford, of 
EnglaTid, has issued a pamphlet, giving his method of using tan bark, which 
is briefly stated as tbllows : He does not cut his potatoes, but uses the 
largest he can select. The rows are thirty inches apart, and the potatoes 
are put nine inches from each other in the row. The land is plowed only 
eight inches deep. He treads the manure firmly in the furrows, puts in the 
tubers, and covers them in with taa refuse, nine inches deep. In 1857 he 



794 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. Chap. X. 

raised six hundred and seventy-five bushels of potatoes to the acre, with 
nothing but waste tan as a covering, and not a rotten one among them. 

A similar tiling has been practiced with straw and with swingling-tow. 
J. M. Smith, of Beaver County, Pa., recommends raising potatoes under 
straw. Plow the ground and manure well. Cut the seed and drop in 
squares two b}^ two and a half feet on the leveled surface, and cover with 
straw six inches deep. Tlie crop was large and potatoes good, M'hen all 
around, potatoes planted in the usual way made a poor crop. 

Another farmer says : " Prepare the ground well and plant in drills and 
cultivate once after tliey grow, and then, M'hile the surface is fresli, cover 
eight inches deep with straw." 

853. AshfS for Potatoes. — Rufus Brown, of Clielsea, Orange County, Vt., 
says that in an experiment tried by him, the gain in the crop of potatoes by 
the use of ashes at tlie rate of a teacupful to tlie hill was about a bushel 
and a half of potatoes for each bushel of ashes used. The kind of potatoes 
was the Englisli Pinkeye, and yield two hundred bushels per acre. Tiic 
ground was planted May 7th, witli the ashes in holes and a little dirt over 
them. It was plowed and hoed June 18th, the rows being four feet apart 
and hills three feet. Tlie ashes cost twelve and a half cents a bushel, and 
potatoes sold at thirty-five cents, returning full fifty cents a bushel for the 
ashes employed. 

854. Iloeillg^ Potatoes when Wet. — A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer 
states that, having noticed how potatoes, when interrupted in their growth, 
invariably pined away and died, if disturbed and bruised wlicn wet witli 
dew or rain, he tried the following experiment : lie selected a patch in his 
potato-field, had it plowed only once, and tlren loosened the soil with the 
hoe when the stalks were above ground, and in the heat of the day when they 
were dry. lie never touched them afterward until they were dug in Octo- 
ber. These stalks kept green, and the yield of potatoes was very large. 
The otiier jiortion of the patch was worked three times, when the stalks 
were wet with dew. These blighted early, did not produce half a crop, and 
that of an inferior quality. The ground, seed, and time of planting in both 
cases were tlie same. 

855. Practical Opinions about Seed Potatoes and Planting. — Isaac Beck- 
ner, of Goshen, Ind., gives the following as his plan, by which he gets a 
good crop of sound potatoes : " Plant sound seed three and a half by three 
and a half feet ; work them with a small cultivator until they are ready to 
lay by, and then run a furrow in the center of the middle as deep as you can 
with a shovel plow, twice in the same place each way, forming a fine hilL 
Tiiese furrows will drain the hills if too wet, and if it is dry, the hill is in a 
good shape to retain the moisture. In this way of tending they will need 
no hoeing, as they will be hilled sufficiently." 

Another farmer prefers drilling the seed. He says the average yield is 
twenty-five per cent, greater. 

Another one not only plants in squares, but is particular to have each 



Sec. 48.] CUT SEED VS. WHOLE POTATOES. 795 

piece of seed in its proper place relative to position. After preparing the 
ground and marking each way with a plow, he marks a place for eacli piece 
of seed with a block having four pins inserted at equal distances. Small 
children may follow and drop one piece in each hole, which may then be 
covered with the hoe or rake. By this method your potatoes are neitiier too 
compact nor carelessly dropped out of place. The after-culture is more 
pleasantly and nicely performed, on account of every plant standing just 
where it should bo. 

Another recommends planting the seed very aeep, and proves his theory 
sound by seed accidentally buried very deep, always producing well, and 
tlic potatoes never rotting. lie says : " Potatoes planted near tlie surface 
are affected by the changes of the weather ; the blistering suu and drench- 
ing rain contribute in no small degree to their decay, while tliose deeper 
planted are protected from the extremes of heat and cold, of wet and 
drouth." 

General Beatson, of the British army, who commanded at St. Helena, at 
the suggestion of the Eoyal Agricultural Society tried a great number of 
well-directed experiments in relation to the culture of the potato. He 
found that the proper depth to which the seed should be covered was six 
inches ; that at a greater or less depth of covering the crop was less and 
of inferior quality. He also found that the largest and most perfect pota- 
toes, when used for seed, would give a larger yield from the same number 
of pounds than any other size. He tried them of every size, at every deptli, 
whole, cut in various sized pieces, the different portions of the potato planted 
separately, the removal of the eyes from the potato, and their separate plant- 
ing, and the result of all these experiments ^vas that the largest-sized pota- 
toes covered to the full depth of six inches, with flat cultivation and con- 
tinued disturbance of the surface of the soil would yield the largest crop. 
Each of these experiments, even in its subdivisions, occupied a space of not 
less than one acre. 

856. Cut Seed vs. Whole Potatoes. — There are conflicting opinions as to 
which is best, planting potatoes whole or cut, or whether large or small 
ones are equally good for seed. "\Ve give some of these opinions as we find 
them : our own corresponds to that of General Beatson. The following is a 
statement of Professor Nash : " Nothing can shake my opinion in favor of 
j>lanting large tubers. The want of proper food in the soil is often, if not 
always, the cause of the potato rot, as well as poor crops. A mixture 
of four bushels of wood ashes, one bushel of shell lime, one half bushel 
of plaster, one quarter bushel of salt, produced an excellent crop, while, 
right alongside, a crop without this mixture was not worth digging." 

A letter from Cayuga County, N. Y., contains the following statement: 
" For twelve years past we have been in the habit of selecting potatoes for 
seed the size of a black walnut, putting one in each hill, and during this 
time have not had as many as one in fifty affected with disease, except one 
season, when digging in wet weather, we washed them before they were 



796 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. Chap. X. 

carried to the cellar, Avlieii tliej rotted at the bottom of the heap. We have 
usually planted the kind called Dooi'yard or Wigdons, and on the same 
ground, year after year, manuring once in three years. Other varieties have 
also done well for us with the same treatment, though the rot has been so 
prevalent in tli? ncigliborhood. As to cutting out eyes of potatoes to plant, 
it is only a tliCDry tiiat may sticceed, but it is not according to the laws of 
science. I therefore contend for planting wliole potatoes. Cut potatoes are 
more liable than whole ones to become diseased. "With regard to planting 
small ])otatoes, I have proved by experiment that small tubers of the size 
of English walnuts will produce as good a crop as larger ones." 

On the contrary, John G. Bergen (a Long Island farmer) says : " I have 
always advocated cutting potatoes, and my experience has always sustained 
the theor3^ True, the circumstances of all experiments may vary the re- 
sult. My experiments have produced me the best croj^s of marketable pota- 
toes. If a potato is cut in the sun or dry atmosphere, a skin immediately 
forms over the cut part. I have not tried cutting out the eyes, but I do not 
see why they may not produce as well as from whole tubers. As to the size 
of tubers, I tried a bushel of the largest, and found that they were earlier 
and produced a better crop. The best farmers make three sizes, rejecting 
the smallest, and plant sizes together, and find that they ripen more evenly, 
and the largest end always ripens earlier, whether cut or not. This is an 
object with gardeners who grow potatoes for market, and find it an object to 
get the crop very early — a few days making a great difi'erence in price." 

Here is the statement of a Michigan farmer, which exactly coincides 
with our own experience : " On the 30th of April, 1851, I planted, on one 
square rod of ground, in seventy-two hills, seventy -two small potatoes, from 
the size of a hickory nut to that of a hen's egg. The seed measured about 
two quarts, and weighed three and a half pounds. To plant an acre in this 
manner would require ten bushels of seed. On the same day, on a square 
rod adjoining, I planted seventy-two large potatoes, in seventy-two liills, 
jilacing one in each hill, without cutting. The seed measured more than a 
peck, and weighed fifteen pounds. On the 20th of August I dug both 
patches. The product of the small potatoes was five pecks, weighing eighty- 
four pounds, wiiich would give a yield of two hundred bushels to an acre. 
The product of the large potatoes was one hundred and fifty-eight pounds, 
measuring nine pecks, which would give three hundred and sixty bushels to 
the acre. The vines averaged four to each hill, while those of the small 
potatoes were only three. The vines from the lai"ge potatoes grew much 
faster and larger than the other, but in the size of the potatoes there was no 
great difi'erence. 

Prof Mapes says : " I tried the experiment of cutting out the eyes for 
planting, with a gouge. These were planted, after being rolled in plaster 
or partially dried, and the potatoes were used as food. I found that the eyes 
of one bushel of potatoes occupying the same amount of ground, and all 
other circumstances being equal, planted alongside of a bushel of whole 



Seo. 48.] EXPERIMENTS WITH LARGE AND SMALL SEED POTATOES. 797 

potatoes, would j-ield the same number of potatoes, but not of the same 
weight or size ; their keeping properties were not so good, and thej were 
more early attacked with disease." 

The following are brief opinions of Connecticut farmers : Mr. Sperry, of 
Cheshire, prefers seed split lengthwise. 

Gen. Pratt thinks cut seed better than whole — he cuts in two or three 
pieces, and thinks small seed will eventually deteriorate the croj). 

Mr. Sperry, by planting small seeds, obtains the largest tubers. lie thinks 
too much seed is generally used. 

Mr. Colburn sees no difi'erence from whole or ciit seed. 

Mr. Browu prefers tubers the size of an egg, and four stalks in a hill. 
He sometimes plants chits instead of whole seed. 

Mr. White, of Manchester, cuts an egg-sized potato in four pieces, and 
uses but two in a liill, planting 3| x 3 feet, or 3x3, upon pasture land, with- 
out manui'e, using plaster after hoeing. 

An advocate of cut seed says: " Wo do not need many sprouts in a hill, 
and we do not get many, liowever many eyes w"e plant. If we plant whole 
tubers, one vigorous stalk grows, and we get the same result from a single 
eye. I would never plant cr.t potatoes without fii-st rolling the seed in 
lime, or something to dry up the juice." 

Our own opinion we give in conclusion as follows : for seed, we should 
use medium-sized tubers — less than is usual in the hill. If the stalks are 
abundant, invariably they are not vigorous, and produce small potatoes and 
a poor yield. 

The seed-ti.vl of potatoes, we liavc no doubt," is etpally valuable as any 
other part for planting, if cut so as not to have too many eyes and sprouts 
huddled togeiher ; yet we have known some over-nice planters cut ofl" and 
throw away ihe seed-end as worthless7just as some do the but-ends of cars 
of corn, without being able to assign the reason wherefore. We are in favor 
of planting potatoes in drills, as well as almost every other farm crop. To 
sum np : Plant jiotatoes on dry land, deep plowed and subsoiled, manured 
with compost in the drill, or covered and mixed with all the surface-soil 
with a cultivator harrow. Plant medium-sized tubers in medinm quantities 
if whole ; or cut so as to divide the eyes equally, and take pains to drop them 
carefully and with regularity. 

857. Accurate Experiments with Large and Small Seed Potatoes.— K. K. 
Kenny, of Lorain Co^^nty, Ohio, says : " About the first of May I made a 
small piece of ground very mellow, and planted it with care in the follow- 
ing Older : 

" 1. Two rows, of six liills each, with pieces from medium-sized tubers, 
each piece having one eye, and four pieces in a hill. 2. Two rows, with 
whole medium-sized tubers, one in each hill. 3. Two rows, with eyes hav- 
ing very little of the tuber attached, four in each hill. 4. Two rows, with 
small tubers, four in each hill. 5. Two rows, with eyes from the seed-end 
of each tuber. G. Two rows, with eyes from the stem-end of the large 



798 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

tubers. 7. Two rows, with sinall, unripe tubers, taken up while quite green, 
on purpose for trial. 
"At digging-time, the following was the result: 

Weipht of Average No. Av. weight Yield ] Wciglit of Average No. Av. weight Yield 

No. seed. of tubers in 12 hills, per acre. No. seed. of tubers in 13 hUls. per I 



bush. 

1 1 9 9 28J 150 

2... 3 1 .... lOi .... 30 .... 100 
3.... 5 .... 8| .... 24 .... 128 
4... 14 .... 15 .... 31 .... 165 



bush. 

5.... 1 2 .... lOi .... 34 .... 192 
6.... 1 12 .... 12i .... 42i .... 218 
7.... .... ^ .... 27J .... 146 



"I do not suppose that the same result would always be obtained, but this 
being from actual experiment is of some little value. Those who advocate 
the planting of eyes, as in No. 3, usually dry them. Mine, however, were 
not dried, but planted when newly cut. No. 7 would probably compare 
better in a dry season ; the vines were altogether more vigorous, and appa- 
rently more healthy. I also drew some young vines, as is usually done with 
the sweet potatoes, and transplanted them. From these I obtained beautiful 
tubers of nearly equal size. This suggests the idea of forcing the potato in 
a hot-bed, and transplanting when all danger of frost is over, thus securing 
an early crop. The variety used was the Nishanock." 

858. Planting without Plowing. — The following item of information, we 
think, must be looked upon as a valuable discovery by a tolerably large clas? 
of American farmers, who are habitually behindhand with tlielr spring work. 

We can not say that we are entirely satisfied that planting without 
plowing is worthy of commendation or adoption b}- those who can and 
should do better. Our informant says : " The best, or next to the best, croj) 
of potatoes he ever saw was raised by a neighbor whom he saw planting 
on old corn-ground, by merely pulling over the stubs of corn and dropping a 
potato in the hole, and then crowding the corn-hill back and stepping upon 
it. The land was not plowed to begin with, but after the planting treated 
as usual. No manure was used, and the potatoes (pinkeyes) were the largest 
and best he had ever seen." 

Upon mellow land, wliere the corn had been manured in tlie hills, and in 
cultivation hilled ujj, it is possible that the result might be as ab<jve sta'cd, 
if the ground between the rows was afterward deeply and thoroughly plowed 
both ways. 

859. Planting Potatoes from Sets. — A farmer who has long practiced gi-owing 
potatoes from sets, gives the following directions: "Put the seed in drills 
just wide enough apart to hoe between, and when the sjDronts are up four 
or five inches, draw them and transplant where they are to grow, three 
sprouts in a hill. My second crop, May 26, is now nearly ready for trans- 
planting. This method has many advantages over the old one, especially as 
the young plants are as hardy as cabbages, and can be planted with as 
much speed as tubers. One bushel of seed goes as far as ten in the old way. 

" You can have your ground fresh plowed at the time of transplanting, and 
thus get a good start of the weeds, and no small potatoes ; they are of uniform 
size." 



Seo. 48.] MICHIGAN THEORY OF WINTERING POTATOES. 799 

8G0. Plautiiig Potatoes in Autumn. — Egbert Lanpher, of West Lowell, Lewis 
County, N. Y., sajs ho has successfully tried the experiment of wintering 
potatoes in the hill where they are to grow. lie thinks it also a great pre- 
ventive of the rot. He says : " I cleared a piece of new mucky land, and 
planted two bushels, and hilled them, so that they did not freeze during the 
time that the ground remained bare of snow. The next spring I planted 
on the same kind of land, by the side of those planted in autumn. Those 
planted in autumn remained green two weeks longer than those planted in 
the spring. I saved the crop, and used them for seed next spring. I put 
them up in pits or small holes, from three to seven bushels in each, not 
piling them over one foot thick, so that they would not heat each other; and 
now I have from last year's crop as fine potatoes as any man ever need 
wish to eat. My belief is that potatoes should bo planted in the full of the 
moon, as early as they can be planted in the spring, and remain undug as 
long as possible, and those intended for seed should bo mixed witli dirt, 
through the winter; they never should be put in large piles."' 

All this we agree with exce])t the moon part of tlie story. It is a curious 
fact that in the year 1860, in a country boasting of its enlightenment, men 
of fair intelligence and good sense in other matters should still cling to that 
antiquated and thoroughly exploded old notion that planting potatoes " in the 
old of the moon" could, by any possible chance, have any effect upon the crop. 

Another person says : "With a view to obtain new potatoes earlier than 
by the usual process of spring planting, I prepared a small patch in my 
garden, as follows : 

''Dug trenches nine inches deep, two feet and four inches apart — strewed 
on the bottom long stable manure — set Early Junes, whole, eight inches 
apart; then another layer of long lifter, fresh from the stable, and filled up 
with four inches of soil. All this, November IStli. 

" As soon as the surface froze hard, I spread a light layer of straw. The 
sprouts appeared above ground on the -ith of May. Dug between rows, 
and jilanted Early York cabbages. On the 2Cth of July dug potatoes, 
leaving cabbage almost headed. The yield was good, but as an early crop 
the alteuipt was a failure. Potatoes of the same kind planted on the 3d of 
April came up and matured ten days earlier." 

86L The Roberts, or Michigan, Tiicory of Wintering Potatoes.— A few 
years ago, a new theory about potato seed was promulgated by a Mr. 
Roberts, of Michigan, which attracted much attention, and as it is a very 
reasonable one we put it upon permanent record. It is simply to let the 
seed remain as the tubers grow in the ground, by which they seem to ac- 
quire vigor and hardihood to resist any killing effects from bugs or any 
other blighting cause. 

His plan is certainly worth a trial, as the quality of the potato is un- 
doubtedly improved by the process. The following is Mr. Roberts' plan in 
detail : 

" Select one fourth acre of arable land, on which water will Bot stand, on 



800 BOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

an eastern slope (new land is the best for this nse), prepare it early in the 
spring, furrow four or five inches deep and two feet apart. Select seed 
roots that are about the size of a hen's egg, that have touched the ground 
during the previous winter. Do not cut them ; drop one every six or eiglit 
inches apart in the furrows ; cover them by filling the furrows, and then 
put a top dressing of two inches of straw or forest leaves on each row. 
When the tops are two inches high, pass between the rows with a shovel- 
plow ; follow with a hoe, destroying the weeds and leveling the ground ; 
do not Itill. Do nothing more until the ground begins to freeze; then 
cover with half-rotten straw, chaff, or forest leaves, three or four inches deep. 
Your potatoes will now have a chance to ripen and rest during the winter. 

"The spring following, dig your potatoes, and plant a field crop for culin- 
ary use in drills four or five inches deep and three feet apart ; drop a potato 
every eight or ten inches, cover by filling the furrows ; cultivate or hoe 
twice, and plant another seed patch as above directed. In this way you 
will get the greatest yield and best quality. Continue a similar practice 
from year to year, and judging from my own experience, I believe you will 
find 3'our potatoes yearly increasing in yield and quality. 

'' The third year you may increase your field crop by ] lowing in fine 
manure. You have now had nature's course pointed out to you ; her laws 
are truths ; and I Jiumbly believe I have given them a just exposition. All 
who follow my directions will, the second year, see many seed-balls on the 
vines. Seed of every variety should be fully matured, i. e., not harvested 
until fully ripe. That which approaches the nearest to perfection should be 
selected for seed, and all roots for seed purposes should remain in the 
ground where they grow until they bear seed ; this course will make the 
seed mature earlier, and make it the most perfect of its kind." 

8G2. Storing Potatoes iu Winter. — There is no better way than covering 
potatoes in piles to preserve them through winter, care being taken not to 
cover them too warm, nor so shallow as to endanger freezing and thawing. 
They M'ill bear freezing once slightly without injury, if thawed in the earth. 
Put about twenty bushels in a pile, on a smooth spot where no water can 
reach the bottom of the pile, and cover six or eight inches deep with straw 
and a little earth, making it a foot thick and compact, before the ground is 
frozen, and outside of that put a coat of litter, and hold it on with a few 
shovelfuls of earth, or some brush, or poles, or boards. If much warm 
weather occurs after the heap is covered, it must be ventilated. This may 
be done with a wisp of straw extending through the earth covering. 

When potatoes are stored in a cellar, we recommend them to be put in as 
large bodies as possible, in the darkest part of the cellar. Potatoes never 
should be exposed to the light ; and they never should be heated in the 
sun. They should be stored cool, as fast as unearthed, in cellar or piles, 
where they are to be kept through the winter, and at once covered from the 
drying winds and light. It is not important that potatoes should be stored 
dry. Taken from the field in a rainy day, iu a muddy condition, tiiey have 



Sko. 48.] COST AND MODE OF GROWING TWO CROPS OF POTATOES. 801 

kept well. One man dried his potatoes in the sun, and stored them warm. 
In a few days the pile was steaming and the center in a state of decay. His 
remedy was to spread them out upon the cellar bottom to cool, and sprinkle 
gypsum, two bushels to a hundred bushels of potatoes, which gave them the 
condition they would have had if stored on a damp day. Potatoes would keep 
better if buried with earth, filling all the interstices between the tubers, 
keeping them cool and dark. That is the great secret in storing potatoes. 

863. To Keep Potatoes from Sproiitingo — "To keep old potatoes from 
growing, use boiling water, in a tuT), with as many potatoes as the water 
will entirely cover ; then pour off the water, and lay up the potatoes on 
boards, in a dry place, only one layer deep." 

In Scotland, " diluted ammoniacal water, in the proportion of an ounce 
of the liquor of ammonia to a pint of river or rain water, has of late years 
been successfully employed for checking the vegetative power of potatoes 
and prolonging their suitableness for food. Potatoes immersed four or five 
days in this liquid retain all their edible properties unimpaired for a twelve- 
month, improved in flavor and mealiness. The effect of the liquid is to con- 
solidate their substance and extract their moisture. After immersion the 
potatoes should be spread so as to dry." 

SC4. Cost and Mode of Growing Two frops of Potatoes.— The following 
statements show the cost of growing crops of potatoes on Long Island. 
John McKunn, of Gravesend, says : " My ground was plowed deep, mellow, 
and furrowed two and a half feet ajsart. I then sprinkled three hundred 
pounds sifted Peruvian guano in the bottom of the furrow, and on top of the 
guano four loads of stable manure, and then, after cutting thirteen bushels 
of potatoes to two eyes, dropped them fourteen inches apart on the manure, 
and covered three inches deep. As soon as they were well up, I plowed 
and hoed them, and twice afterward, and then fastened a wooden mold-board 
six inches wide upon the top of the iron one, extending ten inches back of 
the plow, so that the dirt was tlirown quite up to the vines, covering all 
weeds. This comprises the whole labor of cultivation : 

Cost of plowing, per acre $2 00 

Cost of planting, per acre 3 GO 

Cultivating the same 3 00 

Cost of 13 bushels seed, at 50c. per bushel. 6 50 
Cost of 300 lbs. of guano, at 2fc. per lb. . 8 25 

— 245 bushels potatoes sold for 50 cents per bushel, $122 50. 

" The variety was Red Cups, a fine potato, cooking white and dry. Potato- 
ground I sow with wheat, and seed it down with grass, using a small ad- 
dition of manure, with a fair prospect of a good crop." 

John G. Bergen, also of Long Island, under date of August, 1860, gives 
the following statement of result of planting seven acres of potatoes — ex- 
penses — mode of cultivation — crop— marketing and proceeds, gross and net. 
Location, Eighth Ward, Brooklyn. Soil, sandy, sandy loam, loam, clay 
li'am, clay and gravel with all shades of admixture. Land all manured be- 
fore plowing with a broadcast application of either New York city street 



Four loads stable manure, at $1 per load. 4 00 
Digging 245 bush . potjttoes, at 6c. per bush . 14 70 

Total $41 45 



802 



ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. 



[Chap. X. 



manure or seaweed. Variety planted, Dikeman, except tliree quarters of 
an acre Mercers. The plowing and planting all done between the 9tli and 
26tli of March ; the planting between the 15th and 26th of March, inclu- 
sive. Depth of plowing, eight inches, except one quarter of an acre sub- 
soiled to the depth of sixteen inches. The crop dug and sold between the 
2d of July and the 1st of August, 1860. Vines exceedingly green and 
potatoes about half grown when digging commenced, and, with the excep- 
tion of about a half acre of the last dug, the vines continued green. Crop 
1,590 bushels prime potatoes, 85 bushels culls, and 26 bushels small, hog 
potatoes ; total 1,701 bushels. The crop would probably have been increased 
25 or 33 per cent, if all the potatoes had fully matured before harvesting. 
The yield was 243 bushels to the acre. Amount sold, $1,190, or $170 per 
acre. The ground since all planted with second crops. 

The potatoes before planting were all cut from two to six pieces, depending 
upon size, and were planted in drills — the drills were three feet apart, and from 
three to four inches deep — the sets were placed about fifteen inches ai:)art. 

Well-rotted horse and hog manure was placed in the drills and the seed 
placed on the manure. The potatoes and manure were covered with a stnall 
one-horse plow running it on both sides of the drill, throwing up the ground 
in the form of a ridge over the drill. When the sprouts were within 
two inches of the surface, the ground was dragged nearly level with a light 
wooden-tooth harrow. As soon as up, the potatoes received a light dressing 
with the hoe without hilling, having previously been plowed from the hill 
with a small iron mold-boai-d plow, rim twice through the row. When about 
six or eight inches high the plowing wa,s repeated, reversing by throwing to 
the hill. This was followed by another light hoeing, without attempting to 
raise up the ground to the vines, the plowing, however, having the effect to 
hill up to some degree. A few days later, before the vines closed up the 
rows entirely, a small cultivator was drawn once through every row. This 
process left the land almost entirely free of weeds, at the time of digging, 
which was all done with the potato-fork. All of the ground was cropped 
the previous year — most of it being sod or grass land. The potatoes when 
dug were at once pi'cked up in baskets and sent to Washington Market. 

Some abatement may be made in the number of bushels, as the cultivation 
is based on three bushels to the barrel, which is above the true measure. 



EXPENSE PEB ACHE. 



17 loads manure to the acre — broadcast — 

at $1 per load $17 00 

Cost of cartage and spreading manure ... 6 00 
12 loads horse and hog manure to the 

drill, at $2 25 27 00 

Team and men to apply the manure 4 GO 

12 bushels seed and preparing it for plant- 
ing 10 00 

Plowing, harroiving, and marking out 

ground 4 00 

Two hoeings — 4 days for one man , at 75c. 3 00 
Dropping potatoes and covering with horse 
and plow 2 50 



Plowing between drills ; harrowing ridges 

down with wooden-tooth harrow $3 50 

Digging, at 44 cents per bushel 10 93 

Carting to Washingtoa Market a.nd fer- 
riage and loading 10 00 

Commission for selling $170, 10 per cent. 17 00 

Total expense $114 9* 

Amount sold per acre $170 00 

Direct expenses 114 93 

Apparent profit $55 07 



Sbo. 48.] EXPERIMENT IN PLANTIXCr POTATOES VAIUOUS DEPTHS. 803 

The potatoes were dug by contract per bushel ; they might have been 
gathered much cheaper by ordinary farm-laborers employed by the month 
and boarded by the proprietor. 

'No allowance is made for interest of value of land, and of tlie other 
capital employed in producing the crop, and the wear and tear of imple- 
ments, baskets, etc. 

The land, after a potato crop is taken off, is left in better condition than 
before — the second crops receiving no additional manure, except sometimes 
a light application of guano. 

865. Experiment in Planting Potatoes Tarious Depths. — Yaridij, Mercer ; 
planted May 12, 1859. Dug September ^th. Vines dead since the middle 
of August. Planted one moderate-sized potato to each hill, and manured 
alike in hills. Yield reported hj John G. Bergen, of BrooMyn, asfolloius: 

Iba. lbs. lbs. lbs. Average. 

2 hills, 2 inches deep— each hill weighed separately 2 I ■• 1-375 

3 hills, 3 inches deep— each hill weighed separatjely HI 11 1-416 

2 hills, 4 inches deep — each hill weighed separately l| 2 . . 1.875 

3 hills, 5 inches deep — each hill weighed separately ij 1 1 1.166 

4 hills, 6 inches deep— each hill weighed separately 2 14 1^ H 1025 

4 hills, 7 inches deep — each hill weighed separately IJ 1^ \\ 1 1.4375 

3 hills, 8 inches deep— each hill weighed separately l| 1 J 1. 

3 hills, 9 inches deep — each hill weighed separately li li J 1.166 

3 hills, lOinelicj deep — each hill weighed separately 1^ 1 i 1-25 

3 hills, 1 1 i!iches deep — each hill weighed separately 1 Ij \h 1.25 

3 hills, 12 inches deep— each hill weighed separately \ \ \% 1.0S3 

4 hi'.'s, eye-end cut, one piece, 5 inches deep, 5J lbs 1.375 

4 hills, middle cvit, one piece, 5 inches deep, 5 lbs 1-25 

4 hills, stem cut, one piece, 5 inches deep, 4i lbs 1.062 

2 hills, one potato each, with plaster, 5 inches deep, 3| lbs 1 .875 

2 hills, one potato, plaster and ashes, 3} inches deep, Z\ lbs ].'i25 

2 hills, one potato, ashes, 5 inches deep, 3} lbs 1.625 

"It will be observed that the best results followed the 4-inch plantings: 
and next in order, 6-inch, 7-inch, 8-inch, and 2-inch ; while 5-inch, which 
is between these numbers (and which I think is the right deptli for our soil), 
produced less than any, until we reach the S-inch plantings. The results are 
not uniform ; for instance, one liill, 12 inches deep, produced IJ lbs., which 
is larger than the average of any except the i-inch planting; and so with 
other individual cases. The experiment is not conclusive, not being made 
on a sufficiently large scale, though carefully made. The yield was light in 
every case, but this was from other causes, and does not affect the general 
result. In all experiments of this kind, the size and quality or condition 
of the seed should be as near alike as possible. I deduce froui these experi- 
ments, and froui observation, the following, as bearing on this question : 

" First, Time. — The depth of planting potatoes should be varied accord- 
ing to the time of planting, and possibly according to the character of soils. 
Early planting, except to protect from freezing, requires the least depth. 

" Second, Variety. — Tliose that mature early require the least depth. The 
habits of varieties differ, and the treatment should vary accordingly. 

" Third, Season. — Much depends upon the season, whether wot or dry, 
or medium. This can not be known beforehand, and hence a medium depth 



804 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

should generally be adopted. This, for early varieties planted early, and 
•n-hicli generally mature on Long Island soils before the crop is severely 
affected by drouths, should not be over three or four inches, and for later 
varieties from five to six inches." 

866. The Potato Disease that Causes Rot.— We will not inflict the reader 
with a homily upon this over-written subject. Neither cause nor cure of 
the disease has yet been discovered. The signs of the disease usually are : 
A wilted leaf on the young rosettes of the plant, which are the tenderest 
parts ; steel-blue points on some of the older and outer leaves, and yellow 
iron-rust stains on the inner leaves ; mildew, which quickly follows these 
signs, and which, if not arrested, kills the whole plant. These signs are pro- 
duced by cold and wet weather and hot, muggy atmosphere. In cool weather, 
the flowers fall without setting fruit ; in hot and damp weather seed-balls 
set freely, but, with the whole plant, fall a prey to mildew. The oidy 
remedy is to cultivate as well as we know how, choosing new and hardy 
sorts of potatoes, plant early, and trust to chance for the rest. The mowing 
of tops has been tried over and over again, sometimes with success and 
sometimes the reverse ; and so have other remedies, each of which has in 
turn been proclaimed a specific. A prize essay in the Royal Society's Jour- 
nal for 1858 gives us to understand that deep planting is the true and only 
remedy ; and yet we have planted deep — and so have thousands of others — 
and lost the crop. 

It is said that very wet, cold seasons, such as 1857, or hot, damp ones, 
like 1850, 1851, and 1855, cause rot ; so do sudden alternations of tempera- 
ture — for instance, from dry, hot weather to wet, cold, and windy ; and 
these changes destroy tlie cucumber, squash, melon, tomato, and egg-plant 
as well as the potato. The years 1847, 1818, 1854, 1858, and especially 
1852, were favorable ones. 

If we plant in drained lands, or upon ridges where the water will not 
stand, the crop will rot less than in wet ground. The tlieory is that warm 
rains and a scalding sun produce the rot more than any other one cause. 
This theory is equally untenable with the thousand-and-one others. There 
is no cure for the disease — there are preventives. The one most easy of 
trial is early planting, dry soil, no stable manure, but other fertilizers, such 
as well-rotted swamp muck, or compost, lime, salt, plaster, phosphate, guano, 
potash, or wood ashes. It does not answer to allow vines to be so late that 
early frosts find them still green. Unfermented manure produces late 
growth of vines, and this as well as wet ground and late planting, leaves tlie 
vines green and liable to the influence that kills tlie tops and rots the roots. 
As preventives, iise seed of hardy varieties, planted early on dry ground, 
hilling-up to shed rain, and sow plaster, lime, andsulpliur on the tops. Lime 
on carbonaceous soil has the effect to make the vines less succulent and 
more hard}', and that may account for its prevention of rot on such soil. 
After all the discussion, we know nothing about the potato disease ; but if 
we plant early we are more likely, or at least so far have been, to get good 



Sec. 48.] THE POTATO DISEASE THAT CAUSES ROT. 805 

crops. Yet tliis may fail. Another point of a practical nature is this: 
that if we prepare our ground well, and feed it such ingredients as the 
crop needs, wo are more sure to get a good crop than by the opposite 
course. 

The theory that the disease of potatoes is caused by insects has been advo- 
cated as a fixed fact. One wi'iter says: "A little black bug, not much 
larger than the head of a pin, leaves an almost undiscoverable substance on 
the potato leaves, which turns black and kills the vines, and the rot of 
the tubers, follows." lie thinks some bug deposits a poisonous substance 
upon other vegetables, injuring them very much for food. 

Another one says: "The potato rot is unquestionably caused by an in- 
sect, resembling both the musketo and the common house-fly, which depos- 
its its larviB in the stock near the ground, and which does not make its ap- 
pearance before August and September. It j)asse3 over some entire fields 
in the same neighborhood, some hills in the same lot, and some stalks in the 
same hill. The weather has no eflect except to quicken the activity of the 
insect or to hasten decomposition after it has commenced." 

" Unquestionably caused !" Is it? Let us see. Dr. Asa Fitch is good 
entomological authority. Now hear how he upsets this unquestionable 
cause. He says : 

" The cause of the rot is supposed to be an insect, and numerous experi- 
ments are given to confirm this view ; the insect itself is described at length. 
Its name, with the spelling corrected, is the Phiitocoris Uneolaris of Beau- 
vois, and is supposed to be identical with the insect described by Say as the 
Capsus ohlineatus. Now if the theory that the potato rot is caused by this 
insect is correct, there are these difficulties, which must occur to any one 
acquainted with entomology : 

"1. The insect referred to has always been known in this country, and 
was probably quite as numerous fifty years ago as it ever has been since. 
From the earliest times the farmers have found it infesting their potato 
fields, and have consequently given it the common name cf ' the potato 
bug.' Wiiy did it never cause the rot until so recently ? 

" 2. The insect referred to has never infested Great Britain — the only ex- 
amples of it seen there, so far as we can ascertain, having been carried 
thitiier as curiosities in collections gathered in this country. Why did the 
potato rot appear there ? Could the devastations of the insect in the crops 
of America have caused the rot that carried off all the potatoes in Ireland 
one or two years before?" 

The disease that causes the potato rot is not a new one. A friend sends us 
the following " extract from a German paper," which says that " potatoes 
were first introduced into Europe in 1583 ; fifty-nine years afterward the rot 
commenced ; eighty years after its introduction no good seed was to be had. 
In 1(396 new seed was imported from Peru ; forty-tive years after this the 
rot again commenced, and in 1779 no good seed was to be had. In 1797 
new seed was again imported, and it did not get into general use until 1802 



806 BOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [CnAp. X. 

or 1803."* If this is a fact, it should be fully proved, and that would prove 
the necessity of frequently renewing the seed from tlie original locality. 

867. Substitutes for Potatoes. — Must we give up the cultivation of the 
potato? And if so, what will be the substitute? This is a question worthy 
of consideration ; for although we do not believe that we shall give up their 
cultivation, we may discover something else worth trying — something which 
may prove valuable as a farm crop. Alrefl.dy we have had the Ciiinese yam 
introduced and grown to some extent, and talked about being grown to a 
very large extent. Several varieties of lotus have also been proposed as 
food plants. 

808. The American Lotus as a Substitute for the Potato.— The Apio or Ovate 
Aracacha having been named as worthy of attention as a food plant, a cor- 
respondent of tlie Homestead names " the Nelumhlum lutenum, or great 
nut-bearing lily, which, in his estimation, surpasses all other aquatic plants 
of the United States in beauty and utility. It grows abundantly in the shal- 
low and stagnant waters of our Southern and Western States, and has been 
found flourishing as far north as the bays and inlets of Lake Erie. It is 
properly the lotus of [North America, yielding a collection of tubers, much 
like the sweet potato, at its roots under the water, and also a liberal supply 
of nuts at the top of its stem. Tiie nuts are all ripe at the same time, are 
about the size and color of medium white-oak acorns, so that tliey might 
easily be mistaken for them. The nuts are used as food like the chestnut, 
and are a valuable substitute for coffee. The writer has gathered twenty- 
one perfect nuts from a single stem. By the extensive culture of this noble 
jjlant .many of our pestilential pools and marshes, instead of exhaling poi- 
sonous malaria, will at once become fountains of life-giving fertility." 

SCO. The Dioscorea Batatas or Chiuese Yam as a Substitute for Potatoes. — 
The degree of success in the cultivation of tliis root as a substitute for pota- 
toes has been very widely different, some condemning it as a worse humbug 
than " Rohan potatoes," while others liave lauded it so high tliat it has cre- 
ated doubts of their veracity and its value. In No. 564 we have treated it 
so fully that we need add but little under this head. 

A letter ft-om M. D. Darnall, P.aiiibridge, Ind., January, 1858, says : " In 
the spring of 1856, I obtained five small tubers or seed bulbs. These were 
carefully cultivated, and in autumn I liad five hundred tubers and eight large 
roots. I planted next spring eight liundred hills, and raised sufficient tubers 
and large roots for planting one hundred thousand hills. I have two bushels 
of tubers, which are not much larger than full grown marrowfat peas ; and 
over one thousand largo roots tliat may be divided into from fifty to one 
hundred pieces each, capable of germinating. The tubers are raised by cut- 
ting the vines and planting the leaves in Julj'^ and August. My roots vary 
in length from fifteen to thirty inches, and from one half to two inches in 
diameter. I have had them cooked in several ways, and find them to possess 
all the qualities that have ever been claimed for tliem." 

870. Sweet Potatoes — Where they can be Grown. — We can well remem- 



Sko. 48.] GROWING SWEET POTATOES. 807 

ber wlieii this plant, the Convolvulus hatatas, was considered as much a 
Southern production as cotton is now, and when the commercial designation 
was " Carolina potatoes." It would then have been considered foolish to 
attempt to grow sweet potatoes north of latitude 40° ; now it is quite com- 
mon, though not generally as a field crop. They are raised very extensively 
along the eastern shore of the DelaM-are, on the light sandy soil that extends 
thirty miles southward from Camden. The principal markets are Pliiladel- 
phia, jSTew York, Boston, Wilmington, Delaware, and Baltimore. The varie- 
ties cultivated are Nansemonds, Early Yorks, and Bermudas. The first- 
named grows large, long, and rougher than the second, yields abundanrly, 
but does not suit the Philadelphia and Wilmington markets as well as the 
Early Yorks, which are marketable earlier, and grow more smoothly and 
compactly, and are the most generally cultivated. The third, a new variety, 
received from Bermuda, of a light red color, coarse and rough, is inferior to 
the first two for the table, but attains a marketable size earlier than they do, 
and produces a much larger yield. The isothermal position of this valuable 
plant lias been gradually advancing, until it is now difiicult to say where its 
northern line is or will be. 

O. S. Murray, of Warren Countj^ Ohio, who is an extensive propagator 
of sweet potato plants, says : "Sweet potatoes can be grown successful!}- in 
much higher latitudes than has heretofore been generally supposed. They 
have already been prodneed, well matured, in Western, Central, and Eas;ern 
Kew York ; in Connecticut, in New Hampshire, in Addison County, Ver- 
mont, nearly as far north as the center of that State. In Iowa they are raised 
to considerable extent, and something has been done with them in Wiscon- 
sin. I have been a successful cultivator of sweet potatoes a dozen years in 
Southern Ohio." 

Messrs. Eastman & Snell, of Maineville, Warren County, Ohio, say that 
a crop will grow and yield well in any ordinary dry soil, provided it is well 
pulverized with plow and harrow ; and whether the ground is old or new, a 
light coat of well-rotted manure is preferable. K the soil be very strong, 
the vines will be large, but the yield of tubers indifferent. 

Warren County is situated npon the high lands of Ohio, back of Cincin- 
nati, between latitude thirty-nine and forty degrees, where the soil is no 
more favorable for growing this excellent food than it is in a great many 
other places in the same range of latitude in which sweet potatoes can be 
grown with profit to the cultivator, and as they can with pretty fair success 
up to forty-one degrees, the latitude of New York, and with varying suc- 
cess one or two degrees above that. 

The best variety for the North is called the Nansemond, from the name 
of the county in Virginia -whence it was taken to New Jersey. Joseph 
Evans brought it into Warren County, Ohio, many years ago, -where it has 
been successfully cultivated ever since. One peculiarity of this variety is, 
it is mature and good for use at every stage of its growth. Another pecu- 
liarity is its adaptation to a great variety of soils — even loamy clays, quite 



SOS BOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Cuap. X. 

heavy with clay, if lying elevated. Almost any soil that will produce corn 
well will produce this— except low, alluvial grounds, where there is too 
much vegetable mold, that causes excessive running to vines. 

871. Making Seed Bed aud Growing Plants. — Mr. Murray says : " "We 
have ne\er used glass for these plants, preferring to give them as much air 
as possible, making them the moi'e hardy. Put the seed in the bed about 
the middle of April ; transplant after they have been above ground two or 
three weeks, or any time before they commence running. Place the potatoes 
in the bed so that they will scarcely touch each other — a bushel on from 
twenty -five to thirty square feet, from the 1st to the 25th of April. Plants 
can be packed so as to keep perfectly good for fifteen to twenty days while 
transi)orted from the seed beds to other parts of the country. 

" The best method of sprouting sweet potatoes is in the ordinary manner 
of a jnanure hot-bed. This bed is made by building up the sides with plank 
and filling in to the depth of fourteen inches with fresh hard stable manure. 
The manure should be packed as hard as possible, then cover over to the 
depth of two inches M'ith light soil, then, after laying on the potatoes, cover 
them to the depth of four inches, with light sandy soil or loam. By cover- 
ing the pc^tatoes deep, the stems are longer and much more hardy and 
ihrifty. 

" Cover the bed with coarse hay, two or three feet deep, to prevent the 
heat from escaping, and the raiu from wetting it. Take off the hay in the 
heat of the day, from nine to three o'clock, if it is warm weather. When the 
bed begins to heat it must be examined by running the hand into it — a 
moderate warmth is all that is necessary — more than that will be injurious, 
and must be counteracted by leaving otf the cover at night, or by applying 
cold water. When the plants appear, and afterward, they must be watered 
daily, unless the bed should be too cold to allow it. Warm water from a 
pond or ditch is best. 

"As often as one growth of plants is pulled, another takes its place. 
Care must be taken, when pulling the plants, to hold the potato firmly in 
the bed by pressing on it with the left hand." 

872. Setting tlic Plants. — Put the plants in the ground from the middle of 
May to the middle of June. In some seasons you may commence earlier 
than this ; in some you may continue later. Generally, the best time is 
from the 10th or 15th of May to about the same time in June. 

In. setting the plants, care should be taken to have them set well in the 
ridge, fully as deep as they originally stood in the hot-bed, and the soil 
should be well compressed about the roots. Sprouts should be set from 
twelve to fifteen inches apart in the ridge, and whea in hills two or three to 
the hill. 

In setting out plants, a boy drops one on each hill, taking two rows at 
once ; a man follows, and taking the plant in his left hand, runs three fingers 
of his right hand through the top of the hill into the manure; as he with- 
draws them he quickly thrusts in the root of the plant to the bottom of the 



Seo. -i^J GROWING SWEET POTATOES. 809 

hole, and then, with the thumb and finger of each hand, firmly presses the 
earth around the plant. Plants are best set out when the ground is not too 
wet and cold — much better before a rain than after. Some use a common 
mason's trowel in setting, thrusting in the trowel somewhat obliquely, and 
as the trowel rises, the plant in the other hand takes its place. 

Light sandy soil, free from undecomposed vegetable matter, is generally 
seleuted for the crop. Plow as for oats, harrow thoroughly, mark it out 
thirty-three inches each way for the hills. 

Use animal, rather than vegetable manure — that is, manure from the 
stable, rather than the straw stack. 

The manure for sweet potatoes must be well rotted by composing it, or 
otherwise. Marl mixed with it is an advantage. From eight to thirteen 
two-horse loads, according to quality and abundance, arc used per acre, a 
one-horse cart-load will make from two hundred and fifty to four hun- 
dred hills, which should be made, or the manure covered as soon as it 
is jnit in. From four to six good hoefuls of earth are sufBcieut to make a 
hill. 

8T3. Plowing and Tilla.gc for Sweet Potatoes.— Plow when the land is in 
good condition, no matter if a week or two before time for planting. At 
planting time pulverize well, if necessary with harrowing and rolling (or, 
what is better, drag-crushing), and throw the surface into high ridges by 
turning together two furrows with a two-horse plow, making the ridges 
about three and a half feet apart from center to center. It is not necessary 
for the. ridges to be wide, but they must be of good hight, as the potatoes 
will only grow in length as they are accommodated with loose earth ; so if 
the ridges are flat, the potatoes will grow short in clumps. Those wishing 
to raise but a small quantity will probably find it more convenient to make 
their ground into hills with the hoe, about five feet apart. 

Commence tilling with an adjustable cultivator, that can be adapted to 
the breadth between the ridges, and throw back the earth with a wide 
shovel-plow, re-forming the ridges, finishing with the hoe. In using the 
hoe, particularly^ after the vines commence running, be careful not to strike 
into the ground deeply near the stem, lest you cut off the best of the project- 
ing tubers. 

Mr. Murray says : " All land is the better for subsoiling. "We subsoiled 
twenty-five acres for this crop last year, and are sure it paid. New grounds 
produce this crop well, where there is not too much vegetable deposit — not 
turf. Turf should be subsoiled first with another crop — corn or wheat is 
favorable. The cultivation necessary is to keep the ground clear of weeds, 
and should the soil become hard, to loosen- the tops of the hills or ridges 
with hoe or rake." 

In New Jersey, the crop is tended with small cultivators and hand-hoes. 
One hand is allowed to attend 40,000 plants, or about eight acres. 

Perhaps no other plant cultivated for producing food possesses such 
tenacity of life — such a fund of vitality to resist and overcome unfavorable 



810 EOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

circumstances in transplanting as the sweet pototo. The plants can be sent 
in good growing condition a long distance. 

874. Harvesting and Storing. — In harvesting, some nse the plow — first cut- 
ting the vines near the stem. After the plowing, four-fingered hooks are 
used for haulijig out. When the ground is light, it is about as well without 
plowing to throw out with flat-fingered spading-forks, or even common 
manure-forks. On a small scale, get them out anjhow, as you do beats or 
carrots. 

In Delaware and Virginia the crop is generally dug with large hoes 
made expressly for that use. "When stored for spring, they are carefully 
placed in baskets, in the field, and then emptied into boxes or barrels, and 
soinetimes covered with dry sand, or leaves, or cut straw, but often without 
anything to keep the air from them but the lid of the box, which, if tiglit, is 
mostly sufiicient ; but they must be kept in a dry, warm room. If the crop 
brings $50 per acre it is sufficient to pay expenses. All over that is profit ; 
and two hundred and fifty busliels per acre is a large yield. 

At the North they are kept through the winter in cellars, prej^ared ex- 
pressly for the pnrpose and kept warm. On a small scale, witii experience 
and plenty of manure, tlie crop should be, in a good season, from 150 to 200 
bushels an acre, as far North as it M-ill grow. 

Sweet potatoes should always be dug before the lieavy frosts in autumn, 
as a frost which would be severe enough to kill the vines would injure the 
potatoes very much for table use. 

In South Carolina we have seen them kept in a very rude way ; .simply 
by laying down cornstalks on the ground, and then covering with stalks, 
and perhaps a little earth. Frequently large jJiles arc made, and over 
them rails set up in form of a roof and covered with straw. Sometimes 
pits are dug and a tight roof made, and the potatoes stored in pine straw. 
Tiie greatest difficulty in growing sweet potatoes at the North is in keeping 
them over winter. They will only keeji in an atmosphere that is of even 
and mild temperature, and entirely dry. 

875. Tlie Jerusalem Artichoke. — Tiie culture of tlio Jerusalem artichoke 
{HeUaiiihus tiiherosus) was introduced into England in 1C17, but it is seldom 
cultivated, except in gardens. It will grow in any soil that is not too wet 
and cold, yielding a large amount of nutritive matter with little labor. It 
can not be grown in any series of rotation ; for if the ground is once stocked 
with roots, it is almost impossible to clear them out, and they will come up 
like weeds, even if the land is seeded down to meadow or pasture. In Ohio, 
many good farmers bear evidence to its value for feeding stock. The usual 
method of cultivation is to plant the tubers in rows, three and a half or four 
feet apart, and eighteen inches to two feet in the row, and cultivate between 
the rows, as you do corn. The tops soon cover tlie ground and kill out the 
weeds, and no further culture is given. In the fall, after the tops have died, 
the roots are either dug up or the hogs are turned into the field. Commonly 
a portion are taken up, and tlie hogs are allowed to follow and d'lr up the 



Sbo. 48.] THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 811 

remainder. Enougli are always left to seed the field for the next season. In 
this way the same jjiece of land will bear a succession of crops of this plant 
without further seeding. Tlie hogs dig or plow the soil very deeply in au- 
tumn, which destroys any grubs that may be injurious, and fits the land for 
the next crop. ' 

Cattle, as well as hogs, relish the roots. In France they are usually fed to 
sheep, with excellent results. In the Journal cT Agriculture Pratique for 
April, 185S, M. Doniol gives the results of his cultivation of this plant on 
inferior soil for fifteen years. He fed off the stems and leaves with sheep in 
October and November, and then dug the tubers, feeding the sheep with 
them, either on the ground or in the pens. He bought the sheep in Octo- 
ber, and calculated the value of the crop from the increase in money value 
of the stock. Half a hectare (one and a quarter acres) was sufficient to 
keep eighty sheep from that time until the following April, and the increase 
in value of the sheep was eight francs per head, or 6i0 francs ($111 04), the 
value of the acre and a quarter of artichokes on poor land. From this 
must be deducted, however, the cost of culture of the crop and care of the 
sheep, but both are necessary under all circumstances. It seems that the 
sheep obtained no other kind of food ; and it is good evidence of the nutri- 
tive qualities of this root that they Averc able to increase in value upon ir. 
Had M. Doniol given the weight of the sheep when newly bought, and the 
time of sale in April, his article would have been of more value. 

This plant has about the same amount of water in its organic composition 
as the potato (76.3) ; but instead of the large amount of starch which is in 
the latter, there is almost an equal quantity of sugar (14r.80) in this, and the 
nitrogen compounds are nearly the same in quantity (2.38) ; but these 
amounts vary in tubers raised on different soils and the amount of cultiva- 
tion they have received. Enough, however, is known to show that these 
roots arc worthy of attention, not for feeding exclusively to stock, but along 
with dry feed during the winter. Thus used, they will prove highly advan- 
tageous. They should be grown on land which they can occupy for a suc- 
cession of years, that from some cause is not well adapted to the culture of 
the more regular crops. If occasionally dressed with a good coating of ma- 
nure, they will soon repay the expense. Ten, and even fourteen, tuns (tops 
and roots, we suppose) per acre have been obtained in France, but in this 
country a much larger yield has often been secur-ed, so that a greater num- 
lier of sheep could be fed on an acre in Ohio than in France, and the profit 
would consequently be much greater. This root should take a position 
among the crops i-aised in this country for green feed in winter and early 
spring, when stock need it most to keep them in goo.d health. 

In Mississippi we found this root upon many tables of good planters' 
houses, dressed in the same way that mashed turnips are, and it is by no 
means a despisable dish. After a little use it is generally well relished. 

876. Turnips— Imporlance of the Crop— Cultivation and Use [see No. 521]. — 
It sounds strangely to an English farmer to hear Americans underrate the 



812 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

importance of the turnip crop — a crop that be looks upou as the main stay 
of agriculture as much as Indian corn is here. Turnips are not so important 
here as there, but would be considered much more so than they are now if 
more grown. Some of the Orange County milk dairymen have raised tur- 
nips to a limited extent ; but many think they can not raise them at such 
cost as will warrant feedhig them in preference to grain or other dry feed. 
And some are of ophiion that turnips cause a large flow of milk, but it is 
thin and watery, and will generally have a peculiar taste that renders it less 
salable. This may be in some measure true, but if milch cows can not be fed 
upon them, other stock can, and cheaper than upon almost any other food of 
equal value. 

In the year 1860 we grew a fine crop of red-strap turnips, sown broad-^ 
cast, after other crops, and wintered two cows almost exclusively upon them, 
feeding hay but lightly, and but little meal. Tlie bulky food was cut corn- 
stalks. These cows gave a good mess of milk, and after the first two Aveeks 
the turnips did not injure the flavor materially. In the spring one of these 
cows was dried ofl" and fed meal two or three weeks, and sold to the butcher, 
and was really good beef. This proved that turnips have some fattening 
qualities. 

The "best use, however, for turnips is to feed sheep. In England they are 
fed on the field by hurdling sheep, on small portions at a time, and as long 
ago as when Stephens wrote his "Book of the Farm," were considered 
worth $25 an acre for this purpose. The sheep eat oS the tops and ei'own 
of the root, and then a man goes over with a turnip picker and pulls out 
the bottoms so they can eat the whole witliout waste, and at the same time 
enrich the soil. Turnips are most commonly sown in drills in England, and 
in this country broadcast. There, the bulk of the crop is fed as indicated 
above, and the feeding continues all winter ; but in all the Northern States 
the winters are too cold for tlii§ ; and where they are sufiiciently mild, 
the summers are so hot that turnips are not a good crop. They are so 
in all the States nortb of Virginia, notwithstanding the trouble of storing 
tliem for winter. 

The best manure for turnips is bone-dust, or superphospliate of lime, or 
guano. With manure on well-prepared laud, from three hundred to one 
thousand bushels per acre is a common crop. The best soil is on newly- 
cleared forest or reversed sod, not too clayey ; but they will grow well on 
pretty stifle clay if finely pulverized. 

Turnips of great size are sometimes grown, weighing eight or ten pounds, 
and measuring two and a half or three feet around ; but those of smaller 
size are esteemed the best — say one to four pounds. 

In sowing turnips, great care should be used not to get the seed too thick. 
This is the greatest fault of ninety-nine out of every hundred persons em- 
ployed to sow turnip seed. The common rule is a pound to the acre. That 
rule comes from England, where the seed is drilled, and if all of it grows, 
about nine tenths of the plants are thinned out. 



Sko. 48.] CULTIVATION OF TURXIPS. 813 

The time for sowing in all the ]S"orthern States is pretty well indicated by 
the old distich : 

" Ou the twenty-fifth of July 
Sow your turnips, wet or dry." 

Turnips sown broadcast too thick to grow may be thinned with the har- 
row, after they are up enough to show, without injury to those that remain 
untouched by the harrow teeth. Indeed, it is a pretty good way to put 
them in rows as though planted with a drill. It also kills a great many 
weeds, and loosens the crust that forms over some land, so that the plants 
left take a rapid start and grow much better than they otherwise would. It 
is not a bad plan to treat corn in the same way ; and we certainly have seen 
M'inter wheat highly benefited by a thorough harrowing in the spring. 

The greatest trouble that farmers experience in turnip-growing in this 
country is from a small insect called the turnip-fly. We believe the best 
remedy is to prepare the ground in the best possible manner, and use some- 
thing that will give the plants an early, rapid start. Poudrette is good for 
this purpose. So is guano, Ijy which we mean pure Xo. 1 Peruvian guano. 
We have found a liberal use of salt highly beneficial ; say five bushels per 
acre. We think it one of the best remedies for preventing the ravages of 
the turnip-fly ; and we have never -seen a sign of the disease known as 
" fingers and toes," where we have used salt liberally ; and we are satisfied 
that the bulbs grow not only heavier and healthier, but that they are more 
uuti'itious. 

The disease known as " fingers and toes" probably affects ruta bagas more 
than round turnips, though it sometimes spoils the latter. This disease is 
said to have originated in Scotland forty years ago. The bulbs beconie de- 
formed and grow into excrescences, rendering tlie crop worthless. Some- 
times they run to fibrous roots, and sometimes they are filled with insects. 
Sometimes the excrescences reseuible warts all over the bulb, dryino- the 
center to a brown, spongy mass. The solid matter of a healthy white turnip 
is seventeen per cent. One of these forms of disease of the turnips resem- 
bles the potato rot, and has done great damage. 

877. Storing Turnips for Winter Feeding.— AVli ere a farmer has no barn 
cellar, it is no trifling job to store a laVge crop of turnips, and that is one 
of the causes that prevents their cultivation to the same extent as in Eng- 
land. They can not bo left out to be eaten where they grow in the grazing 
and stock-feeding States, nor kept for winter feed, unless safely stored in cel- 
lars or pits. The easiest way to save them is to lay them on dry ground, 
slightly inclining south if possible, in piles like hay windrows, about three 
feet through, and cover with straw, sedge, or cornstalks six inches thick, and 
earth eight inches, with straw ventilators every ten feet. Another good plan 
is to put them in round piles, each of thirty bushels ; but it makes more 
labor, yet has the advantage that a pile can be opened and taken in before 
freezing in a cold day, and without exposing the remainder, as in the long 
piles. 



814 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

All turnips s^Ol•ed for winter use should be trimmed of tops and tails. A 
knife that will weigh half a pound, and is eight inches long in the blade, is 
the tool to trim with. Held all the time in the riglit hand, the operator 
seizes a turnip with the left by the top, and cuts off the tap-root with one 
blow, and at the same time tosses the turnip and catches it with the top 
toward the knife, with which he cuts off the top by another blow, and at tlic 
same time tosses the turnip into the cart, basket, or pile. One smart work- 
man at topping will do more than three poking ones who always pick up a 
turnip wrong end foremost. If you do not care to cut the tops very close, 
or if you can stand so as to let the turnip fall in the right place, you need 
not let go the first hold, but cut both tail and top, throwing the latter in a 
pile instead of throwing the bulb. 

Never pull turnips nor handle them in wet weather. 

878..Ruta Baga TurnipSi — All that we have said about tlie value of tur- 
nips, and preparation of ground, manure, cultivation, pulling, and storing, 
will apply to ruta bagas, except these should always be grown in drills, 
and hand-weeded and thinned. They must also be sown earlier — never later 
— than July 1, and generally not later than June 15. 

It is a good way to prepare the land for ruta bagas, after it has been 
plowed and cross-plowed, and mellowed, and i-olled, to take a small plow 
and throw up ridges, say two feet six inches apart, rake the tops smooth, 
and plant the seed with a drill harrow. As soon as the weeds get to be half 
an inch high, run a one-horse subsoil plow midway between the rows, to 
loosen up the soil thoroughly, and then with Knox's root-cleaner or horsc- 
hoe, extirpate the weeds. The only hand-hoeing necessary will be in the 
row to thin out plants. When the crop is ready to be dug, run a large sub- 
soil plow close alongside the row, and the roots will be so loose that they 
can be pulled up with the greatest ease and thrown in(o heaps, whence they 
are carted directly to the j)it made for them on the dryest part of. the field, 
and there topped and buried. 

These turnips will grow upon a greater variety of snils than the round 
turnip, but the one best suited for a good crop is a lich, alluvial, sandy 
loam. 

It is advisable to set the gauge of the drill so as to scatter the seed very 
thick in the row, and thin them out to stand ten or twelve inches apart, 
using the plants where too thick by transplanting them to fill up vacancies. 
In a small way, these turnips may be sown in a seed-bed and all transplanted 
like cabbages. 

The vitality of ruta baga seed endures for several years, but it is not safe 
to use old seed of white turnips. 

Tiie soil and kind of fertilizer used have a great deal of influence upon the 
quality of turnips. Some are worth double the value of others, either for 
the table or cattle-feed. As a general rule, all applications of bone manure 
will be paid for in quality if not quantity. About 15 bushels of bones, or 
600 lbs. of superphosphate, or 200 lbs of guano per acre, is a fair dressing. 



Seo. 48.] 



CARROTS AS A FIELD CROP. 



815 



In England, turnip-growers manure high — 15 or 20 full horse cart-loads of 
strong stable dung, well rotted, to an imperial acre for rata bagas, and 
about two thirds the quantity for white turnips. 

We have had turnip seed lie three weeks after sowing in a drouth, without 
vegetating. At such a time, if thei'o had been moisture in the earth enough 
to cause the seeds to sjjrout, it would have been fatal to them, and we 
should have prepared the ground anew and sowed more seed. In all English 
publications the term " Swedes," or " Swedish turnip," is made use of, and it 
is sometimes confounded with the ruta baga, because it is spoken of as a long 
root ; but it docs not appear to be identical with the variety grown in this 
country under the name of ruta baga. 

The Swedes, White Globe, Yellow Globe, White Stone, Eed or Purple 
Top, are all good varieties of field turnips, and can be grown with less labor 
than ruta bagas. A bushel of turnips weighs about 42 to 45 lbs., and it 
is stated that English sheep-feeders allow IS to 23 lbs. a day to a young 
sheep, and 24 to 37 lbs. a day to a full-grown sheep ; and that a fatting o.\ 
will eat a tun a week. 

879. Carrots as a Field Crop. — Wo have already spoken of carrots in the 
garden (527), where they should always be grown, for they really are a most 
valuable article of food. Perhaps the reason why they are not more esteem- 
ed as esculents is because the kind grown in the garden is that which should 
only be grown in the field as food for domestic animals. Perhaps the best 
for table use is the " short-horn" carrot, but we esteem the long orange 
carrot the best for field culture, unless the crop is intended for some city 
market, and then we would grow the short-horn variety. Tliere is no doubt 
of the fact that this carrot can be profitably grown as a field crop for market- 
ing, near cities and large towns. Whether it will pay to raise carrots for 
feeding stock, is a question often asked. "It don't pay," is an assertion 
often made. That it does we assert, without fear of contradiction, in all 
places where corn costs fifty cents a bushel to produce it, as it does npon 
many farms in the Eastern States. In Illinois, where corn is so very easily 
produced, and bears so low a price, it may be true that carrot growing is not 
profitable. Still, cheap as grain may be, as feed for stock, it will sometimes 
pay to feed carrots on account of the improvement in health to the animals 
consuming them. 

We consider carrots a very sure crop on suitable soil, properly pre- 
pared ; and for stock, when taken in connection with other feed, they are 
invaluable. They are not only healthy, but will fatten cattle, sheep, and 
horses. 

One farmer who nas grown carrots for stock feeding for twelve years, says : 
"I have fatted and sold four head of cattle this winter on carrots, with one 
quart of meal sprinkled on them at a feed, together with cornstalks. One 
was a Durham cow, which was milked all the while until sold for beef, and 
was fat. This was an experiment, and proved satisfactory — that cows can 
be fatted on carrots and meal, and milked at the same time ; at no time was 



816 



ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. 



[Chap. X. 



the meal over two quarts per day. I also have six other cows, all of which 
give milk of the richest kind, and a good flow of it, that are fed on carrots 
once a day, and once on poor cornstalks and clover hay." 

From 700 to 800 bushels per acre is an ordinary crop, with good land and 
good culture, and 1,200 bushels may be raised by high cultivation. Allow- 
ing 250 pounds of carrots, which is conceded by practical farmers to be equal 
to 100 pounds of hay, and at 50 pounds to the bushel, we Lave at the highest 
above rate of yield the equivalent of 12 tuns of hay per acre, which will take 
seven acres of good meadow to equal. 

880. Suitable Soil, and its Preparation for Carrots.— The most suitable soil 
for carrots is a light, rich, sandy loam. Manure, if used, should be well 
rotted ; otherwise the roots grow forked. What we call cheese manure is 
best — that is, manure that cuts in the heap like a soft clieese. Take a rich 
piece of sward, where the soil is deep, the longer seeded the better. Cover 
with manure ; plow witli a double plow ; roll and drag fine the last of March 
or the first of April. Let it lie till the first week in May ; then gang-plow 
and drag fine again, to kill weeds, and sow immediately two pounds of seed 
per acre. If you have not a suitable piece of sward, the next best is land 
that was cultivated the previous year in potatoes. Whatever the 'land used 
may be, give it at least two plowings, cross and lengthwise, and t'aree har- 
rowings. It must be made loose — no lumps or stones. If you have got a 
roller, apply it after each harrowing. Some lands may require plowing 
half a dozen times, and will pay for all the labor. New ground will give 
you the best quality of carrots — old ground the largest roots. 

The prevailing system of carrot culture, to make drills by throwing two 
light furrows together, leveling them and sowing on top, is very erroneous. 
By this the roots and fibers run to the sides and are killed by the hot sun. 
In England, Ireland, and Scotland this plan is preferable, in consequence 
of their climate being moist and the soil being very heavy. This borrowed 
system should be discarded by all who wish to get good crops of carrots, 
turnips, and mangel-wurzel. 

881. Sowing Carrot Seedt — One who grows carrots as a market crop, en- 
tirely by hand labor, gives the following directions : " I have a marker or 
large rake made of three-inch scantling — a handle in the center, with a brace 
on each side to guide and strengthen it. In this six wooden teeth one inch 
in diameter, six inches long, are set at twelve inches apart. One man 
works this, opening five drills at each through, as one tooth must be kept in 
the last-made drill to keep your rows straight. "When marked, one man 
will sow an acre a day, at least, of those drills. I then sow radish seed in the 
same drills for market. They do not interfere in any way with the carrols. 
I have this season sold radishes enough from the carrots, at one dollar per 
hundred bunches, to pay for the whole working." 

Another experienced carrot-grower says : " I always sow by hand, as I 
find it cheaper and better than by any machine I have yet seen, and any 
one can do it. If I sow at thirty inches apart, I take a piece of wood four 



Seo. 48.] 



CARROTS AS A FIELD CROP. 



817 



inches wide and two inches thick, drive a staple in the end so as to hold the 
point of the plowshare, and then mark with small plow and one horse. As 
they are marked I sow the seed, which sliould be rubbed in sand before 
sowing. I sliould advise tlie soaking of seed, but to inexperienced hands 
one hundred chances to one but they would let it rot. By sowing your seed 
dry, you run no risk. When sown, take some twiggy branches and tie them 
together, just large enough for one man to pull easil}', and run this length- 
wise and crosswise of your carrot rows. This is sufHcient for covering the 
seed." 

Another thinks it is of great advantage to germinate the seed before sow- 
ing, by mixing it with fine sand. The mixture is laid in a heap, and occa- 
sionally watered for two or three weeks, and then sown in drills. By this 
jilan the seed may be sown later and the plants come up quickly, and are 
enabled, in a measure, to get the start of the \veeds. 

882. .Cultivation of the Carrot Crop.— The first tiling to be considered is 
whether you intend to work them with manual or horse labor. Close to a 
city, or where help can be had when wanted, manual labor, when judiciously 
managed, or when you have only a small farm and wish to make every aci'e 
produce doul)le, will not be found unprofitable, although it is a crop that 
requires a good deal of attention, and the amount of hand labor required, 
where that is wholly depended upon, we believe deters many people from 
engaging in the business of growing carrots. We wish to impress upon all 
such that hand laboi', except to a limited extent, is not indispensable. Nearly 
all can be done by horse-power, or better by a trained mule. In the first 
place, plow deep ; subsoil deeper, if to be planted by liand ; marking with 
a subsoil plow instead of a toothed marker will be found profitable. 

Sowing radishes with carrots enables you to see the rows sooner ; then if 
to be horse-hoed, commence at once, so that the weeds shall not get the 
start. It is easier to kill ten little weeds than one big one. If the crop is 
to he. hand-hoed, then as soon as the plants are up sufficiently to trace the 
rows, grind up your hoes sharp, and commence by hoeing between the rows 
as close as possible to the plants, and be sure to cut across the rows and 
leave the plants the width of your hoe apart, and if you are a good farmer 
Ihere will not be many weeds left, because you will not try to raise carrots 
on a piece of land full of seeds of weeds and foul stuff. After about two 
weeks hoe in like manner, and what weeds are left pull with your fingers, 
and leave the carrots about seven or eight inches apart. You will not find 
it half as troublesome a crop to grow as most farmers imagine. One carrot- 
grower says the great and principal objection to carrot-growing is the thin- 
ning of them. Hand-thinning is not indispensable. Of course the carrots are 
not so large ; for feeding, small ones are as good ; for selling by measure, 
larger ones are better, as they fill up and leave very leaky crevices. At 
present they are frequently bought by weight, as all roots and fruit should 
be bought. 

883. Harvesting, Storing, and Value of Carrot Crops.— A great deal of 



818 PwOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

tlie work of liarvesting may be done by a hof-se and plow, eithei- by tm-ning 
a furrow away from each side, or by running a subsoil lifter along the rows 
to loosen the ground and make the digging and pulling easier. Then a man 
with a fork works out a row very fast. Where it is not an object to crowd 
the crop upon a small space, we recommend the drills thirty inches apart, 
and this gives good room to plow them out. In commencing, take out one 
row in the middle of the plat with the spade, and then plow down one row 
and up the other, and have hands to follow and pull and throw in a row in 
the center. 

In storing carrots outdoors, put tiiem on the surface, in a dry place, in 
long piles. Lay them four feet wide at bottom and four feet high, tapering 
to the top to one foot wide, keeping the crown or top at the outside, cover- 
ing all with one foot thick of straw, and on this eighteen inches of earth. 
The covering of course depends on the climate where raised. Leave a 
chimney every twelve feet apart to allow the heat to evaporate. . This is 
done by placing a sheaf of straw on top and filling the earth to it. In 
storing, a few bushels of the best should be selected for seed, and put out in 
March or April in drills three feet apart, and one foot from plant to plant, 
the crowns one inch above the surface. As to the yield per acre, this alto- 
gether depends on your land, manure, working, and the season. 

One farmer says : " I know that carrots can be raised for five cents per 
bushel, and think they can be raised for less. Let's figure a little : 

Use of one acre $7 00 I Gauging rows $1 00 

Manure 10 00 Seed and sowing 3 00 

Plow, roll, and drag 2 00 | Hoeing and harvesting 20 00 

Whole expense $43 00 

And this is liberal for one acre. Estimating the crop at one thousand bush- 
els, this would give us a cost of 4y\ cents per bushel on tlie average, and 
the value of the crop, at 12^ cents per bushel, which is low, will be $125, 
a profit of $82." 

884. Carrots and Rye on the same Ground. — We have never seen this 
practiced, but liaving seen it suggested, think well of it, and call attention 
to the plan. The ground is -well prepared in autumn, as though for carrots, 
and is then sowed with rye. In the spring the carrot seed is sown with a 
drill, or a marker is used, and the seed put in by hand. Of course nothing 
is done till the rye is harvested, when a cultivator or horse-hoe is run 
throuo-h, or the stubble turned by two light furrows, turned from the row, 
and the plants thinned by hand-hoe. As soon as they get a good start, the 
furrows are turned back ; afterwards the horse-hoe may be needed to run 
through once or twice. It is necessar}' to put in the seed earlier than for the 
ordinary field crop, which is usually after corn planting. If we were about 
to adopt this plan of growing rye and carrots, we would drill the rye, leav- 
ing out a drill every two and a half feet for the carrot rows ; and the rye 
we would mow for feed instead of saving it for the grain. If corn were 
planted in May, and rye sown in October, and carrots in April, three full 



Sbo. 48.] PARSNEPS AND ONIONS AS FIELD CROPS. 819 

crops could be harvested in two years and the ground prepared for another. 
Of course this kind of pushing would require high manuring and good cul- 
tivation. 

Let it alwaj's be remembered that all root crops require deep plowing, 
heavy manuring, a thorough pulverization of the soil, and good after-culture 
to keep down the weeds, and they then leave the land in fine order for 
spring grain, to be seeded down with grass or clover. 

Koot crops prepare the ground for all other crops. Barley succeeds bet- 
ter after roots than after any other cultivated crop ; and it is noticed that 
grass always takes well after turnips. 

8S5. Parsneps as a Field Crop. — All that we have said of carrots, except 
storing for winter, will ajjply to parsneps. Instead of digging and storing, 
let tliem stand where they grow till spring, and then dig and feed them 
from day to day, and they will make butter, beef, or mutton faster, in pro- 
portion to cost, than any other feed. If the roots are small in autumn, and 
a snow falls before the ground freezes, they will continue to grow, and will 
sometimes double in size. They must be dug before commencing a spring 
growth. There is no more productive root crop than parsneps, and we do 
not think there is any of more value during the month in which they can 
be raised daily from the ground in spring, and fed to any kind of stock. 
They are very valuable if cooked, for pigs. 

88(5. Onions as a Field Crop. — We have already spoken of onions in the 
garden (532), but they are grown to such a large extent as a field crop, that 
we may give some of the best information upon the subject that we can 
select ; and first, of the soil and preparation. 

The following statement is made by a large onion-grower, J. "W. Proctor, 
of South Danvers, Massachusetts. He says: "Any soil, of substance equal 
to 40 or 50 bushels of Indian corn to the acre, will grow onions — the better 
the soil the better the crop. Plow to the full depth of the soil, and liberally 
manure. Plant with corn and carrots, until completely pulverized. Plow 
early in the spring, and thorouglily intermingle the manure with the soil. 
Let all obstructions to the free distribution of the seed be removed, and the 
ground thoroughly prepared for the reception of the seed, which is distrib- 
uted by machines in rows fourteen inches apart, as true as a line can be 
drawn. This is essential, because of the f;icility afforded for the use of the 
onion-weeder. After the land has been once thoroughly plow^ed and culti- 
vated, shallow plowing is usually practiced — say not deeper than can be 
conveniently done with one horse — from four to six inches. The next ma- 
terial point is to get the land ready early. No good cultivator permits weeds 
to grow among his onions, and consequently is siiecially careful that the 
seeds of weeds shall not be scattered upon the land, eiiher in the manure or 
otherwise. A bunch of purslane may destroy a peck of onions. 

" You must keep your onion field entirely free of weeds, and then you 
may expect 500 bushels an acre, raised at less cost and greater profit than 
potatoes. 



820 BOOT CROPS AND SUGAK CROPS. [Chap. X. 

"Tlie best soil is a sandy loam of a somewhat dark color. Onions will not 
do well upon clay, particularly if it is a white clay. The surface must be 
absolutely free from lumps, stones, and sods. A good crop, however, may 
be grown upon an inverted sod, even the tough one of the Western prairie. 
All varieties of onions are grown more or less, but chiefly the Silver-skin, 
which give the most profitable results in this section. 

"Never plant old seed, and the nearer the surface you can place your seed, 
if barely covered, the more perfectly it will vegetate, and tlie better the 
bulbs will be, as they naturally grow on the surface^ not under it. 

" Good cultivators grow their own seed ; and they select, for this purpose, 
onions of the form they wish to grow, and set them where no bad seed can 
intermingle, as much depends upon procuring and preserving the seed pure. 
As well may you hope to grow figs from thistles as good onions from poor 
seed." 

887. The Fertilizers best fitted to Promote the Growth of the Onion.— Good 
stable manure, old and well fined, is always a healthy dressing. Let it be 
applied generously — six, eight, or ten cords to tlie acre. " Muscle-bed" is a 
good application for onions. Guano docs very well ; but there is nothing 
quite equal to barn manure, thoroughly rotted and fined, spread upon the 
surface, so as to give a quick start to the crop. Success depends very much 
upon an early start, as early onions are much better protected from every 
class of blights, and especially from that chief of devourers, the maggots. 
Ashes, leached or not leached, are a good application, and are very much 
used by onion-growers. 

The first difficulty in the way of raising onions is the worms. The next 
trouble is the weeds, and on this account swamp muck is admirable manure; 
it will contain no seed. 

888. Remedy for Onion Worms. — Benjamin Clifford, of Norwich, Yt., lias 
discovered that tar is an effectual preventive against the fly that produces 
the onion maggot. An equal quantity of hot water and tar was stirred 
together, and after standing a few hours, the fluid part was sprinkled upon 
the onions on one of the beds. This application was made in June, when 
the young plants were first attacked by the fly, and the process repeated 
about two weeks afterward. The result was a fine crop upon that bed, 
while upon the other not a single onion was raised. 

Dr. O. "W. Drew, of Waterbury, Vt., writes us that the onion crops of 
that town Imd failed to such an extent for years that the people liad to get 
a supply from Boston for their own use, instead of growing them for sale, 
as they did before the worms became troublesome. lie says : " AVhen the 
plants get three or four inches high they begin to turn yellow tmii die, and 
the bulbs become rotten and full of maggots. Many experiments have been 
tried with lime, salt, ashes, and plaster, without benefit. Last spring (1861) 
I sowed a bed Mith red onion seed, and when the plants were about four 
inches high, I found that they were affected as usual, and I poured a full 
stream of boiling water from a large tea-kettle spout directly upon each row. 



Sko. 48.] QUANTITY OF ROOTS AN ACRE WILL PRODUCE. 821 

and repeated the application, and the plants, instead of being killed, were 
refreshed, and looked as bright as though they iiad had a May shower, and 
no more died, though the worms did, and I grew as fine a crop of onions as 
I ever had in the most Buccessful years. The remedy is apt to deter timid 
people from applying it, but I assure them there is no danger, and it is 
effectual." 

If this should prove to be a remedy in other cases, it will be almost in- 
valuable to those who cultivate onions as a crop ; many who have depended 
upon them as no inconsiderable item of annual income, have been obliged 
to abandon their cultivation. 

It appears that the fly which produces the maggot which has so seriously 
damaged the onion-growers, belongs to the same tribe of insects that deposit 
eggs in manure, and it is therefore recommended to use no putrescent fer- 
tilizers for onions; nothing of animal production, unless it may be guano or 
bone-dust. 

889. Profit of Onion Culture. — The production of a good crop of onions 
is estimated at five hundred bushels per acre, and the cost in Massachusetts 
is stated about as follows : Cost of preparing one acre of land and planting 
the seed, $10 ; six pounds of seed, $3 ; manure, $30 ; cultivation and har- 
vesting, $40. Total, $83. The harvesting is done by raking the onions 
into rows with an iron tooth-rake about the first or perhaps middle of Octo- 
ber. The planting should be done a week or ten days before corn. At one 
dollar a bushel, it will be seen that a good yield gives a handsome profit to 
the cultivator, and where the insect is not troublesome, the crop is about as 
sure as a crop of Indian corn, and it may be cultivated upon the same spot 
for an indefinite period. 

890. faliforuia Wild OnionSi — It has been stated in California papers that 
onions growing wild have been discovered in that State, an inch and a half 
in diameter, covered with a tiiick husk like the soap-root. They are palata- 
ble and even preferable to garden onions, and it is thought may prove a 
valuable addition to the cultivated varieties. TVe give the statement as a 
hint to onion-growers to try this variety in a cultivated condition. 

891. Tlie Quantity of Roots an Acre will Produce.— Some persons wish to 
know how much feed can be obtained from an acre of any kind of I'oots. 
This they can determine by weighing a few of an average size and then cal- 
culating the number per acre. In this calculation the following table will 
be useful. It shows the number, weight, and measure of the g*)wth of an 
acre planted at various distances apart : 

Dist. between Dist. of plants No per "Weight of Bushels 

tlie rows. In row. acre. each root. per acre. 

2 feet 1 foot 21,780 12 lbs 4,356 

do do do 10 3,630 

do do do 5 1,815 

do do ■. do; 2 726 

do 2 feet 10,890 12 2,078 

do do do 10 1,815 

do do do 5 707 

do do do 2 363 



822 



BOOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. 



Chap. X. 



Dial, between Bist. of plants Neper Weight of 
the rows. in row. acre. each rooL 
3 feet 1 foot 14,520 12 



.do do. . 

. do do. . 

.do do. . 

.2 feet 7,260. 

.do do. . 

do do. 



do 3 feet 4,840 12 

do do do 10 

do do do 5 



Bushels 
per acre. 
. . 2,940 
..2,420* 
..1,210 
, . 484 
..1,452 
..1,210 
. . 605 
.. 968 



403 



This calculation of measure is based upon sixty pounds per bushel. The 
table shows that it is not necessary to have roots very close together in order 
to raise large crops. For instance ; if the rows are three feet apart, and the 
plants two feet apart in the row, with no vacancies, and the roots average 
ten or twelve pounds, the crop will be large. It also shows the importance 
of having the ground all occupied, as the yield will be seriously diminished 
when this is not the case. 



SECTION XL1X.-S0RGHUM SACCHARATUM-CHINESE SUGAR-CANE- 
AND SORGO SUGAR-MAKING. 

?ITHIN a few years, the seeds of the plant generally 
known as Chinese sugar-cane, and that of Imphee, 
or African sugar-cane, have been disseminated over 
the United States, and cultivated with various de- 
grees of success. To sum up reports, in short, we 
should say that in all good Indian corn soil, where 
that crop can be grown to average forty bushels an 
acre, a crop of sorgo can be grown with profit, if 
the grower is provided with conveniences for con- 
verting the juice into sirup, the quality of which 
is excellent. 

W. Mathar, of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, says : 
" I will give the figures, and state, from experi- 
ment, that sugar-cane is profitable to raise for family 
use : 58i rods of ground, planted May 27, 18.58, harvested October 27, pro- 
ducing 425 gallons, yielding 91 J gallons of molasses, worth 63 cents per 
gallon." 

The Davenport (Iowa) Times states that one farmer has made sirup at a 
cost of sixteen cents a gallon. In many places in States where apples 
abound, the old-fashioned cider-mills have been used to grind cane with 
success. 




Sbo. 49.] CHINESE SUGAE- CANE— PLANTING AND CULTURE. 



823 



Such facts as seem important to be known to farmers about this plant, we 
shall give in this section, followed by others about maple-sugar. 

892. Soil aud Situation for Sorgo.— E. F. Newberry, of Montgomery 
County, 111., in the Prairie Farmer of April 18, 1861, gives a number of 
facts ill regard to this matter, applicable to its culture in Illinois, from which 
we ex'ract the following : " The imj^ortant point of selection of soil has been 
almost wholly overlooked. It has generally been supposed that the larger 
the stalk the greater the yield of saccharine matter, and of course the rich- 
est, deepest mold has been selected for its growth. This is a great mistake. 
I will illustrate by a little experiment of my own. Part of my cane grew 
on a southern slope of very moderate richness, and part on a bottom the 
very reverse in fertility. The stalks in the latter j^osition were of much 
larger growth than those in the former, yet the first produced more siru]) per 
acre and of a superior quality. Besides, I found no difficulty in procuring its 
granulation, while the latter would not crystallize. The soil of the slope was 
a reddish brown, slightly intermixed with sand. The cane brought to my 
mill by my neighbors from the borders of the prairie and from timber land 
invariably excelled in quality that grown in the deej3, rich soil of the center 
of the prairie. 

893. " Preparation for Planting. — The ground should be put in perfect 
tilth to receive the seed, as the plant when young is quite feeble. As 
regards manure, the present richness of the soil should be the guide taken 
in connection with the facts stated above concerning the overgrowth of 
stalk. 

894. " Time of Planting. — Experience has proved that the seed can safely 
be sown a week or ten days earlier than corn; and as the manufacturing 
season is short, every day we can add to it is precious. A piece planted the 
25th of March made the best cane in the prairie. A mild frost inflicts no 
injury. Cane planted the IGth of April was ready to grind the 21st of 
August, in Montgomery County, near the center of the State. Seed should 
be sprouted before sowing, and a week can be thus gained. As there is a 
period, embracing from four to six days, in which tlie cane is in a greater 
degree of perfection for manufacturing, I would strongly urge sowing in 
such succession as will insure its being worked up during that period. The 
cultivator will of course take into consideration his facilities for working up, 
in regulating their succession. I regard this as one of the most important 
points in the whole business. The simp made at such period will, if prop- 
erly managed, be of a beautiful transparent color, entirely free from any 
foreign taste or smell. Besides, this is the only time that crystals can be 
produced with any certainty. I have no doubt that the occasionally suc- 
cessful attempts at granulation which have occurred from year to year 
have resulted from accidental manufacture within this period. When the 
first frost comes, all the cane which remains should be cut and care- 
fully protected from the weather by being placed under a shed or cov- 
ered over with straw so that neither the sun nor wind can act upon it. 



824 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

By covering so as to prevent freezing, good second-rate sirup, but not 
sugar, can be made until the first of December, and thus lengthen the 
manufacturing season a whole month. It will not do to carelessly throw 
the stalks in a pile in the open air, expecting them to keep good for a 
month. 

895. " Manner of Plantingt— Enough seed should be sown in drills three 
feet apart to insure one plant every twelve inches. Thinner than this I re- 
gard not only as a waste of land, but as rendering the stalks liable to too 
great a growth, which is an injury. Shallow sowing (from 1 to H inches) 
insures speedy germination most certainly. Cultivate carefully with the hoe 
and cultivator. 

896. " Stripping and Toppingi — Tlie cane should be stripped at least one 
week before using. This course certainly does enrich the cane, and also ren- 
ders it easy to save the blades for fodder, which should be bound and shocked 
between the rows. The stripping can be performed either with the two 
hands encased in buckskin gloves or by means of a wooden knife about five 
feet long. Our experience led us to prefer the hands, as we could strip a 
stalk, and sometimes two or three, at a single stroke and retain the leaves 
ready to bind, saving thereby considerable labor. The cane should not be 
topped until ready for cutting. If this is performed sooner, the formation 
of sugar is immediately checked by the efibrts of the cane to replace the 
lost heads or panicles. Some which I topped at the time of stripping, ten 
days before cutting, yielded juice which contained only twelve per cent, of 
sirup, while that from cane untojiped until the day of using, yielded eighteen 
and twenty per cent. Neither would granulate. It cau best be topped by 
hauling to the mill and laying the heads evenly and cutting them oflf with 
a hatchet. 

897. " Time of Cutting. — Do not cut until the very day of using, if it can 
possibly be avoided. From the day it is cut it commences to deteriorate. 
This is a fixed fact. A change in the chemical constituents immediately be- 
gins which soon destroys the granulating power, and if the weather happens 
to be warm, brings on acetous fermentation. 

898. " Most Favorable Period for Manufacture. — This commences when the 
seed is fully in the dough and continues until it is nearly ripe. Cane fully 
ripe a month before frost, was allowed to stand uncut and commenced grow- 
ing acid, so as to require neutralizing agents, and both color and taste were 
injured. Acidity can be thoroughly neutralized by using sufiicient alkali. 
In some very acid juice a tablespoonful of strong soda was required for a 
gallon of sirup. For a few days there was a decided smell of the alkali, but 
it presently passed away and the sirup proved to be quite a good article, and 
a portion of it has grained in the l>arrel. 

899. " Manufacturing Sirup.— The first consideration is a good iron mill, 
with which one horse can grind cane enough in twelve hours to make forty 
or fifty gallons of sirup. Hedge's mill is the most reliable, and it should 
be placed so that the juice will run to the boilers; and of all that I have 



Seo. 49.] CHINESE SUGAR-CANE— YIELD AND PROFIT. 825 

seen, I prefer Cook's, though I do not believe it makes as beautiful sirup as 
the common pan and kettle. If pans are used, make them of galvanized 
sheet iron, from seven to ten feet long. Turn up the sides and ends of the 
sheets about two inches and finish by nailing them to solid plank ten inches 
high, so as to form an oblong water-tight box with iron bottom. As many 
as you wish maybe set in furnaces, the horizontal flues of which shoul'! 
meet in one perpendicular chimney. The juice should be clarified in these 
and afterward boiled down until nearly done, when it should be removed 
and tlie operation slowly finished in a cast-iron kettle. The reason I prefer 
to finish in a kettle is this : When the sirup is completely done, it can be 
ladled out without the risk of scorching, which is so imminent in using the 
thin, flat pan. 

900. " ('larifying Agents. — Of these there are several. Lime-water made 
from fresh lime is about as good as any. Our finest sirup was cleared with 
some refuse saleratus which had been thrown away by a merchant here as 
worthless. It did not injure the color in the least. Carbonate of soda an- 
swers very well, but colors the sirup somewhat. Sugar of lead is a splendid 
clarifier, but it is poisonous. 

901. " Profits of Sorgo Grinding.- — These vary from $50 per acre to $100, 
just as the business is managed. One large mill in an adjoining county 
broke up its owners ; twenty-five acres of cane remained uncut in their field, 
and the quality of sirup was so poor that they could not sell it until it was 
refined. Others on a small scale realized quite a per cent, on the outlay and 
labor. The result of my own was about thus : When the mill, whicii was a 
very poor one, ran steadily, the profits were $8 a day of ten hours. My 
Cook's evaporator cost $17 50, and Douglass' mill $GS, freight included. 
Tiie season ought to commence, at the latest, on the first of September, and 
continue for two months, or even longer, if the cane is properly taken care of, 
and success in a domestic way is undoubted ; but we (io not know enougli 
about the business as yet to render it safe to invest any great amount. Witii 
more experience, we can supply our own State with sirup, and sugar too, I 
have no doubt." 

902. Sorgo as Food for Stock. — Upon this point Mr. Newberry says : 
"My horses, cows, and liogs have all had access to the pile of bagasse, and 
they eat it greedily. My milch cow will not touch hay or Hungarian grass, 
and she is in as good order as it is possible for a milch cow to be. My 
horses require very little fodder, and even the pigs chew away with com- 
mendable zeal." 

Another Illinois farmer wrote to us in December, 1860, as follows: " Our 
horses, mules, and cattle have had no other fodder since cane came in, and 
the more mature the better they seem to like it. I tried cutting and curing 
the immature cane last year, and found it a failure. The mature cane is the 
form in which my experience would lead me to use it for fodder. The 
proper way is to cut and shock like corn. We have been feeding it all 
winter so far ; the only preparation is to cut the long stalks in two so as 



826 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

to get them in the manger ; the animals take care of it after that. The 
effect on milch cows, judging by our own, is very satisfactory. We liave 
a very comfortable supply of milli from one cow, and her main feed is 
sugar cane." 

903. The Yield per Acre. — He also writes : " Our yield per acre did not 
come np to the general estimate ; about one hundred gallons per acre was 
our product. We are satisfied our mill took out from 60 to Y5 per cent, of 
tlie sap. We had a portable eiglit-horse- power engine and boiler, and a 
cast-iron mill, having two rollers fifteen inches in diameter and length, with 
set screws. Our evaporating apparatus was made of American sheet-iron, 
imitation of Russia, and consisted of thi-ee pans of capacity to hold over 
three hundred gallons of sap. We broke down in two respects : first, our 
machinery was inadequate to work up our crop ; and second, we failed to 
make a perfectly satisfactory- article, nearly all having a scorched taste. 

90i. " Keepiug the Cane and the Juice. — We have demonstrated that 
cane cut up and shocked like corn, before frost, will keep perfect for a 
month after. Some of the most perfect sirup we have made was from 
cane a month old. But if the unripe cane stands until killed by frost, the 
thing is done for; two days of warm weather will then sour it ; but the sap 
does not run into decomposition immediately. We ground out for one of 
our neighbors, four miles off, enough to make eighty gallons of sirup ; the 
sap was taken home, and in the course of the next two days was worked up. 
This was not all ground at one time, but four or five different times. The 
sirup thus made was the most perfect of the season." 

905. Fruits of Experience in Growing Sorgo.— The above writer says : 
" In conclusion, our experience (and we have bought it pretty dear) has sat- 
isfied us that the manufacture of the sorgo can only be made profitable 
in two ways — either in large establishments, with perfect machinery and 
skill, or on a small scale by farmers, for their own use. The latter is the 
most favorable view, as to its prospective value at the North. We have no 
doubt human health and happiness will be largely increased by the improve- 
ment in diet which will result from bringing this valuable article of food 
within the reach of all. I am entirely satisfied of the fact that it can be 
grown in this latitude (41° 25') successfully. The difiiculty is making the 
manufacture of the cane into sirup profitable after it is grown." 

906. Chemical Character and Analysis of Sorgo.— A writer in The Farmer 
and Planter, Columbia, S. C, says : " Careful experiments made by distin- 
guislied chemists during the last year have settled the point that the sorgo 
belongs to the family of grasses which secrete ' glucose' or fruit sugar— not 
crystalllzable, or cane sugar. The value of cane sugar, compared to glucose 
or grass sugar, is three to one. We may give up, then, the hope of making 
sugar profitably. Carefully conducted experiments during the last year, how- 
ever, have satisfied the writer that a very good sirup can be manufactured 
at the rate of fifty cents per gallon, and for even less, by the small farmer 
who is not entirely engrossed with the cotton crop. This will prove an in- 



Seo. 49.] CHINESE SUGAR-CANE— ANALYSIS. 827 

estimable blessing, bringing it within the means of almost every fiirmer 
owning a horse and an acre of ground, to provide the family with a luxury." 

This corresponds with our continually expressed opinion, that it was not 
worth while for those who grow the cane to think of making sugar, but con- 
fine the manufacture entirely to sirup. 

Dr. Augustus Voelcker, of the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, 
England, has published some analyses of Chinese sugar-cane grown on the 
college farm. The analysis was made September 26, 1859, with the wlii>lc 
plant, with the following result : 

In natural Dried at 
state. 212° 

■Water 81.80. ... — 

. ( Albumen 37 ... . 2.03 

I Other soluble protein compounds 1.16. . . . 6.36 

Sugar 5.85. . . . 32.15 

Wax and fatty matter " 2.55 14.01 

Mucilage, pectin, and digestible fiber 2.59. . . . 14.26 

Soluble mineral matters 74 ... . 4.06 

f Insoluble protein compounds , 66 .... 3.62 

Indigestible woody fiber (cellular) 4.05. ... 22 25 

Insoluble mineral matters 23 ... . 1 .26 

100.00. ...100.00 

•Containing nitrogen 245. . . 1.34 

•fContaining nitrogen 106. . . .58 

Total quantity of nitrogen 351 ... 1.92 

"The sorgo contained nearly 6 per cent, of sugar, which is about the 
same proportion as in carrots. Tiie canes proved sweeter near the ground, 
some of the stumps yielding 7.G5 per cent, of sugar. Stems cut about twelve 
inches from the ground yielded 3.60 per cent, of suga?— not quite half the 
quantity found in the lower part The proportion of sugar and crude fiber 
was: in stems cut two inches above ground, per-centage of sugar, 7.65 ; per- 
centage of crude fiber, 6.50. In stems cut twelve inches above ground, per- 
centage of sugar, 3.60 ; per-centage of crude fiber, 1.3.01 ; while the principal 
or main stem was quite sweet, the stolons or side shoots were still bitter. It 
thus appears that all do not ripen together ; the central or oldest stem is 
perfect before the lateral shoots." 

Dr. Voelcker found the unripe canes in August contained no sugar what- 
ever. He says : " The taste of the plants on the 23d of August was anything 
but sweet. I did not expect, therefore, to find much, but I was unprepared 
to meet with a total absence of sugar." 

907. Effect of Frost on the fanes. — As most of the directions about harvest- 
ing the canes say that they must be cut before frost, we give the following 
counter statement from Preston Eyre, Darlington, Penn. He says: "A 
neighbor allowed his cane to stand about one month after it was frozen 
entirely dead; he then cut it off in the morning, when the juice was frozen 
solid, and laid it in the sun, and in the afternoon expressed the juice with 
iron rollers ; the result was 165 gallons of juico, 5 of which made 1 gallon 
of excellent sirup, even superior to my own, which was cut before freezing. 

" I cultivated a small patch in my garden ; I cut it off before the frost 



828 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

affected it; I expressed the juice with iron rollers the same day, and had 30 
gallons; boiled it down next day and had 5h gallons of sirup; it had some- 
what of a green taste, which I think is destroyed in the process of freezing ; 
for let the season be ever so favorable, there will be some stalks not matured, 
but by freezing they are assimilated and lose that green taste so perceptible 
ill the immature cane. 

" I have tasted several samples of sirup, and the best was manufactured 
from cane which stood several days after being frozen hard, and made with- 
out using lime or any other acid-destroying agent. My conclusions are, that 
the cane does not lose any of its saccharine qualities by freezing, but they 
are rather improved." 

Col. A. T. Morris, of Indianapolis, gives a detailed account of his success 
in making sirup. He says : " I made two efforts, both unsuccessful, to pro- 
duce sugar. I suppose that my want of success was mainly owing to the 
fact that the cane had all been frozen. The effect of the frost was to diminish 
the quantity of juice ; also to neutralize, to some extent, its acid properties, 
and slightly increase its density, as indicated l^y Beaume's saccharoiiieter. 

" The juice of my unripe cane, before frost, marked seven degrees, Beaume ; 
that of the ripe cane, nine degrees. After the frost, the juice marked ten 
degrees." 

908. Yield per Acre in Indianai — " Myself and friends have made about 
1,500 gallons of sirup. My cane yielded 225 gallons of very thick sirup to 
the acre — requiring about six gallons of juice to one gallon of sirup. That 
grown by others yielded at the rate of 320 gallons per acre. I think 300 
gallons may be relied on here as a fair average crop." 

Col. Morris says : " I tested juice from several fields in this vicinity, and 
invariably found that the small, thoroughly ripe cane produced the strongest 
juice— the large, vigorous growth was very generally inferior from one to 
two degrees. I also found that the bottom of the stalk was not as sweet as 
the middle, nor the middle as sweet as the top. The juice from each third 
of the stalk indicated one degree more for the top third than the middle, and 
this one more than the bottom." 

909. How the Sirup was Made, aud its Cost.— "I filtered the juice, as it 
came from the mill, through finely powdered charcoal, placed in a barrel 
with a false bottom, covered with blankets, in the manner used in rectifying 
whisky. The juice thus filtered was boiled in the usual way, and produced 
a sirup, I think, equal to any I ever saw. This process I found to require 
too much labor and time. The charcoal soon became impervious, and had 
to be renewed, rendering its use too troublesome and expensive when a 
large amount of sirup was to be made. 

" After filling the large pan from the mill, I mixed in it a sufficient 
quantity of lime-water to nearly neutralize the acid in the juice, using litmus 
paper as a test. I also mixed, at the same time, about three pounds of ivory- 
black and one half dozen of eggs to every 100 gallons of juice, stirring all 
together thoroughly. The juice was then heated to near the boiling point. 



Sec. 49.] CHINESE SUGAR-CANE— FEEDING IT TO STOCK. 829 

and the fire then removed from the furnace and the juice not disturbed until 
sufficiently cool to be in a quiescent state. The scum was then removed, 
and the remainder drawn ofi' tliroiigh a flannel bag into the other pans for 
boiling. Before boiling, a small quantity of dissolved borax was added, 
after which it was boiled moderately and skimmed, until the quantity was 
evaporated to about one third of its bulk ; then tlie boiling was as rapid as 
possible, until the sirup was produced. By this process, I have made an 
article which is very generally considered nearly, if not quite, equal to the 
best of the golden sirup in our market. 

" I attempted to boil the juice in ordinary iron kettles, arranged in a fur- 
nace, in the way usually adopted here to manufacture maple-sugar, but 
found it impossible to avoid burning the sirup against their sides. I then 
procured four pans, with cast-iron bottoms and wooden sides. Three of 
them were two and a half feet wide and three and a half feet long, with sides 
fourteen inches deep ; and one five feet long, and same width and depth as 
the otiiers. I placed three of these pans in one furnace, made of brick, and 
placed the largest one in a separate furnace at right angles to tlie first. The 
smoke-stacks of the two were placed together. The bottom of the large pan 
was put on a level with the top of tlie smajll ones, so as to draw out its con- 
tents, by a stop-cock, into the adjoining small one. With this arrangement, 
I could concentrate about 400 gallons of juice each day, consuming about 
three fourths of a cord of wood. 

" It cost about twelve cents per gallon to make my sirup, estimating the 
fodder and seed to pay for the labor of cultivation, and not allowing any- 
thing for interest on the cost of the mill and boiling fixtures." 

910. Best Mode of Growing the Cauc and Feeding it to Stock.— Upon this 
question Col. Moi'ris says : " My experience and observation induce the be- 
lief, that the best mode of growing the cane is to thoroughly break up and 
harrow the ground, then cross off at right angles, with something that will 
merely mark the surface, giving hills three and a half or four feet apart. 
Allow about six seeds to grow in each hill, and pull ofi" all suckers that come 
from the root too late to ripen as soon as the main stalk, and strip from time 
to time all heads that make their appearance at the joints of the stalks. 
This method of planting will allow the use of the cultivator earlier, with less 
lialtility to cover up the young cane, diminish the amount of hoeing, and, I 
think, would require hut little if any more labor than a corn crop. By pull- 
ing ofi" the suckers that start too late to ripen, and the seed-heads that ap- 
pear at the joints, I think the vigor and perhaps the quality of the growing 
stalks would be increased. 

" About the 1st of June I planted two acres in drills about four feet 
apart, running north and south, planting one seed every eight or ten inches. 
The soil was not rich, but light and sandy. I hoed and plowed twice. Its 
growth, after being plowed, was very rapid, and most of it was ripe about 
the middle of October. From two to five full-sized canes grew from each 
seed ; perhaps the average would be three. The average hight was about 



8ciU ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. L^Ihap. X. 

ten feet, and the average diameter about one and a half inches at the ground. 
I made no attempt to ascertain the amount of fodder and seed yielded 
per acre, but have fed both — also the ripe and unripe stal'ks — to horses, 
cows, and hogs. They eat every part of the cane greedily, and, so far as I 
observed, seemed to thrive on the food equally with any other. 

"While making sirup, I fed the scum to my hog^, but on one occasion 
suffered it to remain in a barrel about twenty-four hours before feeding, 
when I found vinous fermentation had commenced, and it produced its 
legitimate effects — -making some twenty hogs seriously drunk." 

911. A Cheap Boiler. — " It is constructed as follows : The sides are of plank 
one and a half inches thick, one foot wide, and four feet long. The bottom and 
sides are of a continuous piece of sheet iron, six feet long by two feet wide, 
the ends of the iron turned up to form the ends ot the boiler, nailed on the 
wood. It is four feet long and two wide, holding eight cubic feet, and pre- 
senting an evaporating surface of eight square feet. I rest tlie edges of the 
boiler on brick-work, the fire passing lengthwise under the bottom. Its cost 
was not over two dollars." 

912. A New Plan of Extracting Cane Juice.— H. G. Bulldey, of Kala- 
mazoo, Michigan, has made a successful experiment upon a new plan of 
extracting Chinese cane juice, and recommends it to others, as it saves the 
cost of a crushing-mill, and enables parties provided with ordinary farm im- 
plements to make a full supply of sirup for family use at a very little ex- 
pense. Tiie plan is to cut the canes in a straw-cutting machine, and then 
steam them until quite soft and press out the juice in a common cider press, 
and then proceed with the evaporation as with maple sap. Boiling the cut 
canes will answer where no conveniences for steaming exist, though steam 
is preferable, and any ingenious man can make a steamer out of a cask, an 
old gun-barrel, a common kettle with a wooden lid cemented tight with 
clay and cow-dung mixed into a paste. But, after all, if the steaming pro- 
cess should prove more economical than grinding the green stalks, it will be 
found preferable to erect works designed for the purpose csjjecially. Mr. 
Bulkley says that he pressed his steamed stalks while hot, in a small cider 
press, making them dry enough to burn ; and made twenty-five gallons of 
good sirup by the work of two men and a boy in two and a half days. 

913. Description of Cane Mills.— The best cane mills are ponderous iron 
rollers, some five feet long and thirty inches in diameter, lying parallel, two 
at bottom and one at top, touching both the others, the canes being mashed 
by the first contact and squeezed dry, or as nearly so as possible by the sec- 
ond contact. The canes are fed to the mill upon a long apron or cane carrier, 
the whole driven by a powerful steam-engine. 

Tlie next best mill is one of similar form driven by horses. Then there 
are upright mills of two rollers, both of wood and iron, in the Sontli, of va- 
rious degrees of excellence, some of which do not save half the juice. 

Good small iron mills, for horse-power, for grinding the canes of sorgo, 
have been built in Philadelphia and Cincinnati. Without a good mill it is 



Sbo. 49.] CHINESE SUGAR-CANE— BOILING THE JUICE. 831 

as useless to attempt sugar-making, as it would be to attempt cider-making 
without a mill to grind the apples. Cider may be made by mashing apples 
between two stones, and squeezing out the juice in any rude way; and so 
m'ay sirup be obtained in the same rude way from sorgo, but the process 
will not be a profitable one. 

An iron mill for tamily use on a small scale is described as follows : A 
pair of iron rollers, 7 inches diameter and 12 inches long, set in a frame one 
eighth of an inch apart, with spout to catch and collect the juice, and a 
crank turned by hand. 

914. Boiliug the Juice. — Boiling must be done in the same careful manner 
that good maple-sugar makers pursue. As soon as the juice begins to boil, 
the albumen of eggs, blood, or milk will coagulate and rise, bringing with 
it most of the vegetable mucilage, gummy matter, and dirt, which must be 
carefully skimmed off, but not before it really does boil, which it will do at 
215 degrees Fahrenheit. It will be best to take the kettle from the fire, or 
put it out, as soon as the scum has arisen, and let the juice cool a few min- 
utes befor-e skimming it. You may then boil again, until nearly half evap- 
orated. The true rule is for the saccliarometer to mark 15 degrees Beaunie. 
It marked in Mr. Lovering's experiments 8 degrees to 12 degrees in the clear 
juice before boiling. 

After this second boiling, the juice should be cooled to 160 degrees Fahr- 
enheit, and more eggs, blood, or milk added, and again brought to the boiling 
point, and again stopped boiling and allowed to become quiet and then 
skimmed. 

Decolorization is the next process. This is done by decanting the liquid 
through granulated burnt bones (animal charcoal), from three to five feet 
deep. It may be filled into any long, narrow vessel, set on end, through 
wliich the liquid is to be leached. This filter must be prepared as a careful 
housewife prepares her leach, so that no ashes will be washed down into the 
lye. A board with holes in it, and a piece of wire gauze, may be fitted in 
the barrel above the bottom, and the bone-black thoroughly wet with hoi 
water, and that drawn ofi" before putting in the juice. A thin blanket may 
be used instead of wire gauze. 

Boiling down the filtered liquid is the next point, and this requires care 
and skill, combined Avith experience. Nothing else will answer ; for, 

"If we do not boil enough, the sugar contained in the solution will not 
crystallize when cold ; or, 

"If we boil too much, the molasses will become so thick when it cools, as 
to impair the crystallizing of the sugar, and can not be separated from it. 

" But how shall we know when to stojJ the boiling ? 

" By the heat of the holling liqitid, as marked by the thermometer. 

" Pure water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit's thermometer. You can not 
make it hotter without changing it to steam. 

" The sorgo juice, being a solution of about fourteen per cent, of sugar and 
molasses, etc., iu water, becomes three degrees hotter before boiling, and 



832 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

boils at 215 degrees Fahrenheit. As the water evaporates, a greater heat is 
required to keep the couceiitrated juice boiling; in other words, the juice 
crrows hotter and hotter. "When it reaches the heat marked on the tlierinom- 
eter 238 degrees Fahrenheit, there is just enough water left to enable the 
sugar to separate from the molasses when cold." 

A thermometer is therefore an essential implement in sugar-making. 

The water being evaporated, the sugar will crystallize as the sirup cools, 
if all the processes have been conducted perfectly, and if not, yon will have 
instead of sugar an excellent molasses. Sometimes that, if kept exposed to 
the air, will half or more crystallize, weeks after it is put away. 

915. Will the Sorgo Juice Make Sugar ?— That question is settled that it 
will, notwithstanding all that has been said about its containing no true cane 
sugar. Mr. Joseph S. Levering, the great sugar refiner of Philadelphia, has 
furnished the evidence that it will make sugar; not only raw sugar, but per- 
fectly white, granulated, sound refined sugar. A good many other persons 
have also made sorgo sugar. 

Among others, a gentleman living in Evansville, Ind., wrote me that from 
sixteen gallons of juice he made between ten and eleven pounds of gran- 
ulated sugar by following the process given in the " United States Dispen- 
satory," page C33. We have now before us a handsome sample of sugar, 
made by Mr. Miller, of Laporte, Ind., in a boiler contrived by him, made of 
cast iron, circular form horizontally, with a division in the center, and set 
on a pintal, so that it can be turned off the fire as easily as a kettle is swung 
from the fire in the old kitchen fire-place, when hung upon a crane. Still 
we doubt whether in the ordinary mode of household manufacture, good dry 
sugar can be easily or profitably made from sorgo juice. To make sugar, 
cither from the sorgo or the tropical cane, successfully ami cheaply, re- 
cpiires costly apparatus. The principal diftictdty is getting rid of molasses. 

One man details his experience as follows : I brought the juice to the boil- 
ing point sloAvly, skimming as the impurities arose to the surface. After re- 
moving the first thick scum, I boiled as fixst as possible, until the sirup began 
to thicken ; then slackened the fire and evaporated slowly, until the sirup 
would barelj' run when cold. It was then put in vessels and set aside. In 
two or three days the mass was filled with crystals. This was all very easy, 
80 far, but I found the draining tedious. Iliis I did by putting the mass in 
a conical bag, made of thin cotton cloth." 

As every family, with the hand-mill above described, can grind cane 
enough at odd time to make a barrel of choice sirup, let that suffice, and 
leave sugar-making to large establishments ; for it requires more apparatus 
than it does for maple sugar. 

The experiments of Mr. Levering were very minute, and conducted with 
great accuracy, and proved to his satisfaction that a fair croj) of sorgo will 
give 625 lbs. of sugar to the acre, of as good a quality as a fair average of 
cane sugar. He published his experiments in detail in a pamphlet, and that 
was republished iu the New York Trlhtne, and in several other papers. It 



Seo. 49.1 



CHINESE CANE SUGAR-MAKING. 



833 



is too long to print in whole in this book, and we only give his conclusions 
in form of a synopsis : 

^'' First — That it is obvious that there is a culminating point in tho devel- 
opment of tlie sugar in the cane, which is the best time for sugar- making. 
This point or season I consider to be when most if not all the seeds are ripe, 
and after several frosts, say when the temperature falls to 25° or 30° F. 

" ^Second — That frost, or even hard freezing, does not injure tlie juice nor 
the sugar, but that warm Indian summer weather, after the frost and hard 
freezing, docs injure them very materially, and reduces botli quantity and 
quality. 

"Third — Tliat if the cane is cut' and housed, or shocked in the field when 
in its most favorable condition, it will probably keep unchanged for a long 
time. 

'■^Fourth — That when the juice is obtained, the process should proceed con- 
tinuously and without delay. 

'■'■Fifth — That the clarification should be as perfect as possible by tlie time 
the density reaches 15° Beaume, the sirup having the appearance of good 
brandy. 

" Sixth— T\\a.t although eggs were usea m these small experiments, on 
account of their convenience, bullock's blood, if to be had, is equally good, 
and the milk of lime alone will answer the purpose; in the latter case, how- 
ever, more constant and prolonged skimming will be required to produce a 
perfect clarification, which is highly important. 

'•Seventh- — Tliat the concentration or boiling down, after clarification, 
should be as rapid as possible without scorching — shallow evaporators being 
the best. 

" "With these conditions secured, it is about as easy to make good sugar 
from the Chinese cane as to make a pot of good mush, and much easier than 
to make a kettle of good apple-butter." 

We dissent from his last proposition, and conclude by recommending 
farmers to confine their operations to making sirup. That they certainly 
can make, of superior quality. 

91G. Sorghum that has IVo Saccharum.— We have no doubt of the fact that 
two kinds of seed have been disseminated through the country so identical 
in character as to deceive the most careful observer, and producing catics 
so identical in appearance as to be undistinguishable, yet one affords a sweet 
juice, convertible into sugar or sirup, while the other has but little more sac- 
charine property than broom-corn, which is also a sorghum. 

This false cane is the Sorghum vultjare, called in some sections Turkey 
corn, Guinea corn, chocolate corn. This is a trifle earlier, and grows high, 
erect canes, which are erect because they are light. The sweet sorghum 
canes are heavy because they are loaded with sweet, and frequently for that 
reason, and lor their high and slender growth, are prostrated by the winds. 
One plant of the false sorghum is sufficient to adulterate a whole acre of the 
true in this way. The sorghums blossom first on the uppermost part of the 



834 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

panicle, and then by degrees follow the panicle to its base, wliere it ceases. 
It being a long time in blossom, the pollen of the false, by the winds and 
insects, has the first and best opportunity to impregnate the true as soon it 
begins to blossom. It can readily be seen how easilj' a whole field of seed 
may be adulterated by a few seeds of the false intermingled, without the cul- 
tivator having any knowledge of the fact, until a subsequent crop ; and when 
it is considered that the seed is identical in appearance with the true, the 
mischievous consequences can readily be appreciated. 

" However this adulteration may be, sufficient facts are elicited to warn 
the Northern cane-planter to beware of a cheat that can only be detected 
after liis toil has matured a crop of either sweet or tasteless canes. This 
tasteless cane was a common plant in Connecticut forty or fifty years ago, 
and during the war of 1812 it was cultivated for its fancied value as a sub- 
stitute for coffee ; and it is now asserted that at that time there were sweet 
canes as well as those not sweet, and many persons believe that the true 
Chinese cane was grown at that day, without any knowledge on the part of 
the cultivators of its being a sugar-producing plant." 

It certainly requires the utmost care on the part of cultivators to keep 
the seed pure. Every one must utterly debar the cultivation of Sorghum 
vuhjare on his own pi'emises, and as far as possible on his neighbor's; and 
if by chance his cane has become adulterated, discard the seed, and procure 
that which is pure, at whatever cost. 

917. Cost of Growing Sorgo and Corn Kqual. — A farmerof Chester County, 
Penn., has carefully ascertained the cost of growing sorgo to be the same as 
growing corn. The profit is greater. He says : " My calculations of the 
profits of sorgo are as follows : 

One acre will produce 1,500 gallons of juice, which at 4 gallons for 1 will pro- 
duce 375 gallons sirup, which at 30 cents per gallon is $112 50 

And 30 bushels seed, worth 40 cents per hushel 12 00— $124 50 

Deduct crop of corn, 50 bushels per acre, worth CO cents per hushel delivered 



Loaves a difference in favor of sorgo $94 50 

"The cost of raising the corn and sorgo until both are ready to cut from 
the ground — the one to husk and the other to express the juice — is ex- 
actly equal. The hutking, cribbing, shelling, and getting to market the corn 
will probably cost quite as mucli money and labor as it will cost to express 
the juice of the cane and convert it into sirup. 

918. Stock Iiyured by Eating Sorgo Bagasse.— The statement given by 
some sorgo growers and manufacturers, that the bagasse is good feed for 
stock must be received with some caution. An item published in 18(30, in 
the Independence (Iowa) Guai'dian, gives an account of the destruction of 
seven head of cattle, belonging to I. G. Freeman, from eating the refuse of 
Chinese sugar-cane, after it had been compressed in the mill. The coating 
of the stalks is of a very vitreous character, and in the stomach it produced 
violent inflammation. A post-mortem examination in that case revealed 
this as the cause of death. 



Seo. 50.] 



MAPLE SUGAR-MAKING. 



835 



■ 919. Sorgo Sirup Vinegar. — In regions where cider vinegar can not be 
made easily, a very good substitute may be obtained iVom the juice of sorgo. 
The quality will be improved by boiling it about one half away, though we 
believe a pretty fair vinegar has been made from the juice without boiling. 
It may be exposed to the air in open vessels, and should be frequently stir- 
red to allow the atmosphere to come in contact with it, because it is by the 
oxygenation that vinegar is formed of any fruit juice, which converts the 
sugar into acetic acid. Vinegar-makers leach cider through barrels filled 
with shavings of some sweet wood, such as beech or maple, for the purpose 
of exposing every drop to the action of the air, to hasten the oxygenation, 
and the same plan may be advantageously adopted in the manufacture of 
vincffar from soriro. 



SECTION L-MAPLE SUGAR-MAKING. 

HE Acer sacchari?iu?n has long yielded sugar to the 
pioneers of American settlers in the forest. Charlerois, 
in his history of Canada, written in 1721, speaks of 
the manufacture of sugar from maple-trees, and 
gives the process, and says it was first produced by 
the French immigrants, who taught the art to the Indians, 
who were previously ignorant of it, though the reverse 
of this has long been believed ; that is, that the settlers 
found the Indians already in possession of the secret, and 
learned the art of them. Although there are none of the 
difficulties in the way of converting maple sap into sugar, 
that we find in sorgo, we believe it is better economy to 
convert the sap into sirup or molasses, where maple orchards 
ai'e convenient to large towns, which will always aflford a market for a real 
nice article of maple sirup at a high price. Wo have already given full 
directions as to Chinese cane, which will make excellent sirup, and will only 
make poor sugar, and that with much difficulty. Maple sirup is more easily 
converted into a very palatable but not very sweet sugar. It is never, at 
best, worth over two thirds of the price of pure cane sugar for family use, 
while the sirup is quite the reverse. We had rather have a gallon of maple 
sirup than a gallon and a half of golden sirup, or two gallons of Orleans 
molasses. Although maple siruj) is made with very little trouble, it i-equires 
much experience and great care to make good maple sugar. 

Since the sugar-maple is one of the handsomest of all of our beautiful 
American forest trees, and is as easily grown as an apple-tree, it is some- 
what surprising that it is not more cultivated, and its delicious products more 




836 ROOT CROPS AKD SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 



used by farmers' families. To aid in this, either from cultivated or natural 
trees, we shall give in detail the process of maple sugar manufacture. 

To those to the manner born, or bred iu the camp (of sugar-nialcers), we do 
not supi^ose Ave can offer acceptable advice about the how to do it, or " how 
not to do it ;" but to a few others, who have not yet learned the best way to 
conduct the maple-siigar business, we think we can say a word that will be 
useful. In the first place, get ready. For that, there is a very good time ; 
it is noio • you never will find a better one. 

920. Preparation for Sugar-Making. — No matter what is the season of the 
year, if it is mid-summer, or mid-winter, and you intend to tap your maple- 
trees next spring, you can get your spouts, pails, sap holders, kettles, sugar 
molds, sirup casks, etc., ready. At any rate you can read this article upon 
maple sugar-making and learn how. 

921. Tapping the Trees. — Never tap your trees with an ax, even upon 
land that you are going to clear, because you may not live to clear it, and 
your successor may desire to save some of the trees that your wrong act has 
spoiled. Besides, boxing may teach your son the wrong way to do it. 

The right way is to bore the trees on the sunny side, two feet or more 
above the earth, with an auger not over one inch diameter, and at first not 
over half or three fourths of an inch into the wood, with a slant upward. 
This hole may be deepened or increased in diameter after the surface be- 
comes so dry that the flow of sap is cheeked. The right time is when the 
winter is so far over that we begin to have freezing nights and thawing days. 
Then be ready for sugar-making. 

922. How to Make Spouts, and How to Use Tliem. — To conduct the sap into 
the buckets, use iron spouts which will cost you only the price of thin inch- 
and-a-quarter wide hoop iron, cut in lengtlis of two to four inches by your 
own hands with a small, cold-cutting chisel, using the end of a hard-wood 
block for an anvil. Now grind one end sharp before you make them into 
troughs, which you can do almost as fast as you can count, as follows : Bore 
an inch hole through a hard log and saw it asunder so as to leave half of the 
hole in one end ; drive two nails upon one side, an eighth of an inch from 
the edge for a gauge ; lay the flat piece of iron over this hollow, and a round 
bolt on it, and hit that with a stout hammer or an old ax. You can im- 
prove upon this by extemporizing a hand-press, both for cutting and shaping 
your spouts. You need not go to a blacksmith's, and you can not make 
wooden spouts half as fast, and they will not last half as long. 

Drive your spouts into the bark onl}', and when tlie season is over, pull 
them out and store away, unless you intend to die before the next year. 

Instead of boring a first or second time, you may use a gouge, cutting out 
a clean chip. This will not injure the tree. Boxing or boring with a slant 
down, holds water and produces decay. 

This is our opinion about spouts. Now here is somcbod}' else's opinion, 
which may be equally good. He says: ''There arc two objections, in my 
mind, to the iron spout. The first is, it leaves the hole entirely exposed lo 



Skc. 50.] MAPLE SUGAR-MAKING. 837 

the air, and the surface soon becomes dry, and the flow of sap is checked. 
The hole should be closed as nearly as possible, without obstructing the flow 
of sap. For this reason I prefer the wooden spout ; and the expense is no 
more. There are in most towns in New England, shops and machinery 
where spouts can be made from spruce or pine at a cost of not more 
than one dollar per hundred. Where there is no such facility, they can be 
made in long winter evenings from elder or sumac, which grows on nearly 
every farm, with no other tools than a saw, a jack-knife, and a piece of wire 
with a handle on one end to remove the pith. 

" My second objection to the iron spout is, Avhen driven into the bark it is 
liable to fracture it and cause an unnecessary wound to the tree." 

Wooden spouts can also be made of any free-splitting wood, cut ten inches 
long and one and a quarter inches thick, which is split by a gouge or crooked 
iron, to give the right shape. Always commence splitting each block in 
the middle, and work it so till each piece for a spout is thin enough. One 
end is to be sharpened, and the hole made with a gouge, and the spout driven 
in as recommended for the iron spouts. Some bore holes slanting downward 
and drive a plug-spout in the hole. Still there is nothing, in our opinion, so 
good and cheap as iron spouts, made of scrap sheet iron or hoop iron, swaged 
to a trough shape, and ground sharp at one end, so as to drive into the bark 
—never through it — below the cut from which the sap is to flow. This cut 
may be made with an auger, gouge, or even an ax, if care is used to make 
only such a smooth, shallow cut as will soon heal over. Choj^ping great, 
rough holes into trees to get the sap is an act as foolish as killing the goose 
that laid the golden egg. 

923. Sap-Buckets. — Tiie best sap-buckets, and ia the end the cheapest, are 
made of tin, to hold four gallons, and just enough tapering to pack together, 
with a loop in the rim-wire to hitch upon a wrought nail, driven into the 
tree. Such buckets should not cost over 25 cents each — perhaps not over 
20 cents. They should be stored dry, in a dry place, in piles bottom up, 
and be good for your grandchildren. 

Painted pails make cheap, good sap-buckets. You can hang them by the 
bail upon a nail set slanting, or else by a piece of small wire twisted in one 
ear. 

Home-made pails can be made without much cost during the winter, if 
you have any genius for coopering, and will use the surplus heat of the 
stove or brick oven to season your stuflT. Leave one stave long enouo-h to 
bore a hole to hang upon the nail. Do not depend upon things that you 
can pick up to catch sap, and if you catch a fellow upon your premises 
making sap-troughs, take a birch sprout and start the sap out of him. 

One old sugar-maker recommends making tin sap-buckets of a square 
form, of two sheets for the square sides and half a sheet for the bottom, with 
just taper enough to fit together when in store. The tin should be rolled 
around a wire at the top, with a loop to hang by, or else with a hole under 
the wire large enough to hang over a wrought nail head or stub horsenail. 



838 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

"VVe say wrouglit, because they must be pulled out of the trees Tvhen the 
season closes. 

If sap-buckets are not home-made, then tin is undoubtedly the most eco- 
nomical, and they may be kept clean more easily than any other kind, and 
never impart any sourness to tlie sap, and would soon pay for themselves 
in the increased value of the fine sugar and molasses afforded by their use. 
When sap-buckets are hung upon the tree, as they always should be, the 
spouts will rarely need to be over three inches long, and being close to tlie 
top of the bucket, the sap will not be blown away and lost, as it frequently 
is in falling a foot or two. 

924. Storing (he Sap. — It is very bad economy to neglect providing a suf- 
ficient reservior for sap. In some wooded regions, where suitable timber 
can be had, a trough that will hold four or five barrels can be dug out with- 
out any exjjense, for the man who is tending the first boiling can do the 
work. Where a trough can not be made conveniently', a vat can be made 
of plank, set in a frame to key Tip tight with wedges. Sometimes a molasses 
hogshead can be obtained conveniently. A liquor cask will answer if it is 
brought home some weeks before wanted, and fillad with water. If you can 
arrange your storage vessel to stand above the level of the boiler, it will 
save much trouble, as you can thus run the sap through a trough into the 
boiler. 

925. Boilers and Boiling Sap. — Sap-kettles are antiquated. If you possess 
any of these, use tliem for the storage of sap, or concentrated sirup, and get 
a set of sheet-iron pans. These you can also make yourself. See how 
cheaply. Buy good stove-pipe iron in large sheets ; punch two rows of 
holes, not in exact straight lines, around the edge, one row close to it and the 
other an inch and a half from it. Nail this ujjon a frame made of one-and- 
a-quarter-inch stufi", six inches Avide, with one row of nails, which should be 
large-headed tacks or small wrou*ht clout nails, in the edge of the frame, 
and the other in the sides, upon which the edges of the iron are turned up 
all round. You may, if you fear having an untight joint, use a little white 
lead, but it is not generally necessary. An old sugar-maker thinks copper 
bottoms would be more economical in the long run. 

A boiler has been i^atented that is made in such a way that by a motion 
given to it, the sap is made to flow into a series of troughs over the heated 
flues, in a small stream which evaporates rapidly. A man who has made 
sugar in Ohio since 1851, says: " I prefer heavy cast-iron kettles to sheet- 
iron pans, but would like them if of oblong shape with straight sides and 
ten inches deep, set over an arch. I use four eighteen-gallon kettles, and 
have often boiled down and sugared off 100 pounds a day ; of course work- 
ing all night. 

" AVe gather our sap in tight barrels. Two make load enough for a yoke 
of oxen to haul on a sled. We have a convenient place, so that one man 
can roll up and empty into the reservoir. Two hands can gather twenty 
barrels in half a day. We boil in all the kettles, having spouts to conduct 



Sso. 50.] THE PROCESS OF MAKIKG SUGAR AND MOLASSES. 839 

sap into each as fast as it boils away. It is too mucli work and exposure to 
heat to dip from one kettle into another, and nothing is gained by it. Wlien 
we first start our four kettles, we can boil away two barrels an hour. After 
the sap gets sweet, it will not boil away so fast. We boil in about enough 
for ten pounds to each kettle, and then boil down to sirup, strain off", wash 
and scour the kettles, and fill up again. By boiling too long we lose time 
and spoil the sirup. Great care must be used to keep the sirup clean. If 
necessary, use milk or eggs to clarify with. I do not recommend claying 
sugar, and all for sale I make in cakes — it brings more." 

920. The Furnace and Setting Pans. — Build two straight walls as long as 
all the pans you will use, and a little less wide apart than the width of your 
pan, raising at the end of each pan so that the second will discharge the 
juice througli a cock or spout closed by a valve or cheap gate. Wliere the 
ends-of the two pans meet, there must be a flat stone, or brick-work, or iron 
plate. There is no occasion to build the pans fast in the furnace — they arc 
more convenient movable. If you have pans enough to use up all the heat 
in its passage xinder them to the chimney, you will be surprised to see how 
rapidly the M'ater evaporates. You must fill in the bottom of the flue so as 
to keep the fire up to the bottom of the last pan. 

927. The Process of Making Sugar and Molasses. — When the sap is boiled 
to the right point, Avhich experiences teaches, draw it from the last pan and 
strain it through flannel, or cloth of somewhat close texture, into a clean 
kettle or tub, and let it cool. The tub is the best, with a cock half an inch 
above the bottom, so as to draw off the clear liquor, leaving the sediment 
that passed through the strainer to be re-filtered. In the decantecb liquor, 
put a quart of milk, or, still better, a pint of milk and two or three eggs to 
ten gallons, and heat slowly and skim carefully. The eggs should be well 
beaten with the milk, and thoroughly stirred into the sirup before it is 
heated. The kettle should not be over 4ialf full, and should be on a crane 
so as to swing ofiF suddenly, or if set in an arch, with a furnace door and 
damper, by which the fire could be controlled in an instant, as upon this 
depends success ; and great care is necessary to prevent scorching after the 
sirup begins to grow waxy, from which time until it is sufficiently boiled, 
the fire must be very gentle and under control. 

Waxy sirup will make drained sugar, leaving a considerable residue of 
molasses to be re-boiled or kept for use. Brittle, waxy sirup is required to 
make cake sugar. For dry grained sugar the sirup must be concentrated 
before stirring, until when dropped upon snow and suddenly cooled, it is 
nearly as brittle as rosin. To make white sugar, the sirup when strained 
must be passed through animal charcoal several feet thick. 

Filtering through pulverized burned bones — animal charcoal — -removes 
the coloring matter and other impurities. Charcoal is a purifier and acts 
both chemically and mechanically, but when made of Avood it absorbs and 
wastes the sirup. Sand is only a mechanical strainer. Neither will injure 
the quality of the sirup, but only animal charcoal can be recommended. 



840 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

Sugar is also made white by filtering white sugar through it, in draining 
molds. That is simply mechanical — washing the molasses from the grains. 
It is also whitened by covering the molds witli a coat of plastic clay. 
Whitening is not at all important, if the sirup is well strained and claritied 
with albumen, and the sugar not scorched. It will then be rich, clean, and 
possessed of that delicious maple flavor that constitutes its greatest value, 
whether white or brown. 

Waste nothing. Wash all the sweet out of everything, and reconcentrate. 
Study economy in everything. Upon this alone depends the success of 
sugar-making. Do not suffer a hand employed in your sugar camp to ever 
carry such deadly weapons as guns and rum bottles, nor articles so destruc- 
tive to success as cards, dice, dominoes, and novels. You must watch and 
work, and then you need not doubt success. Sugar-making is pleasant, 
healthy, hard work. A camp is no place for lounging. •. 

While boiling, large quantities of sap should not be poured in at a time, 
as that will stop the boiling and make irregular work ; but a reservoir 
should be placed above the boiler, into which a faucet should be inserted, 
and the sap allowed to run in a constant stream, which a little practice will 
enable the operator to regulate to correspond exactly with the evaporation. 
A stop-cock should also be placed in the boiler to draw off the sirup. 

A correspondent writes from Windsor, Vt., as follows : " Two sheet-iron 
pans, four feet long and two feet wide, set in a brick arch, one forward of 
the other, will be sufficient for a sugar orchard of 300 trees, and will boil 
the sap to sirup in about twelve hours. Put the sirup, after straining 
through flannel, into a cask, and let it stand two days. Then draw it off 
and boil it down in one of the pans. I have seen sugar made in this way as 
white as loaf sugar. In my opinion, milk or eggs should never be put in 
sirup, as I can not see why any advantage should result from it ; and I know 
it has been practiced with injury to the sugar, and waste, as considerable 
sweet is thrown out with the milk and egg." 

We can not see how the milk and eggs can injure the sugar, since the 
office of any albuminous substance added to the sirup is simjjiy to gather up 
and hold all such impurities in such a manner that they can be easily re- 
moved. In short, dirt that is so fine that it can not be strained out will 
attach itself to the white of an egg. So that it can be lifted out with a skim- 
mer as easily as a potato. There is no need of waste of any sweet, because 
it can all be washed out in sap or partly concentrated sirup. 

928. Making Sugar on a Small ScalCt — J. Ilerrick, of Lyndeborough, N. H., 
wrote to us in 1857 as follows: "My orchard consists of seventy-five trees 
of second growth, scattered along walls or in a pasture of fifteen acres. I 
tap with a three-fourth-inch auger four feet from the ground, and hang the 
bucket by a ring, on a hook driven into the tree so dose to the spout that 
the wind will not waste the sap. I tap at this hight that cattle can not dis- 
turb the bucket. Some might object on the ground that the lower a tree is 
tapped the more sap will run. This is not the fact, for the sap will flow as 



Seo. 50.] THE PROCESS OF MAKING SUGAR AND MOLASSES. 841 

freely by cutting oflF a topmost branch as it will from a root of the same size 
laid bare in the ground. And again, any one may learn this fact from the 
red squirrel, who, by the way, is a famous sugar-maker, and knows when to 
tap a tree and where to do it. He performs his tapping in the highest per- 
pendicular limbs or twigs, and leaves the sun and wind to do the evaporat- 
ing, and in due season and pleasant weather you will see him come round 
and with great gusto gatiier his sirup into his stomacli. 

"I make only molasses, and clarify in tlie following manner: I take the 
sirup when of proper consistence, and while hot strain through a thick cloth 
into the kettle for clarifying; and when cool, for every four gallons put in 
one egg and a half pint of new milk, well beaten together and mixed with 
the sirup. Let no further agitation bo had by stirring. Raise the heat grad- 
ually to boiling point, and all the impurities will rise at once to the surface, 
and must be quickly removed with a skimmer as long as any comes up ; this 
will leave a sirup perfectly clear, to be evaporated either to molasses or 
sugar. If the egg and milk are put into the sirup when hot, the albumen 
of each is charred so that it will form no adhesion with the impurities, and 
of course will not rise together to the surface. I think that the rapid evap- 
oration of the sap, in sheet-iron pans, will make a more clear and light-colored 
sirup than when done in deep, thick kettles; at any rate, it can be done at 
half the expense of time and w'ood. Mine has been a small enterprise com- 
pared with many in this town who have orchards that number three or four 
hundred trees. Six years ago I constructed a building for boiling, the whole, 
including a brick furnace and sheet-iron pan for evaporating, at a cost of 
$20 ; 75 buckets cost $10, which makes the whole capital $30. My son has 
done all the labor of gathering and boiling this season, at a cost, including 
ox help, of $8. I liave used fi cords of hemlock wood at $1 75 per cord, 
$2 62 ; and have made 29 gallons of molasses of a consistence that it shall 
not ferment in the hottest of weather. This is selling here at tiiis time for 
$1 3-i per gallon. The result of my orchard is as follows : Interest on cap- 
ital, $1 80 ; labor, $8 ; wood, $2 62 ; total, $12 42. 29 gallons molasses at 
$1 34 ; total, $38 86. Deducting labor, wood, and interest leaves $26 44, 
as the result of about eight days' labor." 

Maple sugar-making is truly a domestic institution. A woman in Van 
Buren County, Mich., made 61 lbs. of sugar and 2 gallons of molasses from 
13 trees, the sap of which she boiled on the cooking stove. From 290 trees, 
in the above county, one family made 1,800 lbs. of sugar and 40 gallons of 
molasses. From 90 trees, another family made 400 lbs., besides a supply of 
molasses for family use. One Vermont boy, 16 years old, in a camp of 163 
trees, not favorably located, but with good appliances, made 600 lbs. of 
sugar. One of his neighbors made 20 lbs. of sugar one season from one tree. 
From 62 trees tapped late in the season, two small boys, with a kettle on a 
crotch and pole to concentrate the sap to sirup, made 321 lbs. of sugar. One 
man made $75 worth of sugar from trees that he planted for shade along 
the walls. Another man tapped a few trees left in the clearing near the 



842 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [Chap. X. 

house, and las wife made sugar and sirup enough for the family all the year. 
A letter from Ilughesvillo, Pa., says : " Myself and brother, two beys, have 
made 400 lbs. of sugar, besides molasses, this season, carrying our wood 
and sap mostly without team, or any sugar-house, or any conveniences, and 
losing a good deal of sap, besides suifering the want of dry wood." 

929. Is Maple Sugar-Making Profitable ?— Manlius Engle, of AVest Almond, 
Alleghany County, New York, says ho has been a sugar-maker all his life, 
and that tlie business is not only pleasant and health-invigorating, but profit- 
able, lie says: "The average from 200 trees during the past six seasons 
has been 1,300 pounds, and the net profits have averaged $125 per season. 
During the season that has just closed, 3,200 pounds of hard caked sugar 
have been manufactured from 300 trees, and sold in Angelica at 12i cents 
per pound. This gives §400 as the gross proceeds of the season, from which 
deduct the following : 

Two months' labor by self, at $22 per month $14 00 

One month's labor of yoke of oxen 18 00 

Paid for cutting 2-t cords of wood 12 00 

Half the interest on 20 acres of land, at $10 per acre 7 00 

Interest and wear on sugar apparatus 9 90 

For clarifiers, correctives, and incidental expenses 4 00 

Total expense $94 90 

Net profit 305 10 

"The sugar orchard from which the above results were obtained is located 
on the summit of a ridge about 1,400 feet above Lake Ontario, and consists 
of 300 trees, mostly of large size, scattered over about twenty acres of ground, 
the soil of which is a deep yellow loam resting on a gray slate bottom. I 
boiled five kettles, and every twelve hours boil one kettle down to thin mo- 
lasses, which is stored in barrels. I use milk and white of eggs, and a tea- 
spoonful of saleratus in each kettle. From my experience, others may see 
what one man can do in the maple-sugar business. The reason why so many 
fail to make it remunerative is want of diligence and economy. Thei'c is no 
use for rifles, cards, dice, dominoes, novels, or rum bottles in a sugar camp. 
A tree should never be cut or bored more than two inches deep. Taking 
the avei'age of years, 30 maple-trees will supply a family of six persons, 
and there are but few farmers that have not or might not have that number 
of trees without cost for land." 

A sugar-maker of Monkton, Vt., gives the following results to show the 

profit of sugar-making in that section : 

Dt. To o\ cords of 4 feet seasoned maple wood, at $2 per cord S6 50 

Labor — 4 days preparing, tapping, cleaning uji, and 16 days collecting, 

boiling, etc 20 00 

Interest on capital in boiling-house, tubs, and pans, at 10 per cent 6 00 

Interest on 5 acres of land, at $50 per acre ($250), at 10 per cent 15 00 

Total $47 50 

Or. By 800 lbs. of sugar (allowing 7 lbs. of sugar to each of the 3 gallons of mo- 
lasses made), at 12 J cents per pound SlOO 00 

Profit $52 50 

At 6 cents per pound the receipts would be only $48 00 



Sko. ou.j I'KEPAKING SUGAR FOK MARKET. 843 

The above crop was made from 195 trees, the largest of 500 second-growth 
trees, such as were not used in 1856, tapped with a five-eiglith-inch auger, 
and the sap boiled in four sheet-iron pans, 2i by 28 inches, -1 inches deep ; 
one of which was, by way of experiment, covered, with very beneficial 
results. " 

930. How Much will Maple-Trees Produce ?— The yield of the spring of 
1858 in Vermont was estimated by one writer at a trifle less than three 
pounds per tree, which, he says, is the average of years, and that the yield 
of 1857 was extraordinary, and perhaps without precedent, being over five 
pounds per tree. A sugar orchard of 100 trees, belonging to AVm. Searls, 
Eaton County, Mich., yielded one spring 950 lbs. of sugar, at the rate of 9j 
lbs. to a tree. In Vermont, thirteen sugar orchards (1,G00 trees) in Kandolpli 
made G,100 lbs. of sugar. Wm. Davis, of Pittsfield, made 1,000 lbs. from 
153 trees. L. Carpenter, Entland, made 1,000 lbs. from 160 trees. One 
sugar orchard that has been eighty years in use, tapped with a three-quarter 
auger, one spout to a tree, yields each 6 lbs. Another orchard, tajjped with 
two or three spouts, yields but 3} lbs. per tree, in consequence of injury from 
long time over-working. In Hancock, J. G. Robinson made 2,362 lbs. from 
225 trees. A sugar place in AYashington, Mass., containing 100 trees, owned 
by L. Johnson, produced one season 975 lbs. of clean, nice sugar, nearly one 
half of which sold for 16 and IS cents per pound. The sugar was made by 
Mr. Arannah Mattoon, of Washington, aged 69 years. From a moderate-sized 
tree, standing in open ground in front of the residence of the Rev. David 
King, of Vernon, Trumbull County, Ohio, his wife made 34 lbs. of very fine 
sugar one season. It is thought if all the sap had been carefully saved it 
would have given 40 lbs. 

931. Ratio of Sugar to Sap. — A letter before us gives the ratio of sugar to 
maple sap as follows : Sap concentrated 30 times makes what we call good 
sirup, and this sirnp concentrated three eighths makes grained sugar, hard 
enough when taken out of a jar to require a stiti' knife, which, as I calculate, 
is that sap concentrated 50 times in sugar. 

1 quart watei' weighs 2 lbs. 2 oz. I 1 quart sirup weighs 2 lbs. 8 oz. 

1 quart sap weighs 2 lbs. 1 oz. | 1 quart sugar weighs 2 lbs. 9 oz. 

932. Preparing Sugar for Market. — Large quantities for the New York 
market are made in cakes. The size and shape of the cakes will often make 
a difference of one or two cents a pound. We advise all who intend to make 
sugar for sale, to provide a set of tin molds, so as to make well-])roportioned, 
square-sided cakes, in paralellogram form, of exact, marked weights, from 
ten pounds — never larger — down to four ounces, or perhaps twelve and 
twenty-four cakes to the pound, for retailers to sell at one and two cents 
each. Sugar made as directed and cast in such cakes, and those packed 
nicely in boxes and sent to commission houses here, can always be sold at 
high prices, and when the maker becomes known, his sugar will be espe- 
cially in demand. 

One sugar-maker thinks it is not profitable to make cake sugar. lie says: 



844 ROOT CROPS AND SUGAR CROPS. [cn.vp. X. 

" It is better not to make it into cakes at all, except for those that are near 
market or ha^o an agent there, and then only in tlie first of the season, -wlien 
it brings a high price. It is true that sugar made into cakes brings a higher 
price to the retailer, when sold by the cent's worth, as it often is, at the rate 
of twenty-five or thirty cents ])er pound, but the producer gets no more, nor 
as mucli, counting the extra work, to say nothing of the shrinkage there is 
in concentrating the sirup into sugar, as he would for drained sugar. By 
drained sugar, I do not mean this black, hard stuflf which we sometimes see 
in market, but sugar as liglit as the best white Havana, and nearly as white 
as refined sugar, and wliich can be made without any filtering process by 
boiling in copper boilers and clarifying with milk and eggs. 

" I have scarely ever made a hundred pounds of sugar in any one season 
in any other way, and the result was I got from twelve to seventeen cents a 
pound, while my neighbors got but ten cents. But this is not all the loss in 
making it into cakes; every one knows that has had experience, that there 
is a loss in shi-inkago of from three to five per cent, in the process of evap- 
orating the water in the usual way, and the lower the sirup is concentrated, 
in the same lu-oportion is the loss or shrinkage, so the diflerenco is from one 
and a half to two per cent, in favor of strained sugar, while it is almost im- 
possible to concentrate the sirup to dry-grained sugar without scorching or 
destroying its flavor. From actual experience I find the result as follows: 

" Suppose 100 lbs. of sugar in the cake to be worth $10, the same made 
into drained will give you 87 lbs. dry white sugar worth 12 cts., $10 44; 
li gallons molasses worth 75 cts. per gallon, or 6i cts. per lb., $1 12i ; 
making a total of $11 56| — showing $1 56i per hundred in favor of drained 
sugar." 

933. Plaut Maple-Trees. — It appears to us that we have said enough to 
induce reasonable men to plant maple-trees. If exposed, you can tap them 
above the reach of animals, and hang your buckets as we have directed, 
and the flow will be just as great as though tapped down at the roots. No 
tree can be planted with more certainty of profit than the sugar maple. Its 
form and foliage are beautiful ; its shade delightful ; its sap delicious and 
healthful in all stages, from the water that flows from the tree to its honey- 
like sirup on the hot buckwheat cakes ; and its sweet products, if made as 
we have directed, will always be salably profitable. Maple sirup would 
outsell the very best golden sirup at any time in this city, if it were here for 
sale ; and maple sugar is sold, tuns of it, every year in the confectioner's 
shops and in the street, to be eaten like candy, at 30 to 50 cents a pound. 
There will always be a market for any surplus that the country can produce, 
but that is not the grand object with ns in urging its increased production. 
It is because it will greatly increase home happiness — the farmer's home. 
It is for that that we ask you to plant at least one maple-tree. 



CHAPTER Xr. 




FORESTS AND FENCES. 

SECTION Ll.-TllEES ANIT^REE PLANTING-WOOD OR COAL FOR FUEL. 

•) 

-^^ MERICA ■will soon be denuded of forests, unless 
\vc plant trees. "Woodland in j:hc oldest States is 
scarce and dear, and but for coal, fuel would be 
almost bej'ond tlie reach of the city poor. We 
should plant trees for timber, if not for fuel, and to 
improve the health of those regions naturally desti- 
tute of trees, for they are capable of changing arid 
M-astes to fruitfulness. Stripping the land of wood 
has produced great changes within the short period 
since the Pilgrims landed. England is already plant- 
ing trees. IIo'w long before America must follow her 
example? Let us consider. 

93i. What Trees for a Plantation.— To break th ■ 
prevailing wind, there is no better tree than our con.- 
mon white oak, and none that looks more cheerful in winter. Its bleached 
leaves still adhering to the branches have a warm look and give an idea of 
shelter. Maples of all sorts are positively beautiful in green foliage, or after 
the leaves are variegated by autumn frosts. Black and white walnuts are 
both handsome and hardy, and produce fruit very agreeable to tlie children. 
Elms are good trees, and give us a pleasing impression of strength as their 
long limbs wave through the air. Chestnuts make a fine addition to a plan- 
tation, but their blossoms and burs are objectionable near the house. Hick- 
ory-trees should never be neglected in filling up a plantation ; they can be 
transplanted by going the year before and cutting the tap-root. If you 
would attract birds to your lawn, you must plant cherry-trees here and there. 
In planting, let the rule be to put all small growing trees nearest the house, 
rising gradually to the highest in the back ground. 

935. Adaptation of Trees to Particular Locations.— In all tree planting, 
adaptation should be kejit prominently in view. The kind of tree best 
adapted to one situation would be the worst in another. The coniferous 
tribe — pines, firs, larch, spruce, hemlock, cedars— as a general thing, are best 
adapted to exposed situations and to barren sands. A sandy soil usually 
contains the food best adapted to trees like the pine. There is no part of the 
United States that does not produce several varieties and species of valuable 
and hardy conifera. But the tree which is most hardy and best adajjted to 



846 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 

a particular locality is not necessarily indigenous to it. This is evidenced 
in the case of the ailanthus, a tree that grows vigorously in the crevices 
of rocks, or in drifting sands, or in the city pavements. Its growth npon 
New York island is unequaled by any other tree. Its roots are some- 
times thirty feet in length, and it has a trunk and branches of correspond- 
ing size after it has been planted only a few years. It was brought here 
from the South Sea Islands, where it seems to be completely at liome in 
dry banks of coral sand. This tree, not only because it grows so rapidly, but 
because it makes excellent fuel, and because it originated upon a sandy sea- 
coast, will probably prove one of the most valuable in the world for coast 
planting. If not so much so as the pine, it will doubtless serve well as a 
first growth, acting as a nurse to pines, larch, or cedar. Another rapidly 
growing foreign tree in all the Southern States is known as the China-tree, 
the wood of which makes excellent cabinet work. An objection to it as a 
street shade-tree is the abundant crop of berries, which no animal will eat. 
The objection to the ailanthus is the odor of its blossoms, which may be ob- 
viated by propagating with grafts from trees which bear pistillate flowers, as 
the odor only comes from the pollen of staminates. 

Another hardy foreign tree is the paper mulberry, from China and Japan, 
where its inner bark is used for the manufacture of paper, and also for cloth- 
ing. In the heat and dust of Ne^v York there is no tree that keeps •so per- 
fectly clean, fresh, and free from dirt, impurities, and insects as this. 

In planting hills, mountains, or sloping sea-coasts, there is one rule that 
admits of few exceptions. Plant around the bottom first, and as planting at 
intervals of a few years is continued, and the summit is gradually approach- 
ed, the lower and older trees act as a screen, and produce moisture and an 
amelioration of the atmosphere that are certain to serve as a protection to 
those on the highest and most exposed ground. Sometimes one sort only 
will be adapted to a given locality, but as a rule, there are several advan- 
tages in planting two or three species at once. It is not always possible to 
know which of several is best. Sometimes one species will grow fast, and 
will form a nurse for a slower-growing, longer-lived, and more valuable tree, 
which will remain after the first has disappeared. 

For house surroundings, which add greatly to the beauty, comfort, and 
health of a place, and for roadside planting, we will give the names of a 
few hardy trees. 

936. Descriptive List of Hardy Trees.— Nokw ay Maple.— This is one of 
the finest of all deciduous shade-trees. A round-headed, densely-leaved, 
vigorous and healthy tree, with deep green foliage, one of the first to come 
in leaf in the spring, and among the last to drop in autumn, succeeded after 
a frost by hues of the most beautiful colors. It is far superior to the popular 
silver maple, which afibrds by no means so dense a shade, and which is 
liable to breakage of limbs in every high wind. To make a good shade-tree 
of the silver maple, in the country, it should have a rich soil, inclined to 
moisture, and be liberally headed back. 



Seo. 51.] DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF TREES. 847 

SuGAK Maple {Acci- saccharinum). — One of the cliief beauties of this tree 
is in the very graceful appearance it presents with its straight, slim trunk, 
when surmounted by its dense and regularly formed head of green. Rather 
slow in growth, late in putting out, in autumn foliage deep orange and 
red. 

Swamp Maple. — A native, and a very pretty tree on a lawn M'ith its 
scarlet flowers and fruit, but liable to persistent attacks of the borer. 

The Ashes are not general favorites. They are late in putting fortli, 
among the first to drop their leaves, and liable to the borer. 

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) is worthy of a place in the former's yard, 
both for shade and fruit. 

Paulonia Impekialis, of Japan. A few years since a rare tree, and one 
which lias been greatly over-estimated. It is a rapid grower, closely allied 
in habit and appearance to the catalpa, but becomes a much larger tree. 
Has a large leaf, with a light blue flower of a peculiarly disagreeable odor, 
but which perfumers use. Like the catalpa, it is late in putting out, and 
among the first to drop its leaves ; accumulates much litter during the sea- 
son, has an ugly seed pod which hangs on the whole year, and withal j^rc- 
sents during half the year a bare-armed, desolate appearance. 

Sassafras {Laurus sassafras). — One of the prettiest of our small native 
or foreign trees. The suckers which it is liable to throw up, and which have 
caused most persons to object to it as a lawn tree, are easily kept down. 

Honey Locust {Gleditschia triacanthus).—K tree of most i-apid growth, 
but with thin foliage, and therefore a poor shade-tree, and very liable to 
attacks of the borer — throws up a great .many suckers, and is apt to lose its 
limbs in a high wind. 

Tulip Poplar {Liriodendron tulipifcra). — Slow of growth and difficult to 
transplant, but one of the noblest of our many noble-looking American trees. 
Li planting trees, a common error we make is to plant them too near the 
house, or walk, or road, or fence, forgetting to allow for the growth of the 
tree in after-years. 

Evergreens. — The Norway spruce {Ahies excelsa) is one of the most 
healthy, rapid growing, and liandsome trees, and never much out of place 
wherever planted. 

The Scotch Pine or Fie {Pinus sylvestris). — A rapidly growing, rather 
coarse-looking tree, but of a very fine dark hue after passing its youthful 
days. It is liable to lose some of its limbs after a heavy sleet or snow. 
Being of coarse habit, it looks best at a distance from the house or road. 

Silver Fie. — A fine ornamental tree with its horizontal limbs and bright 
silvery foliage. 

Balsam Fie. — Very handsome in its youth, but with age, in exposed places, 
loses its beauty. 

Hemlock Spruce. — Perhaps the most beautiful and graceful of all ever- 
greens, but not as great a favorite as the Norway spruce. 

The Chestnut {Casta7iea) is one of the most valuable trees that we know 



848 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI- 

of, and it is easily jgrown from seeds. If they are packed in sand as soon as 
mature, they may be transported a long distance, and should be planted in 
pots or seed beds. 

The Yellow Locust {Rohinia pseudacacid) is a very valuable timber tree, 
which can be grown from the seeds, no matter how old they are, if scalded 
in boiling lye. 

Linden, oe Basswood {Tllia Americana), is a beautiful but neglected tree. 
The large leaves on its branches make it an agreeable shade in summer, 
and in the spring its profusion of blossoms, so grateful to the bees, make 
it a desirable tree to plant around dwellings and pleasure-grounds. 

937. What Das Been Done in Planting Forest Trees.— Amos Otis, of Tar- 
mouth, Mass., is an extensive and successful planter of pine-trees, and he 
gives the following valuable information upon the subject. He says : " I 
commenced planting the pitch pine in 1832, as an experiment, and have 
since planted 200 acres. Tlie growth is very slow at first, but after the 
third year the average annual increase in liight is about one foot. I Iiave 
some lots that have averaged a foot and a half upon land that had been 
worn out by repeated crops without manure. A sandy, or a sandy loam 
soil — one that is too poor to sward over thickly with grass— is best. Lands 
that produce no vegetation are unfit. The young trees at first require some 
protection, and will not succeed in a loose, barren sand. March is the best 
month for planting. 1 have a machine with which a man and a horse can 
plant six acres a day. It plows a small furrow, drops and covers the seed, 
at once passing along. 

"Those wishing to plant pine seed can take a plow and make parallel fur- 
rows about six feet apart, and with a machine, used for planting beets or 
onions, run along in the bottom of the furrows, dropping three or four 
seeds in a ])lace and about a foot apart, covering them not more than half 
an inch. If all the seeds vegetate, there will be ten times as many trees as 
can grow on the land ; but thej' will die out in the course of a dozen years. 
When I was short of seed, I put the rows eight or ten feet apart, and drop- 
ped the seed about three feet apart in the rows. I have paid from $1 to $2 
per acre for the land, and the seed and planting have cost me about the same 
sum per acre. Adding interest, I liave about doubled tlie money invested. 
It is a small business, I confess ; but the world is made up of small affairs. 

" "When I commenced planting, my neighbors laughed at me, but now tliey 
are all planting their old fields. At Middleborongli the farmers are plant- 
ing their worn-out soils with tlic white pine, which is of very rapid growth. 
Wlien planting with my machine, I rub ofi^ the wings and clean the seed. 
If you plant yours by hand, you should not rub oflT the wings." 

The pine extensively planted on the sea shores of France and Italy is 
the Pinus maritima. There are two other species : tlie Pinus larico, or 
Corsican pine ; and the Pinus Calahriensis, or Calabrian pine, which is 
also a lofty and beautiful tree, with wide-spreading branches and long foli- 
age, and both these species are vigorous, very hardy, and of quick growth. 



Sec. 51.] WHY AND WHEN TO PLANT TREES. 849 

The French Government lias planted immense forests of the American cy- 
press (Taxodium dist'iehwn), obtaining the seeds from this country. 

In Germany, American pines and otlior American forest trees were plant- 
ed, many years since, and immense quantities of their seeds are fiirnislied 
thence, to supply all Europe. Holland has spent many thousands of dollars 
in importations of seeds from this country. 

938. Why and When to Plant TrceSi — Now is the time, no mptter when 
you read this article, now is the time to begin to plant the seed, buy the 
trees, cut the grafts, put in the buds, prune the branches, prepare the ground, 
dig the holes, or do something connected with the business of planting, trans- 
planting, or growing trees. 

If no more, plant one tree — only one ; it is all we ask ; it is a small job, a 
mere trifle of labor for an idle moment; a moment that may be spent in 
worse than idle occupation ; a moment that if spent in planting a tree, might 
be the means of raising a monument to your name, or a monument to mark 
a point of history in the country, like that of the Charter Oak, so renowned, 
so honored in the history of Connecticut. True, that was planted by One 
who needs no monument, yet has them by the million ; One whom we should 
imitate ; One whom we may honor by the work of our hands, for witli them 
we can build a home for the birds and a shade from burning suns for beasts, 
besides gratifying the eye of man with new beauties — the beauty of trees wiili 
green leaves and flowers and fruit. Therefore we want every hand in wliich 
the warm blood of manly life flows to plant a tree — one tree. Not wliilo 
the ice and snow hold dominion all over our Northern region, but while 
there is time to think, to promise, to determine, to begin to warm in'.o life 
yourself, or else you never will come to the point of bringing into life one 
tree. "While you sit around your warm winter fires, which you would not 
have without the products of trees, while you look out upon the almost tree- 
less landscape; while, if you live in towns, you see a hundred brick houses 
where you see one tree ; while, if you live in the country, you see mile after 
mile of lanes, and remember that last summer there was not a single shade 
in ijll that distance ; and while, too, you read of the scarcity and high ])i-ico 
of fruit, think how many more trees you might grow if they AVere once 
jdanted. We conjure you to resolve now, to-day, this moment, that when 
the ice melts and the ground softens, and the spring birds begin to sing, that 
you will plant a tree — one more tree ; either for fruit, or shade, or oriuiment ; 
and let it grow free shade, free flowers, free fruit, in a free soil, and let it 
be the Tree of Freedom. Do not restrict the planting to the head of the 
family, but let every man, woman, and child plant a tree — a tree to mark 
the date of the passing year. Think of it ; do not let the year pass M'ithout 
adding one more to our cultivated trees— one more monument to remind 
j-ou of fleeting time; one more guide-mark by the roadside of life, that may 
in future years give you new aspirations of love for a free country, and for 
a people who planted trees. 

Plant them by the roadside — plant them in yards, streets, lanes, lots — ■ 



85(7 



FORESTS AND FENCES. [CnAP. XI. 



wherever jou can find room for a tree to give shade or bear fruit. There 
is no better time than November to plant hardy fruit-trees, and every liun- 
dred dollars that may be spent in planting such trees along tlic higinvay of 
a farm that has a public traveled road running through it" will add a thou- 
sand dollars to the selling price of that farm twenty years hence. Take up 
large trees with plenty of roots, and plant them as though you intended 
them to grow, and they will grow. The public seem to need to be constantly 
reminded that trees will not grow where they are wanted unless they are 
first planted. All love fruit — all love shade — everybody admires flowers 
and green foliage, and even bare branches in winter are beautiful, yet how 
few lay tlie foundation of after-years of enjoyment by planiing trees, shrubs, 
vines, for fruit, flowers, or sliade! For shade-trees, the maple, elm, oak, wal- 
nut, butternut, hickory, locust, sycamore, willow, pine, cedar, fir, American 
tulip-tree, silver-leafed poplar, for the Northern States ; adding the holly, 
magnolia, live oak, and orange at the South. Remember, too, that cherry 
and apple trees make magnificent shade-trees, and that so far as possible in 
setting roadside and pasture shade-trees, either those which bear fruit or 
nuts should always be 2>referred. And lastly, remember that nothing adds 
more to the value of a place than trees, and notliing gives beauty to a coun- 
try equal to shaded roads. 

939. IJow to Plant Trees.— This is the way. Whether for fruit or shade, 
prepare your ground well before you attempt to put a tree in its place. 
Always dig your holes deep and wide, and no matter if the work is done a 
year before you want to use tliem. A little freshening with the spade and 
some loose soil in the bottom will be found by experience just what your 
tree wants to make it grow. Make it a rule never to injure a single root 
that you can save in taking a tree out of the ground for the purpose of trans- 
planting, and never buy a tree tliat has been taken up without some regard 
to the importance of having plenty of roots and a moderate amount of top 
branches. 

Some trees and shrubs, such as the willow, sycamore, or currant, will grow 
from a mere stick cut from a top branch and stuck in the ground, while a 
hickory, or oak, or long-leaf pine can only be transplanted by first cutting 
the long tap-root while it is growing, and then letting it stand long enough 
to form new short roots, which must all be moved witli tlic tree, with as 
much soil as possible adhering ; or by what is termed a ball of earth secured 
to the roots by freezing or mechanical means. 

If your ground is stony, lay a floor of stone around your tree ; if not, cover 
nj) the suiface with straw, old liay, or leaves, or small bushes. This is called 
mxdching, and is one of the most useful things you can do to jjromote the 
growth of your trees. 

In planting an orchard, the whole tract should be deeply plowed and 
manured as a preliminary step. Land is seldom too rich for young trees. 
Ten per cent, of the nursery trees die from bad packing and being long out 
of the ground, and a vast number arc killed by that stuj)id practice of trim- 



Seo. 51. j TRANSPLANTING EVERGREENS IN THE SUMMER. 851 

miiig off all tiie roots mid brandies. If your soil is thin, make it deep by plow- 
ing and digging deep holes and carting rich earth to fill them. If your soil 
is stiff clay, change its character before you try to grow trees in it. If your 
soil is wet, you may grow swamp elms and maples, or water willows, or 
sycamore-trees, but it is labor lost to try to grow fruit-trees, for they will 
not live in water. Nothing tends more to the growth of young trees than 
underdraining; and if the tiles are placed five feet deep, as they always 
should be, there is but little danger of their being closed soon by the roots. 
Trees in their growth shoxdd be fed with pabulum for the formation of wood 
and fruit. Tiiere is nothing better than potash; even coal ashes are bene- 
ficial. Any kind of decaying wood will give food to growing trees. The 
pnmed branches of a tree should never be carried off the land. Pile them 
and let them rot, or spread them around the tree. "Water your young trees 
every niglit in a drouth. If possible, wet the tops as well as the roots. The 
earth should always be wet when the trees are planted. Mulciiing serves to 
keep them moist. Trees that are transplanted with such tops as all trees 
should always have, nnist be supported by stakes to insure speedy growth. 

940. Whsrc to Phant Trees. — There are so few situations where a tree 
may not be planted, that it appears almost unnecessary to discuss the subject 
as to where it should be planted ; but there is one position npon every 
farm which, more than any other, will pay for tree planting. This is by the 
roadside. If it is a public road, so much the better ; it will pay npon any 
of the fai-ni roads. "We have never seen a tree lined highway through a 
farm without being impressed with the idea that its value was eidianced 
much more than the cost of the labor of planting. "We have a vivid recol- 
lection of one of this kind, in the farm owned by John Jay, in "Westchester 
Co., N. y., the roads through which are lined by noble elms, planted by his 
grandfather, whose name is famous in American history. Let us add our 
mite of honor in recording the fact that a great and good man planted trees 
by the roadside. Let all boys, who would emulate so good a man as John 
Jay in all his life, follow his example and plant trees by the roadside. Do 
not listen to the selfish proposition that some land owners urge against 
planting trees along the road, that it shades and injures the crops. It is 
only so to a limited extent, where hoed crops are cultivated. If the shade 
is objectionable on one side of the road, it would not be so on the other. 
Besides the highway and farm roads, where trees nuiy be planted, there are 
always nooks and corners about a farm that would support a few trees, all 
of which would add to its value, for they would add to its beauty ; and it is 
that which makes a farm salable. 

So we entreat you to teach your children to plant trees. Among other 
things, teach them their common and scientific names. 

9il. Transplanting Evei^reens in the SHmmer.— One writer says: "In 
the very hot weather of July, 18.56, I s-t to work ten men to remove old 
evergreens, viz., yews, junipers, arbuhis, laurestines, and Portuo-al and 
common laurels from four to ten feet high. I made a hole first, not deep. 



852 FORESTS AND FEIsXES. [Chap. XI. 

but sufficiently wide to allow all the roots to be laid out straight. lu the 
removal I cared but little for the ball of eartli, but aimed to get all the small 
roots possible. In its new home, cover the roots with fine soil, and tread a 
little to make the plant stand upriglit. Then fill up the hole with water, 
and fill in the soil around the hole carefully as the water sinks away. Next 
day tread the soil somewhat firmly, after wiiich make a ridge all round the 
edge of the hole, in order, as it were, to form a dish ; fill this with water 
three times during three successive days, then level the ridge down, cover- 
ing the mud over M-itli soil. After this no more M'ater is required at tlio 
roots ; if the M"eather be diy, syringe the shrubs overhead three or four 
evenings. Young laurels arc treated the same as the large shrubs, except 
that they get no syringing. In my opinion the months of July and August 
are the very best for removing valuable large evergreens. Treated carefully 
as above they arc sure to grow, and they get hold of the soil immediately, 
for the earth is like a hot-bed, into which the young roots soon enter." 

Another one says: "The best time to transplant evergreens is when (ho 
tree begins to jnish its cones, or a little after. From the middle of April to 
June, in this latitude, is a good period. A calm, warm, cloudy day should 
be chosen for transplanting. Tiie roots of an evergreen should never bo al- 
lowed to get dry, or become chilled when taken np. It is the exposure of the 
roots to such ??ifluences that kills so many of these trees. Care also should 
be taken to save all the roots. They are more injured by cutting the roots 
than other trees." 

942. Buried Seed of Antediluvian Trees.— The following statement of facts 
made by the late Judge Burnett, of Ohio, in his " Notes on the Nortiiwest 
Territory," says : "In the year 1802, a well was dug at Cincinnati, within 
the central Indian circle, in which, at the depth of 93 feet, two stumps were 
found, one about a foot and tlie other about eighteen inches in diameter, 
standing in the position in which they grew. Their roots were yet sound, 
and extended from them horizontally and regularly in every direction. The 
surface of the earth over the place where they were found was 112 feet 
above the present low-water mark of the Ohio Eiver. They must have 
grown on the spot where they were found. There is another fact connected 
with this subject worthy of notice. Before the well was dug, not a mul- 
berry-tree had been growing on the premises, though tiiey were found in 
the neighboring forest ; yet the next season tiiey sprang up wherever the ex- 
cavated earth had been spread, in such numbers as made it necessary to 
destroy them, and they continued thus to slioot up for a year or two, though 
not one made its ajipearance on the remote parts of the lot, to which the 
excavated earth had not been cai-ried. This fact produced the belief that 
one of them must have been the stump of a mulberry." 

943. The Age of Trees. — Tiie age of trees is a marvelous, and inten'stii.^- 
study. While there are some species that pass q'uicklj' away, others live to 
generations th.at knew not tlieir planting. Tlie elm has been known to livo 
350 years ; the chestnut, COO ; the cedar, 800 ; the oak from 1,000 to 1,500 j 



Seo. 51.] VALUE OF TREES IN CITIES. 853 

the yew, 3,200, and the California giants are estimated from 3,000 to 5,000 
3'ears. The Charter Oak at Hartford, Ct., by estimate, was 945 years old, 
measuring nine feet across four feet from the ground. If we take this as a 
fair sample of the growth of oaks, a tree should be about fifteen feet in cir- 
cumference to be five hundred years old. 

"The Rhodes' Oak," in Stonington, Ct., measures al)out 21 feet in cir- 
cumference, and lias an age according to the Charter Oak standard, of 735 
years. All over the country there are other " remarkable old trees." 

In the city of New York there is one known as the Stuyvesant pear-tree. 
Tt was so venerable when the farm, where it was planted, was laid out into 
lots and streets, that the corporation inclosed it with an iron fence, and it is 
now, October, 1862, still alive, and three years ago it bore fruit, at which 
time the tree was sujjposed to be fully 210 years old. It stands at the corner 
of Third Avenue and Tliirtecntli Street. 

944. Value of Trees ia Cities. — An eminent London physician expresses 
it as his opinion, that if all the trees and shrubs were removed from the two 
or three thousand acres of parks, and from the gardens and jjrivate grounds 
of the great metropolis, in one year the bills of mortality would show an in- 
crease of deatiis'to the extent of more than fifty per cent. If we consider that 
there are ordinarily in London over 1,000 deatiis a week, or nearly 60,000 a 
year, that the deaths by clioiera in 1849, during the worst period of the visita- 
tion, were at no time over 5,000 a week, we see the bearing and influence 
of trees — according to the opinion quoted — on the health and longevity of 
the inhabitants of a crowded city. "We might as reasonably expect that 
land animals could live without air, or fish without water, as that there 
could be a ])urc and healthy atmosphere where there are few or no trees or 
rapidly growing plants, or where, in an extended region, animal life vastly 
preponderates over vegetable life. " The winters of Salem (Mass.), instead of 
liaving been rendered more mild", as conjectured, from the eradication of the 
forests, have become colder by 6° Fahr., during the last thirty-three years." 

945. Growing Trees from Seeds— Oaks, Evergreens, Locust, Hickory. — 
There are now growing in England several very fine plantations of oaks, 
from acorns planted either by the present owners or their fathers. 

There is a noted instance in South Carolina, of successful tree planting, by 
Micajah Buchanan, early in this century. One who visited the place in 
1860 thus speaks of it: "There was a lot of six acres of this new forest upon 
wliich oaks, pines, hickories, and dogwoods were growing. The jiines meas- 
ured two feet in diameter ; fine specimens being free from limbs, and of 
beautiful and thrifty appearance. Several of the oaks measured twenty-two 
and twenty-three inches in diameter, and from sixty to seventy feet in liight, 
smooth and thrifty in growth. Only seed of oaks was planted ; the other 
kinds were self-seeded from the adjoining forest. The success of this ex- 
periment in growing trees shows how easily the}' may be reinstated when- 
ever it is desirable. But we must not leave natnre to do what it is our duty 
to do for ourselves. We should gather the seeds, and prepare the soil for 



854 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 

their reception. The soil for a tree nursery should be as good and well 
worked as a well-cultivat^ kitchen garden. Tiie proper way to plant small 
seeds of forest trees is to pulverize the soil well, and roll it, and then sow the 
seeds and cover lightly with leaf mold. Great care is required to grow 
forest trees with success. Care must be taken in selecting soils. No wet 
soil, nor a ferruginous one, should be chosen. The young trees, too, must 
be carefully guarded against the depredations of cattle, as all farm stock are 
fond of young shoots of most forest trees. Sheltered situations should also 
be selected for the nurseries. Belts of sheltering trees should always be 
planted in all open places, like the "Western prairies. The trees for these 
belts may be grown from seed, in advance, or purchased, or in some cases 
brought from their native localities in the forest. 

Hickory seeds and those of similar trees should be sown in autumn, in 
drills twelve or fourteen inches apart, and thick in the row, to be thinned out 
as the trees grow. Squirrels are great pests to the nurseryman, and much 
care is necessary to guard against their depredations. Manure, and partic- 
ularly that made of leaves, is valuable for tree nurseries. So are ashes. 
Weeds must be exterminated, or they will destroy the young trees. 

The larch is recommended as a good nurse for other trees, as it grows 
rapidly in almost any soil. Do not plant on a retentive soil in wet weather. 
It is almost as necessary to keep a new plantation clean for two or three 
years as it is to keep the nursery clean. 

Locust seed is difficult to vegetate, owing to the very ^ard shell which 
encases the meat. If it is gathered in autumn and mixed with sand, and 
kept moist, exposed to the weather till spring, it will grow ; or if it is soaked 
several days in hot water just before planting, it will grow. Instead of using 
hot water, you may nse boiling hot lye, and plant the seed at once, and it 
will vegetate and grow immediately. 

Evergreen seeds may be treated as follows : Keep the seeds of arbor vitse 
dry and cool till spring, and then plant in fine leaf mold in a shady place. 
Norway spruce seed, and pine, hemlock, and juniper, should be kept in boxes 
of sand as it comes from the bank, in a cellar, and next spring plant in shady 
or half shady spots. If planted in sunn}' situations, the young plants are 
apt to perish. If there is no other shade, erect an awning. The juniper 
family do not vegetate the first year. The common red cedar seed may be 
made to grow by scalding. 

The midberry, which is also rapidly multiplied from seed, was first grown 
in England in the reign of James I. 

The white larch, now very abundant, was accidentally taken to Scotland 
in 1737. Mr. Menzies, of Culdare, having ]irocured four of these plants from 
Siberia, gave two to the Duke of Athol, which are still in full vigor at Dun- 
keld, and may be called the parents of all the larch-trees in the kingdom. 

The plum-tree was brought from Asia in 15S0. The cochspur havothorn 
in 1692. The maple-leaved hawthorn was introduced into England from 
America in the year 1783. A beautiful variety of the alder was first culti- 



Skc. 51.] AN ORNAMENTAL MEDICINAL -TREE. 855 

vated in the year 17S0, being brought from Switzerland, Siberia, and other 
cold countries, and the cedar in 16G4. Now look at all of these trees in 
England — how extensively they have spread ! " Why," said one to an old 
man who was planting acorns, " why do you plant things that never can 
benefit you ?" " Because I wish to leave the M'orld better than I found it. 
If others had not planted trees, I should not have enjoyed their delightful 
and agreeable shade. I plant trees, that others may have the same pleasures, 
and sit beneath their outstretching and shady branches. The man who only 
lives for himself and his lifetime without adding his mite to human enjoy- 
ment, is worse than the veriest miser ; the one leaves his riches, the other 
nothing but his bones — and those dry and withered." 

Is that not a sufficient incentive to every good man to plant trees — at least 
one acorn ? 

946. How Seeds are Diffusedi — Many seeds arc supplied with a feathery 
arrangement, which enables them to rise in the atmosphere and diffuse them- 
selves over creation. This is the case with some of the forest trees, the seeds 
of v.-hich waft \ipon the wind many miles. Others are water-proof, and float 
away upon the water. But what if all seeds should grow? Our farms, with 
all our care, would become a wilderness. 

947. A Rare Ornamental and Valuable Medicinal Tree. — ^Eare only because 
it is rarely used for ornamental purposes ; yet it is uncommonly beautiful, 
of rapid growth, and hardy, and easy to transplant from its native woods, 
where it abounds in all the States south of latitude 41°. This tree is famil- 
iarly known as the Sweet Gum — an accidental name given to distinguish it 
from the Sour or Black Gum {tupclo'), which is also known in the New Eng- 
land States by the name of Pepperidge. The scientific name of the Sweet 
Gum is Liquid Ambar. Both names are appropriate enough. The tree 
exudes a white wax, odoriferous and soft, which hardens and grows dark, 
somewhat like amber, by exposure to the air. The tree is one of the very 
cleanest, so far as regards insects, and its effects upon the earth or air where 
it flourishes most abundantly, with the exception of covering the ground 
with its curious fruit, which is about the size of medium " button-balls," the 
fruit of the sycamore {Plcmus occidentalis). Tliese balls are full of honey- 
like cells that contain the seeds, which may be planted like those of the pine 
family. 

Michaux, the author of that great work the " North American Sylva," 
spoke of this tree as far north as Portsmouth, N. H., but we have rarely seen 
it north of the city of New York, where some native trees arc in Jones' 
Wood ; it is quite abundant in New Jersey, and especially so in all the 
cotton-growing States. It abounds also in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and 
Southern Illinois. It is held in very low repute as a timber tree for the 
farmer's use, though it would make good boards for many purposes. 

It is for shade and ornament^ alone that we call attention to it, and in that 
respect it is deserving of special notice. It is also of great value as a medi- 
cinal tree. It is esteemed where best known as an infallible specific for all 



85G FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 

complaints of the nature of diarrhea, for the treatment of which a tea is 
made of the bark. From what we personally know of its value in such 
cases, we can not speak too highly of it. 

Hovey, in speaking of this tree, and recommending it, in his magazine, 
says: "The sweet gum forms a large tree, having somewhat the appearance 
of a maple, from thirty to fifty feet high, according to the soil and latitude 
in which it gi'ows; the trunk is straight, nearly uniform in thickness, to the 
hight of twenty feet or more, where its branches begin to diverge. The 
bark of the trees while young is nearly smooth ; but as they acquire size and 
age it becomes tiiick and deeply furrowed, the secondary branches being 
covered with a dry, flaky bark, the plates of which are attached at the edge 
and not on the face, as in otiier trees. The leaves are smooth and of a yel- 
lowish green, varying in size from three inches to six inches in diameter, 
and they are palmate, that is, they are divided into four deeply cut lobes, 
resembling in shape a star. The male and female flowers appear on the 
same tree, the former being rather inconspicuous, while the latter are oval 
catkins one and a half inches long. These appear in March or April, and 
are succeeded by a globular fruit, bristling with points, and containing one 
or two small, blackish, perfect seeds. The leaves cliange to a deep red, or 
almost an orange scarlet, immediately after the first frosts, and keep their 
brilliant color for some time. As the tree is so extensively distributed, so it 
is found in all varieties of soil, from the dry and gravelly bights of the ]!^orth 
to the deep river bottoms of the South and West. On the nnpropitioiis 
soils it usually does not grow more than twenty or thirty feet high, but in 
favorable localities it attains its amplest dimensions. Michaux measured a 
tree which he found growing in a swamp in Augusta, Ga., that was fifteen 
feet in circumference, with a summit in proportion to the size of the trunk." 

The shape of the leaves is much like that of the maple, and the tree is 
equally hardy and valuable for a shade-tree. When planted in open ground 
it branches low and forms a spreading top. In England, where it has been 
introduced as a rare foreign tree, it is much admired. If better known, we 
think it M'ould be popular here. It might, at least in part, take the place 
of the omnipresent ailanthus. 

94S. The Elder — its Virtue. — It is free of insects, and ornamental. It was 
stated in England, more than sixty years since, that no insect or worm ever 
harbors upon the common elder {Samlucus), and that it is a protection to all 
other plants when grown among them. It is stated also that elder leaves 
scattered upon insect-infested plants will tend to drive away the pests. 

As a well-trained elder, grown like a tree, is really an ornamental shnib, 
Avhy not try to grow plums in juxtaposition with the elders? If the plums 
failed, you would have the elderberries, which make better wine than most 
of the sniall fruits nsed for tliat purpose. 

949. The Sumac. — We perfectly agree with Wilson Flagg, in an article in 
IIovcy''s Magazine, that sumacs are, among our New England scenery, some 
of its finest ornaments. The foliage is beautiful in summer, and tiien come 



Sec. 51.] THE HAZEL. 857 

its bright crimson cones and green leaves; tlien its rich crimson tints in 
autumn, and lastly, the spikes of red berries, that remain after all the high- 
colored leaves have blown away. There are several varieties of sumac in 
this country. Mr. Flagg says of that called " Staghorn" {lihus typhina): 
" This shrub rises to the dignity of a tree in favorable situations." Yes, to a 
dignity, in Mississippi, of a tree that is used for common split fence-rails, at 
least two ten-feet cuts to a tree. Of another variety, the lihus radicans, Mr. 
Flagg says : " Its habits are very similar to those of the Virginia creeper 
{A?n.pclqpsis), though it seems to have more tenacity, and to fasten itself 
more permanently to the objects it embraces. It seems to be almost parasitic 
in its habits ; though I believe a branch will not survive the severing of the 
connection between it and the root. The numerous radicles with which it 
penetrates the surface of trees and fences, seem adapted onl}' to support, not 
to nourish, the plant. I regard this as one of the most beautiful woody vines 
among our indigenous plants. Some may be inclined to give their prefer- 
ence to the creeper ; but the foliage of the creeper is not so elegant, nor 
does it invest the object on which it clambers with so close and compact a 
mass of foliage. It would hardly be advisable, however, to encourage its 
growth, on account of the liability of many persons to be injuriously affected 
by contact with it, though it possesses these noxious properties in a less 
degree than the poisonous dogwood. The leaves are in threes, and by this 
arrangement are readily distinguished from those of the creeper, which are 
in lives. So small is the danger t'rom this plant, that I should never advise 
one to destroy it in a favorable spot, when the difierent objects were fes- 
tooned with its beautiful green foliage." 

This is the plant commonly known as poison ivy, that is so frequently to 
be found enshrouding an ugly old wall, and giving it the appearance of a 
live hedge. Its poisonous qualities are not very objectionable. As an orna- 
mental plant, it is valuable. See where it hides old walls, stumps, and dead 
trees, making ihem look alive again. See how it may be used to train over 
hedges or blank walls of buildings, or cover the boles of tall trees. It is a 
plant to be used, not despised nor eradicated. 

950. The Hazeli — Of all other common bushes — so common as to attract 
little notice — the hazel {Cori/lus Americana) is the most neglected shrub, 
while one of the most worthy of cultivation. Such a modest little bush, too, 
willing to accept as its share of earth's surface the corners of zigzag fences, 
or sides of stone walls, or little nooks about the rocks where the plow can 
not reach. Sometimes the woodland edges are still further bordered out 
with hazel, sometimes growing boldly out into grass or up to the corn-rows, 
and sometimes tapering down from the tallest bushes to mere little timid 
twigs. This is the bordering of many of the prairie groves ; and often we 
find far out in the sea of grass a solitary oak, surrounded with a flourishing 
plantation of hazels, invariably standing as a living declaration to the home- 
seeking emigrant, that here he will find a rich, loamy soil, for in such the 
American hazel flourishes, and in suitable soil it is found in all the Northern 



858 FOREST AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 

and Middle States. Instead of despising and trying to eradicate this pretty 
litile shrub, we ■would extend its growth by cultivation. As a border of 
lawn walks, or for a separation of plats, wliere a high screen is not required, 
it is the best that we kno'vV ; for it is a clean-growing one, and can be kept, 
by cutting out the old wood, continually sending up its new, straight shoots ; 
and then it is one of the first in spring to put forth its beauties ; and what 
more pleasing sight than its fruit-loaded branches, except it is the squirrels 
and children that are eqnally attracted to gather its sweet nuts. We really 
wish that every unsightly fence or stone wall along the country roads were, 
as some of them in New England are, hidden with hazel bushes. It need 
not be said that such thickets would harbor the birds ; it is just one of the 
purposes we wish to jiromote. 

951. To Prevent Forked Trees Splitting. — J.T. Moxley, Sheboygan County, 
"\7is., recommends to twist or wind together a few of the smaller limbs above 
the fork, which will grow in that position as the tree increases in size, and 
form a natural brace. He states that he has treated many trees successfully 
in this manner. We have prevented forked trees inclined to split, and 
even secured those that had alreadj' commenced to part, by boring through 
with au inch auger and driving in a strong wooden pin. A small iron bolt, 
with a head on one end and a nut on the other end, is even better. The new 
growth will soon cover the pin or bolt. 

952. Timber Made Durable. — We have often seen it stated, that timber to 
be used for ax-helves, flails, mallets, ox-bows, axles, etc., in German}', i? 
soaked several days in a strong solution of stable manure, and then smoke- 
dried, which greatly toughens and adds to its durability. As the process is 
BO simple, we advise every one to try it for himself. 

953. Use and Value of Basswood Bark. — The linden {Tilia Americana), 
which is more known under the name of basswood-tree, is a valuable as 
well as beautiful tree — beautiful as an ornamental tree, and valuable for 
timber, and its bark, out of which bass matting is made. This article is 
imported and used extensively in place of our native stock, we "Suppose, 
because people do not generally know how easy it is to prepare the bark for 
use. It is simply to take the whole bark as it peels from the trees when the 
sap flows freely, stiy about June in this latitude, and sink it under water 
until the liber (inner bark) will peel and separate easily from the coarse 
bark. This soft, tough substance is then dried and stored away for future 
use, and the purposes to which it can be applied are almost numberless. 

95i. Value of the Ailanthus in Sandy Wastes. — This tree is good both for 
fuel and timber, and one of the most rapidly grown in the Northern States, 
and it has been demonstrated that the most sandy wastes can be re-clothed 
with trees by planting the ailanthus. Upon a bare, sandy plain, where 
neither trees nor grass now grow, we are confident that ailanthus-trces 
may be planted, with only a wheel-barrow load of rich loam to a tree, and 
that in ten years the growth would not only be such that it would hide the 
desolate barrenness of the land, but would make it of a salable value. 



Seo. 51.] 



THE ECONOMY OF FUEL— WOOD vs. COAL. 



859 



955. The Economy of Fuel— Wood vs. foal.— The following table shows the 
relative value of difl'erent kinds of M'ood for fuel : 



Shellbark Hickory 100 

Pig-iiut Hickory 95 

White Oak 84 

White Ash 77 

Dogwood 75 

Scrub Oak 73 

White Hazel 72 

Apple Tree 70 

Red Oak 69 

White Beech 65 

Black Walaut 65 

Black Birch 62 



Yellow Oak GO 

Hard Maple 59 

White Elm 58 

Ked Cedar 56 

Wild Cherry 55 

Yellow Pine 64 

Chestnut 52 

Yellow Poplar 52 

Butternut 61 

White Birch 43 

White Pine 40 



Although all trees of the nature of hickory, tlie fibers of which are densely 
packed, giving great solidity and weight, compared with pine or other 
light woods, are the most valuable for fuel, there is a great difference in the 
value of wood of the same variety, owing to its manner of growth and nature 
of soil where it grew. Trees which grow in forests or in rich wot grounds 
are less consolidated than such as stand in open fields, or grow slowly upon 
dry, barren soils. Tliere are two stages in the burning of wood — in the fii-st, 
heat -comes chiefly from flame ; in the second, from red hot-coals. Soft 
woods are much more active in the flrst stage than hard, and hard woods 
more active in the second stage than soft. Tlie soft woods burn with a volu- 
minous flame and leave but little coal, ■while the hard woods produce less 
flame and yield a larger mass of coal. 

The purpose, however, for which it is needed, must bo considered. A 
thorough white pine, compared to hickory, is only as 40 to 100 for heat. If 
a quick fire be needed for immediate warmth, or kindling for coal or other 
wood, the pine is most suitable. For kindling coal fires, we have always 
found a mixture of hard and soft wood good economy. 

Speaking of coal, is it economy for a farmer to burn it? It is a question 
worthy of consideration. It is one that we have already considered, and it 
has made us wonder at the error of some old farmers in the vicinity of tide- 
water and railroads, where coal can be had at a low rate, compared w-ith the 
selling value of wood. They stick to the old-time fashion of days wlien 
wood was the only fuel, and maintain wood lots upon land worth $200 or 
$300 an acre, to furnish their annual supplies of back logs and fore sticks, 
with as much pertinacity as though their lives depended upon nothing but a 
sufliciency of firewood. Do such men ever think of relative value? Prob- 
ably not. Let us show them what we think. 

A tun of anthracite coal (2,240 pounds) measures 28 bushels. Its average 
cost at tide-water may be taken at $5 a tun, and hickory wood at $8 a cord. 
The coal is fully equal to two cords of wood of the best quality, and we do 
not know how many cords of such wood as we often find for sale, or such as 
farmers use, which they could sell at $4 or $5 a cord. No man in the vicinity 
of New York can afford to keep woodland or burn wood as a common fuel. 
Prof. Mapes contends that a man can not afford to keep arable land in the 



860 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 

vicinity of this city, or any other high-priced locality, in apple-trees, much 
less in forest trees, except just so far as may be agreeable for shade and or- 
nament — certainly not for the purpose of growing fuel. No man can afford 
to hire men to cut and haul wood, and prepare it for the stove or fire-place, 
if it had no other value, where coal is not more than $6 or $8 a tun. 

The most of the farmers in the forest-denuded portions of the country 
have to haul their fuel, on an average, one mile ; and if it is valueless where 
it is growing, it will be worth at home, when cut and piled under cover, at 
least $2 a cord ; and iu many cases counting the value at which it could be 
sold in the forest, and actual cost of labor, it will be worth $3 to $5 a cord, 
fitted for the stove. Now if good anthracite, or bituminous coal can be 
delivered, as it often is to the farmers twenty or thirty miles around New 
York, at $6 a tun, a farmer can not aiford to burn his own wood, because coal 
will cost the least money. "Wherever woodland is valuable, cattle should 
be fenced out, and paths located so as to drive through without destroying 
young trees, and proper care exercised in cutting fuel or timber trees. 

As to giving up the old worm-fence, there is no hope of that as long as 
there are ton trees to an acre ; but certainly we can economize by having 
fewer divisions, fewer fences, and straighter worms. And we can economize 
in other ways — we can cut our timber at the season when it will be found 
most durable, and we can select timber the least valuable for fencing, and 
leave the best for more important uses. It is not only necessary for farmers 
to study economy in fuel, as to what shall be used, but if it is to be wood, 
then practice economy in growing and preserving a suitable supply. 

9oG. How Should Fue! be Seasoned? — ^The almost universal way of piling 
wood is not the best way to season it. Some kinds, if laid upon the ground 
at the bottom of a pile, will never season — they will rot. That is the case 
with Cottonwood upon the Mississippi bottoms. Everywhere the bottom 
sticks of a pile are less valuable than the top ones. For this there is a 
remedy. Take nature for a guide and set our fuel on end, when we desire 
it to season. 

The following plan is an excellent one to season fuel or to store it, as rail- 
ways sometimes do, to keep several years : Commence with medium-sized 
sticks set two and two along in a row, leaning together, spread w'ide enough 
apart at the lower ends for a good-sized dog to run between them. Con- 
tinue to lean up sticks outside until the rick is five or six feet wide, with the 
top ends always down. Now lay on the top a few sticks lengthwise to form 
a ridge, and then commence to shingle your pile with split wood, with which 
you can easily form a roof almost water-tight enough to prevent any rain 
from wetting the pile below. Tiiere is no position in which fuel will season 
quicker or keep better, remaining sound and dry, and actually increasing in 
value, instead of constantly deteriorating as it does in cord- wood piles. 

Do not continue the old way with no better argument for it than this : 
" It is the way my father did, and he says his father always did so ; and I 
guess if it was not right they would have found it out." 



Sec. 52.] 



STATISTICS OF FENCING. 



861 



This declaration is the end of all argument. It is a bold son that dares to 
do US liis father and his father's father never did. Yet, in this matter of 
seasoning fuel, he should have courage and shake off the shackles of prece- 
dent, and get out of the old hard path of our very respectable (in their time) 
old-fashioned grandfathers. 

957. Wc Should Plant Trees to Grow Fuel. — "Wherever laud is sparsely 
■wooded, farmers should plant ti'ees for fuel as certainly as corn for bread. 
The most r^pid growing trees should be selected, such as ailanthus, locust, 
sycamore, and chestnut. Peach, we have already mentioned (635), and 
doubtless other fruit trees may be profitably grown for fuel. The ailanthus 
and sycamore are both good fuel trees, if the wood is properly seasoned. 



SECTION LII.-FENCES.-THE COST OF FENCING ; LAWS KEGULATING ; 
KIND OF FENCE MOST ECONOMICAL; KYANIZING FENCE POSTS; 
FARM GATES ; HEDGES ; WIRE FENCES ; STONE AVALLS. 

C 



- ALCITLATIKG the cost of fencing is the only way 
that we can arrive at improvements in its economy. 
Those who have never considered the subject can not 
believe the facts ; such, for instance, as that published 
by K"icholas Biddle, made from careful estimates, that 
the "fence tax" of Pennsylvania is ten millions of dol- 
lars a year ; or that of P. L. Pell, that the farm fences 
of the United States cost $1,350,000, and that the an- 
nual charge ujjon farms to maintain fences is equal to 
$250,000,000 per annum. These are startling statements, 
but who can show that they are not facts ? Tliey are at 
least worthy of consideration from all farmers. lion. 
Joseph Blunt, who was a very observing man, and dur- 
ing all the latter years of his life devoted a great deal of attention to the 
question of improvements in farming, estimated that there were in the year 
1S59, in the State of ISTew York, 15,000,000 of acres under fence, and that 
this area was divided into 750,000 fields, requiring 120 rods to each field, 
making 90,000,000 of rods of fencing in the State. 

He calculated the average cost of the fencing at the very low rate of 
seventy-five cents a rod, and that the average duration Avas not over ten 
years. His estimate makes the first cost .$67,500,000. Interest and annual 
repairs may be reasonably calculated on the cost at ten per cent., whicli 
makes $6,700,000. Dividing the cost of renewal through ten years, makes 
a like sum, and gives an annual cost for fencing the State of New Yoi-k, 
$13,400,000. 




862 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XL 

Hou. T. C. Peters, of Darien, Genesee Co., wlio as one of the State assess- 
ors lias had gr«at opportunities to obtain facts in relation to farm fences, 
made tlie tbllowing calculations, which were presented to the State Agri- 
cultural Society, October, 1S62. He had devoted much labor to the calcu- 
lation, because he thinks it necessary to enlighten farmers upon the subject 
of legislation in relation to fences, as the time is rapidly approaching when 
sonietliing must be substituted for rails, or else a diiferent system adopted 
with stock. 

In calculating the length of road fences, he assumed that the average is 
one mile of road to each mile square of land in the State, and Burr's Atlas 
makes the area over 28,000,000 acres. 

The State census gives : Improved acres, 13,657,490 | unimproved acres, 
13,100,692 ; total, 26,158,782. 

The town assessors make the area about 1,000,000 more. Mr, Peters 
divides the State into four districts, to show the waste lands in each. Thus : 

1st District — IS'orth of the Mohawk Valley, and west of the line from its 
mouth to the north line through Lake Champlain. 

2d District — East of that line, and east of the Hudson, including Long 
Island and Staten Island. 

3d District— South of the Mohawk and east of the Chenango, including 
all the Catskill Mountain range. 

•itii District — All the remainder of the State. 

He allots to each division the following number of acres of waste land : 
1st district, 6,000,000; 2d district, 1,250,000; 3d district, 1,250,000, and 
4tii district, 1,500,000, making a total of 10,000,000 acres, still leaving 
2,000,000 acres unaccounted for in and around cities and villages, which will 
give a remainder of 18,000,000 of acres of inclosed lauds to bear all the 
burden of taxation for fences and roads, and will give, upon the calculation 
assumed, a mile of road to 640 acres of land, say 28,000 miles of highway 
and 56,000 miles of roadside fences. Assuming an average width of road 
of four rods, there are 224,000 acres occupied by the public roads of this 
State. 

The average cost of fence is $1 a rod, and cost of annual repairs equal to 
the interest upon another dollar. Supposing the average value of improved 
land in the State to be $40 an acre, it makes the interest $2 SO an acre, or 
$22 40 the square mile. 

Cost of road fence per mile $640 00 

Capital required for interest and repairs annually 640 00 

Interest per square mile as upon improved land, for that occupied by roads 22 40 

Total $1,302 40 

The total 28,000 miles of road-fence cost $17,920,000 00 

Annual interest 1,254,400 00 

Interest on capital of sum necessary for repairs 1,254,400 00 

Annual cost of fencing the highways $2,508,800 00 

Interest on value of land used and wasted for roads 616,000 00 

Total annual cost of roads, besides labor of repairs $3,124,800 00 



Sbo. 51.] STATISTICS OF FENCING. 863 

The estimated average size of farms in this State is 100 acres, and the 
average size of the divisions of the farms ten acres. This requires 800 rods 
of fencing to each farm, which at $1 a rod makes $8 an acre as dead capital 
per acre, if we could devise some plan of carrying on farming without 
fences. Upon this basis, the total cost of fences in the State is $li-i,000,000, 
and the annual charge upon each farm, estimating them to average 100 
acres, is $56, and it requires the interest of an equal sum to keep the fences 
in repair, making an annual fence tax of $1 12 an acre upon all the culti- 
vated lands in the State, wliile all the State, county, and local taxes of the 
rural portion of the State are only 33 cents an acre. 

This presents an array of figures well worthy the attention of all farmers 
who would understand the enormous amount of the fence tax. 
' John J. Thomas, of Cayuga County, thinks Mr. Peters' calculation too 
low ; he lias carefully estimated the highways, by the large and by local 
maps, at 60,000 miles, and 120,000 miles of highway fence in the State. 

Is this enormous expenditure necessary? If it is, the burden must be 
borne. "Will farmers inquire whether nine tenths of it could not be dispensed 
with most advantageously to the owners of the land, dispensing with many 
other items of cost which are incidental to the present system ? 

In no other country in the world is the fence tax so onerous as in this. 
Our fence system has been gradually engrafted upon the people by acci- 
dental circumstances, growing out of the necessity of early settlers, who 
fenced around the first cleared field, and let the stock run in the woods. 
Laws made at first to protect such settlers have been continued, and men 
educated to bear the heavy burden they have entailed, until they appear to 
love tlio law, or rather the custom that forces them to pay such a penalty. 

The universal custom, and not the law — for really there is no such statute 
— has led men to believe that every owner of land is bound to fence all the 
world out, and that it is no trespass upon the rights jjf property to enter 
ujjon any uninclosed lot and despoil it of half its value. 

To the cost of fencing should be added a very large sum in damages to 
railroad trains, which run over cattle wandering at large on the highways. 
Sometimes the value of human lives must be added to the account. To 
this add stock lost by accidents and straying, and the loss of costs of litiga- 
tion about fences ; also, expense of pounds, besides the ill-will and quarrels 
about stock on the highways, and trespassing upon neighbors' fields. 

Indeed, the expense of the fence system is almost beyond calculation, and 
its evils illimitable. One of these is the actual keeping out of cultivation of 
millions of acres of good land. Let us look at a case. 

If the law, or custom, wliich is stronger than law, were for every man to 
keep Iiis own stock within liis own boundaries, instead of fortifying himself 
to keep everybody's stock out of liis fields, a poor man could go upon the 
"Western prairies without a dollar of capital and take up public land and 
hire it plowed, on credit, to be paid for out of the crop or by his labor, and 
thus could in a few years become the owner of a good farm. He is kept out 



804 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XL 

of this enviable position, because custom requires him first to fence his fields, 
and then plant them. To do this is impossible without capital. The lowest 
cost would be one dollar a rod, making the expense of inclosing an eighty- 
acre lot four hundred and eighty dollars. In many places it will cost twice 
tliat. Then custom requires division fences, say four twenty-acre lots, mak- 
ing a total of seven hundred and twenty dollars for fencing a lot of land that 
cost but eighty dollars for the soil. 

The pasturage of all the stock which tlie owner of such a lot should keep 
is not worth the interest of the cost of fencing and annual repairs ; and this 
is true of a million of acres in this countrj-. Take that of the autlior, for 
example. It consists of eight acres of the rough but costly land of West- 
cliestcr County, ten miles north of the Central Park of New York. It is 
bounded on two sides by highways, requiring 1,375 feet of fencing, and on 
the other two sides it joins two cattle-pasturing neiglibors, requiring 530 feet 
more fencing for the half that the law of tlie State of Xew Yorkcompelsan 
owner of the land to build, whether lie lias any use for it or not. To build 
such a stone wall, which is the common fence of the country, as any man of 
taste would be willing to have near his dwelling, is worth twenty-five cents 
a foot, making the first cost four hundred and seventy five dollars for an 
outside fence, for which the owner has no use whatever. And this creates 
an eternal tax for interest and repairs, which at ten per cent, is forty-seven 
dollars and fifty cents a year, or nearly six dollars an acre — an annual tax 
of two per cent, of the salable value of the land, inflicted upon me by law 
and custom for the benefit of some poor neighbor who pastures his cow and 
geese and pigs in the highway, upon land he does not own. In effect he 
says: "The law, or rather custom, protects me, and you have no business to 
prevent my enjoying a j)rivilege that I have always enjoyed^ It is your 
business to keep your fences up and gates shut." And if I do not, he will 
rob me as literally, as the Iiigliwayman who says, "Your money or your 
life!" and of the two, the highwayman is the most honest. 

The division fence that I am compelled to build is equally onerous. It is 
utterly useless to me. I never shall allow cattle to run at large on my side. 
If my neighbors do, the}' should build the fence to hold their own cattle; it 
is not right to tax me with the cost offence built solely for their use. 

958. Laws Refatiiig to Fencing llighwajs. — Statute laws do not require 
land-owners to fence higliways. It is the law of custom — a custom that has 
been so long in use that many persons suppose it is law. The whole system 
is founded upon error. The law does protect property ; it can not take it 
away from any owner, except for public necessity. It never takes it from 
one owner to give it to another, as it would if it authorized one man to pas- 
tsro his cattle upon another man's land. ,The owner of land along a high- 
way owns all liut the right of the public to use it as a thoroughfare. No 
law can constitutionally give another man the right to mow or pasture the 
grass, nor compel the owner to fence out the cattle of others. His business 
is to fence his own cattle in. He has no right to let them run out upon the 



Sbo. 52.] LAWS RELATING TO FENCES. 865 

highway, because tliey might obstruct travelers, who have a right to the 
whole roadway, to travel over it unmolested. If one jjig is allowable, a 
thousand are, and who so blind as not to see that a thousand swine in a nar- 
row lane would effectually blockade it against all travelers. And if one 
man can legally turn out one old cow to forage for her living upon the road- 
side, he may turn out a whole herd of bulls, which would break over any 
fence that a land-owner would build, and ravage his whole farm. 

It is not law, by any enactments of any legislature, that any man may 
pasture his cattle in the highway, and it lias frequently been decided by 
courts in different States, that the owner of land could recover damage of 
the owner of cattle, fence or no fence. It is custom, and a wi'ong practice 
long submitted to, that needs improvement. The idea that cattle can bo 
lawfully turned out upon the highway is injurious to the great agricultural 
interest of America, and shows a dishonest principle in whoever puts it in 
practice. 

Is there any difference in a moral point of view between sending chil- 
dren or cattle out iipon the highway to forage upon neighbors or travelers. 
A man has no more right to educate his cattle in dishonest practices than he 
has his children, and public opinion should condemn one as well as the other. 
If an owner of a dog taught him to steal, the man would be held respon- 
sible as a thief, and the dog killed. The same rule should be applied to all 
animals. A thieving liog should be no more allowed to live than a thieving 
dog, nor his owner escape responsibility. 

We can conceive but one greater nuisance in a neighborhood than a hog 
that is always on the watch for an open gate or hole Avhere he can thrust in 
his nose and root a way into mischief, and that one greater nuisance is his 
owner. Every citizen should bo made to feel that the law protects the 
owner of land as well as of houses, and that it is just as much a trespass to 
enter one as the other. 

Domestic animals should all be made more domestic. It is the best way 
to save expense in fencing. It is a duty that we all owe one to another, to 
make this suliject of fencing better understood. What it costs and what the 
law is, not what has beon customary in regard to liighway fences, should be 
matters of constant thought and frequent discussion in all farmers' club 
meetings. 

959. Laws relatias; to Division Fences. — In the State of New York, by 
enactment of April IS, 1S3S, there is a most absurd and wicked law in rela- 
tion to division fences. It is absurd, because it fixes the form, style, and 
strength of the fence to suit a peculiar condition of things in one place that 
is entirely inapplicable to another. It is wicked, because it compels one 
owner to build fence wholly for his neighbors' benefit, and declares that he 
shall not be entitled to any damages for trespass from his neighbors' cattle 
unless he maintains his part of the division fence in a strictly legal condition, 
whether his neighbor does or not. 

In several States, the " lawful fence" is such a one as not one farmer in a 



866 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 

hundred ever builds. If it lacks an iota of what " the law requires," it is no 
trespass to break over it and steal ; that is, suffer the animals that should be 
domestic, but are not, to take that which does not belong to them. Such 
laws are wicked, because they are intrinsically unjust, and promote neigh- 
borhood quarrels, and in more than one recorded instance have been the 
moving cause of murders. 

The law should be simply this : " Every man shall fence in his own stock ; 
no man shall be obliged to fence his neighbors' stock out." This is founded 
in reason ; it is common sense ; it is justice. A common-sense law upon 
the subject of estrays, or cattle turned out upon the highway, and trespass- 
ing animals, would be to this effect : It shall be lawful for any one to kill 
a dog, goat, goose, or hog that comes upon his premisjs, or endangers them 
by running at large in the highway. Any land-owner in the State of New 
York may seize and confine any neat stock, horses, sheep, or swine found 
on his land or near it in the highway, and hold it till the owner pays the 
penalty and cost of keeping, and the owner has no action of recovery until 
all charges are paid. The law should allow the taker-up to use the animal 
while he keeps it, without charge ; or convert it wholly to his use by paying 
its value, less the damage cliargeable against the animal for its trespass, 
and those of the same owner in its company. All animals running without 
keepers in the highway should be liable to seizure as trespassers. 

Such a law would be good for all honest men, and would promote goo 
morals in society. Can any honest man say that he believes it would be 
unjust or impolitic ? 

The laws of the nations in times that we call barbarous, were better 
entitled to the appellation of " civil law," than are some of our own about 
fences. 

960. Uufeuced Commons. — There is a tract within twenty miles of New 
York called Hempstead Plains, containing 12,000 acres of good arable land, 
which might have been in cultivation for two hundred years, if our fence 
laws had been adapted to a civilized state of society. Having been at first 
set apart as a " town common," when land was of but little value, it has 
been kept as such ever since, in the wasteful condition of a public pasture, 
which affords not one hundredth of the value to the people it would in culti- 
vated crops. All over the country, around every village, there are similar, 
though not as extensive, unfenced commons, all of which could be cultivated 
if law and custom required owners of cattle to keep them within their own 
inclosures. 

All over Europe are to be found highly cultivated districts, entirely free 
from fences. Every foot of common land, up to the very roadside, can be 
cultivated, and the most humble cottage upon the common can be beautified 
with its plat of flowers. Is America so much less civilized that we should 
give the possession of every unfenced common to hogs rather than to the 
use of the poor laborer and his family ? 

This is a fact connected with American farming that needs consideration. 



Sbo. 52.] KYANIZING FENCE POSTS. 867 

9G1. How Fences may be Dispensed With.— First by the system of soiling, 
which would dispense with interior fences ; saving land as well as fence ; 
saving manure as well as time, in always having working animals and cows 
at liand ; making animals more docile, so as to benefit the morals of farmers' 
boys, which are apt to partake of the character of the animals, and wild 
animals make wild men ; and trespassing animals make bad neighbors and 
breed mischief. It is one of the reasons why fences should be dispensed 
witli and a better sj-stem of farming adopted. Order and gentleness among 
animals and men grow out of tlieir greater domestication under the soiling 
system. 

Six leading, distinct advantages in favor of soiling are enumerated by 
writers upon the subject, to wit : Saving land ; saving fencing ; saving food ; 
keeping stock in greater comfort, good health and better general condition ; 
producing more milk ; saving the manure by which greater cultivated crops 
are produced. To these Mr. Quincy adds three more, which he considers 
equally important. The animals are more docile and easier disciplined ; 
they commit no trespass, as animals at large frequently do. The business 
of the farm can be conducted in greater order and comfort, and altogether 
more economically. 

962. Waste of Land Around Fences. — A zigzag rail fence takes up a strip 
of land four or five feet wide, and if stake-and-ridered, the strip is about ten 
feet wide, which takes from every hundred acres, on the average, as fields 
are inclosed, full five acres — land whicli is rendered worse than useless ; for 
it is a harbor for pestiferous weeds, animals, and insects, and often grows up 
into a most unsightly blur upon the face of the farm. "What farmer would 
willingly endure a government five per cent, tax upon the value of his land? 
Yet this is just what he voluntarily inflicts upon himself in thus losing the 
use of land, besides the cost of the fence. This waste of land by fencing 
is enough of itself to condemn the whole system, if there were no other ex- 
pense. Where land is valuable, as it is in many of the old States, crooked 
rail fences should be discarded entirely. No farmer can afford to keep such 
a fence upon land worth a hundred dollars an acre. If he must use rails, he 
should build tlie fence straight, which he can do cheaply by setting upright 
stakes, bound together by wire, to hold the ends of the rails in place. Such 
a fence looks more pleasing to us, though the other is called picturesque. 
It may be, but it is not utilitarian. 

A board fence, although more expensive in the first outlay, would be the 
most economical on account of its saving of land ; and on that acconnt, 
wherever a fence can not be dispensed with, this saving should be consid- 
ered. If a board fence is built for a permanent one, the boards should be 
battened over every post and nailed with what are known as fence nails, and 
the posts, unless of the most durable kind, should be kyanized, and always 
set in a position reversed from that of tlieir growth. 

963. Kyaniziug Fence Posts. — The term l-yimhing is taken from a Mr. 
Kyan, who introduced the subject in England within the present century. 



868 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 

It consists in filling the pores of the ■wood with mineral substance, such as 
sulphate of coppei', zinc, or iron, which act as preservatives, just as salt does 
in meat. J. W. Fairchild, of Hudson, N. Y., kyanized posts for liis garden 
in 1850, made of the refuse strips of a carpenter's shop, by using one pound 
of blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) to twenty pounds of water (you must not 
mistake pounds for quarts or gallons of water, as sometimes printed). In 
1859 these posts were found as sound as ever. "Without the kyanizing pro- 
cess every one -would have been rotten and worthless. Even the pointed 
end of a small hand-stake, which had stood continually in the ground eight 
years, was found perfectly sound. 

Spruce posts, which will not last two years unprepared, remain perfectly 
sound. Clothes-lines, or any other cordage, soaked two daj-s in the solution 
used for the fence posts, are rendered more than twice as durable, and no 
doubt shingles would be greatly increased in durability. Posts, six inches 
square, need to soak ten days. Tiie kyanizing liquor must be prepared in 
a square-sided vat made of ])lank, in a strong frame, with keys to tighten the 
joints. A barrel would serve while kept moist. An iron vessel would cor- 
rode. For small work a large earthen jar would do, or a vat might be made 
of water-lime cement. A vat that would only receive the ends of fence 
posts would answer, and it would soon pay cost upon any fiirm, where every 
post of every description, and many other things, might be kyanized with 
great profit. The solution must be renewed for every change of timber, by 
adding as much of vitriol to the water as will keep it at the standard strength. 
It makes no difference whether the timber is dry or wet, seasoned or green. 
Standing trees have been kyanized. 

964. f reosoJe for KyauizinTi — I" England, creosote has been found prefer- 
able to either sulphate of iron, of copper, or the chlorid of zinc or of mer- 
cury, either of M'hieh is much more expensive than creosote. Timber which 
had absorbed about eight pounds of liquid creosote to the cubic foot was 
apparently as sound at the end of five yeai's as when first treated. Its reli- 

' ability has been tested on quite a large scale on the Great IS^orthern and the 
Lancashire and Yorkshire railroads (England), on which roads creosoted tim- 
bers that have been down for ten years apjjear to bo as good as when first 
laid. Creosote is a liqiud which may be made from the refuse of the trees 
that make railroad timbers. It can be kept in wooden tanks in which the 
timl)crs may be steeped s:;veral days All timbsrs for bridges, the sills of 
buildings, and the sleepers of railroad tracks should be treated with this 
substance, or some other equally as good. The refu-ic creosotic compounds 
of coal oil — those which are obtained from distilled coal as well as from the 
natural oil wells — may be as powerfully antiseptic in their nature as creo- 
sote distilled from wood. Experiments should be made to determine this, 
because such products are now thrown away as waste, whereas they may be 
usefully applied to render exposed timber ten times more enduring than it 
now is, and thus save millions of dollars to our country annually. 

965. Salt and Fence Posts. — A correspondent says : " After setting white 



Sbo. 52.] PORTABLE PICKET FENCE. 869 

oak posts, I bored into eacli about three inches above the ground with a 
two-inch auger, at an angle of about 45°, and filled the hole with salt and 
plugged it up. Tlie ]:>lug3 are all in, and the posts look as sound as when 
set. I put in about one half a pint of salt to a post." 

966. Feucc Posts Top Eb«1 Down. — A farmer says: "I split two bar posts, 
side by side, out of a chestnut log eight feet long, eight inches wide, and 
three thick, and set one but down, the other top down. At the end of ten 
years the one set but down had rotted off, and I re-set it in the same hole. 
At the end of si.K years it was rotted off again, and T jnit in a new one. The 
other lasted two years longer, when it got split, and I took it out and found 
it was about two thirds rotted off. Sixteen years ago I set six pairs of bar 
posts, all split out of the but-cut of the same white oak log. One pair I set 
buts down, another pair, one but down, the other top down, and others top 
down. Four years ago those set but down were rotted off and had to be 
replaced by new ones. This summer I had occasion to re-set those that were 
set top down. I found them all sound enough to re-set. My experiments 
have convinced me that the best way is to set them tops down." 

The theorj' of this increased duration is, that moisture can not ascend as 
readily when the order of growth is inverted. 

967. Charring Feiicp Posts. — A writer in the JVcio England Farmer, who 
tried numerous experiments in setting fence posts by reversing, salting, and 
charring, is satisfied that charring did no^ood. Tliose charred lasted no 
longer than those from the same tree not charred. Salting dry jjosts is bene- 
ficial. Salting green ones did no good. The best thing was reversing the 
ends. 

96S. Portable Picket Fence. — The principal use of this kind of fence is for 
hurdling; being set up zigzag, it supports itself, and is easily separated at 
each panel. The cost is about thirty feet of lumber for ten feet, and half 
the value of that for labor. A man and two boys can make fifty panels a 
day. Where lumber is not worth over ten dollars a thousand feet, this kind 
of fence could be made and sold with profit for one dollar a panel. Made 
of oak or similar wood, it will last in good order ten or fifteen years. Tlie 
rails are cut exactly ten feet long, of stuff three inches wide and one and a 
half inch thick. These are bored by machinery very rapidly, twenty-nine 
holes in each rail. The pickets are sawed square and then turned one and 
a quarter inch diameter, at the rate of ten a minute. They are four feet 
long, pointed. The rails are kej'ed in a frame and pickets inserted and nailed 
in the top rail. The others are just tacked to hold them in place. If the 
fence is to be permanent, the rails are fastened to posts. If it is to be mov- 
able, the panels are held together by inserting a picket through the ends of 
the rails of two panels, which holds them together. 

Locust posts for this fence are sawed three by three inches at the top, 
tapering to six inches one way. This is sufficiently strong, as the wind has 
but little iiold of the pickets. It is sometimes called ladder fence, when 
made with only two rails. The best form is to Tise three rails ; and sometimes, 



870 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XI. 

for variety, every other picket only readies the middle rail. It is easily 
moved hy panels from permanent posts. It is a good kind of fence for the 
"Western prairies, where it has been considerably used. The machinery, in- 
cluding saws to make pickets and bore rails costs about one hundred dollars. 
Rails can be bored at any angle, so that pickets stand upright, while the 
rails correspond to the form of the hillside. 

969. Permaueut Fence on Soft Groundi — "We were troubled by tlie up- 
heaval and loosening of fence posts on the soft prairie soil of Indiana, and 
adopted the following eflective plan : We laid down a sill two feet long 
under each post, at right angles with the line of fence just even with the 
surface, setting the posts in the center, nailed fast and suppoi'ted by a small 
brace each side, nailed to the sill and post. Tliis made a cheaper fence than 
with posts planted in the ground, because the timber used was much lighter, 
and except the sills, did not require to be of durable timber. 

970. Hurdle Fence of Boards. — A plan for a cheap hurdle fence has been 
adopted, as follows: Panels of iive narrow boards of some light timber are 
nailed with clinch nails through battens, one on each side of the ends and a 
pair in the middle. To make these, a mold should be made by cutting 
gains in three timbers, two inches broader on the face than the battens, so 
that when one is laid on the timber, the gain can be seen and the fence 
boaids laid directly over. Then lay on the top batten and nail through ; 
the point of the nails will rea^^through into the gains and not into solid 
wood. These panels being lignt are easily handled, and may be set up by 
braces on each side, or fastened to stakes driven into the ground. But a 
better way is to fasten the ends of the panels together with wire, or with 
hooks and staples, which arc better and not nmch more expensive. One 
of the advantages of this kind offence is, it can be made by any farm hands 
in winter, or at such times as out-door work could not be carried on ad- 
vantageously. A similar fence to the above has been made of light round 
poles, of light straight rails, and of rived slats, in panels six or eight feet 
long. 

971. Farm Gates and Bars. — "We have given several good plans for gates 
in No. 304, and refer to the subject now maiidy for the purpose of urging 
farmers to substitute gates for bars wherever they are liable to be passed 
through once a month. The ditference of time in opening will pay the in- 
terest on the cost of a gate over that of a set of bars. Where a gateway is 
but seldom used, a board panel, made as described in 970, is a good substi- 
tute for bars, fastening it to the fence by hooks and staples. 

972. Wire Fence and Iron Fences. — Fencing with wire has not proved a 
success. If made cheap it is not effectual, if made effectual it is not eco- 
nomical. A good wire fence, built by Col. Capron, in Maryland, was con- 
structed as follows: The fence was forty rods long, made of No. 9 wire, 
attached to a permanent post at one end, and at the other end passed through 
boles in a post to keep them in position, fastened to a stout bar a few inches 
beyond the post. This bar was attached to a chain which passed around a 



Seo. 52.] WIRE FENCES AND IRON FENCES. 871 

roller with a weighted lever, to keep the wires always strained. When the 
wires expanded, the lover fell, winding the chain, and the reverse when they 
were contracted by cold. There were but few permanent posts along the 
line; the wires were supported at short intervals of space by strips, which 
also supported bottom boards. 

The following detailed account of cost of wire fence is made by H. F. 
French, of Exeter, N. H. : "On the 14th of August, 1852, I put up seventy 
rods of wire fence through the woods, using the trees for posts, occasionally 
driving a stake where more than eight feet intervened. I used three No. 9 
wires annealed ; the highest four feet from the grouTid, the spaces ten inches. 
I attached the wires to the trees, partly with small staples made of the same 
wire, and partly by sawing notches and driving nails over the wires. Four 
of us put up the seventy rods in one day. The cows have looked through 
each summer at my cornfields, but none broke through, and no repairs 
have been made. Tlie cost was: 189 pounds of annealed iron wire at 6i 
ceuts per pound, $12 27 ; labor of putting up, $4 ; nails, 25 cents ; total, 
$16 52 — being about 23i cents per rod. To build a good fence against cat- 
tle, I should use No. 9 wire ?io4» annealed, because it is said to be stronger. 
Galvanized wire does not rust, but is expensive. Tlie tension of the wires 
makes the whole strength of the fence, and to get them straight, if the 
ground is level, stretch the wires the whole distance. A tree at each end 
is the best post. It is almost impossible to set a stone or a wooden post that 
will not yield to the constant strain. If you set posts, set them very deep, 
and brace them with strong timbers resting against short posts set for the 
purpose. To strain the wires, take a stick of sound, hard wood, four inches 
diameter and sixteen inches long, bore two holes at right angles with a two- 
inch auger, one near each end, and a small hole through the middle to pass 
the wire through. Make two hjjntlspikes, say two feet long, to fit the auger- 
holes. Secure the wire at one end, and iinroll it by trundling the coil along 
on the ground, so as not to get kinks in it, which j-ou are sure to do in any 
other way. Bore a hole through the tree or post, and pass the wire through, 
leaving three or four feet spare length, and through the small hole in your 
windlass, and wind it round once or twice so that it will not slip; then put 
in the handspikes, and you can thus apply more power than four horses, 
and can hold the strain steadily. Then drive a hard-wood plug into the hole 
through the tree or post on the outside. This will hold till you take off your 
windlass and wind the wire a few times around the end of the pin. At eight 
feet distance along the wires drive small stakes and saw notches to receive 
and confine the wires by nails." 

An Illinois farmer says his fence of No. 7 for upper wire. No. 8 for second, 
and No. 9 for two lower wires, built in stretches of forty rods, cost seventy 
cents a rod, and proved effectual. 

973. Flat Bar Iron Fence. — There is a kind of flat bar iron fence with 
iron posts, made in New York by Hutchinson & Wickersham, at about 
$1 50 a rod, that answers a pretty good purpose, and is in one respect 



872 FORESTS AND FENCES. [Chap. XL 

superior to wire, because it is more movable ; it can be used as a hurdle 
fence. Another kind of flat bar fence is made of Jioop-iron nailed to wooden 
posts. 

974. Ornamental Iron Fencci — The Arm mentioned above have the greatest 
assortment to be found in the United States, of ornamental iron fence, made 
of what is called wove wire ; that is, stout wire bent into forms to fit to- 
gether, so that when properly connected and fastened in panels, and put 
together in the desired lengths, a light, strong, cheap fence is formed, suita- 
ble for 3'ards, gardens, and balconies, and is extensively used for all sorts of 
ornamental fencing, being trimmed with cast ornaments. 

Other ornamental fences are made of cast iron, in great varieties of pat- 
terns ; so tliat iron in some shajie is very fast taking the place of wood foi- 
all ornamental fences, and in many instances where utility and durability 
are consulted, without reference to ornament. 

975. Hedges, and Ucd^e PlautSi — The two leading plants for fence hedges 
in this country are thorns, such as are native to the locality, and Osage 
orange. Tlie latter is more used in Illinois than anywhere else, and the 
former is employed for fencing in Delawaxe to a greater proportionate ex- 
tent than in any other State. In Mississippi, and some other States south of 
lat. 32=', there is considerable fencing done with the Cherokee rose — a very 
rapid grower ; and when untrimined it soon takes up a strip twenty feet wide, 
and grows as many feet higli. Of course it is a fence, and that is more than 
can be said of thorn hedges in general. We have also seen hedges of yucca, 
or Spanish bayonet, that were fences. The handsomest of all is the Osage 
orange. Holly at the South also makes a handsome hedge ; it is an evei"- 
green, and bears bright crimson berries. In Virginia there are some red cedar 
hedges. John Taylor, of Caroline County, author of " Arator," the oldest 
agricultural book in this country, fenced his plantation witli cedar hedges. 
When young they were very handsome, but with age they outgrew their 
beauty and value as a fence. Honey locust makes a hedge that certainly is 
not handsome, though it answers tolerably well for a farm fence. As a 
general rule, any plant that naturally grows to a tree, makes a poor hedge 
plant. This is the case with Norway spruce {Abies excelsa), and with hem- 
lock and white pine, which have all been tried for ornamental hedges. We 
believe for this purpose there is no evergreen at the North -equal to arbor 
vitffi {Thuja occidentalis). It is very hardy, and limbs thickly from the 
ground, twenty feet high if desired ; is of slow growth and does not naturally 
grow to a large tree, and it flourishes in almost an}^ kind of soil, if not very 
dry. Its verdure winter and summer is handsome — much richer than cedar, 
which wears a sort of brownish appearance, as though the foliage were dirty. 

97G. Forest Tree HedgeSi— Oaks are used for hedges upon Long Island, 
not planted and cultivated for the purpose, but permitted to grow along the 
fence row, and lopped down by half cutting the body and bending in the 
limbs and suflering the sprouts to grow into a thicket. It is a poor excuse 
for a fence, very unsightly, and not very economical, as the fence row oc- 



I 

Seo. 52.] ORNAMENTAL HEDGES. 873 



ciipies a wide strip of land. In France, the wild ])ear, wild apple, malialeb 
clieiTj, elm, beech, hornbeam, Osage orange, buckthorn, hawthorn, Montpe- 
lier maple, scarlet oak (the hornbeam or iron wood), and tamai-ax gallica 
are all used for hedging. 

Tlie buckthorn is our most hardy and desirable hedge plant. It leaves out 
earlj^, and no cold kills it, but it is not a certain barrier against unruly cattle. 

977. Osage Orange Hedges. — The Osage orange is a native of the South- 
western States. It grows in great abundance in a wild state in Arkansas, 
where it takes more the form of a tree than a shrub, growing to the hight of 
thirty or forty teet, with a wide-spreading head, for which reason it is evi- 
dently unfitted for a' hedge, except by constant severe trimming. It has 
been found hardy enough to stand most of the winters as far north as 
Deti'oit, the frost only affecting the young shoots. Plants are easily grown 
from seeds, and a quart will produce a thousand plants. The j^rincipal ob- 
jections to the Osage orange are that it grows too vigorously, and is a most 
greedy absorber of all the nutriment in the soil within reach of its long roots. 

Charles Downing, of Is ewburg, says of his Osage orange hedge : " Nothing 
goes through it ; and it is equally trne that nothing will grow near it. I 
shall have to dig it up, or dig a ditch alongside of it to cut off the roots so 
they can not destroy my valuable fruit-trees. You see how miserable the 
row next to the hedge looks." 

978. Oruamectal HedgcSi — The barberry, althea, shepherdia, mahonia, wil- 
low, Japan pear {Pijrus Japonica), and privet are all used. For a summer 
screen only, privet, lilac, and several other hardy bushes ; for a low screen, 
currants answer, and so do several kinds of roses. 

In setting hedge plants, the very first step is to deeply trench the ground, 
and unless the soil is naturally rich, Avork in some well-rotted manure — that 
composed of leaves is excellent. We would not cut away the tops either 
before or immediately after setting the plants in the hedge row, because we 
think they will take root more firmly with the tops on than off, and if cut 
away the next spring, will grow so much more vigorously that they will 
make a hedge quicker than by the other course. Six or eight inches a year 
is all that you can safely increase a hedge. The clipping in May must be 
what persons unacquainted with the business would call very severe, leaving 
but a mere framework of stubs of branches. 

979. Stone Wall Fences. — ^The author does not advocate their general 
adoption, though often hearing the remark, that "stonewalls are the only 
permanent fences." When very expensively built, they are permanent good 
fences against all stock but sheep, but, as a general thing, are not per- 
manent beyond the age of the generation in which they were built. The 
great Northern power that forms icebergs, and uplifts and carries off rocks 
of a thousand tuns' weight, lifts up and throws down stone walls, however 
firmly built ; and then there is nothing meaner in tlie fence line than a mean, 
old, tottering stone wall. It is mean looking and a mean thing to depend upon 
as a fence. Sheep walk over it ; hogs crawl over it ; cattle push it over ; high 



874 FORESTS AND HEDGES. [Chap. XI. 

winds sometimes make gaps in it, and frost often does ; and when very old, 
it requires constant watching and frequent patching. The first cost of a 
good stone wall, fit to be called a fence, will be from three to ten dollars a 
rod, probably averaging twenty-five cents a foot in length. 

One of the strongest arguments used in favor of building walls, particu- 
larly by farmers who divide up their land into four-acre lots, is " to get rid 
of the stone." As a general thing, they had better bury them where they 
would servo as under-drains. Stone walls waste land. Each one occupies 
a strip five feet wide, and it is not unusual upon pretty well cultiviited New 
England farms, to find the earth, by repeated plowings, heaped up along 
each side, three or four feet wide, and occupied by bushes or briers, so that 
counting the wall two feet, and two feet each side, there is a width of six 
feet of land lost at each fence. If we calculate one half the contents of this 
strip around a ten-acre lot, for the portion chargeable to that side of the 
fence, we find the account stands thus : The equilateral sides of a ten-acre 
lot are 220 yards — 660 feet long, making 2,6i0 feet around, which multiplied 
by half the width of the wasted wall strip, gives 7,920 superficial feet to be 
deducted from 435,600 feet, the contents of the ten acres. This is exactly 
one and eight tenths per cent., and is in reality equivalent to a tax of nearly 
two per cent, on the value of the land, besides the interest and annual 
repairs chargeable to the fence. If, then, a stone wall is a permanent fence, 
so is this self-inflicted land tax equally permanent. Will farmers think a 
little upon this fact ? 

980. How to Build Stone Wall.— For those who are not skilled enough to 
ovei-see and direct laborers, or know whether jobbers are cheating them, the 
following few simple rules will be useful. 

Have the surface soil removed so that the foundation stones will rest on 
firm earth. Contiguous foundation stones should be as nearly as possible 
equal in size, and large enough to extend the full width of the wall, and 
every foundation stone firmly bedded in the ground. If boulders, or stones 
of uneven form are used, always plant the roughest side downward, or at 
least so as to have a flat side up to lay the next course upon. If your wall 
is built of a double line of stones, whatever their shape, it should frequently 
be bound across with flat stones or Avooden ties made of split pieces of cedar, 
chestnut, white oak, ash, or any durable tough wood, from half an inch to 
one inch thick, two to four inches wide. 

"Break joints" should be rung in the ears of a young wall-builder inces- 
santly, imtil he would do it instinctively every time he laid a stone into the 
wall. You can tell at a glance, as yon ride along the road, whether the wall 
was built by a workman, by the way the stones break joints. You may some- 
times see them so place'd that a joint extends from top to bottom. That wall 
was built by a cheat or bungler, probably both. 

Beware of a jobber who is continually chinking small stones into the 
joints of the face of his wall and filling up the interior with stones thrown 
in as carelessly as you would fill up a hole in the ground. If you find your 



Sbo. 52.] HOW TO BUILD STONE WALLS. 875 

jobber working this way, discharge him peremptorily. lie is both cheat 
and bungler. 

If your wall is built double, cap it with a course of even-sized stones, so 
as to give it a uniform ajjpearance. If the stones are gonorally flat, cap 
your wall with flat stones of even thickness and of a width greater than 
t!ie wall. This not only helps the appearance, but sheds ofl" water, which 
is often the means of destroying badly built walls, by running down inside 
and freezing so as to bulge out the two lines of stones with which the sides had 
been faced np and not bound togethei'. 

Good walls are sometimes built of very bad stones by using cross-biiiders 
of wood in the lower coui'ses, and then near the top laying two boards, each 
about one fourth the width of the thickness of the wall along the line, and 
upon those building up the remaining bight. These boards will last many 
years and serve to hold cobble stone together quite firmly. 

It is a better plan, however, we believe, not to build the wall as high by 
a foot, and take the strips of boards designed for binders in the wall and 
nail them to small posts built in so as to give sufficient bight for the fence. 

A very common fence in some sections is built of cobble stone about two 
feet high, topped with two bars inserted in posts, or with strips of boards 
nailed on. 

981. Ha-ha Walls. — "Walls built with one face and backed against a bank 
are called ha-ha walls, and are very common in hilly regions, where stone 
abounds. These walls are often to be seen in "Westchester County, N. Y., 
where they are backed by earth scraped up or carted to form the bank. 
This always appears to us bad economy ; for a good ha-ha wall, even where 
the ground favors its construction, costs more than a plain wall, because it is 
necessary to build it very fii-mly to prevent the frost throwing it off from the 
bank. To guard against this, it should be built of large stones, made to 
lean heavily against the earth. A cobble-stone ha-ha wall would not stand 
many winters at the North-^the frost M'ould bulge it out, so that it would 
fall or be pressed over by the dirt. 

Ditching each side of a wall appears to us of no great benefit, and adds 
very much to the waste of land already noticed (979). Throwing up a ridge 
to build the wall upon has no other advantage that we can sec than saving 
stone where they happen to be scarce. This system is considerably practiced 
by Hon. A. B. Conger, of Rockland County, N. Y. 

982. Wall-Builders' Tools. — A' farmer who has not been bred upon a stony 
farm knows bxit little of the importance of having good tools to handle stone. 
"Without good tools, wall building is not only expensive but very laborious. 
A set of wall-builders' tools would for three hands comprise three crow-bars, 
of three sizes, one of which should be of steel, three feet long and about 
three fourths of an inch diameter. This is for moving stones on the wall. 
Tiiere should be a cant-hook, similar to those used in saw-mills, but with a 
lighter handle. Each man should have a stone hammer, but these should 
vary in size, so as to interchange as occasion requires, and there must be one 



876 FORESTS AND TENCES. [Chap. XL 

lieavy sledge. If any stones require splitting, a drill and wedges will be 
necessary'. An iron square, a plumb, a line and stakes, a pick and spade will 
complete the assortment of tools for building the wall after the stones arc 
hauled. For digging stones, use one of the lately invented stone-lifters, with 
which stones of iive tuns' weight can be raised by one horse, and while held 
up suspended between a pair of large wheels, hauled to the line of wall. This 
is a great labor-saving machine. In the absence of such a machine, have 
one large and two smaller crow-bars, and a good lever and a well-made 
set of grappling hooks, which will often save hours of labor at a single stone, 
because you can pick two holes on the sides of a smooth stone to catch the 
points of the hooks in, by which the oxen will pull it out, when it would be 
a long, tiresome job to get a chain arounrl. 

A good stone boat is indispensable for hauling stones to a wall, and if tlie 
distance is long, it is a good plan to suspend the boat between wagon wheels 
just so it will clear the ground. If you have no wagon, use a cart, and sus- 
pend the forward end of the boat to the axle. This will be a great assistance 
to the team. 

For loading stones on a wagon, it will be fottnd a great saving of labor to 
have a frame with no sides, except a three-inch piece of scantling. Tiie floor 
should be one and a half inch oak or other strong wood plank. At the hind 
end have a windlass roller fixed in posts about two and a half feet above the 
bed, witli a chain and pair of grappling hooks, by whicli a man can raise a 
stone of five hundred pounds by turning the levers of the windlass. When 
it is chock up, a piece of plank is slipped under, from which it can be rolled 
forward with a bar, or by another windlass at the forward end. With a 
wagon rigged in this wa}% one man can load stones with ease that four men 
could only get up by hard work and danger. A movable triangle and wind- 
lass will be found a great labor-saving machine in handling stone. Set over 
a heavy l)lock, it can be lifted in two minutes iiigh enough to slip the stone 
boat under easier and quicker by one man tliiin three could load it with 
crow-bars and hard lifting. The same implement can be used to put stones 
on the wall. 



CHAPTER XII. 



FEETILIZATION. 



SECTION LIII.-THE ART, USE, AND ECONOMY OF MAKING, SAVING, 
AND .APPLYING MANURES, AND FERTILIZING FARM CROPS. 







OW to make poor land fertile has always been, 
.V peihaps always will be, a mystery. If it is affirm- 
J 7 ed that barn-yard manure will do it, we reply, 
__ that is no mystery; but it is, a inystei-y how to 
' obtain it or its equivalent where it is not to bo liad. 
"No uian will ever make or keep his distant fields fertile 
by carting the contents of his barn-yard. In some 
cases the farmer seeks relief by resorting to a great 
agricultural liumbug — the analysis of soils. Then 
he applies the pinch of powder wliich the quack rec- 
ommends to restore the " missing ingredient," and 
sows his seed, and reaps disappointment. How to 
make barren land productive, or liow to keep fertile 
land so, is what farmers most desire to know. "We can not teach the art, 
but the following paragraphs we hope will add something to the farmer's 
stock of information upon tliis important subject. 

9S3. Fineness of Soil Promotes Fertility. — Remember tha" t!ie great secret 
of all naturally fertile soils is extreme fineness of the particles. Pulveriza- 
tion, as a rule, is better than manure. Disintegration is, hov.'ever, aided by 
manuring as well as plowing and harrowing. Fertility will increase by 
deeply stirring the soil with turning and subsoil plows, and by aeration from 
under-drains, and by growing plants with deeply penetrating roots. That is 
why— 

98i. Clover Promotes Fertility. — Its roots penetrate and aerity llie subsoil, 
while its tops shade, and when decayed fertilize the surface. The fertility 
of our soils must be improved by growing the manure on the land. That is, 
growing clover and other green crops to plow in, so that by very small addi- 
tions of purchased fertilizers, to I'cplace the things sold and taken off" the 
farm, it will not only maintain its original fertility, but increase it, because 
it will be constantly drawing from the atmosphere. Tlie difficulty about 
maintaining fertility is, that it is generally exhausted before the owner of 
the soil begins to think about saving. Tiie question, therefore, is rather how 
to restore than how to increase fertility. Land will improve more while 



878 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

growing a crop than it will in a naked fallow. Lot that be forever remem- 
bered as the great secret of " How to increase fertility." Give each food or 
forage crop the proper pabulum to enable it to draw upon earth and atmos- 
phere, and it will perfect itself, while it stores up in the soil pabulum for a 
succeeding crop, which should follow in rotation, without exhausting fer- 
tility. Von Thaer says feeding off a crop of clover with sheep will add 
twenty per cent, to the fertility of the soil. 

985. Color and Moisture of Manures Effect Fertility.— Though not richer 
in humus, a black soil will be more j)roductive than a light one, because the 
color elevates the temperature. This has been proved in cold climates, 
where melons were ripened by covering the soil an inch deej) with charcoal 
dust. In Belgium, grape-growers improve light soils by spreading fragments 
of black slate over the surface. In addition to its fertilizing qualities, peat 
improves light soils by its color. Earth must be in a hygroscopic condition 
to be productive. Manure and black earth, and all salts added to tlie soil, 
improve this condition. Sandy land is barren because it has no hygroscopic 
quality. Add manure, peat, black earth, which give that quality, and the 
land produces far more than can be fairly credited to the substance added. 
All clayey soils are improved by under-draining, which both prevents excess 
of moisture and at the same time aerates the soil and helps to keep it moist 
in a dry time. 

980. Theory of Fertilizing Seeds by Incrustation. — ^This is not a new theory, 
though newly revived in France, where works are erected to execute the 
process. The fertilizer is agglutinated to the seeds in .quantity sufficient to 
furnish food to the young shoot until it gains strength to draw it from the 
soil. It is simply carrying out the theory of giving the plants an " early 
start." Boussingault planted the incrusted seed in calcined quartz sand, 
and added phosj)hate of lime, nitrate of potash, and vegetable ashes, and 
the plants grew luxuriantly, as though in garden mold. Sugar and soot 
mixed in water are recommended for coating wheat seed. Sugar, lialf a 
pound '.o ihe bushel ; soot to make the mixture black as ink ; M\atcr to make 
the stuff as thick as cream : to stand thirty or forty hours ; then stir in the 
wheat. The editor of The Valley Farmer thinks this incrustation tlieory 
a dangerous doctrine, which if followed will reduce any soil to poverty. 
" As well," he says, " might we encase an eggshell with food for the 
chick as a grain of corn with food for the plant." We do not think so, 
and advise tiie incrustation to be tried by all farmers in a small way, and 
if it adds vigor to the young shoot, it may much more than j)ay the cost 
of application. 

To coat seeds with plaster and lime : For each bushel of wheat use half a 
pint of tar dissolved in hot water reduced to blood heat, into which pour the 
wheat gradually, stirring constantly for a few minutes; drain the wheat in 
a basket over a barrel, then put it into a tight box, and add as much lime 
or plaster as will adhere by stirring until the grain is dry. 

987. Nitrates, Muriates, Sulphates. — What are they ? And which of them 



Sko. 53.] NITRATES, MURIATES, SULPHATES. 879 



is good for manurial purposes ? We can not give this information in better 
form than in the following relation of Barnum's e.xperience : 

Barnum — the Barnum — is or was a Connecticut farmer. lie has a passion 
that way. It is a hobby with him. lie always has a hobby. Sometimes 
it is a " Fire Annihilator," and sometimes the Crystal Palace, or a Connecti- 
cut clockmaker, annihilates him. 

One year he had the hen fever. That was his hobby. lie rode it till ho 
spent about $2,000, and then found that ho had neither eggs nor chickens for 
family use. His neighbors' hens that " stole their nests," under the barn 
or by the side of the fence, hatched more chickens than his did, and when 
they were grown, they were healthy and good to eat, while his were droop- 
ing and sickly in their costly house. 

Another of his hobbies was to renovate old fields by purchasing and 
hauling stable manure. That hobby broke down. It has broken down a 
thousand times before, but the more it broke, the more old-fogyism stuck to 
it. It was the ancient custom of the land to plow shallow and top dress with 
stable manure, sea-weed, and fish. Digging muck was an innovation. It 
was a good thing, but it did not bear long transportation. Something bet- 
ter was wanted. Somebody said, Use salt. That did not look reasonable. 
What virtue was there in salt to make plants grow ? Somebody else said, 
Use saltpeter. But that was evident nonsense. Saltpeter was only to pre- 
serve meat — it was not manure. Another wise man told hira Glauber salts 
were good, but a wiser one told him that Epsom salts were better. 

" Bless yonr soul, man," says Barnum, " do you suppose I want to physic 
my land ? No, sir ; I want to feed it, and make it feed me." 

So he took to the study of agriculture. He took several learned agricul- 
tural papers, and read tliem, and — well, he concluded that he was not the 
only humbug in the world. 

So he went otf lecturing upon humbug as a science, under the full impres- 
sion that ho had been about as badly humbugged, in the agricultural line, 
hens and hundred-dollar ducks included, as he ever humbugged anybody 
with woolly horses and Feejee mermaids. 

Still he was not satisfied. He thought Connecticut soil had something in 
it, and if it could be stimulated to give it up, it would produce something 
besides daisies and muUens. 

As he did not need to study his lecture — that came naturally — he bought 
Johnson's Chemistry, Norton's Chemistry, and Liebig's Chemistry, and de- 
voted his leisure hours of traveling to search ont what was the best and 
most concentrated manure to apply to his old fields. He had already done 
one very essential thing: he had plowed the soil" deeper than it was ever 
plowed before ; and now he wanted to manure l^etter and cheaper, and 
make it more productive. So he studied agricultural chemistry. Therein 
he learned these facts : 

That an application of 100 lbs. of nitrate of potash to an acre of land had 
doubled the crop of grass. 



880 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

Again, he read that the same quantity of sulphate of soda had produced 
tlie same or a bettor effect. 

It was also stated that suljphate of magnesia was still better, and that 
remarkable effects had been produced by a free use of muriate of soda. 
Nitrate of soda had also done wonders. 

The author suggested that the farmer might procure a portion of each of 
these sulphates and nitrates and mix them together and produce a cheaper 
and more concentrated manure than superphosphate of limo or guano. 

Full of this idea, Farmer Barnum returned to New York, and went forth- 
with to a dealer in drugs, medicines, and chemicals, and inquired the prices 
of — Nitrate of potash? — cents a pound. Nitrate of soda? — 4 cents. Sul- 
phate of soda? — 2 cents. Sulphate of magnesia? — 2i cents. Muriate of 
soda? — li cents. 

"Very well ; put me up a hogshead of each." 

In due time the farmer was ready to begin to use his new manures, or, 
rather, he was first curious— even showmen have curiosity — to see what 
these nitrates and sulphates all looked like. So he ordered the casks that 
had arrived to be opened for inspection. That was soon dine, and the man, 
with consternation written upon his face, came back with handfuls of the 
contents, and reported : 

" Mr. Earnum, you're sold — ^humbuggcd. Look here ! that was marked 
"Nitrate of potash" — what do you call that?"' 

" That ! that is saltpeter — nothing else." 

" And this? This M-as marked ' Sulphate of soda.'" 

"Why, that! — that" — and he tasted — "that — oh, pshaw!— that is Glau- 
ber salts." 

" And this — sulphate of magnesia ?" 

" Eah !— tiiat is Epsom suits." 

" And shall I send them back ?" 

" Yes — no — hold on ! Perhaps the druggist in the village has sent for 
them, and they have made a mistake, and sent my nitrates and sulphates to 
him, and his physic to me." 

So he posted down to inquire; but no — nobody had sent for any Glauber salts; 
and he came back to write a letter and blow up tlie dealer who had befooled 
him. In the mean time the man had got the cask marked " Muriate of soda" 
opened, and reported that it contained — ha, ha, ha — simply commoii salt. 

" What on earth," wrote Mr. B., to the chemist, " did you send me Glau- 
ber salts, Epsom salts, saltpeter, and common salt for? Do j-ou think I 
want to pickle and preserve my land, and if I got in too much salt and salt- 
peter, phj'sic it out ? Only one of the casks contains what I ordered, and 
that is the nitrate of soda." 

The return mail brought the answer: "Nitrate of soda, of course, is riglit, 
because it is not known by any other name. 

" Glauber salts is, |3foperly speaking, sul])hate of soda, and sulphate of 
magnesia is nothing more nor less than E^risom salts. 



Sec. 53.] . PRIMITIVE SOURCES OF FERTILIZING SUBSTANCES. 881 

" Salt, as ■we use the term, is salt, hut it is a very unmeaning term among so 
many salts. Muriate of soda is the riglit name of our common, or table salt. 

" And nitrate of potash is nothing but saltpeter ; don't be afraid of it — it 
won't explode." 

"But it did explode," said _Mr. Barnum; "it exploded my ignorance. I 
had studied agricultural chemistry, but I did not know salt nor saltjieter. 1 
do now, and I mean to know that they are good for land." 

988. Sulphate of Lime— Plaster of Paris— Gypsum. — Tliese names are syn- 
onymous, as used ill common conversation, tliough not strictly so. "Plas- 
ter" is tlie most common term used by farmers, as applied to sulphate of lime 
reduced to powder liy grinding, wlien used as a dressing for land. 

Plaster of Paris is made of the gypseous rock of the vicinity of Paris, 
France, by grinding and lieating, -which prepare it for use ip the arts, as we 
see it in casts of various figures. Gypsum, or plaster, which is ground sul- 
phate of lime, is made of gypseous rock which is found in various localities 
in this country, and is composed of sulphuric acid and lime. It should al- 
wa3-s be applied on a green crop, and it does tlie most good on a succulent 
one, such as clover or peas, and the spring season is the best time to ajiply 
it, when the crop, whatever it is, is in a fresli-groM-ing condition, from natural 
fertility or manure, since plaster is not a manure, but an assistant, acting as 
an absorbent of floating ammonia, whicli it yields up again to the growing 
plants. Plaster sown upon a plowed field in the autunm would be of very 
little if any benefit to whatever crop might be put upon tlie field in the spring. 
It is generally found more beneficial to clover than to any of the true grasses, 
which is accounted for by the fact that the ingredients of which it is com- 
posed are found most abundant in the ash of clover. 

One of the best purposes to whicli plaster can bo applied about a farm is 
in the stable and places of deposit of manure, to jirevent the escape of am- 
monia, and thus keep the air sweet and licalthy. 

In some sections farmers complain of not seeing any benefits from plaster, 
while in others it is their main stay. AVe know two large gi'azicrs in Dutchess 
County, W. II. & David L. Belding, who have bought up worn-out farms and 
renovated tiiem by the use of plaster, so as to produce the richest pasturage. 

989 Primitive t^ources of Fertilizing Substances. — There is an abundance of 
mineral substance, of the same chemical character as the fertilizing portion 
of manures, locked up in rocks. The Academy of Science, Paris, having 
investigated the question, say that the primary substances found in rocks, 
particularly the phosphates, whicli are almost chemically identical with 
bones, are really of but little or no value to growing plants in the first step 
of their progress; but that all mineral substances, the longer they have pro- 
gressed through animal and plant life, the better they are as fertilizers. 
Bones are better than mineral phosphate, and bones of an animal tliat con- 
sumes phosphatic food are better than those of one that did not. It has been 
found impossible by any mechanical or chemical means known to reduce 
mineral phospliatcs to such a degree of fineness as we obtain from bones. 



882 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

Tliis is one reason why mineral phosphates are not readily assimilated by 
growing plants. 

990. Value of Phosphatic Guano. — ^There may be some guano known as 
pliosphatic that has some manurial value, but English farmers who have 
tried some of the substances sold under this name, have no faith in its value 
as a fertilizer. The editor of the Agricultural Review says : " From our own 
knowledge we can affirm that tlie guano from some of the West India Islands 
is not worth the price of the freight to this country." B. M. Rhoads, a 
chemist of Baltimore, thinks a pound of phosphoric acid in bone superphos- 
phate Avorth three times as much as a pound in " brown Mexican guano." 

991. Gas Lime — Its Value to Farmers. — Dana's JI/'KcAjJ/cwiMaZ says: "Gas 
lime contains sulphureted hydrogen, sulphuric acid, and ammonia. It can 
not be used agriculturally till it has been exposed to the air for a year, by 
which it is converted into sulphate of lime and ammonia, and carbonate of 
lime. In this state, mixed with three times its bulk of soil, it forms a useful 
top-dressing ; or it may be added, before mixing with soil, to the compost 
hcirp or to meadow muck, say two bushels to the cord." 

So we say it is valuable, but the farmer must know how to use it. The 
farmers of Lancashire, England, are well satisfied that gas lime is val- 
uable when applied in small quantities upon pasture lands and meadows, 
wliich show the good effects of the application for years. One of our cor- 
respondents does not believe that gas lime fresh from the works is injurious. 
He applied it with beneficial eflFects at the rate of a pailful per rod. 

992. Lime Ashes. — " Are the ashes of a lime-kiln valuable — that is, more 
valuable than lime ?" Thus writes a con-espondent. "We answer, No ; be- 
cause from his locality we know the kiln is burnt with anthracite coal, the 
ashes of which are not worth hauling five miles to obtain the small portion 
of lime mixed with them. Coal ashes are not entirely valueless, but they 
bear no compai-ison to the value of lime. Where wood is used for fuel, the 
lime-kiln ashes are very valuable for all soils and all crops. 

993. Uow to Apply Lime. — After the burnt limestone has been some time 
exposed to the air, it becomes air-slaked, and in the condition of a dry pow- 
der, and of twice the bulk it was before slaking, and may be sown broad- 
cast by hand, or by a machine. If we were about-to apply lime to wheat 
ground, M'e should harrow it in when we did the seed. On a potato field, we 
would sow it broadcast over tops and all, after hoeing. If applying it to corn, 
we would scatter it all over the surface of the earth, either before or after the 
last hoeing. As to the quantity per acre, the majority of opinions of those who 
have used lime most, favors thirty bushels of slaked lime per acre, continuing 
it every year, or every second or third year, until 120 bushels are applied. 
Lime is always beneficial to land full of vegetable matter. The quantity is 
to be varied according to the condition of the soil. One with much vegeta- 
ble matter in it will bear much more than a soil almost destitute. Shell lime 
is tlie best. Barren fruit-trees have been made fruitful by dressing the land 
with lime, for it combines with the acids of the earth, neutralizes them, and 



Sec. 53.] HOW TO DISSOLVE BONES. 883 

renders the earth sweet. In all muck land there is a resinous matter that 
prevents the decomposition of the vegetable fiber. This condition is always 
improved by adding lime. 

994. Value of Old Mortar or Plastering. — ^There is no valuable substance 
about a farm oftener wasted, by throwing into the road, or into some mud- 
hole, or out-of-the-way corner, than the old mortar of chimneys and lath- 
and-plastered walls. It is because the fact is not known that this old mortar— 
the older the better — is a most valuable fertilizer. It is good upon any soil 
and upon every crop, used as a surface-dressing. It is particularly valuable 
in garden soil, which, notwithstanding its richness in nitrogenous manure, 
sometimes lacks j ust what it would receive from a dressing of this old mortar. 

995. Burnt Earth— Its Value as a Fertilizer. — In England, whole fields 
are pared off and windrowed up with brush, straw, stubble, peat, or dried 
sods, enough to start the fire and heat the clay to an almost brick-burning 
heat, and then the whole of the burnt mass is spread over the surface, adding 
greatly to the fertility. Remember this fact, that burnt clay will always 
prove beneficial to I'aw clay, and still more so to sandy land, or to soil 
charged witii nitrogenous matter, such as what we term good garden soil. 

996. Iron as a Fertilizer. — Sulphate of iron (copperas) naturally exists in 
many soils, and, unless neutralized with lime, injures some crops. Yet iron 
in certain forms is undoubtedly beneficial, particularly to fruit-trees. M. 
Dubreuil, a celebrated European horticulturist, says that it has been proven 
" that melons and various species of fruit-trees, the green parts of wliich had 
been watered on several occasions with a weak solution of sulphate of iron, 
yielded much larger fruits than those not so treated." He adds : " One of 
my pupils repeated the same exjDeriments in 185-t and 1855 on pear-trees. 
He gave the first watering as soon as the fruits were fairly set, in the end of 
June. He repeated the moistening every fortnight, in the evening, in order 
to prevent evaporation, and that absorption might be completely eifected 
during the night. The solution was at the rate of 26 grains to a quart for 
the first three, and 35 grains per quart for the last two waterings." The 
result appears to have been a large increase in the size of the pears. Many 
soils contain iron, and such, if the iron is not in excess, are generally good 
fruit soils. Iron dust, from the forge, has frequently been used by florists 
to -highten color of flowers. 

997. Save the Bones — Their Value. — Never neglect to pick up a bone ; it 
is worth saving. You would stoop for a copper cent ; the bone may be 
worth a dime. True, it is of no value whole, except for grapevines, but it 
is easily made fine, and then its value is almost incalculable. Lying waste, 
bones are a nuisance in mowland or pasture. Pick them up and dissolve 
them into excellent manure. 

998. How to Dissolve Bones. — Mix one gallon of sulphuric acid with five 
gallons of water and put in the bones, after having broken them as fine as 
you can witii a hammer. The bones and liquid will form a pasty mass in a 
few days, if the acid is strong enough ; if not, more must be added. The 



884 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

water may be evaporated from the mass, leaving the acid combined with the 
phosphate of lime of the bones. This is xinadiilterated snperpliosphate, and 
is a very valuable manure. Bones maybe also dissolved in nnleached ashes, 
or horse dung, if broken up and mixed, or covered up. Charcoal-powder or 
plaster should be spread over the heap to prevent escape of ammonia. Sul- 
phuric acid (oil of vitriol) is very corrosive, and must be handled witli great 
care. "We recommend a large iron kettle to be painted with a thick coat of 
earthy paint, or even clay dissolved in skim-milk, as the best vessel to dis- 
solve bones in. A Scotch farmer adds 340 lbs. of acid to 25 bushels of fine 
bones, wet with 18 imperial gallons of boiling water, and lets it stand two 
days, and then mixes with two cart-loads of light mold, and turns the mixture 
over. At this stage the bones are oidy partially dissolved, but they heat and 
decompose in the heap after being turned over three or four times ; and in 
the course of seven or eight weeks the compost becomes dry and breaks 
down with a shovel. 

An American farmer says : " For every tun of bone I provide 500 lbs. of 
best sulphuric acid and 300 llis. of guano, and get them distributed among 
the bone as equally as possible. By the fermentation and heating of the 
bone, better work is done with 25 lbs. of acid than we used to have with 
40 lbs. One pound of acid requires nine pounds of water. Bones may be 
dissolved without acid, if crushed and mixed with fine earth or manure, and 
kept moist." 

999. What Manure will best sustain Fertility?— Undoubtedly, barn-yard 
manure must hold the first place with all farnij s — and rightly — because it 
contains all the needed ingredients, though it may not have all in as great a 
proportion as would be profitable to apply. Thus, to barn-yard nianm-e 
muck, salt, and plaster may be added ; and lime, applied to the same land 
that has been highly manured ; and flesh, blood, hair, and bone will sustain 
fertility, and their constituents are all needed, because soil imparts nitrogen 
to its crops, and must have it returned. 

The following table will show the per-centage of nitrogen in various sub- 
stances, by which the value of manure made fi'om them may be calculated. 
The greater the amount of nitrogen the better for manure. 

Water. Dry Matter. , Nitrogen Nitrogen 

' in natural state. in dry mattor 

Barley straw 11.0 89.0 0.23 0.26 

Oat straw 21.0 79.0 0.28 0.36 

Kye straw 14 86 80 0.36 

Wheat straw 18.0 82.0 0.33 0.40 

Buckwheat straw 11.6 88.4 0.48 0.64 

Meadow hay 11.0 89.0 1.15 1.23 

Red clover bay 12.7 87.3 1.83 2.10 

Pea straw 8.5 91.5 1.79 1.95 

Carrots 87.6 12.4 0.30 2.40 

Potatoes 74.0 26.0 0.39 1.49 

Mangel-wurzel...... . 87.0 13 0.29 2.27 

Rutabaga 88.fi 11.4 0.21 1.87 

Barley 16.0 84.0 l.CO 1.90 

Malt 7.0 93 l.CO 1.72 

Wheat 16.0 84 190 2.14 

Oats 16.0 84.0 2.00 2.38 



Skc. 53.] now TO PRESERVE MANURE. 885 









Water. 


Dry Matter. 


Nitrogen 
in natural state. 


Nitrogen 
In dry matxer. 


Indian corn 






18,0 .. 


82.0 . . . 


164 .... 


... 2.00 


Malt dust. . 






7.0 .. 
G.O .. 


93.0 . . . 

94.0 . . . 


4.00 .... 

4.51 .... 


... 4.08 


Malt grains 






... 4.90 


Linseed .... 






12.0 .. 


88.0 . . . 


3.75 .... 


. . . 4.76 


Beans, peas. 


or 


tares. . 


16.0 .. 


84.0 ... 


4.00 .... 


... 4.76 


American oil cake.. . . 


11.6 .. 


88.4 . . . 


5.04 .... 


... 5.71 



Decorticated cotton-seed 

cake $27 86 

Rape cake 21 01 

Linseed cake 19 72 

Malt dust 18 21 

LentUs 16 51 

Linseed. 15 65 

Tares 15 75 

Beans 15 75 



If the following substances are used as cattle food, the comparative value 

of each tun, in manure, is represented as follows : 

Peas $13 38 1 Oat straw $2 90 

Locust beans 4 81 Wheat straw 2 68 

Oats 7 40 Barley straw 2 25 

Wheat 7 08 Potatoes 1 50 

Indian com 6 65 I Mangolds 1 07 

Malt 6 65 j Swedish turnips 91 

Barley 6 32 j Common turnips 86 

Clover hay . . . .' 9 04 Carrots 86 

Meadow hay 6 4-3 | 

1000. How to Preserve Manure< — Hoi* droppings are very liable to injury 
by heating. When any manure is burned in the heap, it is little better than 
ashes. This can be prevented by the application of water to the manure 
heap, frequent turnings, and making compact piles. Mixing with sod, scrap- 
ings of the roads and walks, and swamp muck will retard decomposition. 
The best way to preserve maimre is to apply it to crops, to grass, corn, and 
roots, and the orchai'd, followed by a sliallow plowing. Cattle droppings 
should be mixed with those of horses, to preserve and improve both. If 
you have no cellar nor shed to save manure in, pile it up, mixing muck, 
sods, weeds, waste straw, salt, and lime to help decomposition, and plaster 
or charcoal on the surface to absorb and retain the escaping gases, and use a 
pump to send back all the drainings and other rich liquid, including urine 
and soapsuds, and old brine, blood, and all sorts of dirty water. Use this 
well-rotted compost, and you will escape weeds and grow gi'ass and grain. 
Use all heavy manui-e ujjou home-lots, and treat outlying ones with some 
concentrated fertilizers and clover. If a manure pile is kept continually 
moist, its value will be preserved if the drainage is not wasted. When com- 
posted with muck and other similar materials, and kept wet, the fluid pass- 
ing through tlie mass will pervade all parts, and withont turning or forking 
in any way, the intrinsic value of each portion will be communicated to the 
whole, and improved by this mode of treatment. There is no item of econ- 
omy about a farm that will pay better than that of saving every old rag, old 
shoe, old bone, soapsuds, house sweepings, chamber slops, kitchen garbage, 
and garden weedings for the compost heap ; which in a yeai-, from these 
little bits of waste, will grow into a valuable pile. Unlike purchased fertil- 
izers, the cost of the compost heap is never felt in the pocket. It may be 
made in any convenient place, and will never taint the air if ])aitl v composed of 
swamp muck, or fine charcoal, or occasionally sprinkled with jdaster. Every- 
thing that will decompose may be used. Every dead animal should be 
buried in its center, with muck or charcoal, or with fine clay, if neither of 
the first can be had conveniently. A cart-load of muck (decomposed with 



886 FERTILIZATION. [CaiP. XII. 

lime and salt) or of fine charcoal, sucli as locomotive cinders, or debris of a 
coal-yard, or fine charcoal and burned earth of a coal-pit, will prevent any 
smell arising from the carcass of a horse, and where manure is worth two 
dollars a load, the value of the compost heap will be increased ten dollars 
by every carcass buried in it. 

1001. How to Apply Manure— When and Where— Wc do not believe it is 
even a good practice to apply manure exclusively to hoed crops, or upon 
plowed land. We believe it would be found almost inconceivably better to 
apply it exclusively to grass lands, both mowing and pasture, and make 
them productive and capable of sustaining more animals, which would in- 
crease the production of manure, and then, by plowing under the enriched 
sod, any kind of grain or root crop would be pi'oduced at less expense per 
bushel than by the direct application of manure, except it was of some of 
the concentrated sorts, such as guano, phosphate, poiulrctte, or well-rotted 
compost, used to hasten the first gr<|wtl). Whether this is a correct practice 
or not is the question that needs discussion and ])ositive determination. It 
was discussed by some of the good farmers of the State of New York, at 
one of the meetings of the State Agricultural Society, with an almost 
universal opinion in favor of spreading upon the surface, and mostly upon 
sod. 

We give a few of these opinions. In favor of top-dressing sod with ma- 
nure, and plowing it under, Mr. Merely, of Onondaga County ; T. C. Peters, 
of Darieii, Genesee County ; Lewis F. Allen, of Black Rock ; Mr. Gold- 
smith, of Orange County ; Mr. Marks, of Onondaga County ; Mr. Leland, 
of Saratoga County ; Mr. Williams, of Seneca County ; T. W. Field, of 
Long Island ; George Geddes, of Onondaga ; Mr. Lyons, of Lewis County ; 
Mr. Huested, of Ulster County ; A. L. Fish, of Herkimer County ; Mr. 
Bartlett, of Dutchess County ; A. B. Conger, of Eockland County ; and the 
author, of Westchester County. Mr. Lyons, of Lewis, has top-dressed 
meadows for fifteen years, without breaking up, with good results. Mr. 
Curtis, of Tompkins, said clover was the most economical manure for him. 
He seeds with rye, and uses plaster. Mr. Day, of Genesee County, is equally 
favorable to clover, but can not make it grow without niunure. Judge 
Blodget, of Lewis County, finds ashes and plaster beneficial as top-dressing 
of grass lands, but thinks the most important thing is first to give the soil a 
good preparation by plowing. Mr. Sylvester, of Wayne County, always 
jilows in manure. A. B. Conger thinks the mauner of applying manure 
tlepends entirely on what sort of a ciop is to be grown. If it is a deep-rooted 
crop, the manure must be deep buried to produce the best result. Upon 
grass crops it is probable that top-dressing is tlic most beneficial. 

1002. Sundry Experiments in Surface Manuring.- Prof. Legnitz, of Elden, 
divided a lot into four equal parts. To No. 1 no manure was given. No. 2 
received aboiit two tuns of farm-yard dung, wliich was spread immediately 
and covered in by means of the plow. No. 3 was treated in the same man- 
ner, with this difference, that the hoe was used instead of the plow. The 



Seo. 53.] LIQUID MANURE. 887 

same quantity of dung was carried to No. 4, and allowed to I'einain spread 
three weeks on the soil before being covered in by the hoe. On the 10th of 
October, the four lots subjected to experiment were sown with about ninety- 
five pints of rye each. The following are the total results of the crops of 
each lot, grain and straw included : No. 1 produced 5S3 pounds ; No. 2 pro- 
duced 770 pounds; No. 3 produced 818 pounds; No. 4 produced 930 
pounds. 

1003. Renovating Old Pastures by Top-dressing.— One of the best things 
that can be applied to a rocky pasture infested with bushes, briers, or weeds, 
is salt. Salt theni every week while wet with rain or dew, and let the stock 
look to that source alone for a supply. Pests of the pasture, including 
grubs, can be driven out with salt, while the grass will be improved. We 
doubt whether a pasture can be found that would not be so improved by a 
dressing of lime of fi-om five to fifty bushels per acre, as to prove one of the 
most profitable investments that the owner could make. Plaster, at the rate 
of one half to two bushels an acre, may be applied to all old, rocky pastures. 
If any one doubts whether ashes would afl:ord the most profit ai>plied to a 
field of corn or a pasture lot, let him try the experiment fairly. A great 
many pastures have been grazed ever since the land was denuded of timber, 
and there is no lack of humus in the soil, but it is inert. Simple exposure 
to the air, and consequent decomposition of the roots of the sod, would make 
the soil again productive, and this would be the cheapest as well as best 
api>lication ; but where that can not be applied, lime, plaster, ashes, salt, 
superphosphate, niter, guano, or some other fertilizer, will enable the owners 
to carry more stock, and we should like to find the farmer who would say 
that that was not profitable, whether he converted the grass into beef, 
mutton, milk, or manure for his hoed crops. 

1004. Liquid Manure. — I am satisfied that the correct method of treating 
all manure is to put it in solution in tanks at the barn, and send it to the 
field by steam power, just as has been repeatedly described as practiced by 
Mr. Mechi and others in England. Upon any farm, level or hilly, where the 
amount of team work to haul manure is large enough to justify the first 
outlay, there is no doubt in my mind that steam ])ower is the cheapest of 
any that can be used, and the time will come when carting manure will be 
looked upon as a very slovenly way of farming. It will be found far more 
economical to dissolve it where it is made, and send it to the field through 
pipes, by a stationary engine. The people that come after us will look back 
upon this age of the world as we do upon the dark ages of the past, and 
wonder how it is possible that we could have been so stupid as to cart 
marturo with oxen and horses, when it would be so much better and cheaper 
done by dissolving it, and using steam. The best crops to which to apply 
liquid manure are grass, clover, and small grain, but it may be applied with 
advantage to all hoed crops. The same ordei" may be advantageously pur- 
sued in applying any sort of farm manure. That is, to grass first, and make 
the sod manure the grain crops. Small farmers, who can not send their 



FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

liquid niaiuire a-field by steam, may have a large cask or tank on wheels, 
witli a sprinkler attached. A manure tank may be made just as we have 
directed for making cisterns. (333.) 

1005. Use of Tau Bark as Manure. — Tan bark, when used as a manure, 
certainly produces very little effect, but when used as a mulch and suffered 
to decay, leaves all tbc potash that its ashes would give, the value of which, 
as particularly applicable to young trees, no one will dispute. For straw- 
berries, we have never seen any tiling equal to tan bark. We would put it 
npon the beds in autumn, after forking up, and not remove it iu the spring, 
except from the crown of the roots. In our opinion, not a bushel of tan bark 
should be allowed to go to waste, where there are farms within a mile or two 
of the tannery. Be sure that it will pay to cart it that distance to put around 
all fruit-trees, old or young, large or small, and upon all strawberry beds, 
because with it you can get good crops of this delicious fruit, upon almost 
any soil. 

1006. Manure is Gained by Soiling Cattle. — lion. Josiah Quincy, Jr., of 
Massachusetts, saj's : " Farmers do not generally seem to understand the 
importance of soiling cattle, on account of the great increase of manure ; 
nor do they seem to understand how much manure can be increased by the 
use of absorbents, or how great is the value of the manure of a single 
animal." Upon tliis point the testimony of Dr. Dana is important, who 
states that one cow will make twenty-one cords of manure, equal in value to 
the average of good stable manure, if all her solid and liquid excrements are 
saved and composted with muck. In soiling cows, Mr. Quincy says, " wo 
calculate that a square rod will support a cow a day. Grass, oats, Indian 
corn, and barley are the plants we use for soiling. Early in April we sow 
oats at the rate of four bushels per acre. Our sowings are April 5th, April 
20th, and May 1st. We sow corn May 1st, June 1st and 15tli, three bushels 
per acre. We sow barley ten days apart till August 1st. Another advan- 
tage of i^oiling is the saving of land. An acre will support three cows 
during the soiling season. It is almost impossible to calculate the value 
of manures, and how much corn can be saved by soiling cattle." 

In a discussion upon this subject, Mr. Stewart, of Erie County, N. Y., 
said : " I find soiling not only beneficial to the animals, but to the land. One 
acre will do more in soiling than in pasturing, and the manure will more 
than pay all the expense ; and I find that cut straw, steamed, with a pint of 
meal to a bushel, and fed three bushels a day to a cow, is better than timo- 
thy hay. I think soiling would double the value of farms, and that farmers 
would realize three times as much profit as in the old way. I grow carrots 
and turnips lor spring feed. I consider sowed corn the best plant for soiling 
of any that I have tried. Butter made from corn will keep as well as that 
made from the best pasture, and have as rich a color." Prof. Sprengel, the 
celebrated German chemist, asserts that each cow produces annually 18,000 
pounds urine, which contains of solid matter 900 ]iounds. This solid matter 
is fully equal to the best guano, weight for weight, so that the liquid manure 



Sec. 53.] SPECIAL MANURKS. 

of every cow kept on a farm for one year is worth, when applied to the 
crops, more than $20 annually, and so in proportion to all the rest of the 
domestic animals. It may be said that in no other department of rural econ- 
omy does the American farmer lose so much by neglect, as in the manage- 
ment of solid and liquid manures. 

1007. Special Manures— Their Use Considered.— Dr. Anderson (Scotland) 
gives as a reason why special manures should bo used, that the diminished 
production of a field is rarely in consequence of general exhaustion of all 
fertility, but because one or more necessary ingredients have been carried 
off in the crops, or else were naturally deficient, and as plants can not grow 
without all their constituents are present in the soil, the absence of one may 
render tlie land comparatively barren. "A soil in this condition does not 
absolutely require farm-yaixl manure, but may be again made to produce 
abundant crops by the application of the one deficient substance, which is 
then called a special manure. When so treated, a soil will retain this re- 
newed fertility for a certain time, but at length becomes again infertile, even 
under a continued application of this manure, which is then said, in ordinary 
language, to have lost its eifect (become ' guano sick'), although the real 
reason is that the supply of a second constituent Jias been exhausted, and it 
also must be supplied in the form of a new manure." 

Dr. Anderson thinks special manures should always be used in combina- 
tion with those of the farm-yard. " A given quantity of the latter can, of 
course, produce only a certain amount of crop ; but if mixed with a special 
manure, it is most rapidly converted into vegetable matter, and this is 
advantageous to the farmer. It may be urged that this is a matter of little 
moment, and tiiat sooner or later the farmer receives back what he has put 
into the ground. But tliis is not the case; dui'ing six months of the year, 
manure lying in the ground is undergoing decomposition, although there a»e 
no plants to make use of it, and the constituents then set free are in part, at 
least, washed away and lost. Even if none of it were lost, it would not be 
altogether a matter of indifierence ; for, to take an extreme case by way of 
illustration, if we suppose a part of the manure to remain undecomposed 
for fourteen years after its application, it will, if only five per cent, interest 
on its price be reckoned, have cost the farmer twice as much as that which 
was consumed during the year of its application. Though I consider 
the use of special manures alone a most injudicious and shortsighted 
policy, which can rarely be employed with advantage, there is no question 
that their proper combination with farm-yard manure is really one of the 
most important improvements ever introduced into the practice of Agricul- 
ture." 

This is knocking in the hea-d the very thing that seems to be most depre- 
cated in this country — that is, using up the manure the first year of its appli- 
cation. The farmer forgets his interest account. It is, in fact, his interest 
to use up the manure in every crop it is applied to. His farm is simply a 
manufactory, where he takes in such crude materials as constitute manure, 



890 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

at a cheap rate, and converts them into salable crops, that he sells at a dear 
rate, or a profit upon the manufacture. 

1008. Guano — its History. — Peruvian guano, which is the best, and the 
kind now generally used in this country, comes from the Chincha Islands, 
three in number, on the coast of Peru, between latitude 1.3° and 14'^, in 
the bay of Pisco, about twelve miles from tlie coast, -where rain never falls, 
and the air is always so dry that the juices of flesh evaporate so rapidly 
that meat can be preserved fresh, or dried without salt. 

The waters surrounding these islands are almost alive with fish, upon 
which birds have fed and deposited their excrement upon the rocks for 
countless ages, which time has formed into a substance resembling yellow 
snuff, and almost as pungent as that article, and possessing the powers of ' 
fertilization to such an eminent degree, that two or three hundred pounds 
spread upon the pooi-est soil causes it to produce an abundant crop, even 
greater than a good dressing of farm-yard manure. 

The North Chincha Island, from whence the principal supj^ly of guano 
has been drawn, is about one and one half mile long and half tliat in breadth, 
upon which the guano was piled iip over the rocks, giving it a smooth, round 
appearance, and a depth in the center of two or three hundred feet. Exca- 
vations have been made at one end, not by any means in the deepest part, a 
hundred and thirty feet deep, without finding bottom, to prove that the 
quality of the guano at that depth was equal to that near the surface. , It is 
so compacted together that it has to be dug up with jsicks ; and notwith- 
standing the vast number of cargoes taken away, the proi^ortion the quantity 
removed bears to the quantity remaining may be guessed at, it can not be 
understood, when we state that actual surveys made by the Peruvian gov- 
ernment gave the sum of the deposit upon the three Chincha Islands at 
TWENTY MILLIONS OF TUNS. This quantity appears so enormous that many 
have doubted its correctness. A French engineer, said to have been em- 
ployed at a subsequent period by his government to ascertain the truth of 
this statement, has reported his estimate of the quantity at twelve million 
tuns. This amount still appearing too large for belief. Admiral Moresby 
caused a reconnoissance to be made, which the person who made it saj's was 
done in a very imperfect manner, very hurriedly, and M'ithout proper instru- 
ments, and in a measure secretly, and which gives the quantity at eight 
million six hundred thousand tuns. 

Now if we take the mean of the three estimates it will give upward of 
thirteen million five hundred thousand tuns, and the mean of the French 
and English estimates is ten million three hundred thousand tuns, besides the 
deposits upon the Lobos and other islands, which have been reported at eight 
and a half millions of tuns. This would give eighteen million eight hun- 
dred thousand tuns as the mean of the French and English estimates, which 
would give to the world the same rate of supply as at present during the 
next century. 

^^American Guano" is the name given to the product of Baker's Island, 



Sko. 53.] USE AND VALUE OF MUCK OR PEAT. 891 

and other islands in the Paciiic, much farther west than the Chinchas, and 
in a region subject to rains, which lessen the value of the deposit. It is 
nearly destitute of ammonia, but rich in pliosi)hates. 

1009. Value and Economy of Using Guano.— Although guano should not 
be exclusively depended upon, because it acts as a stimulant, and is mostly 
exhausted by one crop, yet upon all worn-out, sandy, or loamy soil the cul- 
tivator can afford to use No. 1 guano, at $70 a tun, at the rate of 200 lbs. 
per acre, well worked info the soil with small grain, if with that grain he 
will sow clover seed, so that the growth of tliat will take up all that the 
grain does not of the fertilizing powers of the guano, and in its turn serve 
for a rich dressing of manure to the land, renovating it so as to jiroduce 
other grain or root crops without further application of expensive fertilizers. 
The price of Peruvian guano has j'ison since it was first introduced and ex- 
tensively used in this country from about $i5 to about $70 a tun. and at 
that some of our farmers fear its use is not economical. This depends 
whether he can grow a remunerative crop without purchasing some fertil- 
izer. If he can not, then it is probable that guano is as economical as any- 
thing in market, since many experiments prove that a dressing of 200 lbs. 
of Peruvian guano, upon grass and grain, has doubled the yield per acre. 
Its most profitable use is upon very poor land, to give it a start, so it will 
jiroduce clover, wiiich it will do upon an almost hopelessly barren soil. If 
its use is long continued, without other manures, the application becomes 
unprofitable. Where it has been most extensively and longest used in En- 
gland, the farmers say that the land has become " guano-sick." 

1010. Uow to Apply Guano. — If we were applying guano to land for corn, 
potatoes, or any other crop, we should prefer to do it by sowing broadcast 
and lightly plowipg in. If applied as a top-dressing — which is rarely ad- 
visable — always apjily it, if possible, before rain, or when snow is on the 
groimd ; and if on arable land, harrow, hoe, or scutfle immediately after. 

There is no benefit in mixing guano with anything, unless it be water, to 
be used for garden purposes. In that case it sliould be made a very weak 
solution, or it will kill all it comes in contact with, whether seeds or plants. 

1011. Fse and Value of Muck or Peat. — We lay it down as an incontro- 
vertible fact, in all the Eastern States, that every farmer who has a muck- 
bed can double the value of all his other manure by the use of muck, over 
and above the expense of digging and hauling any reasonable distance. It 
shoidd not be applied fresh, but composted with stable, pig-pen, hen-roosts, 
and privy manures. It is a great deodorizer. Sometimes a mass of matter 
is found in the bottom of a pond or swamp, composed almost entirely of 
vegetable substance. Such will bear hauling a considerable distance. Where 
the deposit is very fibrous or peaty, it will be advisable to burn it and use 
the ashes. Occasionally a muck-bed is so largely composed of silt, the most 
of which is sand, that the deposit will not bear long transportation. It 
will, however, always prove beneficial where it is applied. Some deposits 
are so entirely composed of vegetable matter, that when dry they burn, and 



892 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

leave no more ashes than the same bulk of chips would. Such deposits 
are called peat, and are often used for fuel, and would be valuable to burn 
for ashes, which could then be hauled long distances with proiit. All peatj 
substances have an antiseptic quality when wet, and a great deodorizing 
power when dried and pulverized. Hence its value as an absorbent of ain- 
moniacal gases arising from stables, sinks, and decaying vegetable and ani- 
mal matters. 

One of the benefits of peat in soils is disintegration, and another, darkening 
the color. It is believed tliat the acid of peats exerts a powerful decompos- 
ing power, and ultimately solvent eifects upon minerals in the soil. It cer- 
tainly influences the temperature. Potatoes have been found ripe two 
weeks earlier in a peaty soil than in one of a light color. 

By analj^sis, dried peat has repeatedly shown a greater per cent, of ammo- 
nia than the best stable-yard manure, and when mixed with that in equal 
quantities, the mixture has proved more valuable than the manure in a pure 
state. These facts are sufficient to induce all farmers, as soon as they learn 
them, to add to the bulk and value of stable, and all other manures, when- 
ever they can have access to a muck deposit. Every one who will look at 
the following table of analysis of two samples of peat, such as are found in 
all jjarts of the country in swampy places, will see at a glance that such sub- 
stances must possess manurial value. 

1012. Analysis of Peati — This analysis was made by Professor Johnson, of 
Yale College, who says : " It doubtless gives a i'air idea of tlie inorganic 
ingredients of the majority of the peats," in llie S;atc of Connecticut : 

Analysiaof Peat Ashea. I. 

Potash 09 

Soda 58 

Lime 40 52 

Magnesia 6.00 

Oxyd of iron and alumina. ... 5.17 

Phosphoric acid 50 

Sulphuric acid 5.52 

Another analysis of peat, suitable for fuel, is given below, made by George 
F. Barker, of Charlestown, Mass., and is compared with Professor Voelcker's 
analysis of well-fermented farm-yard manure, composed of dung of horses, 
cows, and sheep : 

Peat Manure. 
Water expelled at 212 degrees. 18.050 75.420 

S Soluble in dilute solution 

S of carbonate of soda — ' 



II. 

.80 

35.59 


Analysis of Peat Ashes. 

Chlorine 

Soluble silica 


I. 

.15 
... 8.23 
. . . 19.00 


II. 

.43 

1.40 

22.48 


4.92 
9 08 


Sand and charcoal 


... 12.11 


15.04 


.77 
J0.41 


99.13 


100.74 



1 Soluble in solution of car- 

tf honate of soda 48.840 

o L 

Potash 041 

Soda 035 .080 

Lime 2.431 1.990 

Magnesia 364 .138 



Peat. Manure. 

Oxyd of iron and alumina 310 .073 

Phosphoric acid 030 .450 

Sulphuric acid 331 .121 

Chlorine 009 .018 

Soluble silica 494 1.678 

Carbonic acid 1.175 1.401 

Sand and charcoal 700 1.010 



100.000 100.000 

Potential ammonia 2 920 .735 

Matters soluble in water 1.800 5.180 



This analysis shows that peat contains five times as much organic matter, 
and four times as much potential ammonia as farm-yard manure ; and it con- 
tains more lime, magnesia, and sulphuric acid, but less phosphoric acid and 



Sko. 53.] THINGS TO BE USED FOR MANURE. 693 

potash ; and taken altogether, it will he seen -why they are so well fitted fur 
mixing together. Where not so mixed, bone dust and ashes, or phosphate 
and potash in some other form, should be used with the peat. It may 
happen that another deposit of peat would contain all the ingredients, and 
be actually more valuable than stable manure, as soon as it is decomposed. 
For heavy soils, peat or swamp muck should always be composted with 
strong fermenting substances, such as horse and hen droppings and animal 
matters. Some peats are so charged with iron that they are positively 
injurious to land until they have been long exposed to the air or mixed 
with some other substances. 

The best thing to decompose muck and fit it for convenient nse in stables, 
is lime that has been slaked with water saturated with common salt. Ten 
bushels of this lime powder may be mixed with 100 bushels of muck. 
Where fish are used for manure, they should always be made up in a muck 
compost, until the whole mass becomes homogeneous. 

1013. Blixin;? Muck with Ni^^Iit Soil. — Poudrette and tafeu are names of 
manures sold in most of tlie cities, in barrels, at higli I'atcs, and much 
appreciated by farmers and market gardeners, to give vegetables an early 
start. Every farmer can make his own tafeu as well as buy it, for it is 
nothing but night soil and peat or muck in a fine dry powder, mixed with 
the excrementitious matters to absorb the moisture and deodorize the siib- 
stance, which is then tlioroughly dried and packed for transportation. In 
the manufacture of tafeu, in a domestic way, one of the best divisors and 
deodorizers is charcoal dust. Fine clay or loam will answer every purpose, 
only requiring a greater bulk. Cinders of locomotives that burn wood are 
excellent. 

1014r. Sea-Weed for Maaure.— Upon all sea coasts, the fertility of the 
cultivated fields may be much increased by the use of what is called sea- 
weed, which consists of marine plants cast ashore or gathered from the 
rocks under water. The latter is called r(5fck-weed, and makes a i-icher ma- 
nure than the variety cast up by the waves. Eock-weed is exceedingly 
gelatinous, and consequently valuable for manure. A good method of pre- 
serving all the properties of rock-weed is to spread the green plants upon 
the surface, and turn them deeply under by the plow. All sea-weed is used 
to the greatest advantage immediately after being taken from the sea-shore, 
in the freshest state possible, while perfectly saturated witli salt water ; if 
that is permitted to drain from it, decomposition at once takes place, and the 
value is diminished. In the wet, green state it will add fertility to land 
already rich, and improve the poorest soil. 

1015. Tauiiers' aud Glue-Makers' Scraps for Manure.— One who has used 
them says: "When I first used tanners' scraps, I found they injured the 
crops. Now I consider a tun of them, properly decomposed by the aid of oil 
of vitriol, and composted with swamp muck, wortli as much as three fourths 
of a tun of Peruvian guano. Tiie horns and piths are also very valuable, as 
they contain much phosphate of lime. Bone earth is so valuable, tliat if 



894 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

applied to a lot covered ■with five-finger vines, it will renovate and make 
the field productive. Any way to decompose these tan-yard substances will 
make them very valuable, more so than any farm-3'ard manure." 

We liave used the waste of a glue manufactorj^ M'ith good results, applied 
directly to grass land, and also to oats. It consists of hair and scraps of 
flesh, mi.\ed witii lime. 

1010. Forest Leaves for Manure. — At the beginning of winter, every day 
not otherwise necessarily engaged can be profitably occupied in gathering 
leaves. Tliere is no danger of getting too large a quantity ; they will be of 
service in many difl'erent ways, and prove of great value wlien decayed and 
united with the compost heap. There is no substance that can be used for 
mulching, or winter covering of plants, equal to the forest leaves, because 
they not only give protection, but in their decay, fertility to the soil. Leaves 
contain potash and tannin, which make them valuable for covering straw- 
berry beds ; and for stable-bedding there is nothing better, and tlieir value in 
manure will more than pay the cost of gathering. Every acre of woodland 
would afford a pretty fair dressing for an acre of corn land, if the leaves 
were gathered and composted. If used as litter in yards and stables they 
are worth saving, but not worth half as much as they would be in compost. 
The same thing may be said of straw and cornstalks. Suffered to decay in 
the open air, more than one half their value is lost. Buried in comjjost, 
all would be saved and become fine manure. 

1017. Turf Ashes for Mauure. — Neighbor A. had a piece of swamp ad- 
joining the land of neighbor B., which iu draining afforded him a vast 
quantity of material to fertilize his upland. Seeing what A. had done, B. 
went so far with his part that he cut off the tussocks and piled them up as a 
line fence on the edge of A.'s open ditch that he had dug to carry ofl' the 
water of the tile-drains. By-and-b}^ A. complained to B. that his fence was 
a nuisance, for it grew weed-seeds that blew over upon his tilled land. B. 
also acknowledged it was a nuisstnce, not in the growth of weeds, but that it 
was " of no account nohow as a fence." 

" Why not haul it away, then, and put it upon 3'our corn or grass lots 011 
the hill V said neighbor A. 

" Well, to tell you the truth, I haven't no faith in it." 

" Why, you buy ashes. Don't you think that such a mass of vegetable 
matter contains potash ?" 

" Well, I don't know. May-be it does ; but I guess it don't contai 1 
enough to pay for hauling. But as you like such stuff, I will tell you wliat i 
is : If you will haul it away, von may have it iu welcome — the whole strinir." 

"When shall I get it off?'' 

" Oh, any time 3'ou like, between now and planting-time next spring." 

« Enough said. I'll do it." 

" Very well. No half-way work ; you must make a clean sweep of it ; 
take everything off down to the surface." 

« I'll do it." 



Sec. 53.] POTASH AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ASHES. 895 

So they parted. B. bragged a little that lie had hitched A. to the biggest 
load he ever undertook. " He has no idea how many loads he will have to 
pull up that hill. He won't do it, but I shall have the laugh at him when 
he gets about half of it off and backs down on the balance." 

Several times before autumn B. dropped a hint that ho thought A. had 
better begin his big job. A. said it " wa'n't quite dry euougli yet." It got 
very dry, however, in September — dry as tinder, B. said. A. took a look 
at it, and he thouglit it " was dry enough." So, one hot, sunny day, he 
walked down with a few matches in his pocket — handy things tliose matches, 
for with them he lighted the old tussock fence into a roasting hot fire, that 
reduced the whole string in two days to a pile of biting strong ashes, which 
did not require a very great outlay of team-labor or hand-work to get up on 
the hill, where they made a mark that has not been effaced yet, and prob- 
ably will not be until after the owner has said to himself several times : 
" \Yliy the deuce didn't I think about burning the useless old fence and 
haul the ashes on my own land ? You -won't catch me in such a trap as 
that again." 

We wonder if there are not some other people in the world who may profit 
by this man's folly, and learn that dry tussocks will make ashes, and that 
ashes are ^ooj manure. 

lOlS. Wood Ashes for Manure,— No fiirmer in the old States can afford to 
sell ashes, for any price that the soap-boiler will pay. Where oats lodge, as 
they are apt to do upon manured land, an application of ashes would save 
the crop. Leached ashes are much used upon Long Island, but we doubt 
the economy of the application, as they cost about ten cents a bushel at 
Albany. When leached ashes have been exposed to the air a long time, they 
are more valuable than when first leached. Potash, the chief constituent of 
wood ashes, is a necessar}' clement for most plants, not only as direct food, 
but as an agent for rendering silex and otiier constituents of the soil capable 
of being absorbed and appropriated in plant life. 

1019. Potash as a Substitute for Ashes,— Although we believe unleached 
ashes a chea|) manure at twenty-five cents a bushel, we have no doubt that 
the same effect may be as cheaply produced by purchasing a crude kind of 
potash, such as comes from the Syracuse salt works, and has usually cost 
fifty dollars or sixty dollars a tun. If potash is used, it must be in powder, 
mixed with dry muck, coal dust, or fine loam, as a divisor. Concentrated 
maiuires generally contain very little or no potash. In guano it rarely ex- 
ceeds three per cent. Superphosphate of lime can contain none of conse- 
quence. Potasli can not be economically added to manufactured manures, 
because nearly pure potash, or even the raw material from wliich it is 
made, can be more economically used separately. If any manufacturer 
of manure says it contains much potash, you may ask how he can afford to 
use it. 

1020. Coal Ashes as a JMauure. — "Are coal ashes of any benefit as a manure ?" 
The Genesee Farmer says : " That coal ashes are of some benefit, there 



896 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

can be no doubt. Numerous analyses of them have been made. We have 
now before us analyses of ashes from different kinds of coal. They vary 
considerably in composition, but on an average contain about 45 per cent, of 
silica, 40 of alumina and oxyd of iron, 12 of sulphate of lime or plaster, 2 of 
magnesia, and 1 of phosphoric acid. Commercially, coal ashes have no 
value as a manure, but to every farmer are worth something, and ought not 
to be thrown away. It is said they are good as a top-dressing for lucern 
and red clover. They are frequently mixed with night soil for the purpose 
of absorbing unpleasant odors. They are often employed in the garden, 
more for the purpose of forming walks and preventing the ravages of mice, 
than as a manure. Covering early-sown peas with coal ashes is said to for- 
ward their growth, as they tend to absorb the rays of heat." 

1021. Value of Soot as Manure. — Soot is -worth nearly as much as guano. 
Try it upon the grass plot, the flower bed, the melon patch, the grapevines, 
or any other plants. Mixed with water, and sprinkled upon vines, it will 
aid in keeping off bugs ; spread dry upon the surface, it absorbs heat and 
hastens growth. Upon flowers it adds beauty to their colors as well as 
strength to the plants. Farmers, sweep your chimneys and save the soot, 
and you will save a very valuable manure. 

1022. Magnesia as a Fertilizer. — Magnesia is found abundant in the mud 
of the Nile, which is very fertile ; and in some of the richest marls that have 
been analyzed, it was found in quantity sufficient to destroy instead of im- 
prove soils, if it had been as deleterious as some sujipose. The salts of mag- 
nesia may be employed, as the salts of lime, for fixing ammonia, but in that 
case the profit of its application will depend upon its cost. In one reported 
experiment, the phosphates of magnesia and ammonia, -when applied at the 
rate of one hundred and tliirly to two hundred and sixty pounds per acre, 
had a powerful effect upon the production of Indian corn ; at the rate of 
three hundred pounds per acre, it increased the crop of grain six times, and 
of straw three times. 

1023. Theory of Atmospheric Fertilization. — Whether the nitrogen which 
exists in the air, forming seventy-nine hundredths of its mass, supplies the 
nitrogen essential to vegetation, or whether this element is obtained, during 
growth, from salts in the earth, or from volatile nitrogenous compounds in 
the air, has never yet been satisfactorily determined, and until it is, our 
advice is : Look well to your manure heap ; enlarge it as much as possible, by 
adding to it all the coarse straw, stalks, and offal about your buildings. You 
may also enlarge the pile, and add to the value of your store, by gathering 
weeds, or sods, or road-washings and muck. Sprinkle the heap occasionally 
with plaster, but never add lime. Slops of the house and soap-suds will add 
to fertility and hasten decomposition, and prove far more reliable than any 
dependence upon the atmosphere. 

1024. Phosphorus as a Fertilizer. — Phosphorus is found in all animals, 
combined with a particular organic substance in the brain, the spinal mar- 
row, the spermatic fluid, and in the milt of flshes, and certain mollusca, and 



Sko. 53.] GREEN SAIfD— FISU-GUANO. 897 

also in all vegetables. It exists in combination with oxygen in all rocks, in 
all soils, and in tlie flesli and bones of all animals, and their secretions. 
Some of the fossil excrements of extinct animals are of great value as fer- 
tilizers. The apatite rock of Estraraadura, in Spain, contains eighty-one 
per cent, of phosphate of lime, and is so abundant that it is used as a building 
material. In the United States, mineral phosphates are found in many 
localities, particularly in Morris County, New Jersey, and at Crown Point, in 
the State of New York. The mineral was crushed and sold in our markets 
as a fertilizer, but it has gone out of use, because it was found tliat the phos- 
phorus of bones was, in a progressed form, of an almost inconceivably 
greater value than that in its native condition in the rocks. 

1025. How to Defect Adulterations of Superphosphates. — The superphos- 
phate of lime, from its comparatively liigli value, leads to adulteration. 
Water is added to increase the weight ; earths, chalks, lime, old plaster, and 
oyster-shells are sometimes mixed in a manner to deceive the eye. Some 
of these substances may be detected with the aid of a magnifier, by acids, or 
by simple washing with water and examining the residue after decanting. 
If old plaster is suspected, the hair will be seen ; if oyster-shells or chalk, the 
effervescence and particles of shells will furnish indications which will lead 
to closer scrutiny. The sulphate of barytes, or siilphate of lime, increases 
the weight of the mixture, and the former, particularly when thrown into a 
tumbler of water, will fall to the bottom more rapidly than the superphos- 
phate. 

1026. Greca-Sand-Marl Manure. — This valualile manure abounds in New 
Jersey, and is one of the best things ever applied to a light sandy soil. Its 
appearance is not unlike common musket gunpowder, except instead of the 
grains being black, thej' are of a greenish color. The application of niter to 
grass, and potash to woody plants, has shown that both, in their place, are 
of almost inconceivable value to farmers, but not more so than green-sand- 
marl, which contains an appreciable rpiantitj' of potash. 

1027. Norwegian Fish-Guano Manure.— In the year 1855 a company in 
Norway Avas organized with a capital of $100,000, to render available the 
great mass of refuse hitherto thrown away in the ])rcparation of codfish at 
the Loffoden Islands, about 300 miles north of Ciiristiania, where enough of 
this refuse is thrown away to make 2,500 tons of fish-guano annually. In 
comparison with good Peruvian guano, this new guano proved to be as fol- 
lows: Upon cereals, one pound of fish-guano was found, in twenty-five 
experiments, to produce an average increase of 9.1 jjounds, while Peruvian 
guano produced, in an average of twenty-three experiments, an increase of 
6.3 pounds. Upon root crops, one pound of fish-guano was found, in an 
average of seventeen experiments, to produce an increase of 15.6 pounds, 
while one pound of Peruvian guano, in an average of the same number of 
experiments, was found to give 17.3 pounds of increase. The whole of the 
experiments showed that the fish-guano was very nearly equal to the best 
Peruvian guano, weight for weight. 



898 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XH. 

1028. American Fish-Guano. — Two companies, eimilar to the above, are 
in operation in this country, one in the State of Rhode Island, and the other 
on the south side of Long Island. They make fisli-oil of the scup or porgies, 
and the menhaden, caught so plentifully along the coast. The very consider- 
able residue after the extraction of the oil, composed of the skin, bones, and 
muscle of the fish, is dried and ground into a powder, M'hich bears a close 
resemblance to the imported guano, and is sold at about forty dollars per 
tun. Tills manufacture might be widely extended if these companies would 
take the trouble to iutroduce their article to the notice of farmers generally. 

1029. Uow Much 3Ianurc Should we Use? — We answer: Just as much as 
can be converted into paying crops. Take five acres in corn : 

No. 1 with $10 worth, of manure, 40 bushels, worth 75c $30 00 

No. 2 " 20 " " 55 " " " 41 25 

No. 3 " 30 " " 69 " " '■ 5175 

No. 4 " 40 " " 83 " " " C2 25 

No. 5 " 50 " " 97 " " " 72 75 

Let US now suppose that the rent of soil, taxes, cost of cultivation, will 

cost $15 per acre, so that M'ith No. 1 the cost of manure and other expenses 

would be $25, leaving a profit of $5, besides the value of the stalks, which 

will range throughout in a fair ratio with the yield of corU' — ^then the profit 

would stand thus : No. 1, $5 ; No. 2, $6 25 ; No. 3, $0 75 ; No. i, $7 25 ; 

No. 5, $7 75. The second year, without any additional manure, 

No. 1 would yield 30 bushels, worth $22 50 profit $7 60 

No. 2 " "45 " " 33 75 " 18 75 

No. 3 " " 59 " " 44 25 " 29 25 

No. 4 " " 73 " " 54 75 " 39 75 

No. 5 " "87 " " 65 25 " 50 25 

The true science of manuring is to convert the manure at a profit into 
salable products. If the land will produce, say a profit of $20 an acre 
upon the labor employed, without manure, and with the same labor it will 
produce a profit of $-10 an acre over the cost of manuring, then it is cer- 
tainly mucli more profitable to buy and apply the manure, whether guano 
or any other suitable substance, than it is to work without manure. 

1030. Manuring with Green Crops and Lime.— Green crops i)lowed under are 
powerful auxiliaries in rendering a light soil fertile. But if this is done too 
often successively, it eventually renders the soil too carbonaceous — i. e., too 
full of vegetable matter. This must be corrected by the application of lime. 
Some farmers complain that they do not get a suflicient increase of grain to 
pay for the use of guano. They would get the full value of the guano if 
they would always sow clover seed on the grain, so as to have a croji of 
clover to turn under as manure. Land that is kept rich by green crop ma- 
nuring never gets as full of weeds as it does from stable manure. The 
manure made from one tun of clover hay is worth as much as that made 
from a tun and a half of timothy or meadow hay. There is no doubt on this 
point; and it is one reason why we nrge the importance of an increased 
growth of clover as a means of enriching the soil. If the manure obtained 
from the consumption of a tun of meadow hay is worth $6 43, that made 



Sko. o3.j now TO INCREASE MANURE- VALUE. 899 

from a tim of clover liay is worth $9 64, or half as nuich again — and this is 
trne everywhere. 

1031. Value of Manure Depeads upon Fineness. — All costly fertilizers 
should be examined in regard to their fineness. If properly prepared, they 
are nearly in the state of impalpable powder. To prove this, pass a small 
sample through a fine sieve. This extreme fineness is the principal secret of 
the immediate benefit derived from guano.- It has been stated that two 
bushels of bone-dust were worth more for immediate use than one hundred 
bushels of whole bones. Leather shavings, woolen rags, hair, oil-cake, and 
similar substances, are valuable manures, because they contain a large per- 
centage of potential ammonia, perhaps equally as large as the best samples 
of guano, yet their action is much slower. In all manures which contain 
potash, it is in such a mechanical condition that it is much more readily 
absorbed by plants than the native potash of rocks ; and this is true of neady 
every other mineral substance. 

1032. Value of Sh?Uer for Manure. — In England, Lord Kinnard made a 
variety of experiments proving the value of protecting manure from the 
weather. Twenty acres of rich, dry loam were selected, one half of which 
was manured with manure which had been housed, and the other half with 
that which had been exposed, at the rate of twenty loads to each acre. The 
whole was plowed and planted to potatoes, each part receiving the same 
treatment. Here is the result : U^■^o^sED Manure.- — One acre produced 7 
tuns, 6 cwt., and 8 lbs. ; another acre, 7 tuns, 18 cwt., and 99 lbs. Housed 
Manure. — One acre produced 11 tuns, 17 cwt., and 56 lbs. ; another acre, 11 
tuns, 12 cwt., and 20 lbs. Difference in favor of housed manure about 60 per 
cent. The field was then sown with wheat, and dressed in the spring with 
300 lbs. of guano per acre, and yielded upon two acres, treated with unhoused 
manure, 84 bushels of grain and 6,864 lbs. of straw. The other part, two 
acres, gave 109 bushels of grain and 9,482 lbs. of straw. On the first part 
the wheat weighed 61 1 lbs. per bushel, and on the other, 66 lbs. 

1033. Immeuse Value of Manures Used in England. — The value of manure 
annually used in England is estimated, from statistics carefully collected, at 
the enormous sum of $300,000,000. In making this calculation, all the 
home-made manures are put down at their commercial value, and all the im- 
ported bones, guanos, and other fertilizers, at the prices paid for them by 
the farmers. Is such high manuring profitable? That is the test question. 
It is the one that has governed English farmers — no other would be sufHcient 
to cause them to use such an immense sum annually in manures. It is simply 
a commercial operation, based upon this question : " How much manure is 
my manufactory (the farm) capable of working up this year?" 

1034. Value of Particular Manures on Wheat. — The following table shows 
the result of experiments made bj^ Dr. Voelcker, at Cirencester, England, 
with fertilizers for wheat. The manures were all in fine powder, mixed 
with ten times their weight of soil, sown broadcast upon the growing crop 
March 22, and washed in evenly by a gentle rain. 



900 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

No. of Manures used, and Quantity Yield of Wheat Yield of Straw Increase of Wheat Inc. of Straw 

Plots. per acre. per acre in bus. per acre in lbs. over unman'd plot, overunma. do 

1 No manure 27 1,984 bus lbs. 

2 280 lbs. Peruvian guano 40 1-10 2,576 13 1-10 ... 592 

3 195 lbs. nitrate of soda 38 2,696 11 712 

4 180 lbs. nitrate of soda and 168 I .„ „ ,„ „ t.^o lo o ,r> ^rc, 

Ibscommonsalt ^40 6-10 .... 2.736 .... 13 6-10 .... 752 

5 448 lbs. Proctor's wheat manure. 39i 2,668 12i . 684 

6 672 lbs. " " " .44 1-5 .... 3,032 .... 17 1-5 .... 1,048 

7 4 tuns chalk-marl 27 1,872 None 112dec. 

The manures cost $7 80 per acre, except tlic large dose of Proctor's wheat 
manure on plot 6, which cost $11 70. 

The ^yheat was worth $1 20 per bushel. Leaving tlie value of the straw 
out of the question, the profit from the use of the top-dressing was : With 
guano, $8 70 per acre ; with nitrate of soda, $8 per acre ; with nitrate of 
soda and salt, $9 33 per acre ; with 448 lbs. wlieat manure, $7 95 per acre ; 
M'itli 672 lbs. wheat manure, $13 87 per acre. 

Taking the first four lots, whore the same amount of money was expended 
on each lot for manure, the nitrate of soda and salt give the best result, 
guano next, the wheat manure next, and the nitrate of soda alone, the 
le!lst. Tlie extra heavy dose of wheat manure gave the largest profits, 
although tlie increase is not quite in proportion to the amount of ma- 
nure ; that is to say, the extra 224 pounds on plot G gave an increase of 
about five bushels, while the 448 pounds on plot 5 gave an increase of 12i 
bushels. The cost of producing an extra bushel of wheat was : With gu- 
ano, 60 cents ; with nitrate of soda, 71 cents; with nitrate of soda and salt, 
57 cents ; with 448 pounds wheat manure, 62 cents ; with 672 pounds wheat 
manure, 45 cents. 

In these calcTilations we have allowed nothing for any effect which the 
manures may produce on the next year's crop. As a general rule, the effect 
of such manure the following year is very sliglit, especially if the land is 
sown with any of the cereals. On clover, the mineral manure left in the 
soil sometimes proves beneficial. This is in accordance with theory, and 
agrees witli the experience of fiiriners who use guano on the poor soils in 
Maryland and Virginia. 

1035. Value of Particular Manures on Oats.— Joseph Harris, editor of the 
Genesee Farmer, Eochester, N. Y., sowed oats May 20, on clover sod, and 
May 26, just as they were coming up, top-dressed the land with the follow- 
ing manures per acre : No. 1, no manure ; No. 2, 600 lbs. of plaster; No. 3, 
300 lbs. superphosphate of lime ; No. 4, 300 lbs. sulphate of ammonia ; 
No. 5, 300 lbs. superphosphate of lime and 300 lbs. of sulpliate of ammonia. 
The result was as follows : 

Grain per acre. Bus. per acre. Weight per bus. Total straw & grain. 

.... 2.750 
.... 3,700 
.... 3,525 
.... 8,850 
.... 3,725 





Straw per acre. 


Grain 


per acre. 


Bus 


per acre. 


Weight p 


No. 1. 


..1,958 lbs. . 




792 . 




36 .. 


.... 22 


No. 2. 


..2,475 " . 




1.225 . 




47 .. 


.... 26 


No. 3. 


..2,475 " . 




1,0-50 . 




50 . 


.... 21 


No. 4. 


..2,750 " . 




1,100 . 




50 .. 


22 


No. 5. 


..2,575 " 




1,150 . 




51 .. 


.... 22J 



The most striking result is the effect of plaster (gypsum or sulphate of 



Sko. 53.] THE USE OF SALT AS A FERTILIZER. 901 

lime) on the quality of the grain. The oats on all the plots, owing to the 
late seeding, were very light, but where the plaster was used, they were 4 Ujs. 
per bushel heavier than on the unnianured land. In addition to this, there 
■was an increase of 11 busliels of oats and 950 lbs. of straw per acre from tlie 
use of plaster. Mr. Harris has since obtained a similar result by tiie use of 
plaster on Chinese cane. 

1036. The Use of Salt as a Fertilizer.— Salt has long been nsed in En- 
land, with most beneticial results, applied in all quantities, from three to 
twenty bushels per acre. An article before us, from an English farmer, says 
he applies it as a top-dressing to all his grain crops by sowing it broadcast in 
April or May, at the rate of four bushels per acre, taking care to do it after 
sunset. He has founcl tliis application an excellent remedy for the grub and 
wire worm. He gets a much heavier crop of wheat from the salted than the 
unsalted soil, and finds that he not only obtained a bolder, brighter, and 
heavier sample, but the crop is entirely free from rust, blight, and smut in 
that portion of iiis farm where salt has been used, at the rate of from seven 
to ten bushels per acre, sown broadcast as long before the planting as cir- 
cumstances will permit, in order that the salt may in tiie different workings 
of the land get thorouglily incorporated with the soil, and he finds that 
grubs and wire- worms avoid land treated in this way. 

A correspondent of tlie Maine Farmer gives the following experiments 
in the use of salt. He says he put on six bushels to the acre, and harrowed 
it in before sowing his grain and grass seed. " That is the very secret wliy 
I get so much hay. I have used salt many years on corn, putting it on the 
hill before hoeing, as we do ashes. Upon one piece, I put ashes on one third, 
on one third, plaster, and on the other third, salt, and the salted portion was 
decidedly the best. I broke up two thirds of an acre of poor land, and not 
having any common stable manure to put on it, I sowed, after harrowing 
over once, eight bushels of salt, and harrowed it in and planted potatoes and 
peas. They came up as strong and grew as rank as they would have done 
had there been a heavy coat of dressing plowed in." There is one peculiar 
feature in the efiects of salt \#ien put into the ground — it serves to make 
the ground very light and mellow. 

The following are opinions of Prof. S. W. Jolmson, of Yale College, upon 
the use of salt. The constituents of salt are chlorine and sodium, which are 
ingredients of all cultivated plants. The use of salt has often doubled the 
amount of a crop. The growtli of sugar plants and tobacco is much in- 
creased by it, though it is said to injure the quality of tobacco. Asparagus 
will bear a large dressing of salt. Root crops are also benefited by it. It 
makes the straw of grain stronger, and is beneficial to all crops in drouth. 
One of the l)enefits of salt is to make inert potash and ammonia existing in 
the soil available to growing plants. 

In our own practice, we liave nsed salt with decided success upon a loamy 
soil, in a gneiss rock formation, not many miles inland. It was highly 
beneficial in restoring vigor to old grass sod, and was apparentlj' very bene- 



902 FERTILIZATION. [Chap. XII. 

ficial to all I'arm and garden crops, except the cucurhita family. To tliat, 
salt is injurious. 

1037. Chandlers' Greaves aud Value of Hair for Manure.— Analysis proves 
that chandlers' greaves are valnahle manure, as it shows that they contain 
thirteen per cent, of ammonia, or — what is the same thing practically — 
nitrogen enough to j'ield that amount of ammonia to the soil. The best way 
to employ them -would probably be to break fine, soak in cold water, and 
spread them in a compost heap. Their value may be calculated upon the 
cost by estimating the ammonia they would yield at 14 cents a pound ; that 
is, 13 per cent. 260 lbs., 14 cents, a lb., $30 40, besides other ingredients. 
In addition to this value, they may be fed to pigs and poultry, without 
lesseaiing their worth for manure, while they are frequently worth all they 
cost for feeding purposes. It is proper to observe that the flesh of poultry, 
and also the eggs, while fed npon greaves, have a i"ank, unpleasant flavor. 
Their great value is for manure, and for this purpose English farmers have 
bought up great quantities in New York. In the autumn of 1SG2, their 
orders kept the market quite bare, though, owing to the receipt of 50,000 
hogs a week, and 5,000 bullocks and 10,000 sheep, the quantity manufac- 
tured was larger than ever before. The average price was §25 a tun, at 
which they are cheap manure. Of the value of hair for manure, we can 
say that we have used a good many loads of the refuse of a glue manufac- 
tory, composed mostly of hair, and found it a most valuable manure. A 
farmer inquires : " What is the best manure for celery ?" "We answer, hair ; 
it surpasses all other fertilizers. The waste of farriers, cloth-dressers, glue- 
makers, tanners, aud all other trades, where hair or wool forms the bulk of 
the waste, is worth ten times as much as stable manure. The sweepings 
of New York barber shops have been found very valuable, and in our opin- 
ion there is no substance saved upon the farm for manure, that would pay 
so great a profit upon the labor, as in preserving all the hair combed from 
live animals, or scraped from dead ones, feathers included. It is worth an 
average of six to ten cents a pound for manure. 

1038. Can Worn-out Lauds be Restored ?— ^e answer. Yes, certainly ; but 
not by the common prescription of " rest:" tliat is, to be thrown out of cul- 
tivation, as they always are at the South, and as they frequently are at the 
North. By no rest, such as land gets when allowed to grow up in old field 
pines and sedge grass; or in sumac bushes, muUens, and briers, will it ever be 
restored. It may be by continued cultivation, deep plowing, proper manur- 
ing, and growing clover. That is the way to rest and restore worn-out 
lands. Some fields are called worn-out, and are really unpi'oductive, though 
lacking a single ingredient of fertilitj'. If worn out so that wheat fails, add 
bone-dust ; if exhausted of potash, you can not grow plants that contain a 
large amount of that salt, until you restore potash to the soil by an applica- 
tion of some fertilizer in which it exists. Think, if there is no lime you can 
not grow the cereals until you give lime to the soil. If your land is deficient 
in chlorid of sodium, as almost all the old fields of New England are, think 



Seo. 53.] THE USE OF WATER AS A FERTILIZER. 903 

how easy to restore it by a dressing of common salt. Think, that whatever 
the condition of the surface, the productiveness of the hind depends greatly 
on the nature of the sifbsoil. If that is cold, wet, and poor, all efforts to 
improve the soil will be labor in vain, unless recourse is tirst had to under- 
draining. And finally, let it be your constant thought, that nearly all 
lauds naturally fertile soon lose their fertility by growing successive grain 
crops on them, unless the organic elements abstracted liy the crops arc again 
restored to the soil in the shape of manures. 

1039. Water as Mauure— the Worth of Water.— Without water all manure 
is worthless. With it in abundance, croj^s can be grown almost without 
manure. There is fertility in the water of the clearest stream. Who can 
calculate the worth of water ? Who knows, or even thinks, what a well of 
water is worth? Who can tell the value of a spring? Can any one count 
in dollars the worth of a tiny brook that trickles down through a farm? 
The little brook where the horses, oxen, cows, and sheep go for their daily 
drink — for water that they can not live without ; wiiere the swine go in 
summer to cool their fat sides ; where the old goose leads her young brood 
to teach them that water is a necessity of their life ; where the old ducks 
and the young ones sail up and down, enjoying a listless life of nothing 
else to do ; where even the old dog, as he runs over the fields, stops to 
quench his thirst and cool his panting tongue. Down at the brook ! Ah, 
yes ! down at the brook ! What a charm in that word ! and it speaks of the 
worth of water — a substance that no one can live without; a thing that 
if it does not naturally exist convenient to the house, the farm, the farm- 
yard, the field, should be made so artificially. Who can tell the worth of 
water for irrigation ? It can hardly be computed. If no water came from 
the clouds or the atmosp>here, in rain or dew, what would our crops be 
worth? Look! how everything is parched up even in a little drouth of a 
few weeks. And oh, how man and beast suffer if for a single day deprived 
of Avater! Think of it, farmers, and dig wells, build cisterns, make reser- 
voirs, that all may have an abundance of water. Above all other things, 
furnish your household with plenty of soft water, and you will have some- 
thing every wash-day to show the worth of such an abundant thing in nature 
as water. You will have, what you should always save, tlie soap-suds for 
manure. I wish you could see, as I do from the desk where I now write, 
the enormous growth of a grapevine made the present summer (1862) by 
the use of soap-suds. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

IHRIGATION-DRAINING-PLOWING. 




PLOWS AND OTHEK FARMING TOOLS. 

SECTION LIV.-IRRIGATION AND TILE DRAINING. 

(E hold tlie following to be well-demonstrated agricul- 
tural truths : 

First : That where land is worth $50 or more per 
acre, it is cheaper to drain wet land than to pur- 
chase a greater area. 

Second: That such land must be drained before it 
can be cultivated with true economy. 

Third : That one half, if not three fourths, of the 
arable land of the Eastern and Middle States would 
be improved enough to pay for drainage. 

Irrigation is also a new art in American agricul- 
ture, but it is one that America can no longer afford 
to ignore — it should go hand in hand with drain- 
age ; and American farmers should read what it has 
already done for other countries, and think what it may do for this. With- 
out irrigation, portions of Mexico would be almost uninhabitable ; and in 
California it is of immense value, though the means employed are very rude. 
No country ou earth, perhaps, was ever so favorably situated for irrigation 
as the northern portion of the United States. Notwithstanding the gen- 
erally hilly surface, there are thousands of springs and rills that only need 
to be led by natural descents into artificial channels ; and where streams do 
not exist, a windmill can be made to pump up water from a lower level to 
a reservoir on the hill, to be let down when required for the use of growing 
crops. Yet the matter is scarcely ever thought of, and no laws or system 
have ever been adopted to promote the improvement. 

1040. Irrigation— its Practice and Value in Italy.— In Lombardy, irriga- 
tion has been in vogue for seven hundred years, and as may be observed in 
the spread of particular manufactures where once planted, so of irrigation, 
it has continued to spread over all the land capable of being brought under 
the system. "Whole fields have been graded, as we cut down and fill up the 
uneven surface of a city plot, to bring the land under the level of the 
canals and ditches. The title of all running streams in the Lombardo- Vene- 
tian kingdom has been reserved in the government, so as to prevent any 
individual monopoly of this necessity in all agricultural pursuits of that 



Sec. 54.] TUE PRACTICE IN ITALY. 905 

couutiy. Tlie riglit to use the •water of streams for purposes of irrigation is 
let out to individuals under certain restrictions, anl the interest of the 
several parties likely to be affected is adjusted by a highly educated class 
of hydraulic engineers, uo one of whom is allowed to assume the duties or 
practice the profession unless he is a regular graduate of the University of 
Turin. There is a government corps of engineers, and those who practice 
the profession on private account. It requires the highest degree of skill to 
construct tlie interminable system of canals in Lonibardy, and to gauge all 
their capacity so as not to waste a gallon of water, and yet give each tract of 
land the exact supply stipulated for. Canals are often formed by landed pro- 
prietors without any immediate prospect of benefit ; they look to tlie ultimate 
advantages, and if they can by that means save their land from deteriora- 
tion without getting back the first cost, they consider the outlay a profitable 
one. By the use of water, the capacity of the land to carry an increased 
number of cattle is almost inconceivable. It is estimated that the triangle 
included between Milan, Lodi, and Pavia, the sides of which are about 
twenty miles, contains 100,000 horned cattle, and as many swine, and one 
fourth of that number of horses. By the careful saving of animal ma- 
nures, and all the tafeu made by a large population, the soil is kept in high 
condition. 

The profits of irrigation may be seen by the following statement : Signor 
Berna made careful measurements upon land of an average quality, and 
found the yield of grass per acre as follows : First cutting in February, 84 
cwt. ; second cutting in March and April, 126 cwt. ; third cutting in April 
and May, 131i cwt. ; fourth cutting in May to July, 73^ cwt. ; fifth cutting 
from July to September 15, 63 cwt. Total, 477| cwt., or nearly 24 tuns. 

In the vicinity of Milan, where it is probable they enjoy the advantage 
of sewerage water, the marcite meadows yield fully twice this quantity. 
The grass is cut for soiling in November, January, March, and April ; and 
in June, July, and August for hay ; while the pasturage in autumn is rich 
and abundant. The gross average produce of an acre of winter meadow is 
estimated at $75, when the grass is consumed by dairy stock. Summer 
meadows are watered with three waterings a month from March to Septem- 
ber, to the amount of about forty-two inches over the surface. Tliese mead- 
ows average something over three and a half tons of hay per acre. After 
the land has been three years in meadow it is planted three years in rice, 
and averages fifty-one bushels of paddy, or eighteen bushels of cleaned rice 
per acre. The soil is reduced to mud, and the rice sown from March to 
May, and kept under water until the plant blooms in July. After that it is 
irrigated occasionally, and harvested in the latter part of September. The 
rice crop is followed by Indian corn two years, and that by wheat one year, 
and then it goes down to grass again. 

Indian corn requires the smallest amount of water of any crop. That 
corresponds with the experience of this country, yet it often happens that 
a single watering would double the profit. It is usually watered in Lom- 



906 IRRIGATION^DKAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 

bardy once a month for six months, and yields about fifty bushels to an acre. 
The water sufficient for Indian corn costs about 75 cents or 80 cents an acre, 
and owing to the dry, calcareous soils of Italy, which are ill calculated to 
produce grass or Indian corn, and with the wretched plows that are com- 
mon, and the bad system of tillage, the population of the irrigated districts 
would starve if they were cut off from the usual supply of water. 

lOil. Irrigation in Tiedmont.— In Piedmont two thirds of the land before 
it was irrigated was nearly barren. Now it yields fine grain crops. The 
marcite fields, or w'inter meadows, are highly manured, and then supplied 
with an enormous quantity of water, the purer the better; that from springs 
being preferred. These fields are continually flooded from the 8th of Sep- 
tember-to the 25th of March with one cubic foot per second, or 390 tuns of 
water daily, for three acres of marcite. The average cost of water for a 
winter meadow is $5 per acre. The extent of irrigated land in the valley 
of the Po, Piedmont, and Lombardy is not less than 1,000,000 acres. The 
great volume of the water is applied to the fields in grass and i-icc; corn, 
flax, and wheat do not require as much. The water comes principally from 
the melting snow of the Alps, so that it can not be said to contain any 
special fertilizing quality. The great source of fertility comes from the in- 
creased number of domestic animals that can be kept upon the land, and 
also that the water fits their manure for the immediate use of the plants, so 
that nothing is lost. What has been done by irrigation in Italy may be 
more fully learned by studying a work published in England ujjon the sub- 
ject, by K. Baird Smith, captain Bengal Engineers ; and what has been 
done there may be done here; that is, millions of sterile or very un- 
profitably cultivated acres may be made to produce most luxuriant crops 
by simply furnishing the growing plants with a supply of pure water, to say 
nothing of the advantage of water from some of our rich muddy streams, or 
from the sewerage of cities, or wasted liquids of stables and farm yards. 

Piedmont appears to have the oldest system of irrigation, reacliing back 
to the fourteenth century. Both government and individual enterprise have 
been brought to bear upon the creation of the system. One canal, that of 
Caluso, on the Orca River, begun in 1556, and completed in four years, 
owned by the state, is a work of great magnitude, 20 miles in length, 
with expensive tunnels, numerous bridges, aqueducts, and expensive works 
of masonry, which cost $8,500 per mile, occupies 54 acres of land, and 
carries 366 cubic feet of water per second, watering 15,000 acres of land. 
The canal of Dora, 8 miles long, yields 70 cubic inches of water per second, 
and waters 500 acres of meadow, at a charge to those who use the water of 
about fifty cents an acre. The canal of Fiano, 10 miles long, gives 48 
cubic feet of water per second, and waters 950 acres. Another, 5 miles 
long, with 12 feet per second, waters 200 acres. The canal of Sori is 44| 
miles long, and carries 700 cubic feet per second, and waters 30,000 acres, 
which is at the rate of 42| acres per cubic foot per second, the rice lands 
requiring double as much water as other lands. Tlie charge for water is on 



Seo. 54.] TUE PKACTICE IN FRANCE, BELGIUM, ETC. 907 

the average about §1 80 per acre for a cubic foot of water per second. The 
canal of Cigliano is 20 miles long, with a branch 10 miles long and 15 to 26 
feet broad, 4 feet deep, and carries 650 cubic feet of water per second, and 
Maters 32,500 acres, equal to 50 acres per cubic foot. The price is §1 80 
per acre for dry land, and double that and over for rice land. This canal is 
crossed by 50 bridges, and has 13 aqueducts. The Canal del Rotto, begun 
in the year 1400, is 8 miles long, and discharges 600 cubic feet per second, 
and waters 25,000 acres, giving 55 acres for a cubic foot per second. These 
are only a few of the many canals of irrigation in Piedmont and Lombardy, 
where the system is more perfect than in any other Eumpean country, and 
where the results have long been proved satisfactorily p;-ofi;able. 

1042. Irrigation iu Germany. — In Germany, some of the best talent of the 
country has been devoted to this subject, and irrigation has been adopted 
with the most beneficial results. Thaer lays down the position, that irrigu- 
tion is one of the most useful and important of all the operations of the 
fanner, because moisture is essential to all vegetable growth, and from all 
the information that lie could gather from practice, observation, and study, 
he felt bound to urge the practice of irrigation upon his countrymen. Ex- 
periments made in Germany since the time of Thaer have fully proved the 
value of water, independent of all fertilizing substances it might contain. 
It has been well proved in Germany, where experiments have been most 
carefully conducted, that irrigation doubles the average crop of hay, taking 
a series of years, and that the nutritious value of the hay from an irggaled 
meadow is quite equal to the hay from the same land before irrigation was 
adopted ; and wiicre the water has been drawn from fountains rich in vege- 
table and mineral fertilizers, the irrigated land has required no manure. 

1043. Irrigation in France, Belgium, and other Countries. — Much atten- 
tion has been given to the subject of irrigation in France, and several years 
after it had been practiced to a large extent, a writer calculated that there 
were still more than ten millions of acres of land in the empire, the product 
of which could be tripled annually by irrigation. If that is true of France, 
how much more is it true of America ? 

In Belgium, lands that had long lain arid and worthless, have been made 
to produce two or thi'ee tuns of hay per acre, by means of irrigation, and 
the value of estates vastly enhanced. 

In France, land has been increased in value two and a half times, iu 
large tracts subjected to irrigation. In some places expensive canals have 
been built, for the purpose of letting the water at fixed rents to farmers, just 
as it is in California to gold miners. Expensive artesian wells have also 
been bored in France, to obtain irrigating water, and this is also true to some 
extent in California. In France, Belgium, and Italy, the exact quantity 
reqiaired for each particular kind of soil, at each season of the year, has been 
carefully ascertained, so that it can be told to a degree of exactness how 
many acres a canal of given dimensions will irrigate. But iione of the 
European calculations could be relied upon for America, so much depends 



908 lERIGATION— DRAINING-PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 

upon the rate of evaporation. Irrigation was common in the Roman empire ; 
and we know how much it was depended upon in Syria and Egypt ; and 
China has accounts of it at a period anterior to Jewish history ; and at the 
present time, tliroughout Persia, Syria, Egypt, and other countries, it is the 
farmer's main dependence; and so it was in Peru, tong before America was 
discovered by the Europeans, for the Spanisli conquerors found a most elabo- 
rate system of irrigation, under suitable regulations of law and competent 
engineers; just such a system as we must have here before irrigation can be 
practiced with general success. 

lOii. Irrigation iu America. — Although irrigation is not generally adopted 
in this country, there have been experiments enough tried to prove that all 
drained land, which water would not make cold and sour, would be bene- 
fited by irrigation. California farmers, and a few on the Atlantic coast, have 
learned its value. Mr. C. L. Metcalf, of Franklin, Massachusetts, by his 
own experience, has become an earnest advocate of irrigation. With him 
the effect has been highly advantageous to both clover and grass — red-top 
and timothy. His practice is to lot on the water two days and shut it off 
two, through April and May, and if the ground is dry, also in June. 

Hon. A. B. Dickenson, of Hornby, New York, is not only in favor of 
irrigation, but of using the water as a means of conveying manurial sub- 
stances to the field, and he has derived great advantage from simply making 
the water muddy, by plowing through a pond, the water of which was then 
sprea4 over grass fields. He believes that the purest water that runs con- 
tains some fertility, and it certainly assists the vegetation upon irrigated 
land, to assimilate matters in the soil which they could not without the aid of 
its dissolving power. He has also proved that water long exposed to the 
air and warmed in the sun had a better effect upon vegetation than water 
from wells ; partly owing to temperature, and partly to vegetable and min- 
eral matters held in solution, all of which, except iron, appear to be bene- 
ficial. Economy in irrigation must be studied. One farmer, who wished to 
carry water across a valley for iri-igating purposes, built a stone fence, of 
the right height, level on the top, and formed it into a trough, with rubble 
and cement, thus making one wall answer two jjurposes. From necessity 
in California, irrigation has already been inaugurated, though without a 
proper economical system, laws, and scientific rules ; but it is probable 
that necessity will in time produce all these, and then the system having 
become once rooted in American soil, will spread all over the land, and that 
some of those who may read what we have said to encoiirage its adoption, 
will live long enough to see the system successfully practiced, to the lasting 
advantage of the great brotherhood of American farmers. 

One of the American objections to irrigation is based upon the inter- 
ference of the conduits with the mowing machine. It is contended that 
numerous trenches in the face of a field, ten or twelve inches deep and only 
half that ^*•idth, and these necessarily crooked, to conform to the level, 
would seriously inconvenience the mowers. There is some force in this 



Sec. 54.] WHAT IRRIGATION DOES FOR LAND. 909 

objection, but it is not insuperable. Where a surface is thus intersected by 
irrigating conduits, plant white stakes in tliem to indicate every turn, and 
then follow their course with the machine ; and even though it is a little more 
trouble to cut the grass, the increased production will furnish compensation. 

1045. What Lauds are Most Benefited by Irrigation.— Even sandy soils, ap- 
parently destitute of humus, have been made to produce hay crops by 
irrigation. But in such land, unless the supply of water is abundant, it will 
be necessary to construct the irrigating trenches with a view to save water. 
This may be done by puddling the trench with clay, or conveying water in 
pipes. It is quite important to get as even a distribution of water over the 
surface as possible, and see that it nowhere stands in pools, as that will 
surely spoil the grass, and produce damage instead of benefit. Let it be 
remembered that irrigation will not make poor land rich, and unless fertil- 
izing substances are conveyed to the land in the water, it will do that land 
the most good that is furnished with the most manure. Irrigation should 
never be attempted upon land that is nearly level, as it will be likely to 
afford no commensurate advantage, unless it is so situated that a flow can be 
given to it of water rich in humus, at a time when the grass will not be in- 
jured by water standing upon its roots. Of course there are many farms 
that can not be irrigated for want of water; and there are others that have 
water but no land that can be used, because the lowest portion is too level 
and the higher parts too hilly. So we do not recommend irrigation as a 
general panacea to all farmers; but we do urge it upon the attention of 
many, as the best and most economical way of restoring their land to fer- 
tility. As to the quantity of water necessary for successful irrigation, that 
depends upon such a variety of circumstances that no definite rule can be 
given. In one case in Germany, where the upper stratum was fine sand, 
and gravelly clay in part, for the lower one, with a gentle slope to the surface, 
so that the water was used over and over upon sixty acres, it was found by 
twenty years' experience that the quantity of water was 200,000 cubic feet 
for twenty -four hours' irrigation. It was found, also, that the best time to 
commence watering was about the first of April, keeping on two to four 
days and then oft' the same length of time, till the grass is ready to cut. 
Repeat the ojieration for aftermath, and then keep the water off, because late 
watering proved prejudicial. Irrigation has changed arid wastes, inhabited 
by a sparse, poverty-stricken population, into well-cultivated districts, snj^ 
porting a dense and wealthy population, and the same result would be pro- 
duced in many places in this country, by the same enlightened system that 
prevails in Italy, where all kinds of cultivation are benefited far above the 
cost of the water, and grass lands are made to afford crops that could not 
otherwise be obtained, and this enables proprietors to keep many more cattle, 
increases the food crops, and enables the country to support a population 
that could not possibly exist upon the land if deprived of irrigation. 

1046. Quantity of Water Required for Irrigation. — It is estimated that an 
irrigated meadow will absorb, by soaking in or evaporation, nineteen-twenti- 



910 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Luap. XIII. 

etlis of tlie water let on, before it would find its way off by natural drain- 
age, unless the slope was very steei^, or surface very hard gravel or clay. A 
main conductor of water, twelve feet wide on the surfjice, four feet wide at 
bottom, and four feet deep, may be made on a descent of two feet to the 
mile. Smaller ditches may be constructed on a fall of one inch in twelve 
feet. The irrigating conduits sliould be nine to twelve inches deep, aud 
very narrow, with a fall of a foui-th of an inch to twelve to twenty feet. Ir- 
rigation can be conducted upon steep declivities, but the preparation is more 
expensive, as care must be taken to conduct the water so that tlio conduits 
will not overflow and let the water course down the hill uncontrolled. Tlie 
cost of preparing the surface of a meadow for irrigation, after the water is 
brought to the border on the highest part, would probably be in this coun- 
try of higli-priced labor from six to twelve dollars an acre. 

Where water is elevated by any power for irrigating purposes, we reconi- 
mend the construction of a reservoir sufficient to give several days' supply, 
to obviate the danger of a failure in the elevating power at a time when the 
crop, having been watered for some time, would be greatly injured by hav- 
ing the supply cut off. Great care must be used in regulating the quantity 
of water, which can only be determined by experiment, so as not to flood 
the land and sour the herbage, or give fitful waterings — a flood to-day and 
drouth to-morrow. We have untold acres of land so situated that it can be 
irrigated by the natural descent of the water, but in many instances the 
owner of one field could not avail himself of the advantage without the con- 
sent of the owner of an adjoining field, unless we had some general system 
by which the right could be obtained, as is the right to flow land for mill- 
ing purposes, or to take it for public roads. There arc a great many farms 
in hilly countries, without running streams in summer for irrigation, which 
have the means of storing up water in reservoirs, cheaply formed, to be lot 
down over the fields and save ci'ops from destruction in times of drouth. 
Windmills could also be used for irrigation. We see one in almost daily 
operation at a manufactory, which did not cost over one hundred dollars, 
which would be sufficient to store up water enough iu a cistern upon a 
neighboring hill to irrigate a hundred acres. See 369. Any field that has a 
moderate descent can be irrigated by open ditches and made to pay a 
greater interest uj^on the cost than any other farm improvement ever made. 
^ 104:7. Tile-Drainiug — its Importance and Advantages.— Though we have 
said so much in favor of irrigation, we may say more in favor of under- 
draining, because it can bejiracticed where irrigation can not; and when the 
two systems can be connected, they will mutually benefit each other. In- 
stead, however, of giving detailed rules about draining, we will simply refer 
the reader to an American work upon the subject, published by Hon. Henry 
F. French, of Exeter, N. H. Tucker's Annual Register, for 1859, also con- 
tains much information about draining. No one should expect to succeed 
in a work that requires so much scientific skill, without previous instruction 
from an experienced person, or from books and diagrams and sound judg- 



Sao. 54.] IMPORTANCE OF TILE-DRAINING. 911 

ment applied to tlie work. The point upon which inexperienced persons are 
most ai>t to fail is in the course of drains, which should always lie laid up 
and down the descent, and never less than three feet deep, if the outlet fall 
will admit. Still better for the land and drains if laid five feet deep. At 
this depth, wooden drains will last, nobody can tell how long, for except 
near the outlet they are almost indestructible. One of the greatest bene- 
fits of underdraining is, it deepens the soil. This has been proved upon the 
hardest kind of red sand-stone land ; the aeration of the subsoil from the 
open tile-drains, after the water leached off, had the same effect upon the 
hard pan that air has upon lime. Heavy lands are always so saturated with 
water that tlie productive soil must be naturally thin, and this is why deep 
plowing and the use of a subsoil lifter will double the depth of the produc- 
tiveness of such land, and why imderdraining will quadruple it. Deep plow- 
ing and underdraining are the farmer's cheapest manure, and the profit of 
the work is in the time gained in putting in spring crops, which is worth 
more annually than the interest upon all cost of underdraining. No matter 
what is the character of the soil, it will be benefited by underdraining ; but 
mostly those soils in which water stagnates, or which have no outlets for 
rains, except by evaporation. But all soils can not be profitably under- 
drained, because the land must have an intrinsic value much above the ordi- 
nary price of Western farms, or even some of the interior land of New 
England, before it will pay to drain it. A great many swamps may be 
profitably drained, because utterly worthless as they now are. 

lOiS. What Land Should be Drained. — Eain-water falls on hills, sinks to 
an impervious stratum, along which it runs until it either fin^s a porous sec- 
tion through which it can fall to a lower level, or not finding such, continues 
on the hard bottom to the side of the hill, where it oozes out in the form of 
a spring. If this spring-water is suffered to run down hill, it washes the hill- 
side more or less, and coming to the lowland, sinks as f;ir as it may into the 
soil, makes it sodden, and produces bad effects. To drain eflectually, then, 
we must cut ofi" the supply above, and fewer drains will be necessary below. 
It is the hill lands then, as a general thing, that first need draining. Enough 
water falls in one hard rain to cover the land three inches deep, and this sat- 
urates a clayey soil, and remains often until another rain falls. All such 
land should be drained. John Johnston, of Geneva, N. Y., the original tile- 
drainer in this country, does not think there are a hundred acres in any 
neighborhood that do not need draining, and would not pay well for it. 
Perhaps this may be thought an extreme assertion, but it is nearer the fact 
than most of us have been aware. His first purchase was one hundred and 
twelve acres of land, well situated, but said to be the poorest in the county. 
The soil was a heavy, gravelly clay, with a tenacious clay subsoil, a perfectly 
tight reservoir for water, cold, hard-baked, and cropped down to about the 
last gasp. In 1835 tiles were not made in this country, so Mr. Johnston im- 
ported some as samples, and a quantity of the " horse-shoe" pattern were 
made in 1838, at "Waterloo, N. Y. There was no machine for producing 



912 IRRIGATION— DRAINAGE— PLOWING. [CniP. XIII. 

them, so they were made by hand and molded over a stick, at great cost.' 
Yet he found draining profitable, and now he thinks, at the present cost of 
tiles, the increase of crops will pay the cost of draining in two years. In 
18i7 he drained a quagmire, so that it produced eighty bushels of corn per 
acre in 1848, and in that case the cost of draining was paid by the increase 
of one crop. The late John Delafield drained a piece of land that would 
only yield ten bushels of corn, at a cost of thirty-six dollars an acre, and the 
yield was increased to over eighty-three bushels per acre on the whole field, 
and ninety-four bushels upon the best part. The average cost of under- 
draining in France has been ascertained to be twenty-seven dollars an acre, 
and the increased value of annual products nine dollars an acre. Under- 
draining is advantageous in saving the elements of fertility in land from wash- 
ing away. A Frencli writer says that six thousand cubic yards of the water 
of tlie Vaucluse or the Vosges contain all the elements of an ox, and that 
the Garonne carries out to sea every day more guano than is imported into 
France in a year. 

lOiO. How Laud Should be Drained. — Upon land that is nearly level, the 
first step is to have it carefully leveled. Ascertain first where the ouilet of 
all tlie water must be, and whetlier you can have one or more main drains, 
with branches leading in at nearly right angles, or whether you must make 
all tlie drains from the farther side, each to empty its own water into a 
natural brook or artificial ditch. If the drain is very long, you must use 
large tile at the lower end. If the descent of a drain is small, say only one 
inch in a hundred feet, it will require tile of twice the diameter of a drain 
of rapid descc*»t, say one inch in twelve. In many cases Mr. Johnston has 
used two rows of four-inch, in others six-inch, and in one, a pipe nine inches 
bore. At first he had many to take up and replace with large pipe to secure 
a complete discharge. Main drains he makes six to eight inches deeper than 
those emptying into them, whioli are graded so tiiat the descent may take 
place gradually, and always with a slight sidewise direction down stream. 
Although he uses large mains, he recommends farmers never to use laterals 
over two inches in diameter, and often one inch will be quite sutficient. No 
one can give directions for size of tiles. They must be adopted to circum- 
stances. Let the rule be small laterals and large mains. If your land is 
wet, you will require large pipe, and if flat, the lines must be near together ; 
saj 30 feet apart. Both ends of the drain should be open to the air, and, 
as tile are destructible by frost, make the outlet of stone, brick, or wood, and 
make an air-vent at the upper end by a pile of loose stone, a box, or a hole 
through a log, with such a mark at the surface as will enable the plowman 
to avoid disturbance. This will not only make the water run more freely, 
but the air will draw through and aerate the soil. Sometimes tile become 
obstructed, and must be taken up at the point of difficulty, which is easily 
determined by the water coming to the surface. But stoppages are not 
frequent — not half as frequent as it is to find good, durable streams of 
water running from the drains, which in some cases have proved valuable 



Sec. 54.] DITCHING AND DITCHERS' TOOLS. 913 

sources of stock water for the farm, where it was previously very desti- 
tute. 

1050. Laying off the Ground, Ditching, aad Laying the Tile.— A spii it level, 
mounted upon a tripod, is most conveuient, but a rafter level will answer, 
and can be home-made, with a plumb-bob from the apex to indicate degrees of 
descent upon the cross-bar. To get your scale, make the legs of your triangle 
exactly twelve feet apart. Set it up on a level (ice is best of all places), 
and put an inch block under one leg, and mark 1 where the line hangs, and 
so on, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, as you raise the leg inch by inch, and then when you set 
the instrument upon land, the plumb will show the number of inches descent 
in each twelve feet almost as fast as you can walk. In digging a ditch for a 
tile drain, no more dirt is to be removed than is barely necessary to do the 
work aud afford room for the tile at the bottom. To do this, a few tools not 
usually found on a farm must be had. That is, a long, narrow, blade-spade 
to cut the bottom of the ditch ; a light pick with a long handle to dig where 
the earth is too hard for the spade ; a long-handled scoop to take out the 
loose earth. This is like a nari'ow hoe with the edges turned up. A spoon 
shovel, with a long handle, is sometimes convenient, particularly in taking 
out pebbles. If we were ditching a meadow, we M'ould first plow two fur- 
rows, turning the sod carefully each way. To do this well, the second sod 
must be cut deeper than tlie first, or else the plow must have an attachment 
on the land side, like a knife-blade, projecting down to hold it up to the 
edge of the turf to be turned. The earth may be loosened two feet by this 
sod furrow, followed by a subsoil plow. It is then quickly shoveled out, 
and wiiere it is to be dug deep, it may be found useful to cut the lower part 
so much narrower that a shoulder mmII be formed at this point, upon which 
the ditcher can stand. Tiles are easily laid at the bottom of a deep ditch by 
a tile-hook, which is simply a slim piece of iron fixed at right angles to tlie 
bottoju of a slender handle. As one man lays them down, another throws 
a little loose earth in, which is rammed down to keep them straight and 
firmly in place. Then cover with straw, weeds, bulrushes, small brush, in- 
verted turf, or coarse gravel, to prevent the fine earth running into and 
choking the joints. It is not necessary to fill the ditch with anything but 
the dirt tliat came out, to enable rain water to find its way in. It will find 
its way through hard earth from a point twenty feet distant. 

1051. Descent and Depth Necessary in Drains. — It is common to hear the 
remark, that such a piece of land can not be drained, because it is too level. 
As we do not believe in level land, we ask you to try the level before you 
decide. Again, it is surprising to see how little fall is necessary to make 
water run. Two inches fall in 100 feet of well-made drain has been found 
entirely sufficien^ We know that water in rivers runs with a fall of two 
inches in a mile. With a descent of six inches per mile, a stream runs a 
mile per hour. As to the deptli of drains, that, too, depends upon circum- 
stances. "We believe four feet is right. "Wliere tiles are dear and labor 
cheap, the less tiles wc can use the better. Drains three feet deep, at forty 



914 IRRIGATIOII— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XHI. 

feet apait, are not so effective as at five feet deep and fifty feet apart. Tiles 
iu this couutry must be laid below frost and subsoil plows, and that should 
be at least three feet deep. Nobody contends now in England for less than 
three feet depth of drains, and those who advocate three feet are called shal- 
low drainers. As a general rule, it costs as nuicli lo dig the fourth foot as it 
does tlio other three feet. A four-foot drain is opened in England only one 
foot wide at tlie top, and just wide enough to lay the tile at the bottom. 

1052. What Drainiug does for Laudt — It not only dries tlie soil, but it 
enaldes it to endure drouth, Ijecause the lower strata being aerified and 
warmed, induces roots to penetrate it, and thus decomposition of organic 
matter in the soil is hastened, and nutriment formed for the growing plants. 
The meclianical texture being improved, the soil is thus deepened, and ex- 
cess of water quicker removed after a rain. The land is more productive 
because the season is lengthened. Grass holds in better, and grain is not 
thrown out by freezing and tliawlng. The land is sweeter, warmer, mel- 
lower, richer, and iu every way better for all purposes, and healthier. In- 
deed, one of the great benefits of draining a country is the improvement of 
health. It is of great advantage upon uplands, and still greater wlien swamps 
are drained. It is particularly needed in all the cotton-growing States. 

1053. The Cost and Durability of Tiles and Tile-Draining.— It has been 
estimated that the average price of two-inch pipe tile is about $1 07 a rod 
at the manufactory. Such as was made and used in this country eighteen 
years ago, by John Johnston, of Geneva, ISTew York, he reports as sound as 
the day they were put down. Tiles sliould be about as well burnt as good 
wall brick. They are then strong enough, and can be cut, and are not likely 
to break in the earth. Tliey should be hard enough not to dissolve, and tlie 
claj' should be compressed suificiently to make the tile strong enough, without 
such hard burning as will melt the clay. The following were the advertised 
prices in 1861-2 : 

UOKSE-SHOE TILE. 
At Hartford, Ct At Albany, N. T. At Harlford, Cl. At Albany, N. T. 

7J incli caliber. . S S75 00 per 1000 I 44 inch caliber . . $18 per 1000. . $18 00 per 1000 

61 inch caliber. . 55 00 per 1000 3,1 inch caliber. . 15 per 1000. . 15 00 per 1000 

5i inch caliber. . 40 per 1000. . 'dS 00 per 1000 | 2j inch caliber. . 12 per 1000. . 10 75 per 1000 

SOLE TILE (egg-shaped CALIBER.) 

inch caliber. .$150 per 1000. .$80 00 per lOCO l 2 inch caliber $12 per 1000 $10 75 per 1000 

4 inch caliber. . 40perl(iOO.. 35 00 per 1000 Hound tile 1^ inch caliber 9 00 per 1000 

3 inch caUber. . 18 per 1000. . 10 25 per 1000 \ Hound tile 2J inch caliber 12 00 per 1000 

To estimate the number of tile required for an acre, divide 43,560 Ijy the 
number of feet your drains are to be apart. As that is the number of super- 
ficial feet in an acre, if your drains are to be 36 feet apart, then 43,560 
divided by 36 gives 1,210 as the quotient. Always calculate one tilo for 
every foot in length, to allow for bi-eakage, and then you can easily ascertain 
the cost of any given line of draining. Upon one farm in New York, that 
of K. G. Swan, near Geneva, there are over si.xty miles of tile-drain, a con- 
siderable portion of which cost only 285 cents a rod, complete. Tlie cost of 
digging and filling ditches upon Judge French's farm. Exe or, X. 11. , where 



Sko. 54.] THE COST OF TILES AND DRAINING. 915 



the eartli was so lianl it had to be picked up, was for one job of a mile of 
ditches, four feet deep, a day's woi-k to three rods. Upon another job, 
■with ditches four feet deep, and twenty inches wide at top, and four inches 
wide at bottom, giving a mean of twelve inches, two men opened 14 rods 
of such ditch in a day, and in six days, opened, laid the tiles, and tilled 57l 
rods ; at a cost of 21 cents a rod for labor, at $1 u day. The total cost was : 
817 two-inch tile at $13 a thousand, $11 01; 100 three-inch tile, $2 50; 
tan bark on joints, 70 cents, horse work, 50 cents, $1 20 ; labor, 12 days, 
$12. Total, $26 71. This is 46 J cents a rod, besides engineering and super- 
intendence. The soil was sandy. In hard clay soil, it cost 50 cents a rod 
for the labor, which was done by the same hands as the others. Drains 
three feet deep cost only half as much labor. This is true on the average, 
and where the land is stony, the last foot will cost more than equal the cost 
of the first three feet. Where labor is hired by the day at one dollar, it may 
be calculated that the cost of digging and filling in ditches four feet deep, 
including placing the tiles, will average 331 cents per rod. If tiles cost one 
cent a foot, then the total cost will be 50 cents a rod; and per acre, accord- 
ing to the distance apart of drains. The following table gives the number 
of rods in an acre at the several numbers of feet apart, of the drains, to wit: 
At 15 feet, 176 rods ; at IS feet, 146| rods ; at 21 feet, 125f rods ; at 24 feet, 
110 rods; at 27 feet, 97f rods; at 30 feet, 88 rods; at 33 feet, 80 rods ; at 
36 feet, 73 J- rods ; at 39 feet, 67tV rods ; at 42 feet, 62f rods. Thus, the cost 
of draining an acre with tiles at one cent a foot, and labor two cents a foot, 
with drains at 30 feet apart, will be $44; at 42 feet apart, $31 42; at 60 
feet, apart, $22. 

1054. Wooden Drain Tubes. — S. P. G., of Eacine, "Wisconsin, says wooden 
tubes, with perforations through the sides, loosely jointed, will answer all 
purposes of tile, will last as long in places where they are constantly wet, 
and can be laid for half the expense. This may be true if the pipes are 
placed very deep in the earth, never less than four feet, and it would be bet- 
ter if five feet. These pipes are made of three-inch scantling, bored very 
rapidly l>y machinery, with an inch-and-a-half auger ; and we recommend 
that they should be slit in two after being bored, and the halves mismatched, 
in every two j^ipes, so as to be sure that they do not fit together tight enough 
when laid to prevent the water finding its way inside. 

1055. Brusb Drains, and Substitutes for Tile. — We have seen common 
sapling pine poles last long enough to pay the cost four times over ; the 
drain being formed of three poles — two an inch or two apart at bottom, and 
one on top. This only answers in land not liable to gulley out in the bottom 
of the drain. We have seen valuable service done with bush drains. Long, 
slim bushes are jammed down in a narrow ditch, with buts lapping on the 
tops, and always pointing up hill. Wo have heard of such a drain made of 
corns'alks that lasted six years, and wa=i s^ill good, and had paid its cost 
every year it was in use. Very durable drains have been made of cedar, 
both round and split ; and chestnut rails have also been profitably us^d. 



916 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 

"Wood will always be found most durable in the wettest drains. "We have 
heard of a drahi laid through quicksand, by placing a board at bottom and 
on it two pieces of scantling and a flat slab, all of wliich were continually 
wet, which will apparently last forever. "Wooden drains, however, we can 
not recomuiend for any place where stone or tile can be obtained. 

1056. CobblC-Stoue Drains. — The loose cobble-stone of many farms can be 
formed into a very good drain by careful labor, placing one each side and a 
larger one resting on the two, leaving a passage underneath, and filling in 
promiscuously to within plow-rcacl-.iiig distance from the top. "^Vith good 
wall-ljuilding stones an excellent drain can be made. But the objection to 
all stone drains is the extra labor over that with tiles, so tliat they can only 
be recommended in places where it is an object to get rid of the stones. 
Judge French estimates the extra cost of labor to lay stone drains, even 
where the stones are on the farm, at more than the cost of tiles. 

1057. Cetneut Draiu-TilCS. — Good drain-tiles have been made of cement 
and sand, at first porous, and afterward not so, dependence being made upon 
having the water enter the joints. As to the water going through the pores 
of the tile, ten times as mucli goes through the joints as through the pores, 
so that making them porous is not so very important. The joints will take in 
all the water in the ground. In some places these cement tiles can be made 
on the farm cheaper than terra-cotta tiles can be obtained. 

1058. A Prairie Drailliug-Plow. — A machine is in use in Illinois that an- 
swers a good purpose in draining the ordinary soil. A strong beam, on four 
rollers, carries a small cutting wheel, which divides the sod ; this is followed 
by a sharp coulter, set at an angle backward, to the bottom end of which a 
piece of iron, shaped something like a pear, is welded, supported by a flat 
bar, bolted, like the coulter, fast to the beam. To this " mole" is attached a 
second, of similar shape, a little larger, by a link joint. Being set into the 
ground, it opens a hole, wliich it molds permanently by side pressure, three 
feet below the surface, and through this drain the water runs ofiF as easily 
and continuously as tlirough tile-drains. Farmers consider it invaluable on 
our largo prairies, in the broad, flat sloughs ; as they say, that it not only 
thoroughly drains tlie land, but that it concentrates the imderdraining of the 
marshes and sloughs to any particular point that it may be wanted, creating 
a permanent, never-failing spring of water for stock, on many farms where 
this convenience M'as totally lacking, in dry seasons, until the introduction 
of the ditcher. 

Many sloughs have been drained by running the mole-plow through them, 
and down the outlet or lowest spot, until the natural fall will allow the water 
to come to the surface, and there a durable sjjring is often formed. 

1059. Proper Shape of Drain-Tile.— The Royal Scottish Society of Arts 
publish experiments in transporting lead ore from the mines to the stamping 
mills, by water, running through a trough. At first they tried a square 
M'ooden trough, twelve hundred feet long, with a slope of from thirteen to 
twenty degrees ; but the water had not force enough to move the lumps of 



Seo. 55.] 



PLOWS AND PLOWING. 



91] 



ore over the flat bottom of tlie trough. They then changed the position of 
the trongli, having it rest on one corner, and tiie ore passed rapidly tlirongh 
■without choking. A right-angle form kept itself clear with the least water. 
According to this theory, the proper shape of drain-tile is not round, but 
should be shaped with a sharp corner in the lower side of the pipe. 

1060. Laws Needed to Regulate Drainiiigt — Every State should regulate 
the drainage of land by statute, so that those who hold the mouths of natu- 
ral outlets for water can not deprive others of their use who own land far- 
ther up stream. Such a law was passed by Maine, in April, 1859, providing 
that any one in possession of lands that can not be drained, approached, or 
used without crossing land held by another, may have drains established by 
conimissi oners who locate the route and assess the damages ; and then tlic 
ditch is placed upon the same footing as to right of way and repairs as pub- 
lic roads. 



SECTION LV.-PLOWS AND PLOWING. 

(hat is the object of plowing? It is either to turn 
a sod or flat furrow, or stir and mellow the surfiice, 
or break up the subsoil without bringing it up. 
Then there is no such thing as a universal plow. 
The one invented by Governor Holbrook, of Ver- 
mont, comes the nearest to it, but that in reality 
combines four plows in one, by shifting mold-boards 
and land-sides. The best plow to turn flat furrows 
in sod ground woiild be the worst one to stir up a 
stubble field. The plow must be fitted to the 
object required ; but upon almost all soils you may 
lay it down as a rule in plowing, that you can not 
plow too deep nor too much. If you have disinte- 
grated the soil imtil it has become so filled with air 
that the particles are actually held apart so that it is in a condition that you 
call pufty, it will be useful, and for some crops necessary, to compact the 
surface together with a roller, or some other mechanical means. A turnip 
field, after having been pulverized with great labor, is often tramped by 
sheep. An onion bed is first made fnellow, and tlien compacted quite firmly. 
A wheat field can not be made too mellow — can not be plowed too many 
times — can not be harrowed and pulverized too much ; but after all tliat, it 
is benefited by a heavy roller. Plowing exposes the lower stratum of soil 
to the ameliorating action of air, by which it acquires fertility. We can not 
say how, thougli all experience proves the statement true. Plowing is there- 
fore necessary, and the more perfectly it loosens and pulverizes the soil, the 




918 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 

more equally will it be penetrated, and the more numerous will be the roots 
sent out, until the whole soil is filled with their hair-like fibers. As a rule 
based upon the truth of science, it may be said that while it is possible to 
divide the particles of earth — that is, to separate them one from another in 
the same way that tlie grains of sand are separated — the manipulation of it 
will improve its condition. Farmers must continue to look to the "object 
of plowing," and reacli down a little deeper and deeper, and bring up and 
separate more of tlie particles of the earth, so tliat the growing plants can 
appropiiate them to their use, and the earth will never becom j barren ; pul- 
verization and water will make it produce forever, if the elements which 
crops extract are fairly returned in the shape of excrements of such crops 
when consumed. 

1001. Tli8 History of Cast-iron Plows. — Tlie first cast-iron mold-board was 
invented by James Small, of Berwickshire, Scotland, about 17-iO. He con- 
tinued to manufacture them for fifty years, still using the wrouglit-iron share ; 
cast iron for ihat ])urpose having been first applied by Robert Kansom, of 
Ipswich, England, in 1785. Eighteen years afterward, he made a valuable 
improvement, still in use among all good plow- makers, that of chilling the 
iron in the molds, by using bars of cold iron, upon which the cutting edges 
of the share are cast, making them harder than steel. A Suffolk farmer 
added the land-side, making three distinct pieces of casting to each, to which 
MTOught or cast-iron beams and handles were afterward added in various 
parts of England and Scotland. 

The first cast-iron plow in America was made by Charles Newbold, of 
Burlington, N. J. His first patent bears date June 17, 1797, and is for a 
plow combining mold-board, share, and land-side all in one casting. Objec- 
tions being made to the cast-iron share, probably because it was not chill- 
hardened, he substituted wrought-iron shares. Great as these improvements 
Avere upon the old wooden plows, such was the prejudice against them — some 
even afiirming that cast iron poisoned the ground and prevented the growth 
of crops — that after spending, as the inventor alleged, $30,000 in a vain 
eflbrt to get his plows into general tise, he gave up the business in despair, 
leaving American farmers wedded to their idols, the old wooden plows. 

In the year 1800, Peter J. Cnrtenas, a merchant of New York city, ad- 
vertised plows for sale, made of cast iron. In 18i)7, David Peacock, of 
New Jerse}^, taking his idea from Newbold, for which, however, he paid 
him a tliousand dollars, patented a plow, the mold-board and land-side cast 
separate, to M'hich he attached a wrought-iron steel-edged share. Thomas 
Jefferson wrote a treatise, in 1798, upon the form of the mold-board, insisting 
that it should be constructed upon scientific jirinciples. These principles 
were probably first applied by Eobert Smith, of Buckingham, Pa., about 
18(ii-6, as he obtained a patent for a cast-iron mold-board, and wrote upon 
the subject about that time. In 1814, years after cast-iron plows had been 
in successful use in England, and ]iartially so in this country, Jethro "Wood 
obtained a patent for a cast-iron plow, in three parts, similar to one said to 



Seo. 55.] THE HISTORY OF CAST-IRON PLOWS. 919 

have been in use previous to that time in Virginia. This was a very differ- 
ent article from those now in use. We do not believe that Wood ever was 
entitled to any credit as an inventor, though he was for his persevering 
efforts to get his plows into general use. 

In 1817, Edwin A. Stevens, of Iloboken, N. J., took up Newbold's plow, 
with a view to improve its form, so as to make the draft easier. He took 
his patent in 1821, included in which was tlie process of cold-chilling the 
cutting edges and parts of the share most likely to wear out. His plan was 
so perfect that it was highly approved of, but other engagements prevented 
him from extending what he had so successfully begun. 

In 1810, Josiah Catcher, of New York city, commenced a series of im- 
provements, which are to be found upon nearly all cast-iron plows, and which 
have been of immense benefit to the farmers of this country, notwithstand- 
ing which, we believe, he died poor, and his name is almost forgotten by 
those whom he has benefited so much ; while those who have invented 
death-dealing implements, or stained them with tlie blood of victims immo- 
lated upon the shrine of military glory, are lauded more than the godfathers 
of the Industry of All ISTations. 

The first patent plow of which we have any record, was granted in 1720, 
to Joseph Foljambe, of Rotherham, England, and for many years afterward 
all similar plows bore the name of that place. It was a great improvement 
upon those previously in use ; the mold-board and land-side were wood, 
sheathed with iron plates, the share and coulter wrought iron with steel 
edges, just such as were in universal use in New England early in the pres- 
ent century, and similar to those now in use in the Southwestern States. 
This plow was intended to be worked by one man and two horses — much 
larger than our common horses — and turn over an acre to an acre and a 
quarter a day. The following is the measurement of that plow : Length of 
beam, 6 feet ; from end of handles to point of share, almost in a straight 
line, 7 feet i inches ; from point to heel of land-side, 2 feet 10^ inches ; hight 
from ground to top of beam, 1 footS inches ; weight, 140 lbs. Some twenty 
years after this plow was brought out, the center draft-rod or chain was 
added, just like that now used, and supposed by some to be a very recent 
invention. 

Joel Nourse, of Boston, in connection with his partners, has pi'obably done 
more t^iward making the cast-iron plow a perfect implement than any other 
individual, though many others are entitled to high praise for doing, to the 
extent of their ability, so much to lessen the labor of tilling the land. 

The most ancient plow, as represented on old coins and monuments, was 
a crooked stick, afterward improved by sharpening with iron. The imple- 
ment now in use in Hindostan is little better than the original, and even in 
this country some now in use are but slightly in advance of the Hindoo arti- 
cle, which consists of a slight beam, a narrow share, and a corresponding 
stick with a handle to guide it. Tlie Chinese plow is sirailai-, and the effect 
is what it would be if a man should hold a sharp-pointed shovel, back up. 



920 IREIGATION—DEAINING— PLOWING. [Ciiap. XIII. 

with the handle at an angle of forty-five degrees, and it should then be drawn 
forward with the point in the ground. The plows of continental Europe 
has'e undergone but little change for centuries. The ancient Roman plow is 
still in general use in France. It has a beam, a share, and a handle. The 
share is a triangular-shaped j^iece of wood with an iron point, lance-head 
shaped, and sometimes a coulter, and rarely a mold-board. IIow much better 
was the old " Carey Plow," which in youth we followed many a day, with 
its clumsy wrought-iron share, wooden land-side and standard, and wooden 
mold-board, plated over with a piece of tin, sheet iron, or old saw-plate, 
requiiing the strengtli of a man to hold it by the two pins in its upright han- 
dles, and at least double the strength of team now needed to do tlie same 
work. Tiien there was the old bar-share plow — a flat bar forming the land- 
side, witli a thick clump of iron like the half of a lance-head for the point, in 
the top of which the coulter was clumsily locked, and of course a wooden 
mold-board without any pretensions to making a fit with the iron part. 

There is no longer any occasion nor excuse for a farmer's using a poor 
plow, nor one not fitted to his particular soil and various kinds of work ; since 
plows of a great variety of patterns are made ; right hand and left ; and witli 
sliifting mold-board ; so that furrows on a hill-side can all be turned one way ; 
also with two shares on one beam ; the first turning the sod and second lifting 
a course of loose earth from the bottom of the first furrow and placing it on 
top of the furrow-slice of the forward share. 

1062. Subsoil Ptows — llieir Shape and Use. — Of all the useful improve- 
ments in plows we consider the subsoil plow the most important. The use 
of this plow is to follow the turning plow, entering the bottom of the fur- 
row and performing one of the most useful operations upon .the farm, stirring 
and loosening up the subsoil. One of the best-shaped subsoil plows for soils 
free of stone was invented by Prof. Mapes, of New York. The shape of the 
sliare is somewhat like a flattened quarter of an orange-peel. Suppose this 
placed with the convex side up, connected with the beam by a thin, broad 
standard, with a flat plate at the top to bolt to the beam. The share, stand- 
ard, and top plate are cast all in one piece, and when one point of the 
share becomes dull by use, the plate can be unscrewed from the beam 
and reversed, thus bringing a new point of the share forward. A Wiscon- 
sin farmer — Mr. P. North, of Pochester, Pacine County — has invented a 
subsoil attachment to the plow, which is described as readily fipplied 
to anj' plow, adjustable to any required depth from an inch to six or more 
inc'.ies, and which thoroughly pulverizes the subsoil without raising it from 
its natural position. In other words, by the help of this invention, land 
may, by one man and one team, be at the same time surface-plowed to the 
full depth of the former plowing, and subsoiled to the depth of two or more 
inches, the pulverized subsoil retaining its original place. AYe saw some- 
thing of this kind, made by a smith in Norfolk, Va., ten years ago, that was 
very eflfective. It was a lance-head on a rod about a foot long, bolted to the 
heel of the plow, and curved over so that the point stood forward, and cut ' 



Seo. 55.] PLOWS AND PLOWING. 921 

four or five iuclies below the plow-furrow. This attachment is easily made 
and applied by any smith, and is a very useful addition to any plow to be 
used in mellow land. For stony soils, a subsoiler is made of steel, somewhat 
in the siiape of a sharp-toed shoe, bolted to a standard in two parts, one act- 
ing as a brace when attached to the beam. This is stronger than the cast 
subsoiler, and better calculated to dig in among stones ; and it is similar to 
an implenaent called a ditching-plow, except that tiie standard of the ditch- 
ing-plow is sometimes four feet high, and may be regulated to suit various 
dejjths, as the ditch deepens. 

1063. Steel Plows.— Within a fow years the manufacture of steel plows 
has been very largely extended, the invention, not only of the plows, but 
machinery for their manufacture, having been brought to great perfection. 
One of the most extensive establishments for making steel plows is that 
of Remington, Markhain & Co., at Ilion, N. Y. We have had this year, 
18(71, several acres of strong land turned by one of these ])lows, which is so 
light that the English plowman was afraid to hitch the oxen to it, he was so 
sure it was not strong enough. He soon changed his opinion, and declared 
it not only very strong, but the best plow he ever saw. We have also a 
steel subsoil plow for one horse, which is a verj' useful implement for mark- 
ing rows to plant, and working between, to stir and loosen the earth, par- 
ticularly in drouth. One of the great advantages which steel plows have 
over all otliers, is in weight ; for it has been fully proved that the heavier 
the plow the greater the force necessary to move it along the surface. This 
is a very important consideration. If a wagon is very heavy, after the 
inertia of its dead weigiit is once overcome it rolls forward easily, but the 
plow is a dead weight all the time. 

1064. Deep Plowing — ils Benefits. — " An increase of one inch in the aver- 
age depth of plowing throughout the United States would produce a larger 
amount of profit, as compared with present results, than all the gold received 
from California." We believe this assertion ; but we do not believe that all 
soils, without being previously subsoiled, are fit for this immediate increase 
in depth. Shallow j^lowing is the greatest error of American farmers. 
Millions of acres, though composed of mellow loam, a foot deep, were never 
stirred half that depth. Many a man owns a better farm beneath his fur- 
row slices than the one he cultivates. " Deep plowing saves manuring." 
It is true that the soil derives no benefit from the plow, or other tool, only 
so far as it opens its particles so that the air can penetrate through the mass, 
and carry heat, moisture, and fertility to the roots of plants, which can pen- 
etrate a loose soil, but can not a compact one. A granite rock made pulver- 
ulent, and then stirred frequently in the air, and moistened, will become a 
productive soil. It has received the benefit of exposure to air, and that has 
fertilized it. All the ]>low, or any other tool can do, is to put the soil into 
the most favorable condition to receive this benefit. The best condition that 
any soil can be placed in, is that which will enable it to absorb the greatest 
possible amount of beat and moisture, with the least possible amount of 



922 IRRIGATIO^f—DRAIJflNG— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 

surplus water, and loose free air, and that condition is not obtained by 
skimming over tlie surface. But remember that deep plowing is not ad- 
niittable as a first operation upon all land. The soil must be deepened 
gradually. Tiiis is the case with the prairies. Our experience in regard to 
the time that prairie should be first plowed, and the deptli, is when tlie 
grass is most succulent, and then turn just as thin a sod as possible. An 
experienced prairie farmer says : " From the time that the grass makes a vigor- 
ous growth, and while it continues to grow, prairie can be the most cheaply 
broken up with a good sixteen-inch prairie breaker, but should not be cut 
more than three inches deep. At other seasons, or when the grass is in a 
state of rest, use a double Michigan plow; set tlie top plow so that it will 
cut an inch deep, and the bottom plow two or two and a half inches deeper. 

10G5. Steam Plows and their Use. — We have faith that steam plows will 
yet be invented which can be economically used upon the Western praii'ies, 
though as yet that desideratum has not been reached in any of tlie locomo- 
tive machines tried for that purpose ; and it is yet to be proved whether 
Fowler's traction engine, an English invention, will eflfect the object. It 
appears from reports of committees in England, and from some experiments 
made near Philadelphia in the autumn of 1861, as though it would answer 
the desired purpose. The steam plow that has attracted most notice in 
America is the one invented by Mr. Fawkes, of Pennsylvania, and tried 
without much success on the prairies of Illinois. It was driven by a twenf}'- 
horse-power steam-engine provided with an upright locomotive boiler, having 
151 flues set upon a long frame-work, which rested on a large roller-shaped 
driving-wheel behind and two guide-wheels in front. A tank and box for 
wood or coal rested over the driving-wheel. The guide-wheels are in ad- 
vance of the boiler, and are 18 inches wide and 36 inches high.. The con- 
sumption of wood was one cord per day, and water one and a half barrels 
per hour ; the weiglit about seven tons : cost, $2,500. The plows are on 
frame-work behind,, capable of being lowered and raised by an assistant. 
The machine drew six plows, cutting twelve-inch furrows, between four and 
five inches deep. It plowed at the rate of one acre in forty minutes ; on 
firm, hard ground it could go faster. On very wet gi'ound the driving- 
wheel slipped. Mr. Fawkes has remodeled his machine, and several others 
have also been brought out, but up to the end of 1862, we do not hear of 
any steam plow in practical operation upon any of the great prairie farms. 

Fowler's steam plowing is done by stationing an engine upon one side of the 
field, with an arrangement of wheels and pulleys, from which a rope is carried 
to the other side of the field, and through other wheels and pulleys and back 
to the starting-point. A frame on wheels carries two gangs of plows, one gang 
Ibrward and one behind. This frame being hitched to the endless rope near 
the engine is drawn by its movement to the other side, when the hind gang 
of plows is elevated by a lever, and the other dropped, and the machine moved 
its width on the land to be plowed, and attached to the part of the rope that 
IS moving toward the engine ; and thus it traverses back and forth, the en- 



Seo. 55.] IMPROVED FARMING TOOLS. 923 

gine being moved along tlie headlands as the plowing proceeds. Of course 
this kind of plowing will not answer in small iiiclosures. 

1066. Substitutes for the Pio'.v— Digging Mafhincs.— Mnch money has been 
spent ujion digging machines, without any practical results. Mapes' rotary 
digger; Evans' rotary digger; Comstock's rotary digger, have all given 
promise of good results, and newspaper reporters have often told the public 
that the days of the plows were numbered ; and henceforth the soil must be 
dug instead of being plowed ; but the public are either slow to believe, or 
else there is some radical defect in the digging machines. Mr. O. Coe, of 
Port Washington, Wisconsin, invented a sort of digging harrow that is a 
good substitute for the drag-harrows, and altogether superior to the revolv- 
ing harrows, and appears to be a tolerably good substitute for a small plow 
in preparing light land for small grain. It has its teeth upon revolving 
wheels that dig up the surface as it is drawn forward, leaving it light as well 
as pulverulent, the effect being entirely different from that of the harrow. 
The teeth of Mr. Coe's machine, he says, dig the soil six inches deep, and 
the machine does not pull any harder than an iron-tooth harrow, cutting the 
same M-idth, and not nearlj- as deep. To dig the surface nine or ten inches 
deep, hd tiiinks, will not require half as much power as to plow it the same 
depth. It works admirably upon Indian corn stubble, tearing the roots out 
of the ground, aud fitting it at once for wheat-sowing. Of course it will 
not work among roots, or fast stones, and, we suppose, not well upon sod 
ground. 

Prof. J. B. Turner, of Jacksonville 111., has invented a machine which is 
rather a combination of other tools w-ith the plow than a substitute for it It 
is a frame about six feet wide, fixed upon two broad wheels, which serve as 
rollers for the soil. This frame is arranged to carry two plows, when re- 
cpiired for plowing, and at the same time drop corn or other seed. Tiie 
plowshares can be removed and implements for cultivating corn put in their 
place, by which the ground is cleaned and the dirt turned to or from the 
hills. There are knives that precede the cultivators and shave off all the 
weeds. There is a guard attached to the frame that covers the seed corn 
so that it is iiever covered too much by the teeth. This machine costs $100, 
and requires two to four horses to work it. 

1067. A ilonic-made CJod Crusher is thus described by an Illinois farmer: 
Take two pieces of light timber, eight inches square, ten feet long, and fosten 
them together, three feet apart. Upon the under side of these timbers, 
pieces four inches square, eighteen inches long are fastened, eight inches 
apart, and so arranged that the rear ones are not in line with the forward 
ones. Tliese teeth are beveled and set so as to pitch downward slightly, and 
the frame is drawn diagonally over a plowed field, by which lumps are dis- 
turbed and pulverized. 

106S. A Simple Method of Broadcast Sowing is thus described : Tiie grain, or 
peas, or plaster to be sown is taken to the field in a light wagon, and a bag- 
ful emptied into a low box in the hind end, near which the sower kneels, 



924 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [CnAr. XIII. 

and sows with both hands as fast as the driver goes ahead, tlie quantity 
beini^ reguUxted by tlie speed. By tliis mode sixty bushels of peas were 
sown in one day, with less fatigue than six could have been sown on foot. 
The wagon tracks are sure guides for the sower, and- enables him to sow 
evener as well as faster. 

10G9. An ImprOTed Gardeu Hoe, invented by H. A. Lathrop, of Sharon, 
Mass., is made of three triangular pieces of sheet-steel, the middle one being 
riveted at the upper corner to the other two, and each attached to the three 
prongs of a forked socket on the handle, and is a very efiective-looking im- 
plement for all purposes where digging instead of scraping is to be done. 
We look iipon it as a decidedly good implement. Another effective hand- 
tool is made like a subsoil plowshare, the upper part of the standard having 
a socket for a hoe handle. 

1070. An Improvfment in Corn Baskets. — This impi-ovement is particu- 
larly valuable where "basket stuff" is not found. The body of the 
basket is made entirely of upright splints or staves, without braiding in 
cross strands. These sj^lints are nearly an eighth of an inch in thickness, 
and are held firmly in place between two pieces of thin board that form the 
bottom,- and the two hoops that form the top binder or rim, by -wrought 
nails that pass through each splint and clinch on the inside. The two jjieces 
that form (he bottom are placed with the grain of each piece running at 
right angles across the othei", so that when the nails are driven and clinched, 
it prevents their warping or splitting, thus forming a very strong bottom on 
which the basket may be dragged about without danger of breaking or 
wearing out. The rim at the top being fastened with wrought nails that 
clinch, is very strong and does not become loose and let the handles slip out. 
A flexible wire hoop passes around the center of the basket, which is 
fastened to each splint separately, confining them firmly in their places at 
that point. They are made of a form to let into each other, like our peach 
baskets, and gauged to accurate measures, and being manufactured (of 
course, Yankee fashion) by niachinery, are sold at about the same price of 
baskets made in the ordinary way, and arc said to be more durable. 

1071. Hem]) Harvesler. — Among the recent inventions is a machine for 
harvesting hemp, patented in May, 1858, by C. B. Brown, of Alton, 111. 
We hope this latest attempt to substitute machine-work for the heavy hand 
labor required to cut the hemp of a large growth will be successful. It is 
something much needed. 

1072. A Willow-PeeHng Blachine.— A willow peeler, patented by J. M. 
"Wood, is cxtreniel}' simple, and is composed of a graduated screw wliich lies 
across a ilisk, so that the small ends of the willow being inserted in the 
small end of the screw, are rolled over and carried through to the but of the 
willow, which then has arrived at some of the large threads according to 
the length of the stick, and in its passage is entirely stripped of its bark. The 
whole machine can be carried on a man's back. 

1073. A Tire-Bending Machine, invented by Mr. Mosher, of Chenango 



Sso. 55.] IM'>ROVED FARMiX i TOOLS. 925 

County, is a very simple, cheap, and effective machine, which every country 
blacksmith should have. It consists of a plank wheel, sized for large and 
small tire, with an inner roller attached to a lever that operates upon the 
straight bar, and gradually bends it into sha])e. The whole machine could 
be made for $5, and although not strictly classed under the head of agricul- 
tural machines, is one in which all farmers are interested, as they are in 
whatever cheapens the labor of the suiithery. 

107i. The Ox-Shovel, or Road-Scraper. — ^The ox-shovel is a very valuable 
farm implement. One called Arnett's patent scraper, or ox-shovel, consists 
in an arrangement for opening the hind part and letting out the load without 
upsetting it. This saves a deal of very hard labor. There is another scraper 
that for some purposes is an improvement upon the above, as it is suspended 
under a pair of light wheels, with a horse in the shafts, and is loaded in the 
usual way, and then the handles are borne upon and the shovel liold in a 
level position by stay chains, until the horse is driven to where the dirt is 
needed, when the catcli of the chain is easily unloosed, and the shovel 
emptied behind by bearing upon the handles, or by jumping on and 
pressing it down by weight. It was the invention, so it is said, of a man 
with one arm, who could then out-work a man with two hands, who used 
the old style ox-shovel. 

1075. The Uorse-Hoe Road-Scraper.— This tool is so little known, and is yet 
GO importaut, that we give it prominence in a separate paragi-aph. We 
have seen it much used in the vicinity of Chicago, and oidy in one or two 
other places. We feel satisfied tliat it would bo adopted by all who see it 
work, wherever loose earth is to I)e scraped from the sides of a road into the 
center, in the operation of turnpiking. This macliine is simply a horse-hoe, as 
the other is a horse-shovel. It is made for one or two horses, or oxen, with 
thills, or a tongue, the hind end of which is attached to standards just high 
enough to keep the tongue on a level when at work. To the lower end of 
the standards is attached the hoe, which is made of wood with an iron or 
steel edge, or the whole hoe is made of iron. If those who have seen a wire- 
toothed horse-rake will fancy a continuous iron plate in place of the teeth, 
they will have an idea of this horse-hoe scraper. 

107G. Machiaery Saves niamial Labor. — The following, tliough not a farm 
implement, is one that all farmers are interested in, because whatever 
clieapens labor connected with agriculture is to tlie farmer's advantage. 
The great lumber mills are often necessarily located in places so inaccessible 
to teams, that getting lumber from tliem is very laborioixs and expensive. 
At Williamsburgh, Peun., the mill is 1,200 feet from the canal, on the 
opposite side of the river, which is lower than the canal. Formerly the 
boards were run down to a boat and loaded by hand, and then ferried over 
and carried up the liaiik. INow, the whole work is done by tlie mill-power, 
which sends over 10,000 feet of lumber per hour, upon a lumber-shute sus- 
pended upon wire cables. The contrivance is so ingenious, and cost so little 
($2,000), considering its value to the mill-owners, that we advise all who 



926 IRRIGATION— DRAINING— PLOWING. [Chap. XIII. 

may have mills in such iticouvenient situations, to adopt this vahiable im- 
provement. The bottom of the shute is furnished with a series of rollers, 
upon M'hieh a pile of boards is played at the mill, and then a single board 
being sent through a pair of pressure rollers, pushes the pile its length 
ahead, when that board being loaded is also pushed forward and drives the 
load before it, in a continuous stream of lumber. 

1077. The Grindstone. — There is no machine used upon a farm that is 
more important than the grindstone, and no farmer who knows the value of 
sharp tools, and the loss of time by using dull ones, will try to conduct farm- 
ing without one grindstone, and he will often find it good economy to have 
two or three. There is no surer mark of a shiftless farmer than that of a 
miserably mounted, rickety, old grindstone. No farmer can afford to do 
without a grindstone mounted upon friction rollers, so that it can be operated 
by a treadle, with the foot of the person who holds on the tool, as well as with 
a crank. It will save its cost every year. But above all other things con- 
nected with the grindstone, be sure never to be seen going to a neighbor's 
house to grind your scythe or ax. You can not afford to borrow a grind- 
stone. 

1078. A Variety of Agricultural Tools Noticed. — "We can not give even the 
names of all other agricultural implements ; much less a description of 
them, and only intend under this head to cali the attention of farmers to 
some of the most indispensable of those of recent invention. Of course, the 
plow leads all other farm implements, and a good farmer will have one 
suited to iiU kinds of work, and will not attempt to do all his work with 
a single size, nor with plows all of the same shape. The same rule should 
hold with harrows and cultivators. If oxen and horses are both worked on 
the farm, it should have a heavy ox-harrow, and one made strong and light, 
fi;r a pair of horses to walk quickly over the field, for in the rapidity of the 
movement lies the perfection and economy of the use of a harrow on smooth 
land. A one-horse harrow will be found a very useful tool, even on a farm 
where large teams are kept ; and no farmer can afford to do without one, at 
least, good steel-toothed cultivator, such as those made at Ilion, IST. Y. ; 
or the Knox horse-hoe ; or some similar labor-saving imjilement. The best 
universal harrow, in our 02:)inion, is the one invented and given to the world 
by Hon. Geo. Geddes, of Onondaga County, N. Y. It is a double triangle, 
one following the other, hinged in the center, so that if drawn along a dead 
furrow the center would rest on the bottom, while the wings would ]-ake 
ihe sides to the top. Chandler's harrow is a single triangle, folding 
in the center. The Scotch harrow is two square frames hinged together 
and drawn at an angle. There is a similar one made for one horse. " The 
expanding harrow" is a square frame, so arranged that its width is increased 
or decreased by shifting the link of a draft chain. This is a convenient, in- 
expensive form. The twenty teeth are set in four bars, and each one at the 
end passes with a round neck through a bar, serving as a hinge or pivot, so 
that taking hold of two corners the bars draw together, making an elongated 



Seo. 55.] IMPROVED FARMING TOOLS. 927 

diamond-shaped harrow, that would run between two rows of corn. Then 
draw upon the other corners and it comes back into a srpiare form, and can 
be held there, or at any angle, by the chain that is hooked, on from corner to 
corner. 

Of cultivators there are sizes and forms suited to all purposes, generally 
with three to five teeth, and these of various forms, in wooden or iron frames, 
made to expand so as to work wide or narrow rows, and as each tooth is a 
little plow, a horse makes five small furrows as fast as one with a plow. Some 
of these implements are especially designed for hoeing corn, and answer most 
admirably for that purpose. One is designed for hoeing cotton, and also 
answers well for carrots and similar crops. The operation may be likened 
to that of a pointed shovel slipping along just under the roots of the weeds, 
with teeth on the upper end of the shovel, which combs out the weeds, 
leaving ihem on the dirt instead of under it. The implement called a 
" cotton sweep" is made to shave the surface with sharp knives, and rake 
out the weeds thus cut off, with small harrow teeth set in an expanding 
frame, to suit all widths of rows. This is an excellent implement for all 
hoed crops on smooth land. There are several forms of hand cultivators 
and machine hoes which some gardeners think well of, but all are not eco- 
nomically practical. 

Small seed sowers and planting machines are numerous, and are truly 
very useful and economical for planting all small seeds, as ruta baga, carrot, 
etc., and, in a small way, for corn. In lai-ge fields, corn should always be 
planted by a horse machine. And so should all small grain and grass, as 
there are simple, inexpensive machines arranged to plant wheat in straight 
rows, eight or nine inches apart, and each grain at an exact distance from. 
its fellow, and all at a uniform depth ; and there are other machines for 
broadcast sowing; and machines for harvesting grain and hay, which we 
have spoken higiily of in the chapters devoted to grain and grass. A very 
valuable machine for lifting rocks is noticed in No. 982. It is compact, won- 
derfully strong, has nothing liable to get out of repair or break but a 
chain, and costs $275. The substitution of machines for hand-labor within 
the last fifty years has been wonderful, and now almost every species of farm- 
work may be done by machinery, whether it be plowing, sowing, reaping, 
gathei'ing, thrashing, winnowing, or grinding. Even the old well-sweep lias 
given place to the water-ram. It is manifest from the great demand that 
has sprung up of late years for these new and useful inventions, that the 
light of intelligence is beginning to diffuse itself throughout the country, 
and that while improved methods of culture are being introduced, private 
and public interests are becoming more closely united. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. 

COTTON, CANE, KICE, TOBACCO, HEMP. 

SECTION LVI.-THE HISTORY, GROWTH, AND MANUFACTURE 
OF COTTON. 

^OTTON" is king," is the stereotyped phrase of those 
> IS^K^^'yi ^^'° have so long devoted all their energies to its pro- 
S ui^'1^S\T duction, traffic, or manufacture, that they know no other 
god. With those M'ho know the value of the true 
grasses, it is not king of all the farm crops, though it has 
long held a mighty influence over the destinies of Amer- 
ica; and the events that liave occurred during the com- 
pilation of this volume, in the years 18G1 and 1862, are 
so intimately connected with cotton, that the author be- 
lieves a somewhat extended history of it, and the intro- 
duction of its culture into this country, will be interesting 
to many readers. Of course, many who read do not and 
can not grow cotton, because their home is in too rigor- 
ous a climate; but will that make its history any less interesting? To some 
who have never grown it, yet owing to tlieir location in temperate portions 
of the Middle States, may desire to do so, this section will possess interest, 
for it contains much useful information. Although we have never admitted 
the regal claim of cotton, we have always admit! ed the beauty of cotton- 
fields ; not only because they are beautiful, but because with the production 
of this " vegetable wool" there is connected a vast utility and improvement 
of the human race. Though in its production barbarity and cotton have 
grown upon the same soil, and misery has been interwoven with warp and 
woof in its manufacture, its use has greatlj^ increased civilization in the 
great human family, Ijecause it has done more than anything else to clothe 
the naked, and that is the first great step in improvement of savage life. It 
not only furnishes the clieapest substantial covering for tlie half clothed, but 
it furnishes the material for more than half of tlie ornamental dress of man- 
kind, and therefore may be called, not king, but one of a good King's best 
gifts to his subjects ; because clothing next to food is their greatest want. 
It is unfortunate that a substance for which there is no substitute can only 
be grown in southern latitudes, for it is true that silk, flax, wool, hair, 
hemp, and skins are all insufficient. Their production is too limited, and if 




#? 



PLATE XX. 

(Page 928.) 

This is a very interesting picture. Interesting, because cotton 
has so enwrapped itself around politics, and entwined its fibers into 
the history of the age, that every one is interested in its history. 
This we have given, though briefly, very succinctly in this chapter, 
and this plate gives a most perfect representation of its growth and 
appearance at harvest time. At the upjier left-hand corner will be 
seen a branch, leaf, and flower unopened. Beneath it is the flower 
expanded in its fullest beauty, as it is in the morning. Under that 
it is seen as it appears in the evening. It will open again, but with 
a changed color. It is creamy white the first day — it is red the 
second ; the third it is rotting upon the ground. To the right the 
bolls are seen, nearly ripe, quite ripe, and over-ripe, in which con- 
dition the cotton will blow away, or fall to the ground by the weight 
of its seeds and wet, leaving the dry, brown husk of the boll, as 
represented upon the upper right-hand corner. We have spoken 
of the beauty of the cotton-field when in bloom, ^ 1081, and when 
the bolls are open, as represented in the center of this picture. We 
have also fuUy described the culture and cost of production of this 
great staple crop. 

The scene represented in the lower compartment of this plate is 
such a one as we have very often seen magnifted in its grandest 
proportions. The black dots around the woman in the foreground 
must not be mistaken for a part of her dress, as it appears more like 
silk than it does like a coarse sack, as it is, into which the locks of 
cotton are thrust as fast as gathered. This is emptied into the great 
baskets, which are carried out of the field upon the negroes' heads. 
We have seen a hundred baskets carried thus in one gang of pickers, 
return at dark from the task begun at dawn. Beautiful as this pic- 
ture is, it gives but a faint view of the reality. 



Seo. 56.] 



THE HISTORY OF COTTON. 



929 



all together were used as much as cotton their cost would be beyond the 
reach of many, while cotton can be produced witiiout limit as to quantity, 
and at so small a cost tliat all classes can aflbrd tlic nso of the cheap fabrics. 

1079. The History of Cotton. — ^The genus Gossypi^tm is divided into Gossy- 
jnum Hcrhaceum, G. IIirsutu7n, G. Barhadenst'y and G. Arlorevm. There 
are many hybrids of each. The plant is indigenous to the tropical regions 
of Asia, Africa, and America, and is easily grown in all semi-tropical regions, 
and occasionally still farther north. The southern limit of Europe (36^ 33') 
is too far north for its natural growth, though it has become acclimated in 
much higher latitudes ; in some of our Western States up to lat. 40^. The 
first cotton manufactured in Europe, it is said, was obtained from the Arabs. 
Being indigenous to India, cotton was early manufactured there, but we 
judge it was not known in Solomon's time, for neither he nor Homer men- 
tions it, nor is it ever spoken of in the Bible, though linen is often mentioiied. 
How long cotton cloth has been used in India is unknown, as it was abun- 
dant when tlie country was first visited by Europeans, though rudely manu- 
factured, and not much improved now ; it is spun and woven much in the 
same way it was three thousand years ago. The first mention made of cot- 
ton in history is by Herodotus, who lived four hundred and forty years 
before Christ. He says : " There is a plant in India which produces wool, 
finer and better than that of sheep, of which the Indians make their clothes." 
He describes a cuirass sent from Egypt to the king of Sparta, embellished 
with gold and with " fleeces from trees." A century later, Alexander's 
Grecian army invaded India, and fii'st saw cotton. Nearchus, the admiral, 
who led the expedition down the Indus, gives an account of the clothing of 
the people, " finer and whiter than flax, which was made from a substance 
growing in pods on a tree, called by the natives Tula ;" and his ofiicers 
have left a description of tlie cotton dress and turban which formed the cos- 
tume of the natives at that remote period. Theophrastus, the disciple of 
Aristotle, notices the growth of cotton both in India and Arabia, and ob- 
serves that the cotton plants of India have a leaf like the black mulberry, 
and are set on the plains in rows, resembling vines in the distance. On the 
Persian Gulf he noticed that they bore no fruit, but a capsule about the size 
of a quince, which, when ripe, expanded so as to set free the wool, which 
was woven into cloth of various kinds, both very cheap and of great value. 

Strabo, in the first century, spoke of flowered or printed cotton cloths, and 
beautiful colors of Indian dye ; and that cotton was then grown at the head 
of the Persian Gulf. Pliny, later in the same century, says : "There grows 
a shrub called Gossypium or Xylon, in Upper Egypt, producing a stuft" from 
wliich the white garments worn by the priests are made." Tiiis was cotton, 
which had been but lately introduced from India, through Aral)ia and 
Persia, and no doubt had to work its way slowly against the interest and 
prejudice of those who had long grown flax and made fine linen. But they 
had to give way to the mighty power of cheap production. That cotton 
was not in the pyramid age of Egypt, has been proved by microscopic 



930 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

examination of the fibers of mummy cloths. But Arian, in the second cen- 
tury, speaks of trade between Arabs and Greeks with India, in cotton cloths; 
tliough undoubtedly to a very limited extent, owing to the difficulty of sup- 
planting liuen with a less valuable fabric before machinery was brought to 
its aid, by cheapening the production. The list of merchandise in the 
Roman tariff of those days does not mention cotton cloths, though it does 
silk, which was also brought from India, though mostly from China. It 
does indeed seem surprising that cotton manufacturing should have been 
known for thirteen hundred years, upon one side of the Mediterranean, 
before it crossed over to Greece and Italy. It seems equally strange that 
Home did not import the exquisitely fine cotton fabrics of India, while she 
sought silks from a still more remote region in China. Cotton has often 
been found, by European travelers, growing wild in Africa ; and it was 
found by Columbus in Hispaniola, and among the presents sent by Cortes 
to Charles V. wei"e cotton mantles, vests, and carpets, of various figures, and 
in the conquest of Mexico the Indian allies wore armor of quilted cotton, 
impervious to arrows. 

Cotton garments have always been held in high favor by faithful Moham- 
medans because their Prophet consecrated the fabric, in their eyes, by wear- 
ing pure white cotton garments as a sort of lioly dress, upon public occa- 
sions. On the other hand, there was a strong prejudice and opposition to 
the introduction of cotton into China, owing to the fact, jDrobably, that the 
holy men of that country all wore silk and wool. Marco Polo, a traveler 
of the thirteenth century, found the manufacture of cotton cloth extensively 
carried on in Persia and the provinces bordering the Indus. He only saw 
it growing in one town in China, while in India it was the universal cloth. 
It is singular that it should have flourished in the latter country one or two 
thousand years before it was adopted by its nearest neighbor, China ; and it 
might have remained uncultivated there still longer, only that after the 
Tartar conquest it was introduced by force. The worshipers of cotton in 
this country may wonder how people could be so prejudiced. History tells 
us that cotton was grown in Brazil in 1519. The Aztecs, however, were prob- 
ably the largest ciiltivators and most successful manufacturers of any of 
the races inhabiting this continent at the time of its discovery by Europeans, 
and it is also probable that the "cotton-tree," now found in Central and 
South America, is indigenous to that region. 

lOSO. History of Cottou Culture in the United States.— It is supposed that 
cotton was introduced into the territory of the United States from Barba- 
does, about 1664^, as avc have no proof that the Indians knew anything of its 
value. About 1778-9 a gentleman named Burden, living iqion Jolm's 
Island, a few miles south of Charleston, S. C, clothed his negroes witli 
cotton cloth made upon the jjlantation. At that time the oniy manner of 
separating the lint from the seed was by the fingers ; for then there were no 
cotton-gins, not even the rude affair still in use to clean Sea Island cotton 
{Oossypium heriacewn), which was the only kind cultivated — probably 



Sko. 56.] HISTORY OF COTTON. 931 

because the lint does not adlicre to the seed as it does to tlie green seed, or 
upland variety. About 1S49 or '50 we spent some days upon the Burden 
plantation, and learned much of the early history of cotton from a son of 
the Mr. Burden first spoken of, who said that when it was firsr grown, 
the constant evening work for all the family — men, women, children, and 
servants — was picking cotton ; and that simple and ineiKeient as the roller- 
gin is compared with the saw-gin of the present day, it was hailed with 
joyous acclamations when it was found that it would do the work previ- 
ously accomplished by the very toilsome labor of the hands. Mr. Burden 
thought the first cotton ever shipped from this country was a hag sent from 
Charleston about the year 1740. Upward of fifty years elapsed between 
that and the next shipment. During the Revolutionary war, cotton was 
generally grown for family use in eighth and quarter-acre patches. In 
1793, cotton was planted for a crop by a Mr. King, and in 1795 a million 
of pounds were exported from Charleston. In 1804, Mr. Burden raised the 
first crop of fine, long staple cotton in the State. This was produced from 
carefully selected seed, from stalks growing among that planted for family 
use, which seemed to possess the quality of a long, fine, silky fiber in an 
eminent degree. He continued his experiments of improving the seed more 
than twenty years. In 1826 he put up sixty bags of a superfine quality, 
which sold for $1 10 a pound. In 1828 he sold the same quality at ^1 25 ; 
ordinary Sea Island sold the same years from 24 to 40 cents. His first crops 
were grown on a small island called Burden's Island. The first crop on 
John's Island was grown by Mr. Legare, in '96. A good average yield of 
Sea Island cotton is 200 pounds to the acre. Where one planter makes that, 
one hundred do not, probably, make half that. Mr. Burden made an aver- 
age of 300 pounds to the acfre, and 400 have been produced. He recollects 
the current price of cotton, about 1794, was 25 cents a pound, and that there 
was only one buyer in the city of Charleston. 

About the year 1785, the seed of upland, or short staple cotton {Gossypium 
hirsutum), was introduced into Georgia from the West India Islands. The 
diflference between the two varieties may be easily' known, if readers will 
recollect that the seed of upland cotton is of a greenish color and hairy — 
that is, the lint adheres to the seed, while the lint of the long staple sepa- 
rates freelj', leaving a smooth, black cotton seed, much resembling that of 
the common sunflower. The cultivation of upland cotton for export now 
extends from the Ohio Biver to our utmost Southern limits, though not a 
certain crop north of latitude 36". The neighborhood of Nashville, Tenn., 
and lialeigb, N. C, may be considered the northern limit of its successful 
cultivation, or rather as far north as it can be grown to compete with the 
more favorable localities south of that line, though we have no doubt that 
improvements in the mode of culture and iise of proper fertilizers will 
enable farmers to grow it with considerable success much farther north. It 
is certain that the cultivation of land without manure, and with vei-y shallow 
plowing, with such an exhausting crop as cotton, as generally practiced upon 



932 STAPLE SOUTEERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

Southern cotton plantations, evinces about as much of the spirit of the 
darker ages, as did the Chinese when they stubbornly refused to grow cot- 
ton because their fathers had always been successful in growing sheep and 
feeding silkworms ; or as the policy of the " Confederate Government" of 
the rebel States, in ordering all cotton burned, rather than allow it to reach 
any civilized country, to be manufactured for the general benefit of humanity. 

1081. Beauty of the Cotton-FieldSi — As a flowering plant, cotton might 
be cultivated for its beauty alone. The leaves are a deep, glossy green, 
grow profusely upon branches forming a handsome cone, Avhich is covered 
with a continued succession of white, straw color, or pink flowers, according 
to their age ; and then with its curious-shaped fruit, first small and green ; 
then forming squares, and changing brown ; then cracking open, and show- 
ing glimpses of its snowy white interior; then fully expanding into a hand- 
ful of fleec}' white wool ; then gradually falling and hanging in pendants or 
di'opping a snowy fleece upon the earth ; and so, from the opening of the 
first blooms, the scene is ever-changing, ever-beautiful, beyond the power 
of artist's pencil to portray. And the beauty of the scene is not, as with 
grain, marred by the harvesters ; for in a cotton-field we see the pickers, like 
black ducks upon the white-capped waves of some wind-tossed sea. Even 
in mid-winter, wlieu all else is black and drear, an unpicked cotton-field 
looks like a plantation of white roses or snow-ball flowers. Tiie black shade 
of the picture is not the color of those who labor in the cotton field, but it 
is " man's inhumanity to man." 

1082. The Ilistory of Cotton MamifactureSi— By the Mohammedan power 
the use of cotton was introduced into Spain, and with that power it declined. 
From the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, cotton was manufactured to 
some extent in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, and it was carried, 
earlier than it otherwise would have been, to England, by the religious per- 
secutions of manufacturers on the Continent. That was the starting-point of 
the " cotton-power of England," which has promoted, fostered, and upheld 
the " slave-power" of America. 

The earliest record of cotton manufacturing in England is in the "Treasure 
of Traflic," published in 16il. The author, Lewis Roberts, says: "The 
people of Manchester buy yarn of the Irish to weave, and they also buy 
cotton-wool in London, which comes from Cyprus and Smyrna, which they 
work into fustians, dimities, and other such stnfls for sale ; it is sometimes 
sent into foreign parts." Sometimes sent into foreign parts for sale! And 
that was only 200 years ago. The cotton manufactures of the present day 
are also sometimes sent abroad from England, and perhajis cotton-wool from 
Cyprus and Smyrna is sold in London ; but we doubt whether in quantity 
suflicient to supply one single cotton factory. Two hundred years ago that 
same town of Manchester spun the said cotton-wool by hand upon a single 
spindle wheel, not much superior to its prototype, in India, where it has 
been used, without improvement, for three thousand years. At first, in 
Manchester, the cotton yarn was generally used for filling upon linen warp, 



Seo. 56.] THE niSTOUY OF COTTON. 933 

and was woven upon a hand-loom also like that used in India for the same 
purpose. As this kind of fabric became better known, the demand increased, 
and then a new custom or system of manufacture was introduced. About 
the year 1760, the practice of Manchester merchants was to send agents into 
the country roundabout, with linen yarn and cotton-wool, who engaged the 
work of carding, spinning, and weaving to lie done in families. Sometimes 
a weaver by trade took the job and sub-let the spinning. Sixty years later, 
it was a common practice for ITew England merchants to send cotton yarn 
around among their customers to be woven. The author has carried many 
a wagon-load of yarn to farmers' families, and afterward gathered tlie webs 
into the store, to be measured, folded, and packed by hand for the wholesale 
market. Of course these were coarse goods — -and so were those first made 
at Manchester — but the demand for them was great, and induced invention 
for tlieir improvement. In 17C8 the spinning-jenny was invented by James 
Ilargreaves, an ingenious English carpenter, and rude as it was, it was found 
that upon this machine one person could spin as much as eight upon the 
common wheel. But still it only produced the same quality of yarn, which 
was not suitable for warp. The necessity of more warp than tlie flax-spin- 
ners of Ireland could furnish, and tlie desire to produce fabrics entirely of 
cotton, again stirred the inventive genius of the age, and Arkwriglit's 
machine was given to work a world-wide revolution, not only in the manu- 
facture of cotton, but in the habiliments of mankind, and in almost all the 
economies of life. Then came Crompton's mule-jennj^, Cartwright's power- 
loom, and "Watts' steam-engine, and cotton and its fabrics were sought after 
by all the nations of the earth. The demand in England for the raw mate- 
rial exceeded all human calculations. In 1780, and for four years previous, 
6,766,613 lbs. per annum were imported. In 1790 the imports had increased 
to 31,447,605 lbs. In 1800 they had increased to upward of 56,000,000 lbs., 
and in 1850 to upward of 758,000,000. Of the immense trade in cotton 
between this country and England, from 1850 to 1860, we need not speak — 
it is of the current history of the age, and has been the cause of much of 
its sorrow. In 1790, Alexander Hamilton called the attention of the Amer- 
ican people to the importance of the cotton crop, not as an article of exj^ort, 
but on account of the vast extent which the home manufacture of cotton 
fabrics had assumed in the households of the p>eople. He alludes to the 
then remarkable fact that muslins, bed-ticks, cheeks, stripes, hose, fustians, 
coverlids, and various mixtures of cotton and wool, or flax, are made to a 
greater extent than required for family use by the manufacturers, and even 
hints at exportation. Both he and Mr. Madison spoke of the ]irobability of 
extending the cultivation of cotton from the garden to the field, and of 
sending the products abroad for sale. With all their sagacity and far-seeing 
power, they had no conception the product would reach 4,600^000 bales 
within seventy years. A bale of 400 lbs. per acre (1,200 lbs. in the seed) is 
a good crop. Tlie largest yield known M-as 6,300 lbs. of seed cotton, grown 
by Dr. Cloud, of Alabama, upon one acre. 



934 STAPLE SOUTHEEN CKOPS. [Chap. XVI. 

Of the manufacture of cotton iu other countries, we have ah'eady said that 
it was most ancient in India. Cortes, when iio invaded Mexico, found tlie 
manufacture of cotton cloth in a considerable state of perfection. Humboldt 
mentions tlie use of cotton in the manufacture of paper. Some of the cloths 
made by the Mexicans were curiously figured by interweaving colors of 
scarlet and blue, made from their native productions of indigo and cochineal. 
Columbus carried home specimens of cotton to prove that he had found the 
Indies. Time proved them to be the West instead of the East Indies; and 
time will probably prove that tliere are other fibrous plants whicli can be 
grown where cotton can not, which will serve as a substitute for it in cloth- 
ing mankind. 

1083. The Ilistory of the Cottou-Giit.— The world is indebted to the in- 
ventive genius of New England for the vast quantity of cotton it has used 
within the present century. Witliout Whitney's gin it could never have 
been pref)ared for market and manufacturing. It is due to his memoiy In 
connection with a great industrial interest, that we should give a brief Ilis- 
tory of the inventor and invention, for without it a portion of mankind 
would be but scantily clad. Tlie Inventor of the saw-gin, Ell Whitney, was 
born in Westborougli, Massachusetts, Dec. 8, 1765. In the winter of 1791-2 
he was a private tutor or guest in the family of Mrs, Greene (widow of 
General Greene, of Eevolutionary memory, afterward Mrs. Miller), who first 
called his attention to the ditficulty of separating the lint from the cotton 
seed, and afterward aided him by suggesting the use of a brush to clean the 
saw-teeth of the first model that he built. Crude as that model was, and 
unlike the liighly-finished machines of the present day, the principle remains 
unchanged. That principle is for a revolving cylinder, armed with teeth, 
like a circular saw (hence the name of saw-gin), to seize the lint and pull it 
through narrow slits between bars of iron, leaving the seed behind, and that 
lint is cleared from the teeth by revolving brushes, and generally blown 
away into a lint-room. An invention by Emory Brothers, of Albany, N. Y., 
is a'great improvement upon the blowing process, for It compacts the lint 
into bats ready for baling, and saves labor, room, and improves the cotton. 

It was in June, 1792, that Whitney presented liis petition for a patent to 
Thomas JeflPerson, and exhibited to liim the model of Ins machine, which 
has In the seventy years since tlien M'orked such wonders in the agriculture 
of the Southern States. That model was destroyed when the United States 
Patent Ofiice was burned, but a copy of it was exhibited in the New York 
Crystal Palace, where we examined and compai'od it with gins now in iise. 
Whitney's first gins were worked by hand, and one with a cylinder of 2^ 
feet long was capable of cleaning fifty pounds of cotton a day. This was 
fifty times as fast as it could be cleaned by hand. With the best gins of tlie 
present time, driven by the power of four or six mules, running a cylinder 
twelve inches diameter and five feet long,' 250 revolutions a minute, 150 lbs. 
of cotton can be cleaned in an hour, and a regular day's work is about three 
bales. 



Sec. 56] THE HISTORY OF THE COTTON-Gm. 935 

The introduction of the cotton-gin raised the market value of tlie cotton 
lands of the South from 50 to 1000 per cent., and generally people grew 
wild with excitement, and unprincipled men thouglit to rob tlie poor in- 
ventor of his just rights, and excite popular prejudice against this " Yankee 
invention," or, rather, against his legal right to claim a fair compensation from 
those who were enjoying such great benefits from his ingenuity. As usual, 
they talked about the " oppression to the South" of sucli a patent monopoh', 
and souglit to " compromise" the matter by asking Congress to pay Whitney 
for his patent and throw it open to the benefit of all the cotton-growing 
States. For once Congress i-efused what it never has been known, I be- 
lieve, since to refuse, that is, to grant all that Cotton had the modesty to ask. 
For ten or twelve years poor "Whitney contended against the cotton interest, 
which seemed determined to use his invention without paying for his patent. 
The greatest wrong was done him in Georgia. The courts would not give 
him a verdict upon the clearest testimony. Dne judge decided against him 
upon the ground that cotton could not be profitably grown without the gin, 
and that a patent right upon it was too great a monopoly for any one man 
to possess. Soutli Carolina first agreed to pay $50,000 for the patent, and 
after Whitney had received $20,000 of the amount, tlie Legislature repealed 
the law and sued him for the money. The law, however, was restored after 
several j-ears. Xorth Carolina and Tennessee also bought the right at so 
much per saw for all made in the State. Georgia fought to the last, but 
Whitney finally obtained several verdicts in his favor; yet not till the 
patent had nearly expired. Since the time of Whitnej', improvements in 
tlie cotton-gin have been a constant source of revenue to the Patent Oflice, 
and its manufacture furnished employment to thousands of mechanics until 
the slave power rebelled against the United States Government and stopped 
the cotton cultivation, and the manufacture of cotton-gins ceased as a natu- 
ral consequence. 

lOSi. Sea Island Cotton. — This variety of cotton received its name because 
it was first grown upon the islands near Charleston, S. C. We have already 
stated how it difiers from the upland variety. It is more valuable, because 
the fiber is long and silky, and suitable for spinning the finest thread. Its 
value is also enhanced by the way it is ginned. This process we will de- 
scribe as we have seen it performed upon many plantations. 

1085. How Sea Island Cotton is Ginned. — ^The gin is an exceedingly simple 
machine. It is merely two wooden rollers, about eight or ten inches in 
length, and less than one inch in diameter, made of some soft wood, usually 
common long-leaf pine. One of these rollers is inserted in the socket of an 
iron balance-wheel of about fifteen pounds' weight, which is mounted upon 
a bench and operated by a treadle. These rollers are held together by a 
light spring, and put in motion by the operator's foot, while ho holds the 
cotton with his fingers to the roller. These seize the lint and carry it 
through while the seeds fall back into a box below. Great care has to be 
taken that a seed is never allowed to pass through the rollers, as the raasli- 



93G STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

ing of seeds stains and injures the cotton. The rollers have to be renewed 
every day, and sometimes ottener, if the wood is not exactly suitable, which 
can only be ascertained by trial. If too hard, the wood polishes and will 
not take hold of the lint ; and if too soft, it becomes rough directly, and 
winds the lint around so as to stojj operations. Experience has shown that 
the rollers made of green pine, and not very smoothly made, are the best ; 
but even these should be renewed daily. Experience has proved, too, that 
tlie gin must be driven by the ginner's own power, so that he can feel when 
a seed is caught between the rollers. A Sea Island cotton-gin may be com- 
pared, in its size and operations by the foot, to a sewing-machine. The 
bench is about 3^ feet high, li feet wide, and 3 feet long, the balance- 
wlieel having an opening at the left hand, so that the center is just above 
the table. It has a bearing on one side, and a short crank and a socket on 
the other, into which the lower roller is driven, and forms a bearing for that 
side. As the seeds are hard, they communicate, if caught in the roller, a 
little jar to the foot. The usual task of a stout man is to gin 25 lbs a day. 
When the weather is very favorable, that is, in a clear, di-y atmosphere, 
40 lbs. arc sometimes ginned by an experienced workman. As the cotton 
falls from the gin it is gathered up and taken to a well-lighted table, where 
every mote, speck, and stain is carefully removed. If a mashed seed is 
found, the ginner is required to leave his machine and come to the 
" moter's" table and pick it out. This is done to teach him to be careful, 
and if the oflense is often repeated, he will be likely to receive something 
more than words as a reminder of his carelessness. The ginning is always 
done by the most experienced men, and the " moting" by the most careful 
women on the plantation. The work of the " moters" is all overlooked by 
an inspector, who is held responsible for the perfect cleanliness of the cotton. 
After the cotton is ginned, it is injured by exposure to the atmosphere. The 
ginning can be done to advantage only in perfectly dry weatiier, and the 
packing in damp weather ; it is therefore taken from the " moter's" table 
and closely packed in a dark room until ready for bagging. This process is 
very tedious. The empty sack is suspended through a hole in the floor; a 
portion of the cotton is then thrown in, and the packer gets in with a 
wooden rammer and continues to drive down successive layers until the bag 
is filled. The Sea Island bale is made fi'om four yards of cloth, and holds 
300 lbs. ; and a packer's task is to finish one bale a day. If pressed by 
machinery in square bales, like the upland cotton, the quality is said to be 
injured, and it will not sell for as nmcli money in market as it does in the 
regular round bales. 

10S6. How Sea Island Cotton is Grown. — Upon a majority of the plantations 
visited by the author in 1850, nearly the entire work was done by hoes ; the 
use of plows was almost unknown. The average yield of cotton is less than 
150 lbs. per acre, and it requires four pounds of seed cotton to make one 
pound of lint. The plants are set in drills five feet apart, the stalks from 
eight to twenty-four inches apart, and one good field-hand can plant and 



Seo. 56.] HOW UPLAND COTTON IS GROWN. 937 

tend about three and a half acres. The manner of planting is to scrape all 
the manure and trash into the hollows between the old rows, then dig with 
hoes and haul one lialf of the old beds from each side upon the row of trasli 
to form a bed for the next crop. The seed is put in the last of March or first 
part of April. When ready to gather, it is picked with great care, and at the 
same time assorted in the field ; then assorted again on the drying scaifold ; 
afterward stowed away in the packing-house, and tiien taken to the trasher, 
which is something like a fanning-mill ; then it is picked over by hand and 
spread in tlie sun ; lastly taken to tlie ginner. 

1087. How Uplaud €oUoa is Growu. — This is tlie Gossypium hirsidum, 
the lint adhering to green seed, and it is killed by frost as easily as tomatoes. 
In its growth it somewhat resembles buckwheat, though as far soutli as 
Mississippi it becomes a woody shrub, tall and firm enough for walking- 
canes. In Tennessee, Kentuck}^ Indiana, and Illinois, where cotton is 
sparsely grown,, the shrub seldom exceeds three feet in height, and is not so 
woody as to make the work of plowing under the dry stalks very difficult; 
though it is quite so farther south, M'here they are either cut off and burned, 
or beaten down M'itli clubs and plowed under as well as practicable, with 
the small plows in common use. As the cotton plant has a tap-root, the soil 
should be deep ; and instead of deepening it by plowing, the common practice 
is to throw up the land in beds. It would be better to underdrain, subsoil, 
and make all the soil mellow, and tlien plant nearly on a level ; raising the 
beds only just enough to protect the young plants from injury by heavy rains. 
Owing to the extreme delicacy of cotton plants during the first stages of 
germination and growth, it is imperatively necessary to pulverize the beds 
thoroughly, by ])lowing and harrowing or hand hoeing. In the extreme 
northern limits of the cotton-growing region it will be fonnd profitable to 
plow in autumn, and let the frost aid in the process of pulverization. The 
beds are made about as far apart as corn rows — farther at the South ; say, five 
to nine feet. A slight furrow is opened in the top, and the seed drilled 
pretty thickly by hand, so as to allow for a great many to fail ; and if too 
many grow, as they generally do, they are " thinned to a stand ;" which 
upon the rich canebrake lauds of Alabama would be two feet between 
stalks in rows four and a half feet apart. Upon such land we have seen 
twenty bushels of seed to the acre used, to provide against the destruction of 
the plants by the crawfish. If most of the seed should grow, a peck per 
acre woidd be sufficient. In the vicinity of Montgomery, Ala., wliich we 
take as the average isothermal line in the cotton region, the seed lequires 
nine days' exposure iu tiie soil to vegetate and get above the surface ; and 
the most approved planting season is the first of April, and the average 
yield is about 150 lbs. of ginned cotton per acre. 

In extending cotton cultivation northward, seed should bo obtained as 
near the locality as possible, and soaked before planting. Afterward, select 
in your own field from early, five-lobed balls, and thus, like sweet potatoes, 
it may be gradually acclimated. At the South, very little care is exercised 



938 STAPLE SOUTHERN OEOPS. [Chap. XIV. 

in selecting seed. In planting, it is covered by hoes, or by harrows, or a 
wooden drag, drawn by a horse, and not over an inch and a half deep. The 
greatest tronble is during the first growth, when, if the ground is not kept 
clean, the crop will get a back-set that will put it in danger of autumn 
frosts. The best implements are such as successful can-ot-growers use, 
which scrape the surface close to the plants. " Thinning to a stand" is the 
■work of the hoe, striking across the beds, and cutting out the surplus 2:)lants. 
The thinning should not be done all at once — not at the first or even second 
hoeing ; for allowance must be made for cut-worms and other depredators. 
The last work done is with a turning-plow, to throw up tlio earth to the 
beds, so as to leave deep water furrows between. The first dressing or cul- 
tivating commences soon after the plant puts out the second or third leaf, and 
the hoeing or cultivating should be repeated as often as the weeds, or tht3 
condition of the soil render it necessarj'', imtil the plant is in bloom and 
begins to show balls. Manure for cotton is just as valuable as for any other 
crop, and guano, superphosphate of lime, carbonate of lime, sulphate of 
lime, have all been proved good ; and salt is undoubtedly beneficial — for Sea 
Island cotton indis])ensable. It is best to add the salt to a compost, where 
muck forms the principal ingredient. 

There are three pickings of the crop : first, when the earliest balls open ; 
second, the principal picking ; last, the gleaning after frost kills the stalks. 
The sooner the cotton is gathered after it opens the better, as the sun dries 
up the oil that pervades the fiber. It requires practice to be an expert cot- 
ton-picker, and great care to be a good one ; because the value is much 
injured by allowing any trash to get mixed with the lint. In picking, the 
lock is seized so as to bring it all away at once, and is thrust into a bag, tho 
mouth of which must bo kept nearly closed, to prevent leaves from getting 
in, and when full is emptied into large baskets which are generally carried 
on negroes' heads to the drying scaflPold, where the cotton is sunned one day 
before it is stored. The picking season is a laborious one. The slaves are 
all tasked, and have to work every minute of daylight, and often long after 
dark in getting, the cotton home, and no one is exempit who is capable of 
doing the work. 

1088. The €ost of Growing Upland folloni— To show the cost of production 
we give the following detailed account, taken by the author in 18-19, from 
the books of one of the best conducted plantations in the State of South 
Carolina, that of Col. "Williams, of Society Hill, whose plantation is on the 
Great Pedee River. He then worked 140 field hands, and planted 15 acres 
of corn and cotton per hand. The cotton averaged, the previous year, upon 
1,130 acres, 1,000 pounds in the seed per acre ; and the corn, on 980 acres, 
25 bushels per acre. The cotton crop averaged six bales per hand. 

Cotton is planted in beds 4^ feet apart, and left to stand 12 to 18 inches 
apart in the rows. Corn is planted 4i by 5 feet, two stalks in a hill. 

The following was the cost of making 331,136 pounds of cotton, packed in 
796 bales, averaging 416 pounds each : 



Seo. 56.] 



THE COST OF GEOWING UPLAND COTTOX. 



939 



3,980 yards of Dundee bagging (5 yards 

to a bale) at 16c $036 80 

3,18-1 lbs. of rope at 6c. (-1 lbs. to a bale) 191 Oi 

Taxes on 254 jilantation negroes at 76 c. 193 04 
Taxes on 4,200 acres of land, valued at 

$15 an acre 70 00 

Wages of three overseers 900 00 

Doctor's bill and medicine, on contract, 

at SI 25 a heixd 317 50 

Iron for blacksmith's shop 100 00 

Cloth from his own factory 810 00 

200 pairs of shoes from his o^vn factory, 

at 87i c 175 00 

100 oil-cloth capotes 125 00 

20 woolen bl^kets, given one at each 

birth 25 00 

Calico dress and handkerchief, one to 

give to each woman 82 00 

Christmas presents, given in lieu of allow- 

mg slaves to grow a crop 175 00 

Annual average outlay for iron and wood 

work of carts and wagons 100 00 

50 sacks of salt 80 00 

1 tun of plaster 7 00 

100 barrels of lime 187 00 

Annual averan;o expense of repairs of 

gins and belts 80 00 



400 gallons of molasses «... . $100 00 

3 kegs of tobacco 60 00 

2 barrels of flour 10 0;) 

Freight and commission, f c. per lb on 

cotton 2,069 00 

Making $6,791 48 

To this add interest at 7 per cent, 
on valuation : 

$63,000 for land $4,410 00 

88,900 for slaves 0,228 00 

3,720 for mules, etc 200 00 

2,000 for cattle 140 00 

1,000 for hogs 70 00 

Total S17,894 48 

Sales of produce of the plantation : 

331,136 lbs. cotton at 7 c S23,179 52 



13,500 lbs. bacon at 5 c. 

Beef and butter 

100 bushels of corn 

1 ,000 bushels of corn meal . 
80 cords of tan bark at i 

Blacksmith work 

Mutton and wool 



G75 00 
500 00 
50 00 
500 00 
480 00 
100 00 
125 00 

Total $25,509 52 

This gives a profit of 37,615 04. 

Col. Williams owns 10,000 acres of land, but only estimates in the above 
calculation ■what belongs to the cotton plantation. The following are the 
estimated values : 

4,200 acres of land at $15 $63,000 00 J A bed comforter biennially SO 03 

254 slaves at $350 88,900 00 1 blanket 1 25 

GO mules and mares, and 1 jack 1 wool hat 50 

and 1 stallion, at $60 3.720 00 | 

200 cattle 2,000 00 Total $7 78 

500 hogs 1,000 00 I ANNUAL bill or cost roK feeding slaves (where 

23 carts and six wagons 520 00 i full fed, as upon the plantation of Col. Wil- 

Plows — 60 bull-tongue, 60 shaving, j liams, and other first-class planters.) 

25 turning, 15 drill-plows, and 15 j 3.\ lbs. of bacon a week is 182 lbs., at 5 c. 

harrows. 262 00 'per lb $9 10 

All other tools 1,000 00 I 1 peck of meal per week is 13 bushels, at 

I 50c 6 50 

Total $161,402 00 I Molasses, about 1 6-10 gallons 40 

ANNUAL BILL OF CLOTHING PEK HE.M). Tobacco and Salt ' 28 

12 yards cotton cloth at 6J cents, for 3 Potatoes, and all other vegetables, es- 

shirts and 1 pair of pants $0 75 timated 9 72 

6 yards mnter cloth at 40 c 2 40 

1 pair shoes and repairing 1 00 

1 oil-cloth capote 1 25 

Upon most plantations the last three items ■would not be estimated, as the 
slave would have to provide his own tobacco, salt, molasses, potatoes, and 
other vegetables, out of his own crop, which he is allowed to cultivate Sun- 
days and moonshiny nights, or from the sale of eggs, chickens, brooms, 
mats, coon-skins, and other merchandise. In all the estimates of number of 
pounds of cotton per acre, where the calculation is made upon the crop in 
the seed, it is generally estimated that 1,000 lbs. of seed cotton will give 
290 or 300 lbs. of ginned cotton, and about 30 bushels of seed. A neighbor 
of Col. "Williams cultivated 21 acres of cotton and nine acres of corn per 
hand, and made 2,500 lbs. of clean cotton per hand. The average yield per 
acre in that district 'was calculated at 800 lbs. of seed cotton. The average 



910 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

time of planting is about the middle of April, as severe frosty nights occur 
as late as that, and once we saw snow fall Api'il 15, all day. 

1089. Ginning Cotton. — The cotton as it is gathered from the field is 
dried in the sun and packed away in the gin-house, which is generally a 
very rough building, corresponding with barns upon new farms, and the gin 
is usually driven by horses or mules, working around an upright shaft, 
which drives a horizontal one, and often by exceedingly rough gearing, re- 
volving a drum for the band of the gin, which must run at a very high 
speed. The lint, which is estimated at 30 per cent, of the weight in the 
seed, is blown into a lint-room, and the seed thrown out of a window, just 
as some farmers throw out stable manure, where it frequently lies till half 
its value as a fertilizer is wasted. It is sometimes used as cattle food, but 
is not valualde unless ground. By those who value cotton seed for the oil, 
or the oil-cake for feeding, the waste around the gin-houses would be depre- 
cated. Many small farmers do not own gins, but get cotton ginned by those 
who work, as millers do, for toll. The bale (-100 lbs.), as usually put up 
on the plantation, requires five yards of sacking and four pounds of rope, 
and occupies nearly twice as much space as a compressed bale, which is 
about four and a half feet long, and one and a half to two feet square. This 
compression is done in powerful steam presses at the cities where cotton is 
shipped oceanward, to save roona in stowage. It is then often hooped with 
iron. 

1090. Cotton Seed as ItlanurCi — There is no doubt that cotton seed is a 
good manure for that or any other crop, but there is a doubt about its being 
an economical one, because the seed can be applied to other pjurposes with 
greater profit. If it is used for manure, it never should be, as it often is 
upon Southern plantations, applied in its natural conditioTi, for then one half 
its value is lost. If cotton seed is used as a fermenter of compost, all its own 
fertilizing value will be saved, and the value of the compost greatly im- 
proved. Thirty bushels of seed mixed with 5o0 bushels of muck, or road 
scrapings, or woods-mold, with an equal quantity of stable manure, will make 
an exceedingly rich compost. Those who have experimented with fertilizers 
for cotton, think that the greater the numljer of ingredients in a compost 
the better, and that such manure is the best fertilizer that can be used for the 
crop. A good many cotton growers are just beginning to realize that they 
can not grow cotton continually upon the same soil without manure. Upon 
Buch hard-worked land it is very difiicult to get "a stand;" that is, to get 
the young plants to live long enough to begin to grow. Upon the principle 
that the ashes of anj^ plant is good manure for the same class of plants, there 
is no doubt that cotton seed will fertilize the next crop. 

1091. Will Cotton Culture and Production Increase ?— In the aggregate it 
may, but it is likely to be more difi'used, both in this country and in British 
possessions, and that the produce of slave labor will decrease, as old planta- 
tions are constantly wearing out by the exhaustive system of culture pur- 
sued in all the cotton States. It is doubtful whether the American crop of 



Sec. 56.] EXTENSION OF COTTON CULTURE NORTHWARD. 941 

1859-CO will ever be exceeded. If we could be sure the consumption 
■would increase as rapidly in the next fifty years as in the past, it would be 
worth while for all Northern farmers within the limit of its possible culture, 
to get into tlie business of cotton growing. We do not think the demand 
for American cotton will increase, because there is an immense area in otiier 
countries just as capable of its production as this. There is a belt around 
the earth's surface of at least sixty degrees in width, adapted in great part to 
the culture of cotton. Great Britain now commands capital, while China 
and India overflow with labor. Let Great Britain divert a few millions of 
this capital and but half a million of coolies to any fertile area of 5,000 
square miles within this belt, and she can in a few years double her supply 
of cotton, and command the residue of her im2:)ortation at reasonable prices. 
Among these spots none is more promising than Central America, where 
the cotton plant is perennial, and a single acre, as we are assured by Mr. 
Squier, yields semi-annually a bale of superior cotton. American ])lanters 
are at work in India, and Africa is constantly increasing the production. 
The high price of 1862 has given a wonderful stimulus to production in 
every country but America. It has also given a stimulus to the production 
of fiber from other plants, as a substitute for cotton. 

1092. Exteusiou of Cotton Culture Piortliwardi— Independent of all political 
considerations, we think that the cultivation of cotton should be extended as 
fur nortiiward as the plant can be acclimated, to obviate failure in the 
supply from one locality, from any cause whatever. Many wiio can grow 
it, never thought of doing so till after the Confederated cotton States made 
war upon the Northern States. The cotton planters had so long and loudly 
declared that cotton could only be produced by slave labor, that many in 
the free States believed the statement true. But the truth is, that by slave 
labor the planters have been able to furnish cotton cheaper than any other 
country ; it is not because it can not be grown in other places. But here, 
with cheap land and cheap labor, the supply has been kept up at low prices. 
Unfortunately, the planters are wearing out the cotton lands M'ith as great 
rapidity as tlie tobacco planters wore out their soil. Many plantations 
that once produced cotton are now barren ; and if the world was really de- 
pendent uj^on the cotton States, the supply would certainly fail. It should, 
therefore, be extended northward. 

The growth of cotton in Illinois and adjoining States is not a question of 
experiment, but one of economy. The " cotton interest" have fixed upon 
lat. 36^, but incorrectly, as the northern limit of growth. In Europe and 
Asia it is grown as far north as lat. 41° upon low lands, in warm situations. 
Undoubtedly the cotton plant requires deep and thorough cultivation and a 
long season of fine growing weather, exempt from frost, and such situations 
can be found in the United States as far north as lat. 40^, and perhaps higher. 
A rich, warm alluvial soil is best, and tliere is nothing in the cultivation 
essentially diSerent from corn. The average yield per acre in some of the 
best cotton counties in Georgia was given the author by many planters at 



942 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [CnAP. XIV. 

400 lbs. in the seed, and we have no doubt but that can be exceeded in 
soutliern Illinois. 

It is contended by those who profess to know, that cotton does not ex- 
haust the soil more than flax. We do not know how it would be under the 
management of Northern farmers, but we do know that as cotton is now 
grown it is the most exhausting crop in America, and has mined more 
laud than all other crops together. Millions of acres of laud, once produc- 
tive in cotton, are now lying barren wastes, all over the Southern States. 
One of the principal reasons for this is, because there is no general system 
of rotation. The forest is cleared off, and land planted in cotton and kept 
in cotton t?ll it will no longer produce a paying crop. The only shift is 
from cotton to corn, upon a portion of the land. It is no wonder that it 
wears out. In a few instances the following system of rotation has been 
successfully adopted. The rows of cotton are planted only one half as close 
as they would be upon strong land, the wide space between the rows is 
plowed several times during the summer, and next year the cotton is planted 
in that space, and the old row " left to rest." By this simple mode the 
yield per acre has been increased, and the field continued to produce with- 
out diminution. If cotton is ever cultivated as a crop in regions not occu- 
pied by slaves, some system of rotation will be adopted, to prevent the 
general deterioration of soil that takes place everj^vhere that cotton has 
been cultivated iu this country. It is certain that cotton is an exhausting 
crop, as all white crops always arc, particularly one that ripens such a large 
product of oily seed ; and it is certain that many farmers have given up the 
cultivation of cotton in regions where it will grow, because it exhausts the 
soil, and because it requires so much labor at the very time when corn must 
be attended to ; and that, we believe, will be the great objection to cotton 
growing in the free States. 

1093. fotton from Flax Fiberi — A good many attempts have been made to 
reduce the fiber of flax to such a condition that it would be a pretty good 
substitute for cotton ; but none of the pi-ocesses have been cari-ied to such a 
practical result as to produce any efiect upon the market, though some falirics 
have been manufactured, and much good anticipated. One of the plans tliat 
promises the greatest results is breaking the texture of flax-straw by the ex- 
pansive force of steam, by which the woody substance that makes the shives 
of the flax-dresser is loosened from the fiber, and that is left in a condition 
very much resembling cotton. This is efl"ected by filling a large gun with 
flax and saturating it with steam, gradually raising the pressure to 160 lbs. 
per inch, when the gun is discharged, and the contents blown across a large 
room, in a great, fleecy cloud of cottony lint. The same process j^roduces 
lint from many substances that if not.a substitute for cotton in all its uses 
will be for many things for which cotton is now used. For instance, the 
common reed-cane of the Southern States will blow into a lint that is exceed- 
ingly well adapted to the manufacture of paper. 



lysBi'TS 1>r.Tr«iors Ti.TiiF. Vu'vrt 



TYT 




\ 



PLATE XXI. 

(Page 942.) 

This, like Plates XVI. and XVII., is one for careful study. The 
insects that often nearly destroy whole crops im the cotton-growing 
States, both cotton and corn, are here placed before the reader in 
such a Tper feet facsimile of life, that any one may learn to distinguish 
them ; and from seeing them as here pictured, he will natui'ally be- 
gin to study their character and devise ways to counteract their 
work of destruction. Some boy or girl may be incited, by looking 
at this picture, to enter upon the study of Entomology. In one 
case, at least, a man has grown from just such a small beginning as 
the study of this plate to be an eminent writer upon the science, 
and has done much to instruct others in the history of insects inju- 
rious and beneficial to agriculture. We hope this may have a like 
effect vipou some of the readers of this book. 



Sko. 57.] 



SDGAPv-OANE CULTIVATION. 



9i3 




SECTION LVII.-SUGAR-CANE CULTIVATION. 

/E shall give in this section some interesting facts, 
gathered from personal observation about tlie year 
ISiO-SO, showing the magnitude of the sugar-making 
business in Louisiana, and the profits of well-con- 
ducted plantations. Tiie cultivation of the true 
sugar-cane, Arundo sacchariftra, is confined to a 
very small portion of the Gulf States (though it will 
perfect itself as far north as latitude 32i°), and we 
shall therefore only mention a few facts connected 
with its growth and manufacture. "We liave already 
spoken of the Northern sugar-cane, Sorghmn sac- 
charatum, which bids fair to render the farmers of 
the Middle States quite independent of tlie Southern 
sugar producers. 
1094. Sugar Production ia Loujslana.— The census 
of 1840 gives the total production of sugar in the United States (nearly all 
in Louisiana) at 119,995,104 pounds; and in 1849, by census of 1850, at 
247,577,000 pounds. That year we visited many sugar plantations along 
botli sides of the Mississippi, and on Bayou La Fourche, and from our 
memorandums taken from statements of planters and overseers, or from the 
books, we will give a few statistics that will show the product per acre, or 
rather arpc7it, as all measurement of land in that section is given in French 
measure — /. e., 118 arpens equivalent to 100 acres. 

1095. Statistics of Louisiana Sugar Plantations.— "We will take some large 
plantations, including that of the Right Keverend Bishop of Louisiana, 
Major-General in the Confederate Army, and give their acreable productions, 
and number of hands employed to produce the crop, and in most cases a 
considerable portion of the corn required. And first, Bisliop Polk's place 
of 2,500 arpens, which lies 23i arpens wide on Bayou La Fourche, above 
Thibodeauville, and extends back four and a half miles. The crop of 1848 
was 600 arpens of cane, 200 ditto of corn, and 200 arpens more cane land 
prepared. The yield of sugar was 720 hhds. from 470 arpens of cane, manu- 
factured one year, and 510 hhds. from 358 arpens. It may be well to notice 
here, that all the cane grown is never rolled (the term for grinding for sugar), 
as about 25 per cent, has to be saved for seed, as one planting only lasts 
about three years. The yield of molasses is about 60 gallons to each liogs- 
head of sugar. From seven acres of "first ratoon" cane 21 hogsheads of 
sugar were made in January, 1849. That is considered a fii"st-rate crop. A 
lot of cane, weighed and crushed, and juice measured, gave 163 gallons of 
juice, 8i lbs. per gallon, 1,386 lbs. to 2,300 lbs. of cane. The crop of corn 
tlie same year was 10,500 bushels, which was 5000 bushels less than was re- 



944: STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

quired for the stock, biped and quadruped, on the plantation. The average 
yield of corn was 26 bushels per acre. The M-orking force of the place was 
11.5 field hands and mechanics, and 70 mules and horses. The total number 
of slaves was 370. The small proportion of field hands was owing to the 
fact that the slaves were an original stock, imported, in 1697, for Thomas 
Pollock, an ancestor of Mrs. Polk, and have been in the family ever since, 
and now include a large number of sujjerannuated men and women, some 
of them over a hundred years old. There were also 70 children under ten 
years of age. There is a historical anecdote connected with the slaves on 
this plantation. The original stock was brought into Bristol, E. I., and, 
probably owing to the same cause that decimates slave cargoes of the pres- 
ent day, the captain found that he had not enough to fill his contract Avith 
Mr. Pollock, and so he enticed some Indians on board, and immediately set 
sail for Edenton, N. C, and delivered his cargo at the full count. Traces of 
this admixture of blood arc still plainly visible in this old Pollock stock. 

All the clothing of the slaves is manufactured from wool and cotton on 
the plantation ; and all the hoes, spades, plows, carts, wagons, harness, shoes, 
etc., as well as hogsheads and ban-els for the crop, and all the carpenter and 
blacksmith work, is done by slaves, the rations of which arc, to each adult, 
twelve quarts of corn-meal and three and a half pounds of pork a week, 
and the total annual cash expenses $8,000 — generally estimated at $100 per 
field hand — and the total value of the plantation, with all its stock and fix- 
tures, was estimated at $400,000, and cost, seven years before, without any 
slaves, for 1,800 arpens, of which 450 were cultivated, with 15 mules and 6 
oxen, and the tools, $100,000. The cane is ground in a three-roller mill, 
driven by steam ; the rollers 2 feet 3 inches in diameter, and 5 feet 6 inches 
long; the juice is boiled in sets of iron kettles, and requires two and a half 
cords of wood to a hogshead of sugar. 

A few miles above Bishop Polk's plantation, on the other side of the 
bayou, whicii is a narrow stream that looks like an artificial canal, and is 
kept in place by embankments, is the plantation of Thomas Pugh, one of the 
best sugar planters of Louisiana. lie went there fi'oni North Carolina in 
1825, with a small force, and began a new place, or nearly so, which, in 
twenty-four years, grew to the following dimensions, aiid capable of pro- 
ducing the following crops : There were 3,000 arpens of land, about one third 
of it cleared, 550 arpens in cane, 250 in corn, and 200 in pasture, roads, lots, 
etc. The uncleared part was mostly cypress swamp, which aflbrded fuel and 
timber for the plantation, and lumber for sale. Most of the swamp land, 
like millions of acres in Louisiana, can not be cultivated unless drained by 
machinery. This place had 200 slaves, and worked SO field hands, and made 
700 hogsheads of sugar, and 60 gallons of molasses to the hogshead, from 
440 arpens of cane rolled. All the corn required was also made on the 
place, which would yield, if well tended, thirty ^our barrels full of ears of 
corn per acre. The team force required on this plantation is sixty mules, 
with appurtenances very complete, and one of the best kind of sugar-houses. 



Sko. 57.] SUGAE-CANE CULTIVATION'. 9i5 

and a short distance to haul the cane to the mill, and still shorter to haul the 
proceeds to the steamboat. The land is 17^ arpens front on the bayou, and 
80 arpens deep — 28 arpens being a mile. The sngar-liouse is 40 by 3i0 feet, 
with steam-engine and three-roller mill, each 2i feet diameter and 5i feet 
long, which crush and squeeze the juice out of the cane so as to reduce it to 
about one third its weight. 

The estimated value of this plantation was given by the owner as follows : 
1,G00 arpens of land (1,000 cleared), capable of being cultivated without ma- 
chine draining, at $50 an. arpent, $80,000 ; 1,'100 arpens of swamp land, at 
$1 25, $1,750; the mansion house, at cost, $30,000— $111,750 ; 201 slaves, 
at an average of $400, $80,400 ; 60 mules and horses, at $100 ; 6 yoke of 
work oxen, at $40 — $6,240 ; 1 wagon, $75 ; and 16 carts, at $50 ; plows and 
other plantation tools, $2,000— $2,875 ; 10,000 bushels of corn in crib, at 40 
cents, $4,000; lumber, small stock, and movables, $1,000;— total, $206,265. 

ANNUAL EXPENSES OF TUB PLANTATION. 

Overseer's wages, SI, 200 ; s;iw-mill and sugar-mill engineer, S700 SI, 900 

Average annual outlay for mules 1 ,000 

Cloth for negroes' clothes : cotton, 8850 ; woolen, $444 ; blankets, $200 ; shoes, $475 ... 1,919 

22.5 barrels of pork, at $10 ; 50 barrels of flour, at S4 50 2,475 

Average annual expense of plows, carts, spades, hoes, chains, harness, nails, and iron 900 

Average annual expense of repairs of engines, sugar-mill, and kettles 200 

Hoop-poles, S200 ; oil, $175 375 

Physician's annual bill and medicines 350 

Incidental average annual expense of sundries not enumerated above 200 

Total $9,419 

The proceeds of the crop the year under consideration might be estimated 
as follows: 700,000 lbs. of sugar, at 5 cent*, $35,000; 42,000 gallons of mo- 
lasses, at 18 cents, $7,560— total receipts, $42,560. Net balance, $33,141. 

Yet this is one of the most liberally managed plantations in the State ; 
the slaves being full fed, with three quarters of a pound of pork a day, and 
twelve quarts a week of corn-meal, besides all the vegetables they can grow 
for themselves, or that can be produced by a man and wife and mule em- 
ployed for that purpose. Besides this, they have fifty barrels of molasses 
and nearly fifty barrels of flour a year. Their annual clothing is 4 cotton 
shirts, 2 cotton pants, 1 cotton and 1 woolen jacket, 1 woolen pants, 1 woolen 
hat, 1 woolen blanket, 3 pair of shoes, 1 straw hat ; and to the old, or inva- 
lids, 2 woolen shirts ; and 1 calico dress and handkerchiefs to women, besides 
extras to house servants. 

Other plantations produced, about 1850, as follows: On the Mississippi, 25 
to 40 miles above New Orleans : Wm. Polk, 90 slaves ; 55 field hands ; 320 
arpens of cane, 285 rolled, made 525 hogsheads of sugar and 36,000 gallons 
of molasses. 

Thos. Way, 75 slaves ; 35 field hands ; 350 arpens of cane, 230 rolled, 
made 350 hogsheads of sugar and 700 barrels of molasses. 

Col. Manning, on one of his places, rolled 75 acres, and made 140 hogsheads.' 

On Bayou La Fourche : Gen. Martin ; 37 field hands ; rolled 256 arpens, 
and made 335 hogsheads. 



946 STAPLE 'SODTEERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

J. W. Tucker, 115 slaves ; 80 field liands ; rolled 500 arpens, and made 540 
hogsheads of sugar aud 28,800 gallons of molasses. 

Geo. D. Davis rolled 150 arpens, and made 160 hogsheads of sugar, which 
was nine iiogsheads to the hand, but expects to average twelve. 

Jas. Tucker, 130 slaves ; 70 field hands; rolled 300 arpens, and made 230 
hogsheads. 

A. McCollum, 42 slaves; 24 field hands; rolled 120 arpens, and made 153 
hhds. one year, and next year 131 arpens, and made 174 hhds. His opin- 
ion is, from careful observation, that the sugar crop of Louisiana averages 
per annum about four hogsheads per hand. A sugar-house to make eight 
hogsheads a day, cost $5,000; has a steam-engine of 11 inch cylinder, 3| ft. 
stroke, driving three iron rollers 4 ft. long, 2 ft. 2 in. in diameter. Four 
kettles of 44 to 66 inches across, are not sufficient to boil all the juice that 
the engine and mill can make. Plantation expenses, $4,800 last year; but 
sold besides the sugar crop, $3,300 M'orth of lumber and 300 cords of wood, 
at $2 a cord. 

J. ]^. Tanner, on Terrebonne, 60 field hands ; rolled 300 arpens, and made 
260 lihds. one year, and 46ii the next. 

Doct. Beatty, 02 slaves; 50 field hands; 500 arpens in cane; rolled 270, 
and made 200 hhds. Some land yielded 800 lbs. and some 1,300 lbs of 
sugar per arpent. 

Mr. Potts, 60 slaves ; 30 field hands ; rolled 150 arpens, and made 143^ 
hhds. ; and next year 150 arpens, made 150 hhds. and molasses, 25 gallons 
to the hogshead. 

Other plantations on the Mississippi, above Bayou La Fourche, show the 
fair average production of the sugar lands of the State. 

Henry McCali, 200 slaves ; 100 field hands ; 637 arpens of cane ; 510 
rolled, made 1,015 hhds. of sugar and usual fpiantity of molasses, Avhich does 
uot vary much from an average of 60 gallons per hogshead of sugar. 

J. R. Thompson (91 miles above New Orleans), ISO slaves ; 100 field 
hands ; made one year 640, and next year 660 hhds. from 450 arpens. 

Doct. Stone, 86 slaves ; 50 field hands ; rolled 220 arpens, and made 342 
hhds., and next year from the same number of arpens made 387 hhds. and 
SO gallons of molasses to the hogshead. His average in former years from 
about the same area of land has been 450 hhds. The average yield of corn 
is IS to 20 bushels an acre. 

Daniel Ilickey, 52 slaves ; 28 field hands; 180 arpens rolled ; made 300 
hhds., and last year the same quantity from 160 arpens, besides making more 
corn than was needed. 

Robert Richard, with 23 hands, and 18 extra iu the rolling season, 
made 228 hhds. from 200 arpens one year, 310 another, and 210 another 
year. 

The next two places are below Baton Rouge, on that side of the river ; 
the first being one of the oldest American plantations in the State, owned by 
Col. Hickey, 80 slaves; 35 field hands; 240 arpens, made 264 hhds. ; next 



Seo. 57.] MAKING PLANTATION REFINED SUGAR. 947 

year 250 arpens made only l-tO hhds. Has made sugar 35 years, and cotton 
25 years before, on the same land. 

F. D. Conrad, 200 slaves ; 80 field liauds ; 375 arpens, made 537 hlids. 
The year before made 410 and lost 100 lihds. by breaking tlic mill. On the 
new land of this place corn averages 30 bushels per acre, and old land about 
half as much. On this, and other plantations, where the proportion of 
molasses is not given, it may be estimated at 60 to 80 gallons to the hogs- 
head of sugar. Judge Chinn, above Baton Rouge, made 595 hhds. of 
sugar, and had 12,000 measured gallons and 39,000 gallons calculated by 
weight, at 12 lbs. per gallon. This gives over 94 gallons of molasses to each 
hogshead of sugar. Another place east of Baton Rouge, and away from the 
river, 100 acres of cane gave 130 hhds. of sugar and 11,000 gallons of mo- 
lasses, which is nearly 85 gallons to the hogshead. 

1096. Average Yield of Sugar per Acre.— The average yield of sugar upon 
the above-named jiiantationsupon 0,835 arpens of cane rolled, is one and 
four tenths hogsheads per arpent. Reducing the arpens to acres, it makes 
5,793 acres, and the average yield lyVo hhds. per acre. If we estimate an 
average yield of 70 gallons of molasses to the hogshead, it gives 115i gal- 
lons to the acre, to lie added to the sugar as the salable crop of an acre. 

1097. Average Yield of Sugar per Hand. — The average yield of sugar to 
each field hand employed upon the above plantations, appears to be about six 
and three fourths hogsheads, and at the estimate of 70 gallons per hogshead, 
■i72i gallons of molasses per hand. Counting the sugar at five ceuis a 
pound, 6,750 lbs. at 5 cents is $337 50, and molasses at IS cents a gallon, 
472i gallons, $85 05, making a total cash value of the products per hand, 
$422 55 per annum. 

1098. Making Plantation Reflned Sugar. — Upon a considerable number of 
the sugar plantations of Louisiana refined sugar is made directly from the 
cane. This we found the case upon the plantation of J. P. Benjamin, who 
averaged the year we were there, 300 lbs. of first quality refined sugar from 
400 arpens of cane, which was considered only about one half tlie capacity 
of the place, which had 140 slaves, 80 of whom were field hands, and eight 
white men, mostly Germans, were emjjloyed in the refinery. The juice of 
the cane is boiled in vacuum, tiiat is, in closed boilers, heated by steam, and 
a charge makes from three to four thousand pounds of sugar. The molasses 
that drains oif is re-boiled, and partly granulated, and drained again, and the 
molasses boiled a second time, making a poor quality of sugar, but still leav- 
ing a portion of molasses that will not granulate, estinuited to average ten 
gallons to eveiy thousand pounds of refined sugar. Tliere are a good many 
])lantations that boil the juice in vacuum, making a grade of sugar much 
like what is known generally as '' cofiec crushed," not carrying the refinery 
process any further. Others, like Mr. Benjamin, go through all the pro- 
cesses known to the best sugar refiners. On the west bank of the river, 
above New Orleans, we visited the plantation of a Monsieur Lapice, who 
worked 120 field hands, and had 750 ari)ens in cane, all of which he manu- 



948 



STAPLE SOUTHERN CEOPS. 



[Chap. XIV. 



factnred into refined 6iigar, making from a million to a million and a half 
pounds annually. His sngar-hoitse and refining apparatus'are very extensive 
and costly. He estimated the value of the plantation, which covered some 
1,700 arpens of cleared land and 2,000 arpens uncleared, and 220 slaves and 
other stock, at half a million of dollars. The annual consumption of corn 
upon this place is 18,000 bushels. 




SECTION LVIII.-RICE-ITS CULTIVATION, PRODrCTION, AND PREP- 
ARATION FOR MAI!K!:T. 

JE do not sj^eak of rice because we suppose its mode 
of culture will be practically beneficial to Northern 
farmers, nor because those who grow it will greatly 
benefit by our statemcnrs, but because it is one of 
the great Southern staple crops, and therefore all 
facts connected with its production should be his- 
torically interesting to all agricultural readers, 
though they never expect to grow this grain as a 
farm crop. The facts which we give in this section 
are such as could not be obtained at the time of this 
writing — January 1, 1863; for they were gathered 
by personal intercourse with some of the great rice 
planters of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and 
Florida, at a time when a Northern man was not 
looked upon as a bitter enemy ; and they are now 
interesting to Northern farmers, just as their mode of cultivation is to 
Southern planters. 

1099. Rice — Where and How Grown. — Rice is grown in nearly all tropical 
climates, and is supposed by some to be a tropical, sub-aqueous plant. This 
is an error in both particulars. It not only grows a fair crop upon dry land, 
but is also a valuable one to cultivate in temperate climates, quite as far 
north as cotton ; though where it is grown as a crop, as it is along the coasts 
of the Cai'olinas, Georgia, Florida, and other States, land is usually selected 
that can be flooded with fresh water, partly because such land will grow 
rice, and would not grow any other valuable croj), and partly because, by 
the overflow of the land -in flood-time in the rivers, it is kept continually 
manured. Ther- preparation of some of these lowland rice fields is very 
laborious. The swamp is divided into small compartments, say twenty acres 
in a square, surrounded by a main ditch, and subdivided by smaller ones. 
Some of the main ditches arc boatable canals, two or three miles in length, 
in a straight line from the river to the high land. Each plantation is snr- 
jomided with a strong embankment, high enough to keep out floods, and 



Seo. 58.] STATISTICS OF RICE PLANTATIONS. 949 

each conipartinent is embanked so tliat it can be flooded without interfering 
with the adjoining one. The most favorably situated plantations are upon 
rivers so near the sea that the tide raises the water high enough for flooding 
the fields, and yet so for up the stream that the water Avill not be salt. 
Sometimes the lowland planters suffer very severely in consequence of 
streams being so low that the salt water sets back al)0ve their rice fields just 
when they want the water the most. Rice was introduced into Virginia l)y 
Sir William Berkley, in 1647, and into South Carolina in 1694; and in 1698 
sixty tuns were shipped to England, doubtless in the rough state, in which 
condition it is called " paddy." Upland, or mountain rice, was introduced 
into South Carolina in 1772, and is still profitably cultivated, as we know it 
has given sixty bushels per acre. 

The cultivation of rice in Louisiana commenced in 1718, but it has never 
been carried to such an extent as with some of the great rice planters of 
South Carolina and Georgia. Along the Mississippi the rice fields are 
watered from the floods of the river, which rise higher than the level of the 
land. This is extremely convenient, but not always reliable. When the 
flood continues to increase from the first of February to the first of June, and 
then gradually subsides, the rice planters can use the water to advantage ; 
but objections are made to tapping the levee, on account of risk of a crevasse, 
and because adjoining planters who grow cane are sometimes injured, as the 
M'ater of the river fills up the swamps in the rear, and hinders the drainage 
of dry lands. 

1100. Statistics of Rice PIaiitations> — These we propose to give as we have 
cotton and sugar, and commence with that of ex-Governor Wm. Aikin, a 
celebrity in South Carolina history, and a large rice planter upon the island of 
Johasset, adjoining Edisto, some 25 miles south of Charleston. Our visit to this 
island was in 1850; it had then been owned by the Governor about twenty 
years, and had 700 slaves engaged in rice cultivation. T^ie island contains 
3,300 acres, 1,500 of them in rice ; 500 in corn, oats, and potatoes ; and per- 
haps 200 or 300 in yards, lots, i-oads, and pasture ground, and the remainder 
in swamp, or tide-water marsh. Gov. Aikin valued the island as follows: 
Eice land, $100 an acre ; upland, $25 an acre ; swamp, nothing. The upland 
is very sandy, and when planted in corn, two stalks in a hill, four by five teet, 
it yields about fifteen bushels an acre, if well manured. In sweet potatoes, it 
yields 200 Imshels, and the swamp land, when dry enough, sometimes yields 
400 bushels. Within a few years past, part of the work upon this place has 
been done by plows; and steam-driven thrashing and winnowing machines 
have been substituted for hand labor. The fuel used for the engine is rice 
straw. The hulling is done by a tide mill. The rice ground is laid oft' in 
compartments of twenty to forty acres, and is mostly cultivated by that 
great, awkward, heavy, square tool, with a handle six feet long and one and 
a half to two inches diameter, known as the "nigger hoe," wliich is the tool 
in almost universal use in all slav^ States. In preparing rice lands, the 
stubble is burnt off, or hoed imder, during the winter, and tlie land hoed up 



950 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

in beds in Marcli, and the seed sown about the twentieth of that month, at 
the rate of three bushels per acre. The ditches, which serve to irrigate 
and also to drain the water from the rice, are all laid off upon this place 
exactly thirty-five feet apart, and all the plots being of a given size facili- 
tates the evenness of sowing the seed by the negroes. Many of the canals 
are boatable, and are used to bring the crop to the thrasher and take tlie 
grain to the hulling-mill. From thence it is put directly on board the Gov- 
ernor's vessels and sent to market. The average crop is 1,500 to 1,800 casks 
of 600 lbs. each. The aves'age sales for some years had amounted to $25,000, 
and the annual expenses to $10,000 — $2,000 of it to the overseer. The pro- 
visions of the negroes are generally made on the place, and consist of corn, 
rice, and sweet potatoes, with an occasional taste of nieat-souj). During the 
l^otato season, the weekly rations are half a bushel of sweet potatoes ; at 
other times, six quarts of meal or broken rice. All the negroes work by 
task, and in the time thus gained, reclaim portions of the swamp, upon which 
they produce little crops on their own account, the master giving fift}'' cents 
a bushel for their paddy — the name of rough rice before being hulled. In 
cultivation of the great rice crop, each hand is allotted five acres; and one 
field that we took note of, eighty acres yielded 5,100 bushels, averaging 
46 lbs. per bushel, and this made 229 casks of whole or " merchantable" 
rice ; and two casks of broken rice, called " middlings;" and two and a half 
casks of " small (broken) rice." The team force xipon this plantation is 
usually forty horses and mules, and twenty oxen, but neither brute nor hu- 
man force is always worked to the best advantage, notwithstanding the 
owner is one of the most intelligent, progressive planters in the State. This 
we judged from seeing two hundred able-bodied men and women in one 
gang, repairing a breach in an embankment, by carrying dirt half a mile, in 
baskets, wooden trays, and boxes, on their heads, each load containing about 
a peck of dirt. , 

About forty miles by water, up Cooper River, we visited the rice planta- 
tion of Col. Carson (since dead), who owned 3,300 acres of land, one third 
of it in cultivation ; the other portion, part swamp and part '■ piny woods," 
not worth cultivating. lie owned 220 slaves, 120 of whom rated as hands, 
and included carpenters, coopers, blacksmiths, millers, etc. His crop was 
650 acres of rice ; 90 acres of sweet potatoes ; 26 acres of oats ; 180 acres 
of corn ; the whole entirely cultivated by hoes, and with the exception of 
boating part of the crop, everything was moved by hands and heads. The 
thrashing was done on the ground by sticks, not flails, and the winnowing in 
the free air of heaven, until recently when a steam mill was erected for the 
purpose. The negroes, however, still pursue the ancient way with their 
own crops; and we saw more than a hundi'cd thus employed one Sunday 
around the thrashing-floor. They also hull their rice by the plan once uni- 
versal, that is, in great wooden mortars, where the rice is beaten by hand 
with a pestle, until the hull separates ?rom the white grain. The general 
crop of the plantation is hulled in a large tide-water mill. Corn is planted 



Sko. 58.] RICE PLANTATIONS. 951 

from March 20 to April 20, and is ripe in August, and harvested in October, 
and yields 15 bushels an acre. Oats average 20 bushels an acre. Sweet po- 
tatoes are planted, say 20 acres of roots, from March 15 to April 15, and TO 
acres of slips, some of them as late as July. The average yield is 100 bushels 
an acre. From October 1st to February 1st, the slaves are fed exclusively 
upon potatoes ; afterward a peck of corn, or a peck of broken rice a Aveek is 
given. Col. Carson said he never gave meat rations — did not believe in it, 
and thought his people would not eat bacon if given to them. They were re- 
quired to pound their corn for meal, because "it keeps them ont of mischief." 
The rice crop is planted about March 20, six acres to the hand, and the largest 
crop ever made was 45,000 bushels, averaging 45 lbs. per bushel. Rice 
weighing 48 lbs. per bushel is considered very heavy. The average per acre 
among Cooper Eiver rice planters, take one year with anotlier. Col. Carson 
estimated at 50 bushels. Twenty bushels of good rice will make a cask of 
hulled rice, wt. GOO lbs., and 2| per cent, of broken rice, besides a quantity 
of meal which is good pig feed. His best crop was 90 bushels per acre, and 
his average yield per hand six casks and three quarters, or, saj', 4,000 lbs. 
of marketable rice, worth about tliree cents a pound. All the food is made 
on the plantation, and the cash expenses only about $5,000 a year, includ- 
ing $1,000 for overseer, and $300 for engineer. In preparing rice land for 
a crop, three hands will turn an acre a day. The ditches on this place are 
75 to 100 ft. apart, and most of the ground M-as made at an immense labor 
out of timbered swamp. It is flooded by the tide, but some of the planta- 
tions on Cooper Eiver have fresh-water reservoirs. 

Thos. D. Mears, of Wilmington, N. C, had a rice plantation on the Cape 
Fear River, where the tide averages about Ave feet, giving a good overflow 
to some 3,000 acres of rice land in the vicinity of Wilmington, which pro- 
duces some 150,000 bushels of rice a year, of superior quality. Mr. Mears' 
average was 55 bushels per aci"e, upon 250 acres, worked by forty hands, 
who do all the work with hoes. The average crop on the river is 50 bushels, 
and average price eighty cents a bushel for paddy. Hands average five or 
six acres each, besides making a provision crop. Mr. Mears' father made 
one year an average of 113 bushels an acre upon a flat of eleven acres. 

1101. Floodiu^ Rice Laindt — As soon as any one of the inclosed plots of a 
plantation is seeded, the water is let on so as to just cover the surface, and 
kept on till the grain is sprouted, and then it is drawn off till the plants 
shoot the fourth leaf, and then the hoes are put to work weeding, if the 
weather is dry, and the water is kept off till the second weeding, or else it is 
flooded and kept on fifteen or twenty days, which kills a great portion of the 
weeds. Then the water is drawn off and the crop cleaned, when it is 
flooded again, and the height of water regulated day after day, so that the 
plants just keep their heads out of water. A crevasse, or low flow of fresh 
water, or high salt tides, are equally fatal to the crop. Watchmen are kept 
day and night on the embankments, to guard against accidents. It is a crop 
that an enemy might easily destroy. A single gun-boat could ruin a mill- 



952 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

ion of dollars' worth of rice in the run of one uight on a river lined with 
rice plantations. The rice crop ripens the latter part of August, when the 
water is drawn off, and the grain cut with sickles, bound into sheaves, and 
" toted" to the canals, or out upon dry laud and stacked. Some years, the 
state of the weather is such that little or no hoeing can be done to the crop. 
Water is then the sole dependence. Upon " Kice Hope" plantation, above 
Col. Carson's, a crop of 90 bushels an acre was made one year upon 15 acres, 
never touched with hoes after planting. That plantation has fresh-water 
reservoirs, but the water is not as enriching as flooding from the river. 
These ponds cover 100 acres, to water 260 acres of rice land. But this is 
considered no loss, as none but rice land, and just enough upland for corn 
and potatoes is valued, no matter what the area of the plantation. 

1102. Uow Rice is Hulled. — There is no grain, not even oats and buck- 
wheat, that has such an uneatable appearance as rice. The delicious white 
grain that comes to us is inclosed in a hard, rigid husk, composed in great 
part of silex, so sharp that it would wear out the teeth of an ox in a short 
time. To remove this husk without spoiling the grain is a diflictilty that 
ingenuity has overcome. Tiie first process was rubbing between two stones, 
and then pounding in a wooden mortar ; a process that commerce could not 
wait upon. The principle is still the same, but improved by machinery. 
The paddy is first run through a fimning-mill ; then through a three-way 
separator, the screens of which take the largest rice to one place and 
smallest light rice to another, and the sand to a third ; then through a burr- 
stone-mill, set so the grain is rubbed and most of tlie hulls separated ; then 
it is elevated and passed again through a fanning-mill that winnows out the 
loose hulls. Then it is carried to a screen that separates the hulled grains 
from the others, which have to pass again through the mill. The hulled 
grain now has a rough, dirty appearance, and if eaten in that state would 
have a slightly gritty taste. It is not in a merchantable condition. To 
make it so it is carried to a set of n:ortars, ten or twelve in a row, each hold- 
ing five bushels, where it is operated upon two hours by a large wooden 
pestle that is lifted up by cogs on a wheel and allowed to drop its weight 
into the mass, giving a rubbing motipn that separates tiie pellicle, and 
mashes all the soft, defective grains, and those that were not hulled by the 
stones, making them into "rice meal." Then it is again elevated to a screen 
that separates all the whole grains fi'om the broken ones and meal. The 
broken rice and meal are carried to a fanning-mill that separates them — the 
broken grains being good food, and worth half price. Tiie whole grains are 
carried to another machine where all the dust is brushed oft', and the grains 
polished by rubbers. It goes once more to the fan and screen, and all that 
comes down in the right place is ready for packing, and all that goes over is 
sent back to the mortars. 

1103. The Product of Clean Rice from Paddy.— The jroportion of salable 
rice in a given quantity of paddy may be seen from the following statement 
of a crop sent from " Eice Hope"' to Charleston, to be hulled on account of 



PLATE XXII. 

(Page 953.) 

A GREAT many readers of this book have never, probably, had an 
opportunity to see the plant here so perfectly represented in a grow- 
ing state. To all it is worthy of attention as a matter of curiosity 
and information. To those about to embark in the business of to- 
bacco culture, it is valuable, because it illustrates so beautifully 
what we have said in the section treating upon this subject. Here 
he will see the plant in all of its dififerent stages of growth, from the 
small bunch of leaves when taken from the seed-bed to the perfect 
plant beginning to bud and ready to top, after which it will begin 
to throw out suckers, as seen upon the opposite corner. The full- 
grown plant in the center shows how it looks when permitted to 
bear seed. The section of one of the poles, or lath-strips, from the 
curing-house shows how the bands are fastened, as we have describ- 
ed, one upon each side, connected by twine. 

The tobacco curing-house should have been called a shed, as the 
curing-house, or barn, is made with close sides ; but this for an illus- 
tration of the mode of curing, gives a better view, and in a dry 
climate is preferable to the building with closed sides and windows, 
as the tobacco requires a great deal of dry air to cure without in- 
jury. 



;* 



SHOWIKI} ITS niJ'FERr.:ST STAOES .«]) TBE paoCES 



IXII 




The Plant \riLhout Su.ckErs and ripe r 



ThP Plant Stl-ungfnr rirrmg . 




TOBACCO CtriUSG- HOTTSE. 



Sso. 59.] 



TOBACCO OULTIVATIOK 



953 



the planter : " 2,159 bushels, average 45 lbs. — -97,155 lbs. made 54,222 lbs. 
of whole rice, which sold at three cents a pound, which, with casks 50 cents 
each, made $1,671 16. One cask of middling 628 lbs. at 1§ cents, SlO 70; 
also one cask 620 lbs., not sold, say, $10 60 ; four casks of small rice, say, 
$30 00 ; 202 bushels of rice meal, say, $101 00. Making a total of 
$1,823 46. And deducting $305 34 for milling, leaves $1,518 12, net pro- 
ceeds of 2,159 bushels. 

It is readily seen from what we have said, that it requires a large capital 
to establish a rice jjlantation, and a good deal of hard work to keep it in 
order ; but so long as the work can be done by slave labor, and produces 
such a paying crop, the business will be continued. 

, 1104. Statisiics of the Exportation of Rice. — By these we learn the rate of 
increase of rice cultivation in this country. We find that the exports from 
Charleston, S. C, 1724, are given at 18,000 barrels. We take it that the 
term barrels means tierces, for the tierces of the present day, which contain 
600 lbs. each, are called barrels. In 1740 the exports from Charleston, 
?0,110 " barrels." In 1760, 100,000 " barrels." From Savannah, in 1760, 
3,285 " barrels." The total amount of rice exported from this country in 
1770 was 150,529 " barrels." In 1800, the exports are given at 122,056 
"tierces;" in 1820, 88,221 tierces; in 1840, 101,617 tierces; in 1852, 
67,707 tierces. The highest export any year up to the present time, 212,983 
tierces. Tiie smallest export since the commencement of the present cen- 
tury will probably be in 1861-2. 



SECTION LIX.-TOBACCO-ITS HISTORY, CULTIVATION, AND PROFITS 
OF PRODUCTION. 



OBACCO may be said to be the parent of American 

slavery ; but great as is that evil, it is not the greatest 

connected with its j^roduction. That is connected 

with the slavery to its use. We have ranked it 

among the staple crops of the South, because there 




its cultivation originated, and there is where slaves were im- 
l^orted to increase its production, which they did to the ruin 
of the soil ; for it is certainly true that it is a farm produc- 
tion that has destroyed the value of more land than all 
others put together. We say nothing of health and intel- 
lect destroyed by its use, as our present province is to give 
facts about tobacco cultivation ; but first some facts of its his- 
tory may be interesting. 
1105. Tobacco History. — The chemical composition of the plant is very 
remarkable, and worthy of serious study by present and prospective growers. 



yo± STAPLE SOUTHERN" CROPS. ' [Chap. XIV. 

Nicotin, tliG deadly principle to which all the ill effects of tobacco are due, 
is, as every one knows, a deadly poison. Besides this, the plant contains a 
number of acids, resins, and volatile oils. The name of IN'ieotln, which is 
applied to this plant, conies from John Nicot, embassador from France to 
Portugal, in 1500, who introduced the abominable weed into Europe. So 
says Torrey. Its original name in St. Domingo appears to have been chobala, 
or cJioba, and also givia. The name tobacco is supposed to be derived from 
the name of a place in Yucatan, called Tabaco. Others say it comes from 
ToBASco, in the Gulf of Florida. Others say it was from Tobago, one of the 
Caribbees. It is not important what place gave it the name, since it has no 
historical nor botanical meaning. It is historical that it is an American pro- 
duction, used by savages, from the earliest period of our knowledge of them, 
as a means of producing intoxication. Columbns found the inhabitants of 
Cuba using tobacco in 1492. It is spoken of four years later as used in St. 
Domingo. It was found in use in Virginia in 1585, the natives smoking it 
in clay pipes, just as white men do in 1862. It was carried to England by 
Sir Walter Kaleigh, and people became so fascinated by its nse that a great 
demand was created, whicli induced the early settlers to cultivate it to an 
alarming extent, and its use increased in spite of all the " Counterblasts" of 
James I. against the " damning, wicked practice ;" and so, we suppose, it 
will, in spite of all the blasts that we can fulminate. 

The price was a great inducement to the settlers upon James Kiver to in- 
crease the cultivation. In 1617 it is given at 37 to 75 cents a pound. Still 
that was not sufficient to produce all that the managere of the colony de- 
sired ; for we find, in 1621, that each colonist was required to cultivate a 
thousand plants, averaging eight leaves to the pound, which would make 
100 lbs. of the cured leaf. In 1622 the quantity made is given at 60,000 lbs. 
In 1639 the production had got ahead of the demand, so that the price was 
likely to fall so low as to stop tobacco-growing. To obviate this, the strong 
arm of law was made to intervene and stop the excess of production, so 
that the entire crop should not exceed 120,000 pounds. All excess of that 
was ordered burned, in equal proportions among the planters, and creditors 
were ordered to accept 40 pounds for every 100 pounds due. Eather "com- 
pulsory legislation" that would be considered in our day. But neither that 
nor all the edicts of those in power have had any effect to stop the consump- 
tion of tobacco, and therefore it will continue to be produced. The quantity 
consumed in England in 1829 was 15,000,000 pounds. In 1840 it was 
40,000,000 pounds. 

1106. Exports and Consumption of Tobacco.— The value of tobacco ex- 
ported from the United States in 1848 is given at $7,551,122. The value of 
exportations has been largely increased with the last ten years, mostly to 
European states, where the use of tobacco is made a source of revenue ; and 
as it is an article not at all necessary for the comfort of any human being, it 
is a very proper subject for taxation. The following is a statement of the 
consumption and tax per capita in different countries : " The average con- 



Sec. 59.] EXPORTS AND CONSUMPTION OF TOBACCO. 955 

sfimption in Austria was 6.75 lbs. ; tax, 26 cents per head. France, 5.50 lbs. ; 
tax, 43 cents per Iiead. Russia, 2.50 lbs. ; tax, 2i cents per head. Portugal, 
3.50 lbs. ; tax, 4:6 cents per head. Spain, -4.75 lbs. ; tax, 48 cents per head. 
Papal States, 2 lbs.; tax, 50 cents per head. England, -'.10 lbs.; fax, 78 
cents per heiid. Belgium, 9 lbs. ; tax, 3j cents per head. Sardinia, 2.75 lbs. ; 
tax, 27 cents per head. Holland, 8.25 lbs. ; tax, 1 cent per head." It has 
been estimated that the average annual consumption of tobacco in the United 
States is 7^^ lbs. per head for each male inhabitant over eigliteen years of 
age. At an average cost of onl}' forty cents a pound, it makes an expense 
of over tUree dollars a head. It would not be unfair to make these con- 
sumers pay a war tax of ten per cent, on the cost. When it is considered 
that tobacco is a narcotic poison, and that its use is universally baneful to 
health, it is surprising that its consumption should increase in an age that is 
declared to be lising in the scale of intelligence and refinement. There is 
no disputing this fact, that the use of tobacco not only belongs to an uncivil- 
ized race, but that its use has a debasing eiiect upon civilization. The enor- 
mous cost of its consumption is perfectly startling to the political economist. 
The Dean of Carlisle gave the consumption of England, in 1856, at thirty- 
three millions of pounds, costing £8,000,000, besides what was smuggled, 
which ho supposed a very large quantity. Statistics show there, as every- 
where else, a steady increase far outstripping the proportional increase of 
population. In 1821, the average consumption per head per annum was 
11.70 oz. In 1851 it had risen to 16.36, and in 1853 to 19 oz., or at the rate 
of one fourth increase in ten years. There are 12 city brokers in London 
whose business is exclusively the sale of tobacco, 90 manufacturers, with 
7,380 workmen engaged in the different branches of the business. In the 
whole United Kingdom there are no less than 252,068 tobacco shops. The 
Dean estimated the increased consumption in other portions of Europe 
greater than in England, notwithstanding the great cost. In France this is 
enormous — equal to one thousand per cent, upon the American price, and is 
an imperial monopoly, which, it is said, yields $20,000,000 annually. Being 
a government monopoly, the quantity consumed is-easily ascertained. Thus, 
the Genie Industriel, a French paper, says: "In 1830 the value of tobacco 
consumed was $13,000,000; in 1840 the value was $19,000,000; in 1850 it 
was $24,000,000 ; in 1857 it was $35,000,000. Taking the average at only 
$24,000,000 a year, it gives a total for the 27 years of $675,000,000. We 
give the account as we find it, but it seems almost incredible that such a sum 
of money could be by any one nation puffed away in smoke, or consumed in 
the still viler practice of tobacco-chewing. Hamburg, a Gern:ian city of 
150,000 inhabitants, consumes 40,000 cigars a day, and employs 10,000 per- 
sons in the manufacture of 150,000,000 of cigars a year, requiring a capital 
of $20,000,000. The consumption of other European states is estimated 
npon the same grand scale. In Denmark, 70 ounces annually for each per- 
son ; in Belgium, 3i lbs. each ; while in America the consumption is esti- 
mated by some writers as greater than in any portion of Europe, and the 



956 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

entire annual consumption of the world at 4,480,000,000 pounds, or as mufh 
in weight as all the grain consumed by 10,000,000 of Englishmen, and equal 
in value to all bread material consumed in Great Britain. Five millions and 
a half of acres are occupied in its growth, the product of which, at but the 
moderate sum of twopence per pound, would amount to the vast sum of 
£37,000,000 sterling, or nearly $185,000,000." 

1107. Exliaustiug Nature of a Tobacco Crop.— The stirength of tobacco is 
determined by the quantity of nicotin ; the flavor, by the oils and resins. 
The ash is of all the most important to the farmer, for this is made up from 
his availal)le plant food — in other words, from his farm capital. The oils, 
resins, and acids come from the air, and hence cost ns nothing. Take a 
given quantity of tobacco and burn it to ashes, and we find that the propor- 
tion is enormous. The roots give 2 to 14 per cent, of ash, the stems dried, 
16, and the leaves 17 to 24 per cent. As the leaves are the great bulk of 
the crop, the robbery of the soil is correspondingl}' great. One thousand 
pounds of tobacco take an average of 200 pounds of ash ; and 2,000 pounds, 
which ma}' be regarded as a large crop, 400 pounds of ash. Now, a crop of 
wheat of 30 bushels to the acre takes but 36 pounds of ash from our farm. 
In other words, it would reqnire eleven crops of wheat to do as much injury 
as a single crop of tobacco. The composition of the ash is variable, in some 
districts one of the leading ingredients being replaced by some other. In 
an average of samples tested by Prof. Brewer, potash salts formed a third 
part of their weight, and 75 to 80 per cent, of the soluble portion. Soda 
exists in but a small quantity. Sometimes the potash is replaced by lime. 
Thus in France, along the river Garonne, the tobacco has this peculiarity, 
and is noted for its mildness. In American tobacco, the potash salts pre- 
dominate, and most in the stronger kinds, which grow on new soil. A study 
of the census will show ns that in any tobacco district, the production start- 
ing at nothing, mounts rapidly to a maximum, turns the corner, and never 
regains its higher figures. The reason is, that land can only bear maximum 
crops of tobacco for a short time, and when once the decline comes on, no 
power on earth can restore its fruitfulness. By high manuring, we can, with 
other crops, actually improve the fertility of our farms, or, at any rate, guard 
against impoverishment, but with tobacco, we can not. New crops have 
coarse quality of structure and rankness of flavor ; while, per contra, the 
tobacco of the finer brands is gotten from lands long cultivated. A thin 
leaf, with small, pliant veins, is most esteemed, and of this character is the 
tobacco of Holland and Connecticut. The season of growth is ordinarily 
crowded into 30 days, and the larger portion of the soluble salts must be at 
this headlong speed supplied to the spongioles. The crop is so tender that 
of all those we cultivate, it is the most subject to destruction by hail. In 
Germany there are " Hail Insurance" companies on the mutual plan. It is 
a notorious fact that hailstorms extend over very limited areas at a time, 
and hence the farmers of a whole country uniting in small annual payments 
toward a mutual fund, it will be seen that even the most disastrous hail- 



Seo. 59.] DIRECTIONS FOR TOBACCO-GROWING. 957 

ravages could easily be recompensed, without fear of extinguishing the 
grand capital. In considering the advantages and disadvantages of tobacco 
culture, Prof. P.rewer thus stated the case. The sole advantage is that an 
individual may grow rich from raising it. On the other hand, a nation 
never will ; for the one man's gain is obtained at the cost of his son and 
son's son ; in getting his fortune he has taken from his children the means 
of future gain, like the owner of the goose that laid the golden eggs. The 
crop terribly exhausts the soil ; it is very precarious because of weather and 
insect enemies ; the laborers that cultivate it suffer in health ; and the land, 
which must always be of the best quality, could be employed in raising 
breadstuffs to more general profit. 

IIOS. Tobacco-Growiug in Connecticut. — A letter from the small town of 
Cromwell, Middlesex Co., Conn., says that 50 acres of tobacco were cul- 
tivated in that town last season, the value of which is $15,000, and more 
than three fourths of the crop was grown within a half-mile radius, upon the 
loamy soil overlying the sandstone formation. The writer says : 

"To this adaptation of soil in this and a few other localities in the State is 
attributable much of the world-wide repute of i's uneqnaled growth of 
tobacSo for cigar wrappers, which brings such high prices, as compared with 
the coarser sorts. But few persons will produce the best tobacco, and but 
few soils will succeed. Farmers of the old school can hardly conceive of 
the prodigal outlay of time, money, and labor deemed advisable by our 
most successful growers. Two, and often three plowings of the land, with 
applications of as much fresh stable manure as can well be turned in — not un- 
frequently ten to fourteen cords per acre — together with three to six hundred 
pounds of guano, and two to four bushels of salt. Its cultivation requires care- 
ful and constant attention, and judicious and liberal management, to secure a 
remunerative price. I wish to deter no one from entering the business, but 
I would have them so enter as to prove successful. The better the article 
raised the larger the profit. The rule among our growers for manure is, to 
aj)ply all ' you can get,' which is nearer the truth than many imagine. One 
of our best crops was raised (as an experiment) with guano, applied at the 
rate of 1,400 lbs. per acre, but it only affected the one crog, whicli was very 
fine, and yielded one tun, perfect leaf, to the acre, for which 35 cents per lb. 
was offered and refused. Any one can figure up and see if it pays to do the 
business thoroughly. The gentleman raising this crop devoted his entire 
time to this one acre. In conclusion, I would say to any one tliinking of 
commencing tobacco-growing, count the cost before you begin, and be con- 
tent to raise a little good tobacco until you have experience suflicient to 
raise only the best." The best animal manure for tobacco is that of sheep, 
and the best way to apply it is to feed off a previous crop, say, turnips, on 
the ground, or yard and feed sheep where the tobacco is to be grown. 

1109. Tobacco-Growing in New Yorli. — From an article prepared by Hon. 
Geo. Geddes, of Onondaga Countj^, N. Y., we extract some interesting facts 
in relation to the cultivation of tobacco in tliat county. He says : 



958 



STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. 



[Chap. XIV. 



"The cultivation of tobacco, as a crop, was commenced in this county in 
1845, by Chester Moses and Nahum Grimes, both of the town of Marcellns. 
Tiiey joined in hiring a man from Connecticut, who Avas skilled in the cul- 
ture. In 1846, Col. Mars Nearing, then of the town of Salina, grew ten 
acres; and very soon others engaged, in a small way, in growing this crop. 
By the census of 1855, it appears that in the preceding year there were 
grown in the whole county 471j acres, yielding 554,987 lbs. ; which gives as 
the average yield, 1,178 lbs. to the acre. Mr. Benjamin Clark, of Marcellus, 
who is perhaps better acquainted Avith the facts in regard to the culture of 
tobacco than any other man here, estimates the production of 1859 at 
$150,000." lie says: "Tobacco must have a warm, rich, well-drained, and 
mellow soil, and then twenty-five loads of rotten barn-yard manure should be 
put on an acre. The land being in high condition, this amount of manure will 
be consumed by a crop. The plants should be set about the first of June, three 
feet four inches by two feet to two feet six inches apart. To grow the 2>lants, 
pulverize the bed fine in autumn, and mix with the soil hog manure or some 
other that has no foul seeds in it. Sow seeds on the well-raked bed, as soon 
as the ground can bo properly prej^ared in the spring, about one ounce to a 
square rod, equally distributed all over the bed. EoU hard with a hand 
roller, but do not cover the seed. Glass should be kept over the bed until 
the plants appear, which will be in two or three weeks ; after they are up 
and started, the glass will be required only at night and in cold days. The 
bed should be kept moist and free from weeds. When the plants are three 
inches high they are large enough to set. To prepare the land, the manure 
should be applied as early as the ground is dry enough to plow. The last 
of May plow and harrow again, so as to mix the manure well with the soil. 
Mark the land one way for rows, three feet four inches. Make hills by 
hauling up a few hoefuls of dirt and press it well with the hoe. In taking 
the plants from the bed, take care to keep the roots wet. Unless the ground 
is quite damp, put a pint of M'ater on each hill half an hour before setting. 
Make a hole, put in the root, and press the dirt close to it, all the way to 
the lower end. If any plant does not live, take care to set another. Unless 
the earth is wet, ^v at least moist, water the plants as soon after setting as 
may be necessary. In about one week cultivate and hoe. In ten or four- 
teen days repeat the operation, and continue to cultivate so as to keep the 
weeds down. The tobacco "worms niay appear about the second hoeing; 
kill them as fast as they show themselves. "When the blossoms appear, 
break off the stalk, leaving about fifteen leaves, taking off about seven 
leaves. After topping, break off all the suckers. In about another week 
go over again, breaking off suckers and killing worms. In another week 
repeat the operation. By this time the crop is ready to begin tiie harvest. 
This may be known by the suckers which start at every leaf, and. when they 
have all appeared down to the lower leaf, the plant is ready to cut, every 
sucker having been removed as it appeared. The stalks are cut at the root. 
In a warm day cut in the moiMing and evening. In the middle of a hot day 



Sec. 59.] DIRECTIONS FOR TOBACCO-GROWING. 959 

tho-leaves will burn before tbey are wilted. The best way is to cut in the 
afternoon and lay on the ground to wilt. This wilting forwards the process 
of curing, and so toughens the plant as to make it practicable to hang it 
without much loss in breaking leaves. After wilting draw to the house, 
which sho'.ild bo twenty-four feet wide, fifteen feet high, so as to have three 
tiers, one above the other. A building of this width and hight, thirty-five 
feet long, will store an acre, or one ton of tobacco. The girts on the side of 
the building should be five feet apart ; a row of posts through the middle is 
necessary to put girts in, to hold the poles that the plants are tied to. The 
best poles are made of basswood sawed one and one-half by four inches, 
and twelve feet long. The plants are handed to a man who, standing on a 
movable platform made by a light jjlank, receives them, and beginning at 
the top tier, he winds a piece of prepared twine around a stalk, fastening the 
first plant to the polo ; the second plant is placed on the other side of the 
pole, and a single turn is made around tiie stalk ; then again the third stalk 
is put on the same side of tlie first, the twine passed around, and the next on 
the other side, and so on to the end of the pole, where the twine is made 
fast. About thirty or thirty-six are hung on a pole, one half on eacii side. 
If this twine gives way it is manifest that they will all be let loose. The 
poles are put on the girts about fourteen inches apart ; in this way the whole 
building is filled. Skill is now demanded to regulate the ventilation until 
the crop is cured, whicli is determined by examining the stem in the leaf, 
which should be hard up to the main stalk. Then in damp weather the 
tobacco can be taken down and laid in piles, with the tips together to keep 
it from drying, and to secure this, cover over with boards. The next thing 
is the removal of the leaves from the stalks, taking this time to separate the 
broken leaves from the unbroken ones. They are then made into parcels of 
of 16 to 18, called 'hands,' and are fastened by winding a leaf around 
them. Pile these bauds tips on tips, the scpiare ends out. This preserves 
the moisture. The pile should be kept covered with boards, and the sides 
also covered, leaving the wound ends of the hands exposed to the air. If 
everything up to this point has been skillfully done, in four or five days the 
tobacco will be fit to pack in cases, and take to market. The cases should 
be of pine, two feet six inches square by three feet eight inches, and of inch 
lumber. Place the hands tips on tips, and the wound ends against the 
ends of the box ; press with a lever or screw until 4'i0 pounds arc in, then 
fasten on the top. The tobacco now goes through the sweating process, 
and will lose about ten per cent, in weight before fit for use. This tobacco 
is known in the market as ' seed leaf,' and is principally used for wrappers 
for cigars ; the refuse is exported. A crop handled in the manner described, 
and with skill, will sell in New York city at from twelve to fifteen cents a 
pound ; but from want of proper care and skill, the crop of this county does 
not bring an average price of over eight cents." 

1110. Cost and Profit of Tobacco-Growingt— Mr. Geddes gives the follow- 
ing estimates. Cost of producing a tobacco crop in Onondaga County, per 



960 



STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. 



•[Chap. XIV. 



acre: The plants, $2 ; manure, 10 cords, $20 ; preparing ground $i 50 ; set- 
ting plants, $5 ; cultivation, $3 50 ; topping, worming, and suckering, $7 ; 
harvesting and housing, $6 ; twine, $1 ; stripping, $10 ; packing, $1 50 ; 
five packing-boxes, $5. The crop is calculated at a ton per acre ; and tliat, 
at the average price of former years, 13^ cents, is $270 ; from which deduct 
cost of production, $66, and shrinkage, transportation, and commission, $52, 
it leaves $152 profit. This varies, of course, in different localities, and with 
liigh and low prices. 

1111. Rules of a Florida Tobacco-Grower,— " Be sure to grow plenty of 
plants in your seedbeds. That is the first step to success. An acre requires 
5,000 plants ; and as one half may fail, 7,000 should be provided. Make 
j'our seed-beds on a slope, near water. Spread brush evenly, so as to give 
the surface a good burn, and no part too much, as will be tlie case if brush 
are piled in a round heap on the center of the plot. Eake off trash, and pul- 
verize the soil thorougldy. Then make the ground into beds three feet wide, 
with narrow walks, running from tlie water, for the convenience of artificial 
watering in drouth. Tlie narrow beds can be I'eached across from the paths, 
when necessary to thin out, or take up plants for use, as well as watch and 
kill tlie worms. If there is no rain soon after the seed is sown, the beds 
must be wet with a fine rose-nozzle watering-pot, and also by pouring water 
along the walks to soak into the beds. As soon as the plants are up, watch 
carefully for insects. Go over the l)eds every morning and kill worms. 
Soap-suds or weak lye will help you with the worms. Sow your first bed 
about March 15 [later, of course, at the north], and another ten days later, 
and so on, till yoxi are sure you have enough. The seed is only one fifth the 
size of cabbage seed. The qnantit}' to sow on a given space may be judged 
by that. 

1112. Directions for Trausplanting. — " The proper size of the plants to trans- 
plant, when they are most certain to live, is wlien tiio largest leaves are 
about half the size of j-our hand. Be careful, in drawing plants from the 
beds, not to crush nor bruise a leaf. Thrust the thumb and finger down so 
as to take hold of the root, and lay tlie plants upright in a basket, tray, or 
some convenient shallow vessel, to carry to the field. Do not crowd tlie 
plants, nor pack them so they can not be taken out by the roots, and placed 
gently in the left hand, with the leaves folded over the bud. Make a hole 
in the prepared hill with the right hand, and insert the plant about as deep 
as the bud, pressing the dirt well down upon the roots, so as to leave the 
plant with the leaves folpled over the bud, standing in the center of a shallow 
basin. The hills should be wet before setting the plants, and directly after 
pour a pint of water very carefully on the hill, so as not to disturb the plant. 
Except in rainy days, always transplant at evening, and cover each plant 
next morning before the sun is hot, and uncover and water at evening, until 
the plant begins to grow. Expose the plants gradually, more and more, 
morning and evening. The best and cheapest covering is long moss. Watch 
and replant whenever one dies, or appears too feeble to grow, as it is very 



Seo. 59.] 



CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO IN FLORIDA. 



961 



important to get a good stand. "Watch for M'orms carefully every day und?r 
the moss. 

1113. Directions for Selecting .and Preparing Tobacco Ground.— " Tlie best 
soil is that known in Florida as 'hommock land,' which is ratlicr sandy, but 
rich. In black, stiff hommock land the leaf does not hold the spots well 
until it is ripe, and where they rot out tlie leaf is apt to split. To prepare 
for a crop, cut the timber in autumn, while in full leaf, trim off limbs and 
cut bushes, and spread all over the surface, to insure a good, even burn all 
over the field. Bum off in April ; roU the logs in small heaps, and burn, 
and pick up all trash, and commence at once to mark off, with bull-tongue 
or scooter-plow, as much ground as you have plants ready for, running rows 
north and south. Then take the hoe, a^nd make the hills every twenty inches 
to two feet, digging iTp the ground well about one foot around, and taking 
out all the roots from the hill. Make always a slight depression in eacli hill, 
as it is made, to govern the transplanting, and to collect and retain the water 
used in transplantuig, as well as tlio dews and rains. 

1114. Cultivation of Tobacco — Worming — Topping — Priming. — " Just as soon 
as the plants have recovered from tiieir transplanting, commence the work 
of cultivation by flat-weeding, with horse and hand hoes, and with the hand 
smooth the dirt up to the stalk, filling up entireh' the little sink made in 
transplanting. Remember to do this to each division of jonr patch or field 
as it comes on. Be careful, in all stages of the plant, to keep worms off of 
the leaf and out of the bud ; first, the cut-worm around the root, then the 
bud-worm. In taking this worm out of the bud, be very tender, or you will 
do as much harm as the worm. Every two days at least, and if the worms 
are very bad, every day, if it can be done, each plant should be carefully 
wormed. Often, at an early age of the plant, the horn-worm makes his ap- 
pearance. Begin soon to turn up the leaves and examine for the egg, M'liich 
is semi-transparent, of a light greenish cast, and about the size of a mustard- 
seed. This should be mashed. Never let one of the worms live, for one 
horn-worm can ruin half a dozen stalks. It is not necessary to till the land 
as in other crops ; only be sure to keep down the weeds and bushes ; and 
when the hoe is used, care should be taken not to break, bruise, or split the 
leaves. 

" Topping is the next process, which is to be accomplished as soon as the 
button or bud has fully appeared. This is done by taking the thumb and 
finger of the left liand and gently pressing back the leaves which inclose the 
button, and with the thumb of the right hand rolling out the button and 
taking off the next leaf, which would otherwise turn over the topped stalk, 
with its back to the sun. 

" Priming is -the term used to signify stripping off the leaves as they ripen, 
before the s'alk is ready to cut. This is the most difiicult part of tobacco- 
growing to new beginners. They are at a loss to tell at what stage to pull 
the leaves. The imder leaves often ripen before the topping comes off; 
sometimes not until the bud comes out. To know when to prime, yen must 



962 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

at first institute a very critical examination. Some prime as soon as the tip 
and edges near the stalk turn a little yellow. Bottom leaves show this ap- 
pearance without being fully ripe. The most certain criterion is to find 
lai'ge spots about over the leaf, growing smooth underneatli, and semi-trans- 
parent upon holding it to the light. When this appearance begins to come 
together, making nearly the whole leaf in this condition, it is fully ripe, and 
may be primed off. The priming must not be carried on while the dew is 
on tiie leaf in great quantities, nor immediately after a heavy rain, or it will 
be deficient in gum and aroma. In pulling off the ripe leaves, care must be 
taken not to bruise or tear the leaf, or to injure the remaining leaves. Lay 
the leaves in small piles along the row, under the shade of the stalk. They 
must be carefully carried out to the barn in trays, hand-barrows, or carts. 
If bruised before curing, tlie bruised part cures up green and worthless. 

1115. Curing the Tobacco. — '■'■Splitting the Leaf. — "When the leaves are 
brought to the barn they should be laid on large tables, and not in very 
large piles, and immediately split and strung on slicks, and hung in the 
stalls as they are strung. To split a leaf, lay it on a smooth board for the 
purpose, or on the table ; take a sharp-pointed kuife between the thumb and 
fore-finger of your right hand, putting forward just enough of the blade to 
reach through the stem ; commence about half an inch from the end, and 
split in tlie middle of the stem down toward the point, about one fourth of 
the length of the leaf, and lay them ofi" in three or four different piles, ac- 
cording to their length, wliicii will save much trouble in hanging and boxing. 

" Stringing. — In putting the leaves on the sticks, fasten one end in a crack, 
or hole bored on purpose ; then take two leaves, turn the backs together, 
and run them on the sticks. Serve the next two the same way, leaving a 
space on the stick between each pair of leaves of about two inches. String 
the same sized leaves only upon the sticks. The smaller leaves may be 
placed something closer. 

" Hanging and Handling. — The sticks should be hung so as just to touch ; 
and when the leaves are partially cured, close up to save house-room. Let 
the stalls be filled up, stall by st^ll, from bottom to top, and not altogether 
over the bottom tiers of the barn, and then carried up as it cures. ' Barn- 
burnt' is created by having the tobacco too close and the barn too tight, 
causing it to fill with the evaporating juices, which settle upon the curing 
tobacco, for the want of means of escape, and for the want of an influx of 
fresh air, causing the tobacco to sweat and lose all its gum or aroma. Tiie 
barn must be watched, and properly ventilated. In wet spells the doors 
should be kept closed ; and if one should continue too long, fires should be 
made outside, of bark and sound wood, and burned to coals, and the coals 
placed in iron vessels about under the tobacco, which will soon dry out the 
house. In dry, open weather the house may be kept open or shut, to suit the 
condition of the mass of the curing crop. 

"The more of your crop you can save by priming the better; but when 
pushed, the last two or three leaves, ripening pretty much together, may be 



Sbo. 59.] CULTIVATION OF TOBACCO IN FLORIDA. 963 

cut, and liuDg on the largest slicks with strips of bear-grass, which is very 
plentiful, taking care to give the stalks good room at first. Tliis will be 
longer curing than the primed leaves, and will be thicker, heavier, and likely 
deeper colored. When the stem dries as in the primed leaf, take down, strip 
off from the stalk, and hand as in the other case, but keep and box it separate. 

" W/ieii to Take Doifn. — As soon as the middle stem is fairly dry ; when in 
case, that is, when it will not rattle nor break from handling, take that down 
which you find thus cured and in case, and make it into hands, assorting it 
as to quality, and tying it up with the same quality leaf, from fifteen to 
twenty leaves, according to size, in a hand, being careful to have the tie 
come out flush with the end of the stems. As you hand it, either lay it in 
windrows or in boxes, not packing it, however. Examine every day, to see 
it is not heating. If it heats it must be taken out and changed into other 
boxes or other windrow*, and so on until it ceases to heat. If it goes through 
no heat in two or three days, it is ready for boxing. To pack well, the boxes 
should be made of well-dressed plank, three feet long, tw(5 and a half feet 
wide, and about two and a half feet deep. 

" Paching. — In packing, invariably place the buts of the hands next to the 
box. Fill the box full, and place on the top smooth ^jlanks, that will just fit 
inside the box ; then pack down with an ordinary lever. Manage to put 
about 300 lbs. in this size box ; and in order to ascertain how hard to pack, 
weigh the empty box ; then, after packing it as full as you can conveniently, 
weigh, and see how much you have put in. If you have in only 175 lbs., 
you may know you have not packed hard enough ; and if you find in your 
box 350 to 4Q0 lbs., you may calculate your tobacco was in too high case, 
and you have got in too much. In this way you may learn exactly the 
pressure to use. After nailing on the cover, nail on two hoops all around to 
every box. Cleats should always be nailed at every corner of the box when 
making. Be careful that the top is of seasoned timber, and thoroughly dry 
when put on, and do not nail it so as to make any nails enter the mass of 
tobacco. After all, in shipping, be careful that it does not get wet, and is 
not stowed in the damp holds of vessels. 

1116. Tobacco Curing House or Barn— its Proper Size. — " The proper size of 
a tobacco barn is an important matter for tyros in the business of tobacco- 
growing. In Florida, it is estimated that a barn twenty feet square on the 
ground and sixteen feet high is as small as will do to save an acre of good 
tobacco ; and to do this the tobacco must be taken down and packed as it 
cures. Upon this ratio, house-room must be provided for your whole crop. 
If your barn is a frame building, divide it into stalls four feet wide, by posts 
and cross-bars — the bars about two feet apart. If built of logs, arrange 
cross bars of round poles as the building goes up. You must have a good 
roof and plenty of windows with tight sluitters in the wa.ls, and 'd Four 
building is of logs it must be tightly ceiled with boards on the inside. The 
sticks to lay on the poles or bars to hang the leaves Ujion, may be split out 
of good pine, or any other straight rifted timber, board fashion, three fourths 



964 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [CHiP. XIV. 

of an inch thick, and then split to a square, four and a half feet long, and the 
splinters and corners drawn off, and one end a little sharpened. About 
2,500 or 3,000 sticks should be provided to the acre. In some sections, 
sticks made of reeds are used. 

1117. Where Tobacco may be Grown. — The isothermal lines, within which 
tobacco may be grown, correspond with Indian corn, ranging from the equa- 
tor to lat. 50'^ N., but the production at the extremes is not equal to the tem- 
perate zone, say lat. 24° to 40°. It is now grown in all the States, but most 
largely as a staple crop in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Yirginia. The lands 
of the latter State have been extremely exhausted by tobacco, and so they 
have in Maryland, and until lately it has been supposed that all tobacco 
grown in a climate as cold as that north of lat. 41° was of a coarse, rank 
quality, but this has been proved to be a mistake by some of the tobacco 
growers of Connecticut and New York. True, the*'e is a peculiar sort of 
sweet-scented tobacco grown in Florida, known as Cuba tobacco, that can 
not be profitably grown as far north as some coarser variety will grow. In 
Europe, tobacco is grown as far north as central Unssia, and it will succeed 
anywhere in suitable soil, where the mean temperature of July is Gb°, and 
some writers say 2° less. It is also said that all the varieties grown in warm 
regions may be transferred northward and acclimated. We believe, how- 
ever, that all the good qualities will not continue to attach to the plant 
grown at the North. 

1118. Tobacco Soil. — ^The best soil for tobacco is that which contains the 
most potash. Ilence it succeeds best upon newly cleared forest land, and 
some of the fine sort grown in Florida is not worth much more than half as 
much in market from the third crop, as the first upon the same land. 
In Virginia there are many thousands of acres that give their owners rich 
returns when first cleared, that would not now produce tobacco enough to 
pay for a single plowing. There apjtears to be no grade of soil, from sand 
to black muck, that tobacco will not grow in, if the proper plant food is 
added ; and there is no better manure than wood ashes. So fit are ashes to 
fertilize tobacco, that a plant bed is generally prepared by burning brush, 
and sowing the seed in the earth lightly, mixed with the fresh-burnt ashes. 
For the finest quality of tobacco we would select, in old land, a light loam, 
and manure it by the Connecticut rule, "with all we could get." It will 
grow well, as a general rule, upon all soil tiiat is really good for Indian 
corn, by following the preceding i-ules given in this article. 

In Connecticut, the plants are set June 5 to 15, and good crops have been 
made when they were set as late as July 5. Some cultivators set their 
plants on a ridge, instead of in a basin, as recommended in the article about 
Florida. Thi-s is for the purpose of using a horse-hoo in the first cultivation. 
The planis when set on a ridge are less liable to be covered up. The soil of 
the seed-beds must be not only rich, but very carefully worked. 



Sec. 60." 



INTRODUCTOX OF HEMP CULTIVATION IN" AMERICA. 



965 




SECTION LX.-FIBROUS PLANTS-HEMP AND FLAX-HISTORY AND CUL- 
TIVATION OF HEMP-COST AND PROFIT OF FLAX CULTURE. 

?E are aware that neither hemp nor flax should rank 
as Southern crops ; but they seem naturally con- 
nected, and are therefore treated of in the same 
section. Hemp ranks in America as a Southern 
crop because almost exclusively grown in slave 
States — that is, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri ; 
though in Europe it is cultivated largely in higher 
.latitudes than our most l^ortliern States. There ap- 
pears to be a prevalent opinion that hemp really 
belongs in the South, because none of the Northern 
States grow it as a staple crop ; yet the States 
where it is grown are not southern, nor is the crop 
a Southern one, any more than Indian corn. His- 
tory gives the native place of hemp {Cannabis 
sativd) in India ; but if that is so, it has been 
acclimated much farther north ; and the fact is interesting to ell fiirmers 
that it can be successfully grown wherever the soil is suitable, as far nortii 
as the great lakes ; indeed, as far north as they successfully cultivate flax 
(Linum usitatissimuni), which has been grown in all parts of America since 
its first settlement, and its cultivation only ceased because it could not com- 
pete with cotton, for the want of proper machinery to cheaply reduce the 
fiber to practical purposes. That want is now about overcome. 

1119. Introductlou of Hemjj fuUivatioa in Americai— The first settlers of 
New England, New York, and Virginia introduced the cultivation of hemp, 
and hopes were entertained by the " mother countries" — England and Hol- 
land — that their American colonies would furnish the much-needed supply 
for their great navies. It was grown on Manhattan Island in 1626, and in 
Massachusetts in 1630. In Virginia, hempen cloth was manufactured in 
16-18. In 1730 Pennsylvania oS'ered bounties to encourage hemp-growing. 
It was never extensively grown as a farm crop until after Kentucky was 
settled ; there it became a staple crop at an early day, and up to the present 
time it has been grown in that State more extensively than in any other, 
though large i>lantations have been established in Tennessee and Missouri, 
but all have never been able to give enough for the wants of the country. 
The consumption of hemp for bagging and rope for cotton bales is enormous, 
and must always aftord a good market for the crop and make its cultivation 
profitable. The consumption for maritime purposes is almost beyond the 
power of imagination. It is estimated that a war ship of the first class re- 
quires 180,000 lbs. of hemp to fit her for sea. So great has been the con- 
sumption that the price has increased to such an extent that various sub- 



966 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Cuap. XIV. 

stances have been songlit for as snbstitutes ; for instance, Manilla hemp, 
flax, and cotton for cordage and duck, and iron for cables, and to some 
extent for standing rigging, and also for cordage of cotton and other bales. 
Farmers who feel a disposition to engage in hemp-growing maj rest assured 
that they will always have a sure market, and from what we have stated 
they will see that it can be grown in anj-^ of the Northern States. 

1120. A New Variety of Hemp. — Within a few years past a new variety of 
hemp lias been introduced into the Western States, under the name of 
Chinese hemp. The editor of the Valley J^armer, speaking of it, says : 
" We know of no new variety of vegetable production that presents such 
marked superiority over kinds before known to us. We visited the first 
extensive field of it grown by Mr. Vance, before it was generally made 
known to the public. In our statement of it we were particularly guarded, 
lest the public should place an undue estimate upon it, and sutler final dis- 
appointment as to its value, which is so frequently the case with the intro- 
duction of new things of the kind. But in this instance, so striking was the 
contrast between the Chinese hemp growing upon land so waslied and worn 
that it would no longer produce the common hemp, it required only to be 
Been to convince the most skeptical as to its value." A writer in the JVcios, 
of Slielby Co., Ky., says: "From the information we have of this new 
variety, we are fully satisfied that it must eventually supersede all varieties 
hitherto introduced. Having, during the present month, manufactured and 
examined closely samples of this hemp, -we find^compared with other hemp 
— the lint to be more harsh, coarse, yet heavy and lengthy, giving good 
gloss, after being manufactured, also producing less tow, both at hackle 
and break ; and for rojje purposes we consider it equal to other varieties. 
For bagging and twine purposes, wliere a soft, silken article is preferable, it 
may not answer so well. The greatest benefit to the grower is in the largely 
increased yield per acre — double and even treble the amount of the old 
variety — making it a more, profitable crop than j King Cotton' itself. We 
have reports from a number of farmere who have experimented with it the 
past season. Their reports of product per acre vary from 900 to 1,400 
pounds; and in one instance 1,700 pounds were Aveiglied from less than one 
acre, the correctness of which can not be doubted. The next greatest benefit 
to be derived from its adojjtion is the greater ccrtaiuty of good crops. The 
long time — five months — during which it is maturing, gives it the advantage 
of both s]M-ing and summer rains ; nor does a dry spring preclude the hope 
of a good yield ; whereas, with the old variety, you must have spring 
showers or no crop, as it matures in about three months. Sown in March, 
it ripens in September, after the heat of sunburning days is past, thereby 
doing away with the necessity of stacking and spreading, which is a heavy 
item in hemp culture. There is more wood in the stalks, making it harder 
to break ; but when once broken or cracked, it is more easily cleaned than 
the old variety, the hards falling out freely in long pieces. The seed is 
somewhat smaller than the old variety, requiring less per acre. In cultivat- 



Sec. 60.] SOWING AND HARVESTING HEMP. 967 

ing for seed the j'ield is not so large by one third as the old kind ; and 
ripening very late, it is liable to be caught by early autumn frosts. 

1121. Cost and Proflt of Hemp-Growing. — Wo cstimaie a hemp crop, upon 
good fair soil, at au average of 700 lbs. of merchantable lint per acre ; and 
probably a fair average price on the plantation, if near water or I'ailway 
transportation, is five cents a pound, making $35 an acre ; and we can not 
count over half of this for cost of production and preparation. Some plant- 
ations, we know, average 1,000 lbs. per acre for a series of years, for all the 
land in hemp; and the cost of production, including a fair rent of land, 
would not exceed $10 au acre. This makes it an exceedingly profitable 
branch of agriculture. Upon some of the inexhaustibly rich bottom lands 
of Missouri, 1,400 lbs. per acre have often been made ; and successive crops 
have been taken from the same land, without manure, ever since it was de- 
nuded of forest. ' 

1122. Sowing and Harvesting Hemp. — Tiie proper mode of preparing tlie 
soil is to plow it as early in the spring as possible, and the deeper the better. 
No doubt the subsoil plow would be extremely beneficial, as the plant has a 
long tap-root. As fast as it is plowed, the land should be nicely harrowed, 
to break up all the clods and render the surface as smooth as possible, as 
that is a very important p>art of the whole art of hemp growing. Where it 
is most grown in Kentucky and Missouri, the seed is generally sown in the 
latter part of April, the ground being re-plowed, with a lighter plow than at 
first, and one and a quarter bushels per acre of seed sown on the fresh soil, 
which should then be heavily harrowed, and afterward smoothed with a light 
harrow or brush-drag, so as to leave the surface quite smooth. It is important 
that you should know that your seed is good, for mucii depends upon the 
evenness of growth and j^roper thickness of plants to produce a heavy coat- 
ing of fiber of fine quality. Where hemp stands too thin, the stalks send out 
so many side-branches that the crop is injured. If grown for seed, instead 
of lint, it would be advantageous to grow the stalks full of branches — that 
is, the female portion, as there are always male and female plants in this 
family, and it is the latter that incline most to branches. Hemp should not 
be cut until the stalks turn yellow and leaves begin to full, as the lint does 
not acquire its full weight and strength until such time. 

Cutting hemp is hard, slow work. A strong, skillful hand can cut an acre 
a day with a hemp-cradle, which is like a grain-cradle, but stronger, and 
scythe shoi'ter. Many planters prefer the hemp-hook, which does not cut 
half as fast as the cradle, but saves more liemp ; and some who grow hemp 
contend for the hook, because a hand can harvest with it all that he can 
dress during winter, which is the only season that hemp dressing can be 
done to advantage. 

Hemp is generally ready to commence harvesting, south of lat. 40°, the 
first of August : and it is set up in shocks, to stand until October, when the 
process of rotting is begun, by spreading it upon the field where it grew, or 
in some grass lot, unless the planter has conveniences for water-rotting, which 



968 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

is generally preferred, though the rotting upon the Held adds much to its 
fertility, and some say is sufficient to keep the land always productive. 

Some planters remove the hemp from the field as soon as harvested, and 
stack it, and plow the land directly afterward ; while others contend that this 
practice is injurious to the soil, and that it will surely fail sooner than it 
would if the stubble were left untouched until the time of sj^ring plowing. 
It is true that plowing exposes the soil to the drying influence of a hot sun, 
like a naked fallow, to which we are opposed. Those who advocate plowing 
hemp stubble contend that, without it, such a grass sod would grow that, 
when plowed in the spring, it could not be harrowed smooth, and that much 
of the grass would grow, and injure the hemp crop. If it is necessary to 
plow hemp land after harvest, we recommend sowing a green crop, say 
corn, oats, rye, or buckwheat, to shade the surface and enrich the soil. It 
can be fed'down in autumn, or plowed under, or dragged down to decay. 
Kotation would be advantageous, for a hemjj stubble will produce good 
wheat, or corn, or clover, and thus extirpate the troublesome weeds and 
grass. It is contended by many hemp growers that rotation is not necessary 
on account of any exhaustion of the soil, and that the leaves of one crop pro- 
duce sufficient fertilization for another crop. "We have before us the notes 
of a Missouri hemp grower, who averaged 800 lbs. per acre eleven years in 
succession. The mode of estimating the yield per acre while the crop is 
growing is to calculate 100 lbs. of lint for every foot in hight. That is, a 
field that averages eight feet in hight will yield 800 lbs. per acre. 

1123. Rotting aud Dressing Uemp. — The process of water-rotting hemp in 
ponds or streams is much objected to in thickly-settled districts, on account 
of its influence upon health. It certainly is objectionable on account of the 
odor it diffuses; and it is not a very pleasant job for those who do the work 
of handling the rotted hemp, and carrying it to the field where it is spread 
to dry. It is resorted to because it takes a shorter time, and produces better 
lint. Spread upon the field like flax, it takes from two to three months to 
rot sufficiently. The breaking usually commences about New Year's, and 
requires hard labor from the stoutest hands. It is not dressed like flax, but 
broke, and the slaves shaken out, and fibers straightened, and tied up in 
bales of about a hundred pounds each. The earliest rotted hemp is darkest 
and toughest, and more difficult to break than that which lies until cold 
weather. If not well rotted, the task of breaking is very severe. If too 
much rotted, the value of the fiber is greatly injured. The best grown hemp — 
that is, that grown with stalks close together, and of even size and length — 
affords the most fiber, and is the easiest dressed, because the wood is weak, 
and becomes very brittle by the process of rotting, before the fiber is injured. 

1124. Cutting Hemp by Machines. — Some experiments have been made to 
cut hemp with mowing machines. Wlierever they have failed, it has been 
because the strengtli of the machine was not adapted to the work, which is 
much harder than the stoutest grass or grain. Since machines have been 
adapted to cutting Indian corn, we have faith that they will be to cutting 



Seo. 60.] CULTIVATION OF FLAX. 969 

hemp as well as to breaking it, so 'that the limit of production -will not be 
conHned to the quantity that can be dressed in winter by the hands that 
grow the crop in summer. 

1125. Historical Facts about Flax. — Tlie most interesting fact for farmers 
about to engage in flax-growing is, that it is a rapid exhauster of the soil. 
Second, that it requires a moist soil and wet season ; consequently it is a 
good crop for bottom lands that can be irrigated. The country of its origin 
is unknown, but it grows well upon irrigated land in tropical climates, 
and through all gradations of climate and soil to a high northern latitude. 
In Egypt, flax is sown in December and January and harvested in April or 
May, and in northern Russia it is sown in May and harvested in August ; 
and so it is in the northern parts of the United States. Flax clotli has an 
antiquity much greater than Moses' account of it, for the oldest mummy 
wrappings in Egypt have been proved by microscopic examinations to be 
made of linen, instead of cotton or any other fiber. Flax was one of the 
necessities of cultivation by our Pilgrim fathers and other immigrants into 
North America, and by all the new settlers in the wilds of the country, for 
the lint with which their families have been clothed. Up to a period within 
our active participation in farm-labor, almost eveiy thriving New England 
farmer cultivated a small piece of land in flax every summer, and dressed it 
out by hand in the barn in the dry, cold days of winter, and the family 
ununifactured it into a variety of articles of domestic use. Indeed, a good 
many old-style farmers did not think they could get along without their tow 
frock and trowsers, uor that anything was so fit for meal-bags as liome-made 
tow-linen. We fully believe that a great many who have abandoned flax 
culture because " cotton is so cheap," may safely, in an economical point 
of view, return, in some degree, to the ways of our fathers. We oflPer a few 
hints to this end. 

1 1 26. Flax-Growiug— Soil and Preparation.— There is no material diflPerence 
in the soil nor in its preparation for a flax crop from that already described 
for hemp. Both need a rich, mellow loam, made just as pulverulent as pos- 
sible with ordinary farming tools, and for flax the surface must be free of 
lumps, clods, and stones, or there will be a great loss of seed. The crop 
always does best upon soil that suffers least from drouth. And although 
not strictly a Southern crop, it seems to come in its proper place after hemp, 
and therefore we give some brief facts in this connection. 

1127. Quantity of Seed per Acre, and Tims of Sowing. — The seeding of flax 
land varies from half a bushel to six bushels per acre, according to what the 
crop is designed for. Where it is sown for the seed alone, as it is in many places 
in the Western States, where no use is to be made of the lint, half a bushel 
of seed an acre is considered sufiacient, and better than more ; and if the 
ground were as carefully prepared as we have recommended for a lint crop, 
a peck of seed would be ample, as it would be no object io have the stalks 
grow as thickly as possible. Fifteen bushels of seed per acre is a good 
yield, and above the average, though we have heard of twenty-five bushels 



970 STAPLE SOUTHERN CROPS. [Chap. XIV. 

an acre, and so we have of many crops of less than ten bushels. The tune 

of sowing in tlie latitude of central New York is as early in April as the 

land could be properly prepared ; and if the intention is to grow the crop 

for both lint and seed, as the crop is most generally grown in the Eastern 

States, we would recommend two bushels of seed per acre. If the crop is 

desired more for lint than seed, the seeding must be thicker and thicker as 

the fineness of the lint is required. For the very finest linen threads, we 

arc assured that seven bushels of seed per acre has been sown in Europe, 

and the flax pulled while in blossom. 

1128. Cost and ProGt of a Fla\ Crop. — The following estimate of the cost 

and product of an acre of flax in the Middle or Eastern States may be taken 

as a pretty fair basis : 

Plowing and subsoiling thoroughly, and cross-plowing with one horse lightly $3 25 

Harrowing once with ox-harrow, and once with light harrow 1 00 

Sowing and brushing, 50 cts. , and two bushels of seed, S2 00 2 50 

Cutting crop by mowing machine, binding and setting up 75 

Carting, thrashing, spreading, handling, and storing 4 50 

Dressing by hand at G cts., or machine at 2 cts., 400 lbs 8 00 

— making a total of $20, or $36 if dressed by hand, and $-±G counting 
manure and rent. 

Tiie crop we would estimate at 8 bushels of seed, average $1 a bushel, 
$8 00 ; and 400 lbs. of lint, average 12i lbs., making $58, and the profit 
of a flax crop $12 per acre. Where a larger quantity of seed per acre is 
used, the result will not be difi'erent ; for though the cost of seed is more, 
and yield of seed less, the value of the lint will make it up about the same. 
Of late years, flax has been a good deal sown for seed, and the rough straw 
sold by the tun at an average of about five dollars, which pays better than 
burning it, as has been the practice, though at that price it can not be trans- 
ported far upon common roads. 

1120. Other Fibrous Plants. — It has been stated, from some small experi- 
ments, that cotton would produce as valuable a crop as hemp from the fiber 
of the stalks, if the seed was sown broadcast so that the stalks would grow as 
closely together as those in a hemp-field. Instead of using the cotton plant 
for this purpose, which is only practicable south of lat. 40° to advantage, we 
recommend the okra plant, which makes a similar growth to cotton, and has 
a more fibrous stalk, and grows well as far north as New York. The whole 
nettle family might be cultivated for its fiber, but after all, it is doubtful 
whether anj' other plant can be profitably substituted in any of the Northern 
States for flax, which we know can be grown with profit to the grower, for 
its fiber alone, whenever he can be assured the average price of hemp, and 
that we think he will be assured, as soon as some of the recent inventions 
for separating the lint and wood have been put into general operation. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. 

SECTION LXI.-MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE TO 
FARMERS. 



f- , N gathering the liarvest that we have garnered up in 
' this store-house for the use of American farmers, and 
arranging each subject under its appropriate head, we 
have necessarily scattered, as the reaper does, some good 
grain, to be afterward gleaned. These gleanings we at- 
tach to our work under the head of Misi^ellaneous, with strong 
hope that the reader will find among them enough good seed 
to pay for the trouble of winnowing. 

1130. Time Required for Seeds to Germsuate.— Wheat, one 
day; spinach, beans, mustard, three days; lettuce, four; 
melon, cucumber, cress, five; radish, five; beets, five ; bar- 
ley, seven ; purslane, nine ; cabbage, ten ; parsley, forty ; 
almond, chestnut, peach, one year; rose, hawthorn, filbert, 
two years. This is according to Loudon, but is subject to 
many variations, as the germination will be affected by the degree of heat, 
moisture, and general condition of the soil. 

1131. Temperature at which Several Plants Flourishi— Wheat, 74° to 75° ; 
barley, 69° to 74° ; potatoes, 54° to 75° ; melons, 66° to 67° ; apples, 59° to 
72° ; tobacco, 66° to 82° ; corn, 59° to 80° ; sugar-cane, 71° to 82° ; grapes, 
70° to 80°. Whenever the temperature of the proper season for perfecting 
the fruit materially varies from the above, a decreased production may be 
expected, unless the crop is affected by artificial means. Winter grain, 
vines and trees, all suspend growth, and rest in winter, iu all of our Northern 
States. Wheat requires 120 to 140 days from the time of sowing to harvest 
in a mean temperature of sixty-one degrees. 

1132. Storiug Grain in Cemented Caves. — It has been recommended as an 
excellent way to store gi'ain, to make cavities in the earth, plastered per- 
fectly water-tight with hydraulic cement, and of a form like a jug, which, 
being filled with grain, could have a cover cemented on, and thus preserve 
the grain for an indefinite length of time. We should like to have the air 
pumped out, and then seal it up, and we believe such grain-cisterns would 
be excellent preservatories. Farmers who are troubled with rats would find 
such granaries highly valuable, and they can be cheaply constructed. See 
article on Cisterns. 




972 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

1133. A Kew Grain Mill has lately been invented, that operates upon an 
entirely different principle from any of its predecessors. There are no rub- 
bing, nor grinding, nor cutting surfaces which come iu contact with the 
grain. It is reduced to powder by blows struck upon it while suspended in 
air. A shaft, armed with beaters, inclosed in an iron case, is made to revolve 
with great velocity, and the grain, being fed into the case near the shaft, is 
carried out by centrifugal force, where tlie arms strike their rapid blows 
upon it, and shatter it to atoms, as a blow of a heavy iron bar, it may be 
supposed, would shatter a piece of glass, if hit while flying througli the air; 
it is then blown out of the case through an orifice made for the purpose, and 
the bran is separate<l from the flour by the force of gravity ; the flour, being the 
heaviest, is carried farthest from the machine. It is said that all sorts of grain 
can be reduced by this means, even corn and cobs, if any one desires it ; we 
do not, because we do not believe tliat cobs will ever pay for grinding, no 
matter how cheap the power. But Indian corn ground in this way will, un- 
doubtedly, be better for human food than when ground by any of the rub- 
bing processes, which breaks the oil-cells, and makes the meal liable to ran- 
cidity from long keeping. 

1131. Nutriment in Food Substances for Man.— The following table gives a 
comparative view of the value of difi"erent substances for human food, so far 
as their nutritious qualities are concerned. With peas and beans, some of 
the coarser and less nutritious substances should be taken, upon the same 
principle that hay or straw is fed with grain to stock. Of 100 pounds of 
each of the following substances, it may be assumed that the figures show 
the number of pounds of matter that go to sustain life or support the strength 
of the consumer. Thus, if 100 pounds of corn meal cost the same as 100 
pounds of turnips, which is often the case in city markets, the meal will re- 
ally be worth twenty-two times as much as the turnips for food. 

The per cent., taking 100 as the unit, of the diflerent articles is as follows, 
according to chemical analysis : 



Per Cent. 

Lentils 84 

Peas 83 

Beans 92 

Cora (Maize) 89 

Wiieat 85 

Barley 83 

Rice 88- 

Eye 79 



Per Cent 

Oats 74 

Meats, average 35 

Potatoes 25 

Beets , 14 

Carrots 10 

Cabbage 7 

Greens 6 

Turnips 4 



113.5. now to Calculate the Value of a Load of Hay.— The following is an 
easy way of calculating the value, in dollars and cents, of a load of hay: If 
the price agreed upon is $18 a tun, ascertain the number of pounds in the 
load, and multiply that by the unit 9, which is the half of the sum agreed 
upon, or else whatever may be half of that sum, and you will have the price 
of the load in mills ; per example, a load contains 3,300 lbs. ; multiply by 9, 
and it gives 29,700 mills, which is $29 70, the amount of the load of hay at 
$18 a tun. If the price is $15 a tuu, and the weight of the load 1,950 lbs., 
multiply by 7j, and you have 1-1,625 mills, or $14 62^, as the price of the 



Seo. 61.] USEFDL KNOWLEDGE FOR FARMERS. 973 

load. So an}^ load, of any weight or price, may be quickly ascertained by 
this rule. 

1136. How to Calculate tUe Number of Plants upon an Acre.— This is a very 
importaut iiiatter, and is all worked out in Ino. 5tiS. Look at that whenever 
you are about planting an orchard, or when yon wish to estimate the num- 
ber of forest trees upou an acre. Suppose you are selling the timber. One 
man offers a price per acre ; another one offers a price per tree. If you know 
how many an acre contains at given distances apart, you can tell which offer 
is best. At 30 feet apart, you have 50 trees ; at 25 feet, 70 ; and so on. 

1137. Limit of Vitality of Seeds.— There is no limit to the vegetative life 
of cereal grains kept perfectly dry in an unchangeable temperature, and 
most of the garden seeds will grow after two years, and those of the cumimis 
family after many years. Some persons prefer melon seeds two or three 
years old. Onion seed loses vitality of about half the seeds the second year, 
and old parsnep seed is not as good as new. All garden seeds should be 
kept in air-tight vessels, and none bnt the best should be saved. Their vital- 
ity may then be counted upou as follows : Parsneps and rhubarb, two years ; 
beans and peas, two to three years ; carrot, nasturtions, mustard, parsley, and 
lettuce, three lo four years ; pepper, cabbage, spinacli, tomato, turnip, sal- 
sify, radish, and egg-plant, four to five years; asparagus, celery, okra, broc- 
coli, and cauliflower, five to six years ; beets, cucumber, gourd, melon, squash, 
pumpkins, corn and other grains, six to ten years, and longer. The great 
secret of keeping seeds is to have them well matured, and kept cool and dry. 
It is impossible to say liow long seeds may be made to preserve vitality, with 
proper care ; but it is certain that any sort may be spoiled in any year by 
damp and heat. 

1138. What Ohio Produces. — Besides its great crops, it produces men ; and 
here is the sort its soil furnishes. E. D. Mansfield, State Commissioner of 
Statistics in Ohio, has submitted to the Legislature of the State his annual 
report for 1861. It contains some curious items. For instance, the average 
liight of Ohio men is given as four inches above that of the Belgians, two 
and a half above that of the English recruits, and one and a half inches above 
that of the Highlanders. The average hight per man is a fraction under 
five feet ten and a half inches. Highland County showed the tallest and 
lieaviest men. Twenty-one who were weighed averaged one hundred and 
eight3'-two pounds. Fair complexions predominate in Ohio. There are few 
of olive brunette, or dark complexion. The great majority are light or san- 
guine. The eyes are light in the proportion of three to two, including blue 
and gray in the light class, black and hazel in the dark. The hair is the 
only feature among Americans, and especially in Ohio, wliich approaches 
the characteristics of the dark nations. Even in this, the majority have what 
may be fairly called light hair, including most of the shades of brown hair. 

1139. Thoroughness— What it Produces. — It produces great and good re- 
sults in all the operations o'f the farm. He who hurries througli everything 
generally so slights his work as to do nothing well. But we would not have 



974 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

any farmer thorotiglily attached to routine, such as appears to govern some 
farmers, and never leads tliem upward. Farming, as well as all ancient 
arts. Las been run down by routine. Eoiitine is the enemy of all improve- 
ment in fanning. Routine plows three inches deep, and will not go deeper. 
Routine plants without manure, and runs down and wears out the most fertile 
soil. Thoroughness, in all undertaken improvements, avoids routine, and 
strikes out boldly to produce a result. With some farmers, everything is 
done thoroughly ; with others, nothing. One lives as though he hoped to 
live long and enjoy his labor; the other only lives for to-day. He literally 
" takes no thought of the morrow." 

lliO. Legal Weights of a Bushel of Graiu and Other Things.— The following 
table, published a few years since in the Jiochestcr Union, is said to give the 
legal weights of the substances named, so far as fixed in the following States: 

AKTICLE9. N. T. Oil. Pa. Ind. Wis. Iowa. Ul. Mich. Ct. Mass. K. I. Ky. N. J. Vt. Mo. Ca. 

Wheat, lb 60.. 60. .00.. 60. .60. 60, .60.. 60. .56. .60. . — ..60. .60. .60. .60. .60 

Eye 66.. 56.. 66.. 56.. 56.. 50.. 64.. 56.. 56.. 56.. — ..56. 56.. 56.. 56.. 56 

Corn 56.. 56. .56.. 56.. 66.. 56.. 56.. 56.. 56.. 56.. — ..56.. 56.. 56.. 52.. 56 

Oats S2..32..32..32..32..35..32..82..28..30.. — .. — ..30..32..m..34 

Barley 48. .48. .47. .48. .48. .48. .44 .48. . — . .46. . — . .48. .48. .46. .m. .48 

Buckwheat 48.. — . .48.. 50.. 42. .52. .40. .42. .45. .46. . — . .52. .50. .46. .m. 48 

Clover seed 60. .54. . — . .60. .60. .50. . — . .60 .— . . — .. — . .50. .54, , — . ,m. .60 

Timothy seed 45, ,42. . — , .45. . — . .45. . — , ,m. . — . .m, . — , ,45, , — , , — . ,m, ,48 

Flaxseed 56. ,56, . — , ,56, , — . .56. . — . .in . . — . .m , , — , .56, ,55, . — . ,m, .56 

Hempseed 44 . . — . . — . . 44 . . — . . 44 . . — . , — , . — .. — ..— .. — .. — .. — ,, — .. 

Blue grass seed 15. . — . . — . .14, . — . .14, . — . . — . . — . . — . . — , . — , , — . , — , . — , . 

Dried apples 22. .25. . — . .30. .28. .24. .—. .28. . — .. — .. — ..— ,. — .. — .. — . .22 

Dried peaches 32, ,33. . — . . — , .28. .35. .— . .28, .— . . — .. — , . — ,.—. . — ,. — , ,22 

Dried plums — .. — .. — ,24.. — .. — .. — ,. — ,. — .. — .. — .. — ,. — .. — .. — . 

Coarse salt 56.. 60. .85. .50. . — . .60 .— . — .. — . .70.. — . ..50. . — .. — ..56 66 

Fine salt 56:.50. .62. .50. . — , ,50, — . , — . . — , ,70. . — , ,50, , — , ,— .50 66 

Potatoes 60..— ..— .60.. — ..60.. — .. — . .60., 60.. 60, , — , — .60,. — . — 

Peas 60.. — .. — ,, — , —,, — .—,. — .. — , .60, , — .. — ,, — ,. — ., — , 60 

Beans 60. .56. . — . ,60, , — , .00 . — .. — .. — . .60. . — . .00. —.. — ..— 60 

Castor beans 46.. — .. — ,.46.. — 46.. — ,. — ,, — , — ,, — ,, — ,, — .. .. .. 

Onions 57. . — .. — . .57. . — . .57. . — ..—.. — . .50. .55. . — .. — ,. — ,, — , .— 



Corn on the cob weighs 70 lbs. ; bran, 20 lbs. 

11-tl. Capacity of Boxes. — Any farmer can make, or have made, accurate 
measures. Boxes made of the following capacities will contain tlie quantity 
of grain or other article of dry measure sold by the barrel, bushel, or quart. 
For instance, a box, measured inside, 24 inches long, 16 inches wide, 28 
inches deep, gives 10,752 cubic inches, and will contain a barrel. A box 
24xlG, and 14 deep, 5,376 inches, half a barrel. A box 16x16.8, and 8 
deep, 2,150.4, holds a bushel; and one 12 x 11.2, and 8 deep, 1,075.2, half a 
bushel ; and 8 x 8.4, and 8 deep, 537.6, a peck ; 8 x 8, and 4.2 deep, a gallon. 
The same size, half the depth, or 7x4, and 4.8 deep, 134.4, half a gallon. 
One 4x4, and 4.2 deep, 67.2, a quart ; and half the depth, a pint. 

1142. How to Measure an Acre— Square— Triangle— Circle.— For a circle, 
use a rope for a radius, 7 rods 3| links long. For a fourth-acre, 3 rods 14 
links. For an eighth, 2 rods 13 links. An acre in the form of an equilat- 
eral triangle is 19 rods 5i links upon each side. A triangle eighth of an 
acre is 6 rods 20 links. A rod is 16i feet, and a link 7.92 inches. A square 



Seo. 61.] MAXIMS FOR YOUNG FARMERS. 975 

acre is 160 rods, 43,560 superficial feet, and is 12 rods and 10.7 feet \ipon 
each side. To lay out an oval plot, measure off an exact triangle upon the 
spot, and set a stake at each point, and stretch a rope around tight; then 
pull up one stake, and press it Iiard against the rope, and mark upon the 
earth as you go around. If you wish to form an oval, say 20 x 100 feet, 
draw a perpendicular and a horizontal line through the center of the plot 
where you desire to forgi your oval, and set stakes 100 feet apart upon the 
long line, and a stake ten feet out from the center on the other line. Now 
draw a cord tight around these three stakes, and fasten it. Then take up 
the stake on the short line, and press it against the line, and with the point 
scratch a mark all the way around, and you will have an oval of the de- 
sired size. 

1143. Axioms, Proverbs, and Maxims. — "We have always loved tlie little 
sentences that we have found floating upon the sea of printer's ink, which 
come under the class of axioms, self evident truths, or proverbs — truths often 
repeated, in wise, pithy sayings — or maxims of established principles, and 
propositions generally received as true ; and as we have always found man- 
kind ready to learn truth from these little scraps, we have gathei-ed a few 
that appear worth preserving. Although we address them, by their titles, 
to difl:erent members of the farmer's family, we hope none of them will be 
passed over by other members ; for however trite some of the sayings may 
appear to the elder class, let us not forget that we were once young, when 
many an old saying was fresh to our minds, as some of these will be to others. 
Let us remember that the soundest grains of wheat are found mixed with 
chaff, which the skillful farmer winnows out and garners in his store-house. 
So let eacli winnow and save such grains as he may find in these pages. 

1144. Maxims for ¥oung Farmers. — A tyro in farming should not select an 
impoverished farm to begin with, lest lie fail and become discouraged through 
no fault of his own. 

To preserve fertility, as much must be restored to a field, in some shape, 
as the crop carried off extracted fiom the soil. This can be done by turning 
under a green croj^, or applying animal or mineral manure. 

Never try to cultivate more acres than you can do thoroughly. Sow none 
but good seed, and be sure always to sow it at the right season. 

Never attempt to carry " coals to Newcastle" in any of your farming op- 
erations. That is, do not try to grow things for sale for which you have no 
market. Grow such things as your soil, situation, and climate are adapted 
to, and such as facilities of transportation will warrant. Do not try to grow 
apples nor potatoes at the tropics, nor oranges and yams at the poles. 

Practice mixed husbandry. As a general thing, no small farmer, such as 
most of us are in the Northern Sta*es, can confine liis operations to a single 
article of produce. The risk is too great. If that fails, all income for the 
year fails. 

Be sure never to fail to plant a garden of the most useful vegetables for 
family use, and cultivate it well. No part of the farna will be more profit- 



976 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

able. Plant fruits of all useful sorts, and let no tree cumber the ground that 
does not produce good quality. 

"Weeds are a pest. Do not plant the seed. Do not cart the weeds into 
your barn-yard, and cart the manure out in its raw, unfermented state, with 
every weed seed in a perfect condition to grow. If you would not be pes- 
tered with weeds, compost your manure, and kill the vitality of all seeds. 
Make it a law of the farm that every one shall stop and pull up every nox- 
ious weed, such as d«;k, thistle, Spanish needles, etc., and in a very few 
years your greatest pest will be gone. Walk about your farm for recreation 
or inspection with a staff liaving a hook at one end and a chisel at tlio other, 
and keep an account of the number of your enemies you slay in the course 
of the year, at little expense of ammunition. 

Turnips will winter better in piles than in pits, and pine brush is better 
than straw for covering, laid but-ends up, with a few inches of dirt over. 

Ajjples M'ill keep if buried, but the earth is apt to extract the aroma, and 
thus injure the quality of fruit. 

Upon land seeded to grass, volunteer oats should not be allowed to grow. 
If you can not feed tliem off, mow them. 

Spend leisure hours in autumn among the raspberry plants. Cut away 
all old canes, and shorten new ones. Tender j^lants may be covered with 
evergreen boughs. 

Trenching is simply spading and mellowing up the soil some two feet 
deep. It is done by digging a series of ditches parallel to each other, and 
throwing the dirt of one into the otlier. The great secret of growth of garden 
vegetables is not in the greater supply of manure, but in the fine pulveriza- 
tion of the soil. Subsoiling is of the same nature as trenching, and, as far 
as it goes, equally profitable. 

Boulders may sometimes be got rid of by digging a hole alongside, and 
burying them, mucli better than any other way. A man will sometimes bury 
a stone in one day that could not be blasted and hauled oijt for five dollars. 

Save and sow the largest seed, and by these means you will get peas, or 
anything else, of a bulk of v/hich we have at present no conception. 

Radishes planted in the hill with melon or cucumber seed will often save 
the vines from bugs, which, liking the radish plants better than the vines, 
will eat them first ; in the mean time the vine plants grow to such a size that 
tlie bugs will not molest them. 

Fumes of rosin have been found equally efficacious and mucli cheaper 
than fumes of tobacco for destroying aphides upon plants. The maggots of 
the asparagus beetle proved destructive upon Long Island in 1862, and the 
best remedy discovered was fowls. Several persons who kept chicken-coops 
near their asjiaragus beds found tliem an excellent protection. As the eggs 
of the nuig;rtf'S are deposited upon tlie seedbngs, it is best to destroy thetv. 

Peiis jin: an excellent croj) to prepare land for wheat or any otlier grain, 
and may be profitably grown as a manure crop. They may be grown for 
seed after the 10th of June, free from the pea-bug; and a bushel is worth a 



Sbc. 61.] MAXIMS ABOUT STOCK. 077 

bushel of corn for fattening purposes, and it does not cost lialf so much to 
produce it. 

Teazles have been grown profitably in this coiintrj. They are used by all 
woolen cloth dressers. 

1145. Maxims about StOCki — A morbid appetite for animal food causes 
sows to eat their pigs. Feed them flesh before they drop their pigs, as a 
preventive remedy, and give them saw-dust instead of straw for bedding. 
It is good for any stable bedding. 

Feed oil-cake to heifers. It enlarges the milk-vessels. Say two pounds a 
day, for two or three months before calving. Give all animals plenty of 
water. 

Pumpkin seeds are good for all stock when cooked, but injurious raw. 
Ducks are often killed by eating them. 

All food is better for all animals if cooked, but it will not always pay to 
cook it 

Dogs indicate the character of a neighborhood. If they are an ugly, 
brawling set, look out for their owners; they are very likely to be ditto; 
for the gentleness of all animals is generally in keeping with their masters. 
If one is ngly, he is only a brute ; the other is brutish. 

Neglect of young stock in November is one of the sins of which almost all 
American farmers are guilty. It may save hay, but it will be at the ex- 
pense of value in flesh, and perhaps of life. 

Sheep and calves should be yarded together. Sick calves often pick up 
and devour with avidity the hay and straw from among the sheep-dung. It 
is medicinal, and no article has more immediate and salutary effect in re- 
storing diseased calves to health. 

"Where all fodder is dear, and labor cheap, it is good economy to cut up all 
the coarse materials, and coax the stock to eat them by mixing in a little 
meal. We do not believe that it will pay to cut up everything, and in some 
localities it' will not pay to cut anything. It all depends upon the cost of 
labor and the value of fodder. Eoots are better if cut, or pulped, and mixed 
with dry feed, for stock, but that would not always pay. 

Ticks on sheep can be got rid of by keeping the flock always in good order. 

Hold np your wliip in driving oxen. The best ox-drivers rarely use the 
whip. It is a wand of office, not an instrument of torture. A driver of an 
ox-team should walk directly opposite to the yoke, walk straight, and carry 
his whip as upright as a soldier would his gun. Use a whip-stock with a 
short lash, and touch the cattle only with the lash, and never strike them on 
the nose or over the eyes. "The merciful man is merciful to his beast." 

Coal ashes are good for pigs. So they are for fowls to wallow in during 
winter. 

Castrate your lambs and pigs just at dusk, or liy candle-light in the even- 
ing. The mothers then lie down, and the young animals have a night of rest. 

Housing cattle will pay a greater interest upon its cost than any other 
outlay in farming. 



978 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

Boiling corn on the cob is economical for swine feeding. It will save one 
fourth the quantity. 

Of " condiments for cattle" beware, and of all who deal in them, as you 
would of any other humbug. 

A good horse should have fifteen good properties and conditions, viz. : 
Three of a man, three of a woman, three of a fox, three of a hare, and three 
of an ass. Of a man, bold, proud, and hardy ; of a woman, fair-breasted, 
quick hearing, and easy to move ; of a fox, a fair tail, short ears, and a good 
trot ; of a hare, a clear eye, a dry head, and a well-formed body ; of an ass, 
a big chin, a flat leg, and a good hoof. 

A cow is like a mill ; if you put but little in the hopper, you will have 
but little grist. In regard to milk, manure, or beef, you can get nothing out" 
of a cow that you do not put into her. 

Every farm in America, upon which ten head of cattle are kept, would 
make money by expending enough to provide water in the yard both for 
winter and summer use. Pumps can be easily made so as to raise water 
whenever the cattle come to the trough for a drink. "Where wells can not 
be had, cisterns can. 

Medium-sized sheep are the most profitable ; say such as will dress 50 
pounds, and have a fleece of medium wool that grows thick and flrm. A 
farm will carry three such sheep per acre ; that is, a farm of 100 acres, that 
grows, perhaps, ten acres of corn and family vegetables, with pasture and 
mowing proportioned to the stock, will carry 300 head of sheep, with the 
family cow and necessary team. Young lambs can bo taught to feed in the 
following way : With the three lower fingers of the right hand, clasp the 
right fore leg near the foot, and do the same with the left hand and left foot ; 
then raise it up, and, holding the head of the lamb a few inches below 
your mouth, insert a thumb and fore finger into each side of its mouth, open- 
ing and holding it so as to let a small stream of cow's milk flow from your 
own mouth into the lamb's. It may strangle and struggle some, but there 
need be no fears of injuring it. One or two mouthfuls are usually sufii- 
cient, and these maybe given in as many minutes. Be sure to give enough 
to make his ribs bulge some when you stand him on his feet. After a few 
feedings the lambs will huddle about your feet, sticking up their noses in a 
most amusing manner, begging to be taken up and fed.'' Such feeding and 
saving of lives will do much to multiply sheep, and thus cheapen food and 
clothing, two of the essential wants of life. 

One of the best things in the world to make cattle handy is to treat them 
well in winter. Farmers should discard the word breaking from their vocab- 
ulary, and substitute that of handying. Never strike or frighten a steer, 
heifer, or colt. Handle and handy them. Gentleness will accomplish more 
tlian harsh words and hai'd blows. You must begin with the idea that they 
do not know what you want, but are willing to learn. You should give 
them time, patience, and good usage, and they will gladly become your 
faithful servants. The true secret of managing young cattle to advantage 



Sec. 61.] MAXIMS FOR ALL FARMERS. 979 

is gentleness, kindness. One little nubbin of soft corn is worth a dozen 
whips and sticks to make them obey. Be patient ; do not hurry tliem. Let 
them have a little time to reflect, and they will prefer marching to being 
whipped. Animals are made vicious by bad treatment — by abuse. The 
same effort to be kind will secure docility and kindness in the animal. Ap- 
propriate a dish for the purpose, and always carry something — salt or grain — 
and feed your horses when yon go to catch them. 

Everjr farmer should adopt a few unvarying rules in relation to stock. 
One of these is, never to kick a poor animal ; and another, never kick an an- 
imal poorly. Another is, seek to improve poor animals by crossing with 
good ones. Avoid breeding from blood relations. 

1140. Maxims for All Farmers. — " Waste not, want not." Waste no min- 
utes, much more hours. Yet yon should have hours of recreation. But 
such hours are not Avasted. Never fatigue the body to such a degree that 
you have no desire to acquire mental food. Work so as to make leisure 
hours, and devote them to acquiring things useful to the profession of a 
fai'mer. Study the habits of insects. Learn which are hurtful and which 
are not. Learn to use the microscope, and examine plants and insects. 

Keep good fences, and yon will keep good neighbors. The worst fence is 
a dog-fence. Gates are more economical than bars. 

Every farmer should send his son to a school where he will learn the rudi- 
ments, at least, of botany, mineralogy, geology, chemistry, surveying, book- 
keeping, besides the ordinary branches of a common school education. Let 
him also Le taught the use of carpenter's tools ; and also how to bud, graft, and 
transplant trees ; how to castrate and spay, and how to manage sick animals. 

Take agricultural journals ; buy agricultural books. What if they are not 
perfect? What if they publish errors ? They also publish much valuable 
information. 

Attend meetings of farmers' clubs and agricultural shows, and take your 
family with you, and try to learn something about improved stock and im- 
])roved tools. 

Farmers' sons should learn to be good farmers ; and farmers' daughters 
should, both at iiome and in school, leai-n to be farmers' wives. 

Inculcate economy, as one of the leading virtues of a farmer's life. Econ- 
omy is not parsimony. Teach your children wisdom, virtue, affection, in- 
dustry, and they will be truthful, and your home will be attractive. 

Never incur debt, except to improve your farm, and only in a way that 
will be sure to return a pi-ofit uj^on cost. Many a farmer has lost his farm 
through debts to a merchant ; and many others have built themselves out 
of a home by borrowing money to build a fine house. 

Teach your children not to be asliamed of their calling by making it re- 
spectable, dignified, and honorable as it is useful. Teach them how to help 
themselves, and they will not then depend upon others. Remember that 
tlie mind of a child is white, and liable to be stained by impurities. Teach 
them that wisdom maketh men humble, and ignorance and pride the reverse. 



980 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

Convince your children by your acts, as well as words, of your love, and they 
will love, honor, and respect you. 

Do not contradict things that you do not understand, nor dispute propo- 
sitions which may prove true. 

A snappish dog is often bit. Apply this to yourself. 
Trouble comes as the fruit of a first false step. , 

It is a brave man who does good where he has no expectation of reward. 
Provide good tools and a place to keep them. Have a good tool-house, 
and everything in its proper place. "When you lay by tools in winter quar- 
ters, have them cleaned, and the bright iron oiled. Use leisure days in win- 
ter to repaint and varnish wood-work of tools. Carefulness is economy. 
Preserving tools saves much expense. Providing them half accomplishes 
the work, and causes many jobs to be done that would not be if there were 
no suitable tools at hand. 

Dreading a job often consumes more time than doing it. 
An imjjulsivo man is better than a drone ; for, though ho may make mis- 
takes, he will accomplish many useful things — a drone, nothing. 

"Will is the mother of invention ; for will makes the necessity. Men with 
a will to do always do. 

Do not be over-eager nor over-cautious. The first rushes ahead inconsid- 
erately ; the last often loses advantages. 

If you are wealthy, be benevolent. If you are poor, be more so ; for be- 
nevolence bringeth blessings, and with blessings coraeth wealth. A miser 
misses many blessings. A sensualist throws many away. 

The birds rise early, for then the worms fall an easy prey. Man may 
learn lessons from birds. 

Husking in the field wastes winter fodder. If saved early, husks are 
wortli as much as hay, and more to the farmer than will bo paid by the 
mattress-maker. 

Save corn and weigh corn. Learn which sort is heaviest. "Weight makes 
value. The average weight per bushel of ears, of the eight or twelve-rowed 
sort of Northern fiint-corn, is given at -iGj lbs.; the grain 37{ lbs., and cobs 
9 lbs. A bushel of such corn, 5i lbs. 

Paint and preserve should be the farmer's motto. A good coating for 
rough work is made of fish-oil and water-lime. 

Remember that June, in this latitude, is not only, as a general thing, the 
most busy, most important month of the year — for upon the start given this 
month to all spring crops depends their success — but it is one of the most 
healthy and pleasant in all the year. It is the great month of flowers and 
early fruit ; the trees are arrayed in their richest robes of green ; the grass is 
most luxuriant and beautiful ; and in the after part of the month we have 
that most delicious aroma that comes from the hay-field. It is a month of 
life and liope, and it should be a season of enjoyment; for every farmer, 
busy as the season requires, him to be, should so arrange his work, and so 
proportion it to the hands employed, that all could have a day now and then 



Seo. 61.] MAXIMS OF HEALTH. 981 

for recreation, by relaxation from labor and devotion to innocent amusement 
appropriate to tliis lovely month, to invigorate them for the toil of the har- 
vest-field, when it is expected that every member of a farmer's family must 
put forth extra exertions till that hajipy time, too much neglected as a holi- 
day, the harvest-home festival. Remember, too, how much that depends 
upon the sunshine and showers of June. Remember that eggs are abundant 
in June. If properly preserved, they will be abundant in January. 

A barrel of eggs, packed in oats for market, contains sixty to eighty dozen. 

1147. Maxims of llealtlii — Constant delving is not wisdom. Men lose elas- 
ticity by over-exertion. lie that works most hours does not always accom- 
plish most work. 

A change of occupation is as necessary for health as change of food. 
When the weather is hot, the hours of labor should be reduced, or else lighter 
work substituted during some of the hottest hours. Change from mowing 
to raking, or from raking to pitcliiug, loading, stacking, enables men to do 
more work, while they are less fatigued. 

Attempt less — accomplish more. Many a man has broken down with 
fatigue of mind, because he attempted more than he could perform. The 
mind should be kept as elastic as the body. 

Promptness and energy save time. One man always drags his work, and 
never has leisure. Anothei", by ])romptness and energy, pushes everything 
ahead. Ten hours' hard work, six hours of rest, and leisure for study or 
recreation, and eight for sleep, will accomplish more in a lifetime than six- 
teen hours of toil, without rest, and eight of sleep. 

Be not ambitious to be the richest, but the healthiest, hapj^iest farmer in 
your neigliborhood, and in possession of the best, not the largest farm. Aim 
for the most comfortable, not the most showy house. 

Great farms — great care. Great income — great outgo. Spend less, and 
you will not need to earn so much. 

A reasoning man uses reason with his teams. A dumb animal can not en- 
dure constant fatigue. Attend to the mute appeals of such faithful servants. 

Neglect of physiological laws produces premature infirmity. To be long 
useful to yourself and others, " learn to know thyself" 

A short and easy law of health is, to keep the head cool, the body warm, 
and feet dry. Bathe for cleanliness, but never to chill the overheated bod3^ 
No man who practices eating or drinking without reason and regard to 
health can expect it. Be regular in your meals, and never eat inordinalely. 

Eating in a hurry will hurry j'ou through life. Swallowing without mas- 
ticating will destroy the strongest digestive organs. Never eat wliile the; 
mind is agitated nor body exhausted. Digestion requires health of body 
and mind. Late suppers, early graves. 

Tea and coffee in childhood — tobacco in youtli — intoxicating liquor in 
manhood — nothing in old age. There is no old age for those who abuse 
God's good gifts. 

Marry in haste — repent at leisure. An uncongenial companion is vi-orse 



982 TEE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

than none. Tliere is but one tiling in conjugal life worse than a jealous 
wife. The wife can tell what that is. 

It is worry, more than work, that kills. Fits of anger bring fits of disease. 

Surfeits are the physician's agents. So are all irregularities. Among 
these include all high-seasoned food ; all tempting the appetite with bitters, 
acids, and sjjices ; all forcing of food into the stomach when nature says. No ; 
all practices that .savor of " u]) till midnight, in bed till noon." 

Ice-water promotes health, because a smaller quantity than from well or 
spring cools the body and quenches the thirst. When very much heated, 
first cool the hands and face, and hold a lump of ice in the mouth. 

The farmer's food should be plain, substantial, hearty. It should be taken 
with a view to the labor to be imdertaken, to the rest required, and to the 
needs of the body. It sliould consist more of fresh meat than is usual. Salt 
fish is a healthful and economical change from salt meat. Eat more fruit 
and less meat — more plain bread, and less pic and cake — more soiip-maigi^e, 
and less rich gravy. To be healthy, yon must eat simple food. Dainties 
make beggars. Kise early, and you will digest easily. 

Live in the light. Health and dark rooms are incompatible, both for man 
and beast. Light is as necessary as air. A nut-brown face is more beauti- 
ful, with health, than a pale one with pain and lassitude. Look at the flow- 
ers in a dark room, and learn a lesson. 

Mental and moral depression are dead weights in the scale of health. A 
man's health may be measurably controlled by a strong will. Judgment 
and discretion are better than doctors and physic. When a physician or 
nurse says to a patient, "You will not die; you shall recover," it aids all 
their eflorts. 

Simples are better than compounds. This is often true in remedies for 
family diseases. It is true in relation to the common piiff-ball. There is 
no better styptic. Bleeding at the nose has been stopped by a few pufi's of 
this dry fungus. A paper published by the London Medical Society says 
that the ])ufi"-ball is a valuable anesthetic. It is owing to this property that 
bee-keepers use it to stupefy bees. The effect is precisely the same as that 
produced b}- chloroform, if, while burning, the fumes are inhaled. 

A valuable disinfectant for fetid sores has been discovered in Paris — a 
mixture of one to five parts of coal-tar, by trituration, with one hundred 
parts gypsum, in fine powder. This powder is used dry, or made into an 
ointment, and its efi'ect is such as to render the discharge of a gangrened 
sore inoffensive. 

The organ needing most care in the human body is the cuticle. Exercise, 
water, and friction are its best preservatives. The effects of old age are ex- 
hibited in the skin earlier than anywhere else. It loses its bloom ; it wrinkles ; 
it grows hard, and loses its fine sensibility, and, upon the most exposed parts, 
becomes dry and horny. It is then more like a sort of armor than soft, vel- 
vet}^ skin, and it seems to cut off communication between the body and sur- 
rounding atmosphere. The great preventive of this is perfect cleanliness in 



Sec. 61.] MAXIMS OF HEALTH. 983 

yontli. Plunging into the water is not necessary, but frequent ablutions of 
the whole body are. For the cure of hard, horny hands there is no better 
remedy than urine. For health, comfort, and longevity, soap and water are 
wortii more than materia medica to a farmer. 

Ice is one of the most valuable remedies for some diseases. For nausea, 
accompanied with burning in the stomach and tliirst, swallow lumps of ice 
as large as peas, one after another, every five seconds. Tliis has checked 
severe attacks of diarrhea. Ice in a bag, or wrapped in a towel, upon the 
licad in brain fever, is an invaluable application. Ico bound to the throat, in 
ease of inflammation, is very valuable. Put ice upon the back of the neck to 
arrest bleeding at the nose. Dyspeptics should not drink ice-water at meals. 

Mirth is a medicine. It is not taken half often enough. It restores mind 
and body. It is one of the causes of elasticity of children. They have not 
yet learned to restrain their mirth. Many of the great and good men of the 
world have been mirthful men. "We doubt the correctness of all tenets that 
deny mirthfulncss to all human beings. It is their birthright. " God made 
man a laughing animal." Allow your children to be mirthful, and join them 
in their sports. It is the cheapest way to save doctors' bills. Care drives 
nails in the coffin ; mirth draws them out. 

The cook is the cause of much sickness. " Bad blood" comes of bad food. 
JSfcunxIgia, one of the most common of all maladies in the present age, is 
caused by the condition of the blood, under the general term had. It gets 
bad for lack of suitable food, lack of proper exercise, and unwholesome air, 
all of which produce indigestion, dyspepsia, thin, pale faces, neuralgia, and 
its train of almost unbearable pains. There is no medical advice that can 
be given to those subject to neuralgia better than this : Eat to live, not live 
to eat. Eat suitable food, and in such quantities as digest most easily. Ke- 
member, " what is one man's meat is another man's poison." Take much 
exercise in the air out of the house. Keep the bowels free by using fruit, 
and such farinaceous food as will not produce constipation. If that occurs, 
use enemas of tepid water, with a trifle of salt and molasses, instead of pills 
and purgatives. Keep the M-hole surface of the body absolutely clean. The 
skin, kept clean by judicious washings and frictions, helj^s, by its open pores, 
to unload the system of its surplus; the bowels, kept free bj^ fruits, berries, 
coarse bread, and cold water, are another source of deliverance of excess. 
While these articles of food supply but a moderate amount of nourishment, 
in addition, active exercise still more rapidly works oft' the surplusage of the 
system, and the man is well ; not as soon as by bleeding, but by a process 
more efi'ective, more certain, more enduring, without harm or danger. 
There is no form of mere neuralgia which is not safely and permanently 
cured, in a reasonable time, by strict personal cleanliness, by cooling, loos- 
ening food, as named, and by breathing a pure air in resting in our chamber 
at night, and in moderate labor out of doors during the hours of daylight. 
Those who prefer uncertain physic or stimulants to these more natural rem- 
edies are unwise, and ought to have neuralgia — a little. Chloric ether, 



984 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV- 

which is made by mixing one part of chloroform with six parts of rectified 
alcoholic spirits, is excellent for outward application in neuralgia and tooth- 
ache ; but the best external application for neuralgic pains, and also for 
rheumatism, is made of the following compound, and is a real " pain-killer :" 
Oil rosemary; oil cloves; oil origanum; oil turpentine; spirits ammonia; 
tincture cantharides ; high-proof alcohol ; one ounce of each, specific meas- 
ure. Mix, and apply witli the hand, rubbing freely. Shake the bottle be- 
fore using. The following is recommended as an internal remedy : Half a 
drachm of sal ammonia in an ounce of camphor-water, in doses of a tea- 
spoonful every five minutes. Diptheria, another dangerous disease, has 
often been cured by the following treatment : Make two small bags, that 
will reach from ear to ear, and fill them with hard-wood ashes and salt ; dip 
them in hot water, and wi-ing them out so they will not drijJ, and apply 
them to the throat; cover up the whole with a flannel cloth, and change 
them as often as they become cool, until the throat becomes irritated, near 
blistering. Tiien take a piece of flannel, well covered with a stiff lather of 
castile soap, dip in hot water, and apply to the throat as hot as it can be 
borne ; have another ready when this becomes cool, changing frequently. 
At the same time, use a gargle made of one teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, 
one of salt, one of molasses, in a teacupful of hot water, and when cool add one 
fourth as much cider vinegar. To be taken every fifteen minutes, until the 
patient requires sleep. A gargle of castile soap may be used part of the time. 

1148. Maxims for Farmers' Wives. — Happiness and health are handmaids. 
"Whatever tends to promote one promotes the other. The art of love is the 
art of good housewifei'y. Tidiness wins, negligence loses husbands. Home 
is made haj^py by woman's constant care. Smiles and neatness are sauce 
for homely meals. An orderly house with poverty, is better than confusion 
with wealth. A fretful woman is every man's horror. A woe-begone look 
has given many a heart-ache. A happy house always wears a cheerful look. 
To take a social meal in such a house needs no second invitation. A hus- 
band is blind to a wife's faults who always strives to please. Do not give 
vinegar to your husband's friends. Honey is sweet, and its taste lies long 
upon the tongue. Policy sometimes requires sacrifice. A friend may seem 
an ill-bird to-day, who, in after-years, will think it no hardship to lend you 
his wings. AVith those, you or your children may soar out of despondency. 

Children and responsibility are born together. Gentleness and firmness 
should be born at the same time. Laugh at young cunning, and you may 
cry at older impudence. Teach your servants always to say " young lady," 
and you will teach young lady to call her mother " old woman." 

Teach your children to obey a look, and they will look to obey. If they 
obey and respect parents, they will respect all superiors and be loved by all 
equals. Never command but to be obeyed. To speak to others of a child's 
foibles in its presence will harden its mind to the faults you deprecate. 

Teach yourself what yourself should know in relation to your own children 
or those under your care. 



Sec. 61.] 



MAXIMS FOR FARMERS' WIVES. 



985 



Children of civilization should not bo clad like those in savage life. It is 
a cruel fashion that exposes their naked limbs to all the vicissitudes of our 
ever-changing climate. Where such pride dwells, death finds victims. Do 
not say Providence called the child away, when it dies from neglect of the 
mother. Furs upon the shoulders, and nothing upon tlio limbs, is not the 
dress to preserve health. 

Make your children sensible of a mother's love, and they will love you. 
Teach them to love home. Let them learn, and often sing, tliis little song : 



' Although our home's a lowly cot, 
It is the one that God provides — 

Where first I heard my mother's voice ; 
It is a home I love so well, 

Because 'tis there that love abides. 



Where, day by day, with tearful care, 
In gratitude for home and love, 

She taught me how to lisp a prayer, 
And tune to truth my infant tongue. 

And lift my heart to Grod above." 



Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is 
the atmosphere in which all good aflections grow — the wholesome warmth 
necessary to make the heart-blood circulate healthy and freely. Unhappi- 
ness is the chilling pressure which produces here an inflammation, there an 
excrescence, and, worst of all, " the mind's green and yellow sickness, ill- 
temper." 

Anger and reproof should never go in the same boat. One npsets the 
other. A loud voice and correction are incompatible. She who governs 
well lias a still, soft voice. Inspire love, not dread — resj)ect, not fear. Seed- 
plants to-day may produce fruit in eternity. 

Cofdial and quiet — paregoric and j)olicy — have bred many a depraved ap- 
petite. Cakes and candy for present quiet — doctors' bills and other ills in 
after-years. Time cures more sick children than mercury and tartar emetic. 

Order in after-years is the fruit of seed sown in childhood. Teach them 
to put things in place, and do not make them helpless by always helping 
them. Teach them to be useful. 

Little griefs are often large to little children. Do not forget you were 
once a child. It is better to bear auger patiently than to excite more anger 
than a little heart can bear. 

The beauty of sunset, children often admire. Teach them that there is an- 
other period of day still more beautiful. It is sunrise. It is a scene that 
never tires. If seen all through a long life, from the same window, over the 
same tree-tops, it presents a new view, a different combination of colors, and 
new joys every time it is seen. It is a truth to be remembered, that looking 
at sunrise every day is not tiresome nor unprofitable ; it prolongs life. 

Soft words and soft water should be in every household. One turneth 
away wrath ; the want of the other often produces it. 

Philosophy and fire-making are intimately connected, though seldom 
taught together. Every child should be taught how to kindle the kitchen 
fire. It is an art which many an adult does not understand. The kindlings, 
or live coals, should be so placed that the current of air should pass directly 
through the fire into the wood to be ignited. Kindlings and comfort go to- 



986 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

getber. Teach children and servants to save all suitable substances for kind- 
lings, and have a stock in hand over-night. Stalks of coarse plants, such as 
sunflower, hollyhock, broom-corn, large weeds, and dry twigs, Avhere shav- 
ings are not convenient, sliould be stored for kindlings. Corn-cobs are worth 
more for fuel than for any other purpose. 

Live and learn, and learn every day we live, should be a law of every 
household. 

"The poor traveler, scatcu to rest upon a bank of snow, dined upon a 
crust and an onion." Why? This you may learn. Although offensive to 
many, the onion is a valuable articl-e of food. It is nutritive and stimulant. 
It satisfies hunger and warms the body. 

" Cheese fought with famine, and conquered." This is also something to 
learn, that hunger is satisfied and strength sustained upon a small quantity 
of bread and cheese, better than with the same bulk of almost any other 
food. Therefore, never fear that your husband or child will suffer for a lost 
meal, if your forethought has put a little bread and cheese in his pocket. 

You may learn that the common dandelion {Leontodon taraxacuni) is used 
as a salad plant in France, and in Germany its roots are dried, and used in- 
stead of coffee ; and the value of the plant for medicinal uurposes is widely 
kuown. 

" A simple herb cured sore disease." This proverb should induce an 
housewives to preserve hei'bs for winter. Cut them while in flower, and dry 
in the shade. 

Botany and beauty are twins. Teach the first to your children, and they 
will acquire the second ; if not in face, in mind. Show them how to pre- 
serve specimens. Plants to be dried, to jjreserve their form and color as far 
as possible, in stalk and flower, should be laid between folds of old news- 
paper, and pressed. The paper absorbs the moisture of the green plants, 
and becomes quite damjJ in a few hours. Tlien open the pile, and place 
each paper, with the plant within its folds, on slielves or over the floor, for 
two or three hours, longer or shorter, according to the dryness of the weather, 
until the papers are dry, but not until the plants curl up. Then place them 
under the stone again for a day, and repeat the drying process. Increase 
the weight as they approach thorough dryness. Only one plant (unless quite 
small) should be placed between the folds of a single paper. When perfectly 
dry, take them out, and several may be placed in a fold, for keeping or send- 
ing to a distance. Mark the time they flower on a slip of jjaper attached to 
each, whether growing in wet or dry ground, on rocks or in swamps, woods 
or open ground, wild or cultivated. 

Flowers should be cultivated by every mother, and she should make it a 
rule of her life to teach the love of flowers to her children. Show them that 
the world is full of flowers — in the woods, on the "wild prairies of the West, 
" waving like a sea of flowers" — in the meadow— on the old hills of the pas- 
ture — creeping along the stone wall — climbing the rocks — -living on trees, 
are the wild flowers, abounding everywhere — everywhere sending forth their 



Sec. CI] MAXIMS FOR FARMERS' GIRLS. 987 

fragrance free as the morning air. Bottled odors are not sold by Nature — 
they are free. In civilized countries, wherever a liigli degree of cultivated 
taste prevails, flowers are planted in gardens, parterres, front yards, and back 
yards, all around the house, to gladden the eye and please the olfactory 
nerves. Then, again, what thousands of dollars are expended npon hot-honse 
conservatories, forcing jSTature to produce flowers out of place and out of 
season, that we may be gratified with their sight at all times of the year — 
on our inantlepiece, in our window, everywhere, in-doors or out, wherever 
we can And a spot to set a little pot, witli its little stem and single bud. But 
that bud Avill bring a flower — that flower will bring a smile, a joy, a holy, 
happy feeling, and perhaps a prayer of thanksgiving to Him who opened 
tliat bud and spread its beauty and fragrance abroad, for the great, good, 
glorious gift of flowers. 

Hight across the street from where we write this jJaragraph there is a 
whole row of flowei--pots in a window — seven of them — we know tlie number 
well, for we have counted them over and over many a time; and thev are 
tended by a fair hand, guided — we have no doubt of that — by a good heart, 
who snatches a moment from her daily toil— she is a bookbinder's girl — to 
tend her favorite flowers. Well, M'e only hope they gladden her heart as 
mi;ch as they please our eyes. They are blooming now, riglit opposite our 
window. We have often watched a delicate hand as it conies out to pour 
a little water into the pots or take one of them into the room to set on her 
table where she works ; but we have never seen her face ; tliat remained 
concealed behind the painted, opaque glass; yet we fancy how it looks — 
that it is sweet, like her flowers. 

1149. Maxims for Farmers' Girls. — The art of being loved should be the 
first thought of a girl approaching womanhood ; for with that will come all 
the arts of housewifery. No young woman need to expect to win and keep 
the love of a man worth loving, without exercising this art. The secret of 
this art is all embodied in the " small, sweet courtesies of life." 

The art of preserving includes more than pickles and peaches. A hus- 
band's love must be preserved as well as won. 

To preserve beauty, you must preserve health. That is preserved by mod- 
erate labor, cheerfully performed ; by generous diet, quiet sleeja, and proper 
dress. 

Health is woman's richest jewel. Its casket is the heart. Its location is 
within a chest that should never be rudely exposed to injury. Keep that 
well covered, though all the limbs should be exposed. You need never fear 
cold if properly clothed. See that sitting-room and sleeping-rooms are well 
ventilated. Do not neglect exercise nor recreation. 

" Laugh and grow fat." It is an old proverb, and a true one. Boister- 
ousness is not mirth. Tlie meaning of the maxim is. Always be cheerful, 
and thankful for health, and more health will follow. 

Hugging the stove will never gain health. That comes from air and ex- 
ercise. A flower fades in a hot-air room. Beauty does th# same. Health, 



988 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

contentment, happiness, and matrimony should dwell together. When you 
are reasonably sure that lliey M'ill in your case, you may contract mar- 
riage. Love may bring care ; the want of it may bring sorrow. No one 
has a right to ask to be exempt from a share of the cares of life ; liut, before 
you make this contract to leave your mother, be sure that you have learned 
every household duty that she can teach. One of the most important things 
for j-on to learu about household duties is, not to depend upon borrowing. 
There is nothing that will render you unwelcome to a new neighborhood 
quicker than this. However kindly disposed and pleasant jonv neighbors 
may be, they will soon grow cold if they find that you are an habitual bor- 
rower — sending for a little tea or sugar to-day, a little soap or salt to-mor- 
row, and bread or butter next day. In sickness, you may send to a neighbor 
for medicine and assistance, and they will be freely given. In health, avoid 
borrowing as you would a pestilence. 

Indolence is the parent of languor. That, as a general thing, is true, al- 
though there are cases where languor comes of ill health or fatigue. But, un- 
happily, listlessness is a state that city ladies, and sometimes farmers' girls, 
fall into. To prevent this, exercise freely in the open air. Do not be afraid of 
walking. It is one of the most healthy kinds of exercise that girls can take. 
Wear strong shoes, and take long walks. 

You will never die on horseback. This is an old and very true proverb. 
We can not give better advice to farmers' girls than this : learn how to ride 
well, and ride much. Walking, sometimes, is fatiguing, while a canter,, 
upon an easy-going horse, invigorates body and mind. Many a poor, dis- 
eased liver has been restored to health on horseback. Roses will bloom 
upon pale cheeks, rushing through the air before sunrise. 

A New Hampshire farmer was congratulated upon the healthy apjDcar- 
ance of his girls, and asked to explain the cause. He said, "It is because 
their diet has always been wholesome, plain, and simple, yet abundant. 
They drink water or milk, never having used tea or coifee. They have 
exercised every day in the open air, assisting me in tending my fruit trees, 
and in such other occupations as are appropriate for women ; and their dress 
has never been such as to hinder free respiration of our pure mountain air, 
which is a better panacea than druggists' remedies." 

A burnt child dreads the fire. This is another old and true proverb. A 
better one would be one that taught the child to dread a dress that would 
burn. Many a life might have been saved by rendering a gauzy dress in- 
combustible. This can be done by dipping it in water in which crystallized 
sulphate of ammonia has been dissolved, to the extent of about seven per 
cent, of its Aveight. Alum, in pretty strong solution, and also phosphate of 
soda, or borax, are said to produce the same result ; that is, to render all 
light fabrics that are dipped in the solution so incombustible that they may 
sweep over the blaze of a lamp or fire without igniting. If you love life, 
remember this. 

1150. MaximmfiDr Farmers' BoySi — To be useful, be industrious. To be re- 



Seo. 61.] MAXIMS FOR FARMERS' BOYS. 989 

specteJ, be willing to do your duty in all situations. To be loved, love 
others. To be rich, bo frugal. Save pence, and shillings will follow. Learii 
that a stick that will not make a rail may answer well for a stake. If you 
can not make a pot of a small board, you can make a pot lid. Everything 
is worth saving, and everything is useful for something. Perseverance built 
a house. All difficulties are overcome by diligence and assiduity. Your 
business will be attended to if you attend to it yourself. If you trust to your 
neighbor to watch your pot, the fat will be in the fire. Do not try to catch 
mice with mittens on until you see the cat do it. If you would save toll, you 
must do yoiir own grinding. If you would grow corn to grind, you nnist 
first plant it. If you would have it grow while you sleep, you must not plow 
with a ing for a team. Do not look for wealth without labor. Do not look 
for courtesj- from those who never see it in you. Good manners save money- 
Good conduct, and not good looks, wins friends. If you wait for the shoes 
of a dead man, you will go long barefooted. If you race for a shadow, be 
sure to start before sunrise. Never despair ; that is distrusting God. Be 
observing, and you will learn much that will be useful in after-years. Con- 
stantly study into the nature of things of every-day use. Nothing is of " no 
importance," or unworthy of your attention. Seek all the means in your 
l^ower for mental improvement if you wish to be respected. But few per- 
sons ever reflect on the means by which they may improve their general 
ability for increased thought, while all agree that the human mind is sus- 
ceptible of such improvement ; by no class of citizens is this subject more 
neglected than by farmers. The farmer, beyond all others, should have 
clear ]iowers of observation, so as readily to observe and apply nature's laws. 
His vocation is the root of all prosperity, and until the farmers of a nation 
are progi'essed to the highest power of observation, the country can not rise 
to the highest rank. By observation alone you may learn much. You may 
learn what you will find that many old farmers do not know. Among these, 
that cows and sheep have no upper teeth : that cold water will dissolve more 
salt or lime than hot water; that a gallon of water will dissolve more plaster 
of Paris than it will of slaked lime which has been long enough exposed to 
the atmosphere to become carbonate of lime. How many know that water 
is at its mean of size when at 40° of heat — that if cooled below that tem- 
perature it swells, until it becomes ice at 32°, and if heated above 40° it also 
swells, until it eventually becomes steam, thus occupying more tlian 1,700 
times its original space ? Still, all these are facts, and to minds generally 
observant, they are well known to be true. 

By observation you may learn why i-ain or pond water is better for plants 
than well or pure spring water — that it is because it contains more carbonic 
acid. Do not say you have no opportunity to learn facts that are only re- 
corded in books. Let any farmer's boy devote the evenings of a single win- 
ter to the reading of geology, entomology, chemistry, natural philosophy, 
and natural history, and apply his acquired knowledge as an amusement, 
while pursuing his vocation during the following summer, and he will find 



990 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

liimself able to ob.serve and comprehend thousands of incidents connected 
with natural law which before would have passed by xmobserved. He will 
then see and understand that the soil is but a debris of the rocks ; that in its 
original formation this occurred from the combined influence of sun and air, 
and changes of temperature by freezing and thawing, in rendering these rocks 
a soil. He will see how the convulsions of nature have mixed the soils 
of different localities; he will see, also, that the earliest vegetable growths 
were necessarily grosser sorts than those now produced ; and that they, by 
receiving carbon from the atmosphere — for the carbon originally must have 
existed there in immense quantities in the form of carbonic acid — by their 
decay deposited it in the soil, thus improving its quality and rendering it fit 
for the development of a more advanced class of vegetation. lie will also 
see where and from what causes animal life progressed, and can trace its 
progress. He will clearly understand that such vegetable matters as were 
consumed by animals merely change the arrangement of their 2:)articles by 
such process, and that no one particle was put out of existence, but that by 
the decay of these animals and the change of the arrangement of the nlti- 
mdte particles, both of themselves and their food, that they re-enter nature's 
great storehouse — the atmosphere and the soil — in a progressed condition ; 
that thus both plants and animals have progressed to their present state. 

lie will next be able to observe why deeply disintegrated soils can never 
suffer from drouth, because he will know that when water is absent from the 
soil it is present in the atmosjihere, and will be deposited on the surface of 
colder particles, at greater depths than can be reached by atmosphere when 
attempting to jjercolate shallow plowed land. lie can trace the action of 
this moisture and its office in the soil ; he can know what amendments are 
required to replace those which he may find to be deficient ; and, indeed, he 
can render himself doubly happy and a better servant of his Creator, and liis 
vocation afneliorating to his fellow-men. All this' must occur if he knows 
so much of nature's laws as will give his mind the first ability for closer ob- 
servance, and his progression as an individual will be the natural conse- 
quence of its exercise. And this does not call for the tedious exertions of 
thought as practiced by the mathematician and the merchant, but merely 
for ther culture of the power of observation to see truths as they exist, and 
apply them rightly ; and this, and nothing else, ho will find to constitute the 
science of agriculture. 

Keniember that plowing deep is the easiest way to enrich your farm. A 
farmer who was unable to own or hire a strong team, adopted the plan of 
running the same plow twice in one place, and is sure that the extra work 
was much more than paid for by an increase of crops. By this plan he 
plowed a stiff sward 12 or 14 inches deep, and got a good tilth on top of the 
reverted sod which had remained undisturbed through several years of 
previous cultivation, aud crops were more free from the effects of drouth 
than ever before. 

Boys should not neglect their country school, notwithstanding their fathers 



Sko. 61.] MAXIMS FOR FARMERS' BOYS. 991 

allow it to remain (lie most neglected building of all that arc called public 
ones, and frequently most uncomfortable and uninviting to cultivated minds, 
and hence those of the least cultivation are employed as teachers. And 
wliat is learned there? Just what the books teach — nothing more. The 
child learns A, B, C. Tlio larger one finds the letters transposed, and spells 
cab. The next advance is to learn the mechanical operation of forming a 
resemblance to these letters with pen or pencil. Then the child reads that 
one class of words are called nouns, another verbs, and a third adjectives. 
And so on and on througli books and daily tiresome lessons, the child plods 
up to maturity, and if particularly bright may be called " well educated." 
Yet wliat of the surroundings of every-day life lias that child ever learned in 
school ? Now, let a farmer go into the district school and ask of teaclier and 
pupils these few simple questions — questions that involve things tliat might 
be learned in school, but are they ? The answers to his questions Avill show 
him whether they are or not : 

What kinds of forest-trees grow indigenously in this neighborhood ? 

Can you give their names, common and botanical ? 

Which are the most useful, and what are their uses? 

What useful and what noxious plants are most common ? 

What plants are cultivated, and what for? 

How many of these are indigenous ; where are those from that are not ? 

What is the staple product of the neighborhood ? 

What is the nature of the soil? Name its principal constituents. 

What kind of rocks abound here, and are they in place; and if not, -where 
did they come from ? 

How many kinds of birds abound in the neighborhood, and are they iiseful 
or injurious? Give their common and scientific names. 

Do the same of quadrupeds, reptiles, and insects. 

These are some of the things that might be learned in school, but rarelv 
are. The subject is one worth a thought, and might be a good deal ampli- 
fied and thought of, and not alone by farmers'' boys. The farmer himself 
may well think of these facts. 

Every country school should have as one of its standard books a "Manual 
of Agriculture," an excellent new work just published under the sanction 
of the State Board of Agriculture of Massachusetts, edited by Geoi'ge B. 
Emerson and Charles L. Flint ; for it is full of practical information for the 
school, the farm, and the fireside. It contains many things desirable for all 
farmers' children to learn in school, and is admirably arranged for that 
purpose. 

"The Hand Book of Household Science" is another valuable school-book 
which should be in extensive use. Both of the books named are of conve- 
nient size for Schools, and both contain many things of great value not only 
to pupils, but their teachers, who might learn many things that should be 
taught and learned in all schools. 

Among other things that boys and girls should learn at pcImoI are the 



992 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

names of the days, or, rather, why they are so called. They are all derived 
from the old deities of the Saxons, each one of whom has a statue intended 
to personify the idea of the being. For instance, the idol of the sun, which 
gives name to Sunday, is represented with his face like the sun, holding a 
burning wheel, with both hands on his breast, signifying his course round 
the world. The idol of the moon, from which comes Monday, is habited in 
a short coat like a man, but holding the moon in his hands. Tnisco pre- 
sided over strife, litigation, combats ; so Tuesday, which derives its name 
from Tuisco, was originally set apart for the commencement of combats, 
assizes, and litigations. His statue is clothed in skin garments, such as were 
worn by the old Scandinavians. Odin or Wodin, from which the name 
of Wcdnesdaj^ is derived, was a valiant and much-loved Saxon prince, whose 
name was revered as " universal father," and whoso image was invoked in 
prayers for victory in battle. Thor — god of thunder — was the son of Odin, 
and gives name to Thursday. His image is represented in a bed, holding a 
scepter in his hand, with twelve stars over his head. Friga, from whence 
we have Friday, was the wife of Odin, the goddess of hope, peace, fertility, 
and riches, tliough represented with a drawn sword in the riglit hand and a 
bow in the left. Saturday is said by some autliorities to be derived from 
Saturn, and by others from the Saxon deity Sffitor. His image has a wretched 
api'earauce, with thin visage, long hair and beard, with a pail of wafer and 
fruits and flowers in his right hand. 

Tlie names of the months come from the Komans. 

The first was so called from Janus, an ancient king of Italy, who was dei- 
fied af'fer his death, and derived from the Latin word Januarius. 

February is derived from the Latin word Fehruo, to purify, hence Fehrvr 
arius ; in this month the ancient Komans otfered up exniatory sacrifices for 
the purifying of the people. 

Marcii was anciently the first month. The name is derived from the word 
Mai's, the god of war. 

April is so called from the Latin Aprilus, i. e., opening — because in this 
mouth the vegetable world opens and buds forth. 

May is derived from the Latin word Ifajores, so called by Romulus in 
respect toward the Senators; hence Maius or May. 

June, from the Latin word Junius, or the youngest of people. 

July is derived from the Latin word Julius, and so named in lionor of 
Julius Caesar. 

August was called in honor of Augustus by a decree of the Roman senate. 

Septembei', from the Latin word Septein, or seven, being the seventh from 
March. 

October, from the Latin word Octo, the eighth. 

November, from the Latin word Novem, nine. 

December comes from the Latin Decern, ten, numbered so from the Roman 
first month, March. 

Boys should learn the nature of minerals ; that salt is one as tnuch as 
marble, and like it is quarried from deep mines. " Liverpool salt," is rock 
salt refined. In its mineral state it is not white, but has a pinkish hue. 



Seo. 61.] THINGS TO BE THOUGHT ABOUT. 993 

Until refined it is not good for the dairy ; that is true, however, of all man- 
ufactured salt. In Cracow, Poland, there are great salt mines, wonderful as 
a curious work of human industry. 

Boys, do you know the size of a square acre? You can only learn to 
estimate the area of a field by comparing its size with a well-known plot, 
Select a level spot, clear of trees and fences, and measure a square 208 feet 9 
inches upon each side, and set up stakes at the corners, and exactly halfway 
between. That gives you the size of an acre and quarter acre. A half acre 
is liTi feet square ; fourth of an acre, 104i feet square ; an eighth of an acre, 
73 1 feet equare. 

1151. Things to be Thought About. — There are a great many useful little 
things which need to be stored up for farmers' use. For instance : What 
is the diflerence between the gross and net weight of a hog ? We have told 
you, iu Ko. 17, that in dressing, hogs lose one fifth. That is the general rule ; 
but it varies with quality and condition. Some smooth, small-boned, well- 
fatted hogs lose only 13 or l-i per cent. Some calculate shrinkage at 20 per 
cent, on the first cwt., 17 per cent, on the second, and 12 per cent, upon all 
above that. One calculation, for a hog of 260 lbs., live weight, is 7 lbs. of 
blood, 32 lbs. oflal, leaving 220 lbs. net weight. If a hog of 275 lbs. net 
weight is cut up, the several parts will weigh as follows : Head, 24 lbs. ; 
shoulders, 29 lbs. ; hams, 42 lbs. ; sides, 90 lbs. ; lard, 17 lbs. ; lean meat, 
scraps, and bones, 73 lbs. — 275. The proportion is .thus seen to be, head, 
nearly one eleventh ; hams and shoulders, a little over one fourth ; sides, or 
clear pork, nearly one third ; bones, etc., over one fourth. The hog, at G 
cents a pound, would amount to $16 50, and make the value of the several 
parts as follows: head, at 3 cents, 72 cents; shoulders, at -6 cents, $1 74; 
hams, at 7 cents, $2 94 ; sides, at 9 cents, $8 10 ; lard, at 9 cents, $1 53 ; 
lean meat, etc., at 2 cents, $1 46— $16 49. 

There are a few simple rules in the philosophy of fertilization that farmers 
should think of, talk about, experiment upon, and act accordingly. One is, 
that all non-volatile substances, such as lime, plaster, salt, bone-dust, niti'ates 
and phosphate, should always be applied upon the surface, because their 
natural tendency is to descend by the laws of gravity. Volatile ma- 
nures only require to be covered to prevent evaporation. Lime sinks lower 
than roots. Lime, ashes, or clay are, each or all, beneficial to sandy soil. 
Clay to sand is better than sand to clay. Limestone land retains heat, 
and is therefore best for crops that require continued warmth during a short 
season. 

" There was frost upon the bottom lands, but none on the hills " Why ? 
This is a subject for thought, and, as it is a natural eflTect, it should govern 
the planting of tender crops. The reason is, that the bottom land is usually 
of darker color than hill land, and it is generally supposed that it radiates 
heat more rapidly than lighter-colored soil. 

Dry peat, or muck, will absorb four times its own weight of water. 

It requires four pounds of clover to make one pound of mold ; and a tun 



991 TUE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

of dry forest leaves will make 500 lbs. of mold ; and that mold will produce 
a tun of forage plants. 

Phospliorus is found in all plants, and is a necessity of the growth of many 
of those most useful to man. Commercially, phosphorus is valued at four 
or five thousand dollars a tun. Of course, it can not be used in that form 
for agi'iculture. It can in the cheaj) form of phosphate of lime. 

Soft water is jn-eferred by most animals. A beast will often show a pref- 
erence to a pond of foul water that is soft, rather than to a cool spring that 
is hard. Some stable-men, who have none but hard water, always keep it 
exposed to the air, in a tub or trough, some time before it is used. 

A kettle is not a necessity in heating water. It may be heated nearly 
boiling hot in any wooden vessel, by hot stones, or a lump of cast iron. 
This plan is very useful in scalding hogs. An iron weiglit of twenty-live 
pounds, with a ring for handling, is a good form, and with it a given quan- 
tity of water can be heated quicker than with an open kettle. 

A machine belt of leatiier should never be put on with the flesh side to the 
pulley, because it will wear longer the other way. 

"What is the strength of a man? Or what is it compared with a horse? 
Farmer, do you know ? Have you ever thought of it? It is very important 
for you to know how much labor you can perform, or how much you have a 
right to expect of hirelings. The result of many experiments by scientific 
men is that, on the average, an active, healthy man, of about 150 lbs. weight, 
can walk 264 feet per minute, working ten hours daily, and make 30 miles 
a day, upon level roads. If he mounts stairs, he walks only one tenth as 
fast, and is unable to continue the labor more than eight hours a day. If he 
carries 90 lbs. upon his back, ho can move only 132 feet a minute, or one 
and a half miles an hour, and continue seven hours "a day. If he climbs a 
stair with 150 lbs. on his back, at the rate of seven feet per minute, he can 
work only six hours a day. If a man works Avith a wheel-barrow, carrying 
loads a distance, and returning empty for a new load, he may carry 130 lbs., 
at the rate of 90 feet a minute, ten hours daily. The absolute force of trac- 
tion which a man can continue ten hours a day, by a rope passing over his 
shoulder, at the rate of two miles an hour, is given at 75 to 132 lbs. The 
greatest velocity at which a man can walk varies from i^ to 6J miles per liour. 
The proportion of strength exerted by a man at different employments is 
as follows: Working a pump, 100; working a winch, 167; ringing a bell, 
228 ; rowing a boat, 2iS. Tiiis shows the importance of arranging all machin- 
ery to be operated by manual labor so that the operator can exert his strength 
to the greatest advantage. If a pump was rigged so it could be worked ex- 
actly upon the same principle as the row-boat, the man would be worth nearly 
two and a half times as much as at the handle of one in the ordinary way. 

The average strength of men varies in different countries. In England it 
is given at 71.4:; France, 69.2; Yan Dieman's Land, 51.8; New Ilnlland, 
50.6. Strength and activity must not be confounded; nor activity and 
weight. If two men of equal strength and weiglit contend, one may pull 



Seo. gi.] things to be thought about. 'J9o 

tlic other oif his feet. Let one take a third man under his arm, of equal 
weight to liimself, whicii would appear to be a sufficient load, jet he will 
not only carry it, but pull his aniagoiiist easily after him across the room. 

The strength of a horse is variously estimated as compared with man. 
That is, one horse is estimated as equal to from five to fourteen men. In 
the estimates of the power of a liorse, compared with the power of a steam- 
engine, Watt fixes the horse-power at his ability to raise 33,000 lbs. per 
minute, the weight being attached to a rope over a pulley. An engine that 
can do the same is rated as one-horse power. Its real power is greater, be- 
cause thef engine has the greatest power of endurance. 

Men and animals acquire, by practice, great powers of muscle and endur- 
ance. A brawny London porter walks three miles an hour, with two or 
three hundred pounds upon his shoulders. Doctor Windship, of Roxbury, 
Mass., lifts a tun attached to a strap across his shoulders, and he is not a 
brawny man. A horse will endure more labor, though necessarily working 
harder, traveling in a hilly country than upon a plain. The power of a horse 
harnessed in a wagon is calculated at 770 lbs., drawn at the rate of 433 feet 
per minute, 4J hours per day, day after day, without exhausting his power. 
Tliis is about 22 ' miles per day. 

For carrying loads on a plane, a man is rated 1 ; a horse, 4.8 to 6.1. For 
transportation in wheel-carriages, a man is rated 1 ; a horse, in four-wlieel 
carriage, 17.5 ; in two-wheel cart, 24.3. A mule, with cart, 23.3 ; an ox, with 
cart, 12.2. 

Another authority gives the following as the units of man and horse power : 
An active man, in the prime of life, can raise 100 lbs. one foot per second, 
working ten hours per day ; a horse can raise 550 lbs. in the same space 
of time. 

These "things to be thought about'' should be thought of more than they 
are by all farmers. So should " What food will produce the most strength ?" 
Eace-horse men say that broken grains of hulled Indian corn, with corn- 
leaves, are the best food. Workers of horses think that they will do the 
.most work, where action of muscle is required, if fed on oats. It is also 
said that five piounds of corn will make a pound of beef; and that three and 
a half pounds of corn-meal will make a pound of pork. Yet who knows ? 
We know that all should inquire. 

1152. How to Dress Fur-Skins, or She>p-Skins nidi the Wool on. — Take 
equal parts of salt and alum, pulverized, and sift about four (lunccs upon the 
flesh side of the skin, while fresh from the bodj- — or, if dry, after being 
moistened — and then fold it xip carefully, and keep it in a damp place about 
four days; then open it, and lay it on a table, and scrape it with a dull 
knife, to get all the adiieriug flesh off, and then rub it with a blunt wooden 
instrument, until it is drj' and soft. Then thoroughly wash it in warm soap- 
suds, let it dry moderatel}', and just before it is fully dry, rub it soft with 
your hands. After rubbing, it is soft and pliable as a kid glove, and will 
continue so. Another plan isf to nail tiic skin tightly and smoothly against 



996 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [CnAP. XV. 

a door, keeping the flesh side out. Next proceed, with a broad-bladed, 
blunt knife, to scrape away all loose pieces of flesh and fat ; then rub in as 
much chalk as possible, and be not sparing of labor; when the chalk begins 
to powder and fall ofl", take the skin down, fill it with finely-ground alum, 
wrap it closely together, and keep it in a dry place for two or three days ; 
at the end of that time unfold it, shake out tlie alum, and the work is over. 

1153. How to Dress Skius Soft, like Buckskiu.— Take the skin fresh from 
the animal, and stretch it tightly upon a board, and scrape ofl" all the flesh 
that will come off easily. Then warm two quarts of milk, and mix in a tea- 
cupful of salt aud half an ounce of oil of vitriol. In this mixture soak the 
skin about forty minutes, stiri'ing it and keeping it warm. Then take it out, 
and stretch aud rub it over the smooth edge of a board, working it till dry. 
Tlie Indians dress all their deer-skins by soaking them in a paste made of 
brains, and, after rubbing them, drying them in smoke. 

1151:. How to Prepare Fur-Skius for Market. — In the first place, carefully 
avoid getting blood or dirt upon the fur before skinning. If that is una- 
voidable, carefully clean and dry it before you take off tlie ]2elt, which, of 
all small animals, such as mink, fox, weasel, cats— wild or tame, muskrat, 
fisher, otter, rabbits, squirrels, sliould be taken oft' without ripping down the 
belly, and no bones should be left in legs or tail, and no flesh left adliering 
to the pelt. This must be carefully scraped or picked off, before oi'after 
the pelt is stretclied, which is best done upon a thin, smooth board or shingle, 
cut a little tapering, upon which the skin sliould be turned inside out as 
soon as it is stripped from tlie body, and drawn smooth and tight, and tacked 
fast, -and tlien hung up to dry in the air or in the smoke, w^th but little heat 
from the fire. If you are in the woods, or where you can not get boards or 
sliingles to make your stretchers, you must adopt the Indian's mode, and 
stretch your pelts upon a bow made of a hickory sprout, or other tough 
wood, which, after trimming perfectly smooth, you will slightly notch in 
tlie middle of the length, and bend toward the notch. Then, half way from 
the nose end, cut two notches and insert a brace, which will be held in place 
by tying a string around the ends, so as to bring tliem just near enough 
together to suit the size of your pelt. It is sometimes necessary to put in 
two or more braces, to hold the sides of the bow firm, and wide enough 
apart to stretch the skin into a good shape and to the utmost tension, which 
adds to its value. It is not necessary to stretcli skins fur side out to show 
the quality. A good judge can tell a good pelt as soon as he sees the flesli 
side. Well-handled skins will always sell for 10 to 25 per cent., and some- 
times 50 per cent., more tlian similar skins badly handled. What we mean 
by the technical term " well-handled" is, the preparation of the skin, which 
is a very simple matter to those who Tcnow how. If you wish to dress the 
skins for home use, follow tlie directions of 1153. using less materials and 
more labor, in proportion to size of pelts. 

1155. Farmers Should Use Rawhide. — A skin of an animal, M-hether cow, 
calf, colt, or horse, that dies on the farm, is worth more" at home than at the 



Seo. gi.] protection for horses and drivers. 997 

tanner's. Cut tlieni into narrow strips, and shave off the hair with a sharp 
knife, before the kitchen fire or in your work-shop, stormy days and even- 
ings. You may make them soft by rubbing. A rawhide lialter-strap an 
inch wide will hold a horse stronger and last longer than an inch rope. It 
is stronger than hoop-iron, and more durable, and may be used to hoop dry 
casks and boxes, and for hinges. Try it upon a broken thill, or any other 
wood-work that i^ splintered. Put it on wet, and nail fast. Thin skins 
make the best bag-strings in the world. A rawhide rope is a good substitute 
for a chain. It is valuable to mend a bi-oken link in a trace-chain. For 
some purposes it is best to use it in its natural state. For other purposes it 
may be dressed soft. 

1156. Oiliug Harness and Boots. — Oils should not be applied to dry leather, 
as they would invariably injure it. If you wish to oil a harness, wet it over- 
night, cover it with a blanket, and in the morning it will be dry and supple ; 
then apply neat's foot oil in small quantities, and with so much elbow-grease 
as will insure its penetrating throughout the leather. A soft, p>liant harness 
is easy to handle, and lasts longer than a neglected one. One authority says : 
"Never use vegetable oils on leather; and among animal oils, noat's-foot is 
the best." Another says: "The very best oil for all applications to leather 
is the common castor-oil. One of the reasons of its value is, that it has less 
tendency to harden or thicken the leather, as neat's-foot and other animal 
oils do. Leather that has been frequently saturated with any kind of animal 
fat and exposed to water, as boots and harness are, instead of remaining pli- 
able, becomes hard and dry, losing its elasticity, and finally becoming brittle 
and worthless; but that which is oiled with the extract of the Palma Christi 
bean, and in a less degree with flax-seed oil, appears to retain its fibrous 
toughness a great deal longer. The oil is naturally viscid, and, containing 
some glutinous matter, serves a better purpose than animal oil to exclude 
water, which, when absorbed by the leather, is the real cause of its inelas- 
ticity. Castor-oil, if bought by the gallon, is not expensive. It was manu- 
factured a few years ago in Illinois, and sold at fifty cents a gallon ; and the 
beans were grown as a field crop, at fifty cents a bushel. It is well worth 
while for farmers to give castor-oil a trial as a lubricator of leather." 

1157. Lubricating AxlcSi — ^Take three pounds of tallow, one of lard, and 
one of fine black lead, and two ounces of India-rubber, cut in shreds ; beat 
them together until they are completely mixed, when it makes a most excel- 
lent anti-friction grease for the axles of wagons. And when you can not get 
these materials, make a paste of wheat flour in oil, and it will answer nearly 
as well. Powdered soap-stone and oil are excellent. 

1158. Protection for Horses and Drivers. — At the South they have " buggy 
umbrellas." They are made just like the common umbrella, with a staff 
four or five feet high. In the bottom of the wagon is a socket, which liohls 
the end of the staff when in use. At other times it is laid down, or carried 
into the house, like any other umbrella. Every carman might have just 
such a one, without interfering at all with his load. Every stage-driver 



998 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

should have one, to protect him both from sun and rain. They are real life- 
preservers, liealth-promoters, and preventives of excessive drinking. Every- 
body wlio rides in open wagons, in city or country, should liave a wagon- 
umbrella. It is much better than a top-wagon, because lighter. It would 
also be good economy for every farmer to have a water-proof covering 
for each wagon-horse, to protect him from sudden showerS M'hen heated, and 
at all times from cold, drenching rains. '* 

1159. llOM' to Fix Chaiu Plliaps. — Chain pumps frequently get out of order, 
in consequence of too great length of chain. If a chain should be of the 
correct length when it is new, after it has been in use for a year or more, 
the reel, the links, and the roller in the bottom of the well become worn, so 
that the chain will be several inches too long, and in consequence of which 
the cliain will often become entangled at the bottom of the well, and will 
stop the motion of tlie pump very often and very suddenly. In such a case, 
open links of the chain, and take out enough to make the chain as tight as 
it was originally, and tlie pump will work as well as ever. 

1160. How to Blend an Aqueduct Pipe. — IIow to solder a lead pipe witli a 
head of Mater on is a secret worth knowing. We have known instances where 
the knowledge imparted in this item vroiild be worth much more than the 
coit of this volume. Repairing jjipes, whether lead or other material, under 
a pressure of fifty feet of water, that can not be shut off, is a serious under- 
taking ; but see how easy ! A lead pii^e Avas accidentally cut apart by a 
spade. No one knew how the water could be shut off without going a long 
distance, and then it M'ould stop the supply of many persons connected with 
the same line of jiijies. An ingenious plumber was sent foi'. lie iirst stopped 
the flow by a wooden plug. Then he called for broken ice and salt. " lie 
is going to freeze icecream," said a little boj', who knew the philosophy of 
tliat operation. Ko, he is going to place the ice and salt around tlie pipe, 
and freeze the water solid. It was done in a few minutes.. In tlie mean 
time he had added a short piece of pijje to the empty part, and as soon as 
the ice-plug was perfect, lie withdrew the wooden one, and in one minute 
had made a soldered joint. In live minutes more the ice-plug melted, and 
on to its destination flowed the living current. 

1161. Do Fogs in January Indicate Frosts in May?— Such is the popular 
belief witli many i)eoplo. To show that it is not well founded, we give the 
statement of a writer in the Country Gentleman, who says : " On looking 
over a record for the past seventeen years, I can not find anything on which 
to base such an assertion. It is true, as a general thing, we liave fogs in 
January, and also true, as a general thing, we have frosts in May ; but we 
have Ir-'d man}' a January with neither fog, rain, or mist, -while in the May 
that r..,i)wed we have had frosts and hard freezes. We will take tlie past 
five years, wliich will prove as much as tlie seventeen, and see what relation 
the frosts of May have to the fogs of January. In the year 1S57, we Iiad no 
days that could be called foggy, rainy, or misty, in tlie month of January, 
but in j\r;;y wo liad cold weather. There were frosts on the mornings of the 



Sec. 61.] WEATHER PROGNOSTICS. yO!> 

8th, lOth, 12tli, IStli, 16th, 17th, and 18th. Snow fell on the 10th and ITth, 
and ice one eighth of an inch in tliickness was fonnd in vessels containniL;- 
but little water on the morning of the 10th, and one fourth of an inch on tiio 
inornings of the 11th, 17th, and 18th. Wo had also a heavy frost in June, 
killing almost every green thing. In the year 1S58, on the 11th of January, 
we had fog, and on the mornings of the 3d, 11th, 13th, 16th, 22d, and 23d 
of May we had frosts, more or less. In 1859 we had fog on the 7tli of Jan- 
uary, and on the 23d of May we had a slight frost. In 1860 there was 
fog on the 7tli and 11th of January, but in the month of May we had no 
frost, and it was the warmest month of May that we have had ia the seven- 
teen years I have recorded. In 1861 we had no fog, and not a day that 
could be called rainy or misty, in January ; but iu May we had frost on the 
2d, 3d, 29th, and 30th." 

1162. Weather ProgiiosticSt — Every farmer should have some settled rules 
upon which he could safely calculate the prospects of the weather. It would 
be highly economical to a farmer if he would carefully study all the prog- 
nostics of the seasons, and such as indicate changes in tlie weather day by 
day. The nse of the barometer is of doubtful utility to the farmer, but there 
are many homely barometrical signs that should not be neglected. The 
changes of the wind ; the course of the clouds ; the smoke beating to the 
ground ; the circle around the moon ; the flight of birds, both wild and do- 
mestic ; the hurrying home of bees when a sndden shower approaches ; the 
actions of domestic animals, swine in particular ; the acute pains felt by rheu- 
matic persons at the approach of storms ; the absence or excess of moisture 
in the atmosphere, as indicated by the rapid evaporation of boiling water 
when the air is dry, or ready condensation upon the cold-water pitcher when 
it is moist ; the peculiar sighing of the wind ; the turning up of the leaves 
of the forest before a storm, and many more indications of change, should a!l 
be studied, better understood, and used to the farmer's benefit. Every chim- 
ney is as good an indicator of the changes of weather as any cheap barometer. 
If smoke is heavier than the atmosphere, it will, of course, fall to the ground 
as soon as it is disengaged from the heat which forces it through the chimney. 
When the fire is made in the morning, if the smoke is seen on the ground 
near the house, we may conclude foul weather will soon follow. The follow- 
ing sensible thoughts and words arc from F. K. Phenix, of Bloomingtou, 111. : 

" How curious and humiliating that, after living in the world, as men 
have, for thousands of years, and learning about almost everything else, we 
should yet be in total darkness as to the character of the forthcoming seasons. 
Governed as they are by immutable laws, with historic records and scientific 
observations at command, Avhat walking clods we are as to the impending 
weather! What immortality is there yet in store for some Storm-King, who 
shall unlock this mighty weather-vault, and hand over the key to his de- 
lighted fellows ! If there be one vvell-ascertained fact in regard fo the weath- 
er, why not make that a basis for other scientific calculations and deductions ? 
For instance, it has been stated that thei'e is every year about the same an- 



1000 



THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. 



[Chap. XV. 



nual mean of temperature. Now, if this be tlie fact, how easy to foretell 
the general temperatiire of the last three or six months in each year from 
that of the preceding months ! Will not the mvans please figure up, and 
tell us what we may expect in future ? It is also said that one extreme fol- 
lows another. How natural, then, to infer that, after such a series of dry 
seasons as we had in Illinois in the five years preceding 1S5S, that we should 
that year get terrible rains ; after which, drouths again, against both of 
which extremes farmers should provide, by thorough draining and deep 
culture. Here at the West, the weather doubtless has, in the matter of wet 
and dry, its cycles or periods — a very wet season occurring every six or seven 
years. Then might not this wet season have been anticipated? If naviga- 
tors may know the tides of ocean, why may not we poor, water-logged lands- 
men know something of the great air-tides that give us fair or foul weather?" 
Much, too, may be learned by careful observations of the thermometer. 
Look at this table of average in New York for ten years : 

1849. 

Aggregate averages 718. 

Average of fifteen days ... 48 . 

This shows an average of temperature for the last period 3i° above the av- 
erage. A careful observer would at once conclude, " This will be a good 
year for fruit ;" and so it proved. 

1163. Gestation, Periods of, and Proper Time of Reproduction.— The follow- 
ing table is compiled from good authority, and may be useful to young farm- 
ers. No exact period can be stated, however; for M. Tessier, of Paris, 
kept a record of 582 mares that copulated but once, and found the period of 
foaling varied from 287 to 419 days, making a difference of 132 days, and 
in the lowest number falling short of the usual time of eleven months by 47 
days, and in the longest, overrunning the allotted time by 85 days ; so you 
need not despair of your mare, cow, or other animal, if it does not bring 
forth at exactly the time fixed upon. 

TABLE OP PERIODS FOR SEVERAL AKIMALS. 



1850. 


1851. 


1852 


.1858. 


1S54. 


1855. 


1866. 


1S6T. 


1858. 


775 . 


.786 . 


..782. 


.768. 


.754 . 


.739 . 


.708.. 


..752.. 


..810 


51S. 


. 52J. 


. 52. 


. 51. 


. 50 J. 


. 49i. 


. 47.. 


.. 50. 


.. 54 



Proppr age Period of the 
Kinds op for Power of 

Animals. Eeproduction. Eeproduction. 

Years. 

Mare 4 years 10 to 12 ... 

Stallion 5 " . . . . 12 to 15 . . . 

Cow 3 " .... 10 

BuU 3 " .... 5 

Ewe 2 " .... 6 

Tup 2 " .... 7 

Sow 1 " 6 

Boar 1 " 6 

She-Goat 2 " 6 

He-Goat 2 " .... 5 

She-Ass 4 " . . . . 10 to 12 . . . 

He-Ass 5 " .... 12 to 15 ... 

She-Buffalo . . . 

Bitch 2 " 8 to 9 ... 

Dog 2 " 8 to 9 ... 

She-Cat 1 " 5 to 6 ... 

He-Cat 1 " .... 9 to 10... 

Doe-Rabbit 6 months 5 to 6 . . . 

Buck-Eabblt 6 " 5 to 6 ... 



Number of The most 

Females favorable season . — Period of Ges'ation. — . 
to one Male, for Copulation. Shortest. Mean. Longest; 
Days. Days. Days. 
287 



20 to 30 . 
30 to 40 
40 to 50 
6 to 10 . 
20 to 40 



.May. 
. July. 
.Nov. 



240 
146 



.March 109 



.Nov. 
.May. 



150 
365 



281 
55 



347 
283 
154 
115 
156 



419 

321 

161 

143 

1G3 

391 

335 
63 



Sec. Gl] WHITE BEAFS. 1001 

1161. The Cultivation of Wliite Beans as a Field Crop.— It is often said of a 
man, " lie don't know Leans." If it was said he don't know how to grovi' 
them, the assertion would be often true. Wo do not know that wc do, but 
we do know how to cure them. Here it ia. 

1165. How to Cure White Beans- — There is no crop that gives more trouble 
to the farmer in curing than beans, which from being late planted because 
grown among corn and from the shade, are often as green as ever at the 
time they must be harvested. With a good deal of trouble in hanging the 
vines on the corn, they will cure if the weather is propitious. Then they 
must be handled again and the whole carried by hand out one side of the 
field. Sometimes they are carried out in the iirst place and spread on fences, 
head lands, or green sward, to get them out of the way of cutting np the 
corn. This is hard work, and often proves labor lost, for if the season proves 
wet, the green vines will not cure, and the dry buds are often molded and 
beans blackened by the attempt to dry the vinos. Now, if planted alone, 
there need be but one handling after pulling, and that will be to put them 
on the wagon, cured in the most perfect manner. We afBrm that there is 
no crop grown that can be cured easier than white beans, no matter how 
green the vines when pulled. To do this, take some stakes about five feet 
long — old garden bean-poles will do— and go through the field and set as 
close together as your present experience will tell yon is necessary. Place 
any old trash, such as coarse weeds, sticks, sods, or stones around the bottom 
of the poles to form a raised bed as yon would for a hay-stack bottom, and 
then pull your beans and stack them in a single course around the stake, the 
roots inward, and dryest vines at the bottom and a tangled bunch at the top 
to hold the stack to its pole, and your beans will cure and look clean and 
bright, and the leaves and pods will be eaten with great avidity by the 
sheep. There is no other inexpensive way to cure field beans. 

1166. Suitable Soil for White BeanSt— There is no crop that will produce so 
well as Avhite beans upon a thin gravelly knoll. We have seen twenty 
bushels of beans per acre upon land that would not produce twenty bushels 
of corn, if stalks and all were measured. They do not produce well ujiou 
rich soil, running too much to vines. 

1167. Growing Beans among Corn, — We are opposed to planting beans with 
corn, except solely to fill up vacant spots, because we do not think there is 
anything gained by planting the two crops together. The practice orig- 
inated in early times, when cleared land was scarce, and when the soil was 
rich, and when it was an object to get as much food oflP one acre as possi- 
ble, because the owner had no other ground that he could use ; and so the 
practice has come down to the present day, each generation following it be- 
cause " father did so," without even inquiring why. In our opinion the 
most advantageous course to pnrsue for a profitable bean crop, is to plant 
the seed upon land that it would not be profitable to use for Indian corn, 
making the rows in drills about twenty inches apart, and mannring them 
with fine compost to give them an early start and vigor while young, rather 



1002 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

than a large growth of vines, M'hich they get among corn. Beans mast 
never be worked while wet with rain or dew, and that is a good reason for 
keeping them away from corn, for that may bo worked to good advantage 
wlien dripping wet. The only advantage, besides the two crops npnn one 
surface, that we ever heard contended for by planters of beans among corn, 
is the convenience of curing the vines upon the cornstalks. 

1168. Hop Culture. — The hop is a hardy perennial, of easy cnltivation, and 
will grow in any part of the Union. It requires a deep, rich, mellow soil, 
with a dry, porous, or rocky sub-soil. The exposure in a northern climate 
should be toward the south, as on the slope of a hill, or in any well-sheliered 
valley. It may be propagated by seeds or by divisions of the roots; but it 
is more usual to plant tlie young shoots which rise from the bottoms of the 
stems of old jDlants. These are laid down in the earth till they strike, wlien 
they are cut off and planted in a nursery-bed. Care must be taken to have 
only one sort of hops in one plot, that they may all rijien at the same time. 
The ground having been pi'ejjared for planting, it is divided by parallel lines 
si.x feet apart, and short sticks are inserted into the ground, along the lines, 
seven feet distant from each other, and so as to alternate in the rows, as is 
frequently done with fruit-trees and other plants, in Avhat is called the quin- 
cunx form. By this method, every plant will be seven feet from each of its 
neighbors, although the rows will be only six feet apart, and thus one eighth 
of ground will be saved. Fresh dung should never be applied to hops. A 
watering with liquid manure will greatly assist their taking root. During 
their growth the ground should be well hoed, and some of the fine mold 
thrown np around the roots. Any good corn ground will produce hops. Tlie 
roots are nsually planted in corn land and grow with the corn the first year. 
They produce the second year $300 to $400 per acre at 35 cents per pound. 
Liberal applications of manure are needed, and they do not affect the quality 
of product, as is the case witli tobacco. Besides farmyard dung, wool, hair, 
bones, plaster, lime, and ashes are all useful fertilizers. In England, the 
Kent aTid Sussex hop-growers calculate upon spending about $50 per acre 
for special manures, in addition to what of the ordinary kind they make on 
the farm. With such care, they have hop plantations 300 years old. The 
ground must be trenched and worked deeply. About 1,200 liills is the 
proper number per acre, and for each 200 hills there should be one hill 
of male plants. When jiicked, the hops should be at once dried, and this is 
better done by passing a current of hot air over them than in placing them 
in a room where they get only the radiated heat from a stove. 

1169. What Constitutes the Value of Hops.— The yellow powder of the flow- 
ers contains all the value of hops. It is not in the leaves; they are good for 
nothing. If the powder, lujyulin, was separated from hops and put up in 
soldered cans, there would be no need of transporting the bulky material 
of hop bales. Liebig recommends exposing hops to the fumes of sulphur, 
as thus the lupulin, or active j)rinciple, may be preserved from one season 
to another. The practice is opposed by some, but adopted by many of the 



Seo. 61.] TEASELS AS A CROP. 1003 

best Muiiicli brewers. The bop crop varies' from year to year to such an 
extent that the price is very fluctuating, and even in a single season or a 
month may make a difl'crence of 100 per cenf. 

1170. Growing Hops wilhout PoIeSi — The great expense in prepai-ing a liop- 
yard is a good set of poles. To avoid this, posts have been set and wires 
drawn across the yard, and vines trained up on strings fastened to a stake at 
the hill, and to the wire at top. In France, a hop-grower has discovered 
that lie can train liis hoi3 vines horizontal to a low trellis. The French Acad- 
emy' recommend this plan because it enables the grower to investigate the 
plant while growing, and cleanse it from the numerous insects which injure 
it to so vast an extent; then it is protected frona the sun, which always 
destroys the xipper shoots ; it obviates the great destruction of hops in stormy 
weather, when the wind lays low whole hop-grounds from the hight of the 
poles ; and most of all, it enables tlie gathering of the cones to take place 
without uprooting the plant, besides permitting the selection of the ripest 
ones at fii-st, and preventing the great loss which arises from the necessity 
of tearing down the whole plant to get at the rijiest blossoms. 

1171. Teasels as a Crop. — It is worth while for farmers to consider whether 
teasels as a crop are not woi'thy of more attention. \Ve have seen it stated 
that a fair average crop is 200,000 burs per acre, and we think a fair average 
price is $1 50 a thousand. Their cultivation is not a new thing in this 
country, though but ^ttle attended to. Nor is it difficult. A Mr. Wells 
(N. L., we think), of East Windsor, Conn., has grown them many years, and 
found them profitable. The most suitable soil is a rich clayey loam, of rather 
a moist nature, such as would produce two tuns of hay per acre. The best 
preparation is to grow potatoes upon the turned sod without manure ; the 
next spring manure heavily, plow eight inches deep, pulverize the soil thor- 
oughly with a cultivator, and then level smooth with a bush-drag. The 
seed, after soaking one night, is rolled in plaster, and dropped by liand in 
shallow drill marks, thirty inches apart. It should be sowed very tliick, 
sometimes half a bushel per acre, as it vegetates badly. Like cotton or 
broom-corn, if too thick it is " thinned to a stand." The time of planting 
is when the ground is in good order, about the first of June. Do not cover 
the seed more than half an inch deep with fine earth, but press it liard with 
" a spatter," made of a plank, with a convenient handle. In about two 
weeks the rows can be seen, when a band or horse hoe must be put to work. 
At the second hoeing the plants may be thinned out, leaving them four or 
five inches apart. The after-culture is to keep the ground absolutely clean 
till about the middle of jSTovember, when the plants are covered with straw, 
held in place by dirt, to remain till first of May, or till freezing nights are 
past, when the plants are uncovered and weeds kept down till the plants 
grow, as they soon do, to cover tHe ground closely. Soon after the flowers 
drop, the burs must be cut with stems about four inches long, and carried to the 
drying-house, where they are spread upon open-work shelves of slats, poles, 
or small rails in tiers one above another, so as to give a free circulation of 



1001 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

air. They may be placed a foot thick upon shelves of this sort. A good 
hand can cut 15,000 or 20,000 a day, but the harvest should commence by 
the time half the flowers in a field are off. The top burs drop their flowers 
first ; these arc called " King," but are not quite as good as the burs next 
below, whicli are called " Queens." A stalk has from four to six No. 1 
teasels, and twenty to thirty, and sometimes fifty whicli are merchantable. 
The most common method of disposing of the teasel stalks is by mowing, 
drying, and burning on the ground. Two crops in succession generally do 
well, but more than that is not recommended. 

1172. Prices in Counecticut a Hundred Years aso. — From a curious and in- 
teresting document fully published in the The Homestead, at Hartford, 
Conn., we have extracted the prices of farm produce and slaves, as sworn to 
in the inventory of the estate of Captain Tliomas Wheeler, of Stonington, 
Dec. 11, 1755 — a little over one hundred years ago. Captain "Wheeler was 
one of the largest landed proprietors in that town, and the appraisement of 
hi^ estate amounts to £12,669' 9s. 5d., Connecticut currency, which, at six 
shillings to the dollar and twenty shillings to the pound, gives $42,231 55, 
which in those days constituted him a pretty ricli man. Tlie home farm is 
appraised at £7,000, and tlie prices of the following articles are given in 
pounds, shillings, and pence, which vre have reduced to dollars and cents — 
whicli, b}'' way of comparison Avith present prices, will be interesting ; as 
well as the fact that only a hundred years ago Ctesar, Scipio, and Hagar 
were part and parcel of a dead man's estate ; and also the prices at which 
these " chattels" were valued at that time in Connecticut. Perhaps, how- 
ever, the inventory of a South Carolina planter dying in 1855 will be read 
with just as much curiosity and wonder, as regards both the price and exist- 
ence of slaves, a hundred years hence, as this is of a time a hundred years 
past. The quotations from Col. Wheeler's inventory are as follows : 

Three Iiundred and ninety-eight bushels of Indian corn, £40 os. 2d. — 33f e. 
per bushel. 

Eight bushels wheat, 30s. — 62ic. per bushel : fifteen bushels rye, 37s. 6d. 
— 41 |c. per bushel. 

Five bushels beans, 16s. 8d. — 55ic. per bushel ; fifty bushels salt, £6 5s. 
— 41 |c. per bushel. 

One and a half bushels malt, 4s. 4d. — 47c. per bushel ; twenty-seven poun«is 
tallow, 9s. — 5|c. per pound. 

Twenty-five hundred seventy-four pounds cheese, 3d. per pound— 4^0. 
per pound. 

One hundred eighty-seven pounds flax, in ye swingle, 6d. per pound — 
Sic. per pound. 

One hundred twenty-five tuns hay, 25s. a tun — ^$4 17 per tun. 

Half bushel flax seed, Is. 3d. — 42c. per bushel. 

Three hundred fifty feet pine boards, 17s. 3d. — $2 87j ; eighty squares 
glass, 16s. 8d. — 3|c. per square. 

His riding horse, saddle, and bridle, £16 13s. 4d. — $55 55. 

One old sorrel horse, £7 18s. 4d.— $26 38. 

One black horse, £16 13s. 4d.— $55 55. 



Sec. 61.] PRICES IS CONNECTICUT A HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 1005 

One sorrel horse, swift nose, £11 5s. — $37 50. 

One sorrel horse, bald face, £12 5s. — $10 85. 

One pied horse, £10— $33 34. 

One small horse, swift nose, £6 13s. 4d.— $22 21. 

One sorrel stone horse, two years old, £9 lis. 3d. — $31 96. 

One sorrel year-old horse, $4 lis. 8d. ; one do., £4 lis. Sd. — $15 28 — 
$15 28. 

One old sorrel marc and mare colt, £2 ISs. 4d. — $9 71. 

One old hay mare and horse colt, £3 6s. 8d.— $11 11. 

One old black mare and horse colt, £8 6s. 9d.— $27 80. 

One black mare and white face mare colt, £8 6s. Sd. — $27 78. 

One large sorrel mare, white face horse colt, £14 3s. 4d. — $47 22. 

Olio old bay mare, £2 ISs. 4d. ; one sorrel two-year-old mare colt — old 
bay, $9 71 ; colt, $12 21. 

One sorrel mare, swift nose, £10 Ss. 4d. — $34 71. 

One black mare, swift nose, £10 16s. 8d.— $36 11. 

One brown mare, £5 16s. 8d.— $19 42. 

One fat ox, £5 8s. 4d. ; two speckled lean do.. £11 13s. 4d. — one fat ox, 
■ $18 06— one pair, $38 90. 

Two brown pied oxen, £10 8s. 4d.— $34 72. 

Two broM-n pied oxen, £10 16s. Sd. ; two red pied do., £13— $36 11, 
$43 34. 

Two white pied oxen, £8 los.— $29 17. 

One brown fat cow, £4 3s. 4d ; one speckled cow, £3 3s. 4d. — $16 90, 
$10 55. 

Twenty-three fat cattle, at £3 ISs. 4d. per head— $9 72. 

One bill], £2 ISs. 4d. ; thirty-two cows, £86 8s. 4d.— $223 61. 

Twenty-live two-year-old cattle, £41 13s. 4d.— per head, $5 51— $138 90. 

Twenty-six one-year-old cattle, £30 6s. Sd.- per head, $3 89— $101 11. 

Twenty-five calves, £15 12s. 6d.— $2 OS per head ; total, $52. 

One hundred and seventy-nine store sheep, £26 2s. Id.— 4Sc. per head — 
$S7. 

Five sheep rams, £1 5s.— 83c. per li „'ad. — $4 17. 

Fifty-six fat swine, £65— $3 86 per head— $216 67. 

Sixty-five store swine, £14 15s. — 75c. per head — $49 17. 

One negro man named Quasli, £2 10s. — $8 34. 

One old negro woman named Juno, 16s. 8d. — $2 76. 

One negro man named Cab, £41 14s. 4d. — $139 06. 

One negro man named Cffisar, £38 10s.— $128 34. 

One negro man named Cipeo, £45 16s. Sd.- $152 78. 

One negro woman named Hagar, £37 lOs. — $125. 

One negro woman named Flora, £31 13s. — $105 50. 

One negro woman named Sarah, £40 — $133 34. 

One negro woman named Jane, £37 lOs. — $125. 

One negro woman named Cloe, £37 lOs. — $125. 

One negro boy named Pharaoh, £8 8s.— $28. 

One negro girl named Phillis, £15 — $50. 

One servant mulatto boy Harry, £8 6s. 8d.— $27 78, 

One servant mulatto girl Eliza'betli, £5— $16 67. 

One servant Indian woman Mary, £1 13s. 4d. — $5 55. 

Corn is appraised at 33fc. ; rye, at 41|c. a bushel. The price of horses, 



1006 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

beeves, stoi-o cattle, sheep, and swine will strike every one acquainted with 
present prices of such stock as quite remarkable, but not more so than the 
variation between the price of slaves iu Connecticut in 1755 and the price 
of slaves in Virginia in 1S55. Old Juno is valued at $2 76, M'hich seems 
to be the niiiiiumm value of one of the human family, while the maximum 
is only $152 78 — a valuation that lacks a cipher at the right baud to make 
it equal to the current rates usual south of that noted line of Mason and 
Dixon. The " mulatto girl Elizabeth" must have been very young or very 
ugly, or the appraisers were actuated by different motives from those which 
influence the " friends of the ijeciiliar institution" at the South, or she would 
have been valued at a much higher figure than £5— $16 67- — even in those 
days of cheap chattels. One servant Indian woman " Mary," rated at $5 .^5, 
shows not only that the aborigines were enslaved, but that they were esti- 
mated at a low price. As an evidence of the little care for literature which 
prevailed a century ago, we notice that all the books of this rich man's estate 
were valued at only 56 shillings — §9 33. That is not so singular, for even 
in our day slaves and libraries are not always found in abundance upon the 
same inventory. 

1173. Winter Employment of Farm Laborers. — As a rule, our farmers are 
not employing a fourth part of the labor thc}^ might make profitable. Labor 
well bestowed would double the grass crop of any State in less than five 
years. 

It is one of the greatest diflicultics in the way of American farming, this 
si.x months on and six months off of laborers. There is a constant complaint 
about the trouble of getting good farm laborers, and this trouble is con- 
stantly augmenting — growing worse and worse at every annual return of the 
hiring season. And why ? Because our laborers are mainly made up of 
foreigners unaccustomed to our modes of farming, unused to the climate, 
and unfitted for farm labor without previous training ; and all that one 
of them gains in this line in one season is generally lost to the one who 
gave it, because he only employs his farm hands for the summer, instead of 
the whole j^ear. "We have never conversed with a farmer who did not deplore 
this state of things, and acknowledge that it would be much better, that is, 
more profitable to keep the same laborers on from year to j-ear after they 
had learned " the ways of the farm." 

"Then why not do it?" 

" Oh, dear, bless 3'our soul, I would if I could, but I have nothing, or next 
to nothing, to do in the winter." 

Now is this so ? Have farmers nothing to do ? Look about your farm 
and see. Have you no ditches to dig, no swamps to drain, no muck to dig 
for manure — no stone, timber, fuel, or manure to haul — no holes, large, deep, 
and wide to dig for setting fruit-trees in the spring — no land on your farm 
that needs and will pay for underdraining ? For all of this work can be done 
during the many good out-door working days of winter, and, as a general 
thing, will not be done at any other season. 



Seo. 61.] WINTER EMPLOYMENT OF FARM LABORERS. 1007 

A good farmer can always provide work for stormy weather under shel- 
ter. There is fuel to be cut and split in the wood-honse. There are gates, 
and bars, and feucc-posts to be made in tlie workshop:!. There is manure to 
be piled in the yard — that should be done every day — and there sliould be 
manure to be forked over in the barn cellar. Thei-e are straw and stalks to 
be cut, and this may be done in quantity if the cut stuff is packed in boxes 
or barrels, so as not to dry up before it is wanted to feed out. There is corn 
to shell in the granary, and t.his is good work for dry, cold days, when it 
would be pretty severe to work out of doors. 

We iiave long advocated thrashing to be done more with flails and less 
with machines, because it costs no more to thrash with flails, and the straw 
is better for stock, and it gives employment to farm laborers in winter, which 
is more important than all other considerations ; for if they are not em- 
ployed, it frequently happens that actual suffering ensues, and at the same 
time their former employer will lose their services another year, and in the 
end will actually pay as much or more for what he gets out of a raw hand 
each summer than he would have paid, the winter included, for one good 
hand. 

If, as all well know, it is bad policy to part with a good hand, it is bad 
policy not to furnish employment for the winter. It is not only bad policy, 
but it is a wrong to the class who make np the farm laborers. Think qf this 
in the first winter storm, when you think of your brute creatures, what may 
be the suflering condition of your laborers that you have discharged because 
you thought you had nothing to do. In this you are mistaken. You can 
find employment, and can make it profitable. But if not, you can not con- 
scientiously discharge your poor dependent laborers, many of them strangers 
not only within your gates, but upon our side of the great Atlantic. Tell 
them, at least, that the roof which has sheltered them in summer shall not be 
denied them in winter. If you really can not find full employment for them, 
tell them fairly what you can do — that you will feed them in all weather 
and employ them in all days when they can work to advantage. 

More than one half of the new emigrants that have found work upon 
farms during the summer within reach of this city will come directly here to 
spend their earnings while looking for city employment, and they will go 
back to their farm-work in the spring as ill fitted for it as half-starved oxen 
are to drag the plow, and cart the manure, and draw the fencing, and mnch 
other work that they could have done to better advantage in warm days in 
winter. 

Let every farmer who is about to discharge a farm laborer, put his hand 
upon his heart to mark its piilsations, while he asks it this question : " Am I 
doing as I would that others should do to me ?" The assertion that you 
have nothing or can have nothing to do is an erroneous one. There arc but 
few, if any, farms that require three summer laborers that could not find 
profitable employment for at least two of them all the winter. It is ex 
tremely bad economy to discharge hands that have worked faithfully, and 



1008 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

have just got used to the ways of the farm, and would be valuable help 
another year, and leave them to shift for themselves, more uncared for than 
your cattle, because you have nothing to do in winter. If you do so you 
must expect to meet with the same trouble in hiring help every coming spring 
that you have in every past one. There is a great influx to the cities e.very 
winter of persons willing to work, but who have been discharged where tliere 
was work to do, and have gone there as the most likely place to find shelter 
for the winter, but there they can find nothing to do ; the city labor market 
is overstocked. 

Farmers, we appeal to you for your own interest ; we appeal to you upon 
the "golden rule;" we appeal to you for the sake of all who are willing to 
work for their bread ; we appeal to you for those who, ignorant but not 
vicious, need your guardianship, that you do not send or leave one unem- 
ployed to come back to this city, where he will not only be idle, but as- 
suredly acquire vicious habits that will make him a less valuable servant 
next year than this. 

This common practice of discharging laborers in autumn is one lUat will 
in a short period quite destroy the efficiency of farm laborers. Their dispo- 
sition to come to the city to spend the winter, farmers should check, not en- 
courage. A man who has spent the winter in idleness in the city is not wortli 
half as much in summer as one that remains continuously on the farm ; and 
the same thing is true of in-door servants. 

""What can I do in winter?" is the usual reply in argument against keep- 
ing laborers through tlie year. One thing that a farmer can do late in au- 
tumn, and often in many winter days, is to prepare for setting out a few 
more fruit-trees in the spring. "We contend that not one farmer in a hundred 
has a sufiicient supply of trees yielding fruit in their season. An orchard 
that gives good, marketable apples is always profitable to its owner if within 
reach of any large towns, for these apples are always salable and always at 
paying prices, if of good eating or cooking sorts, of summer or winter fruit, 
if carefully hand-picked and packed in neat barrels. Land for an orchard 
of any kind of fruit-trees will amply pay for draining with tiles or good 
stone underdrains ; these must be set deep — not less than five feet. Tiie land 
must be plowed deep and subsoiled, if its character will admit of it ; and 
if not, the holes for the trees should be dug out three feet deep and eight 
feet across. Leave these open all winter ; in the spring put back tlie sods 
atid surface earth at the bottom, and haul some rich earth, compost, chip 
manure, or leaf mold, to set the roots in. Getting this ready, is work for the 
last earth-working days in autumn. Time will produce $10 for every day 
thus occupied, when your trees yield their fruit. Every iota of fuel to be 
used in summer sliould be prepared rearly for the fireplace, whether on 
hearth, or stove, or oven, during winter. Many a farmer could economically 
employ a man all winter to thrash grain with a flail and cut tlie straw ibr 
stock. Much work at ditching, fencing, stone-digging, rock-blasting, ma- 
nure hauling, and in some winters plowing, can be done to good advantage 



Sec. 61.] FARM ACCOUNTS AND FARM ECONOMY. 1009 

in the latitude of New York city. And if nothing can be done, it is better 
for both employer and hireling that farm hands should be idle on the farm 
than in the city. If farmers have a surplus of leisure in winter, we advise 
them to organize farmers' clubs, and meet every week, and have all the 
farm laborers attend. Something will be learned. 

1174. Rules for a Fanners' Club. — E. C. Packhurst, of York, Penn., says: 
'• A good many farmers would organize farmers' clubs, if they knew how. 
Will you give us a copy of the Constitution and Rules of your New York 
Farmers' Club, if you have them printed ?" 

Thei'e is a set of printed rules, but they are never referred to nor ever 
needed for any club. The members should agree to meet once a week or 
once a month, at a given hour and place. Select a chairman, to preserve 
order in debate, and open the meeting with any miscellaneous matter that 
any one chooses to bring up, and allow one hour for such discussion. Then 
devote another hour to some question agreed upon at the previous meeting, 
and adjourn punctually at the time. Make the whole discussion to consist 
of brief facts, but never dispute. Get some one to prepare a paper to be 
read at each meeting, if possible. "We advise every farming neighborhood 
that can muster ten intelligent men, who will attend a farmers' club, at once 
to form one. But do not make any formal constitution and by-laws, or con- 
ventional rules, but make your meetings social and conversational. Let 
your organization be of the simplest form possible, and avoid all formality 
in your meeting, except just enough to preserve order. Let one man act as 
secretary, to keep a few simple minutes, and advertise meetings ; and let 
them be open to everybody, without fee or membership ; and if money is 
needed, ask anybody and everybody to contribute. If they won't do it, but 
leave all the burden of the expense and business of the club to rest on the 
shoulders of three or four persons, give it up. The time has not come for a 
farmers' club in that neighborhood. It is a good plan, in the country, to 
meet at each other's houses ; but, to succeed, you must get your wives and 
daughters interested. A farmers' club is a barren M'ilderness, unless smiled 
upon by woman. One excellent subject for discussion would be about im- 
proved farm stock. Another, farm imj)lements. More than one half of the 
benefit which might be derived from the various labor-saving improvements 
in agriculture, which have flooded our country for the last ten years, is lost 
by our general ignorance of their construction and the proper method of 
working tliem. How to use manure, and how to make land more produc- 
tive, and consequently more profitable, are questions that can not be dis- 
cussed too much. 

1175. Farm Accounts and Farm Economy^ — No man can be a good farmer 
and a successful one who does not keep accurate accounts. Be able to tell, at 
the end of the year, every dollar that came to hand, and what for, and every 
one that goes out, and why it went ; and balance your cash account at least 
once a month — once a week is better. Keep accounts with everybody, debit 
and credit, and in some degree, with everythmg. Number your fields, and 



1010 THE GLEANINGS OF THE FIELD. [Chap. XV. 

charge each with manure, seed, and labor, and credit the crops, and you 
will soon find which is the most profitable. Open an account with your 
stable, your pig-pen, your pasture, and with your general stock, and with 
different classes and branches of it, if you would learn with accuracy which 
is the most profitable. To be successful, you must be accurate ; to be accu- 
rate, you must keep account-books. 

True economy does not consist in mere saving and stinting ; it requires 
far-reaching views and a generous spirit to decide practical questions upon 
that just basis which secures the greatest measure of success. We must look 
further than the first cost. In farm stock, for instance, when once obtained, 
it costs little more to raise, to any given age, a good animal than a bad one, 
while one may be far more remunerative than the other. 

And finally, as the very concentrated essence of farm economy, every 
American farmer, who is worthy of the name, will obtain this volume, and 
study it from title-page to 



irirmso 



INDEX. 



[The number of paragraph on the Icfl-liaiiJ side ; that of the page on right-hand side.] 



1 142. Acres, how to measure 974 

'J'io. Adaptation of trees to locations 845 

102o. Adulterations of siiperphosphates . . . 8D7 

1 137. Age of seeds, when good 07.3 

y43. Age of trees 852 

1078. Agricultural tools noticed 920 

4.59. Air, impurity of, in rooms 412 

3S0. Alljumeu of meat, how extracted . . . 3G0 

945. Alder, where from 854 

47. AlJerney cow 44 

818. Alfalfa, its use 758 

398. Alkalies in bread 377 

267. Alum water for bugs 243 

713. Allen's hybrid grape C31 

737. American wine-maker's rules C61 

101. Analysis of various cattle food 75 

382. Analysis of food for men 300 

98. Animal bones, use of 73 

19. " species 31 

20. " structure 31 

1. Animals, domestic 13 

1159. " gestation and reproduction . 1000 

80. " unruly, how made so 62 

5ij2 Anise 494 

942. Antediluvian seeds of trees 852 

457. Ants, how kept away 409 

289. " in the house, how got rid of . . 243 

254. " whisky cure for 230 

37. Sec. Apple and peach trees, manage- 
ment of 579 

4S9. Apple custard 434 

712. " paring machines 629 

662. Apple trees, form of various 585 

663. " " dwarf 586 

634. " " how to winter young .. . 566 

482. Apples, how kept for winter 429 

059. •' in Georgia, list of Indian . . . 582 
6.59. " Newtown pippin, history of . 582 
489. " raw, and cooked as food 433 

659. " select list of, descriptions. . . . 580 

660. " use of, good for cattle 584 

691. Apricots, history and cultivation of . 615 

341. Aqueduct pipes, durability of 317 

333. Aqueducts, economy of 309 

1 149. Art of being loved 987 

503, 875. Artichokes, Jerusalem, growing, 

and use 495, 810 

538. Asparagus, cultivation, soil, and ma- 
nure 478 

1023. Atmospheric feitilization, theory of. . 896 

733. Austrian vineyards 654 

57. Ayrshire bull 60 

34, 43. " cows described 37, 42 

1143. Axioms, proverbs, and maxims 975 

446. Bacon, dry-salting 404 

447. " English mode of curing 404 

445. " facts about 404 

348. " how smoked 323 

918 Baggasse of sorgo injures stock 834 



392. Bakers' yeast, ferment, sponge 371 

19. ^ec Balloon frames described 325 

35U. Balloon frames, how to build 32o 

562. BiUm 494 

775. Barley cultivation 704 

753. " seeds in a bushel 678 

324. Bam boarded tight or open 303 

322. " foundations 3ft3 

320. " of Shakers at Canterbury 301 

321. " " circular 302 

323. " practical opinions about 303 

325. " ventilation of hay-mows 305 

319. Barns, use, value, location 299 

987. Barnum using nitrates, sulphates, mu- 
riates 878 

450. Barrels, how cleaned 409 

502. Basil, sweet 494 

294. Bats are insect eaters 263 

1167. Beans among corn 1001 

440. ' ' how to cook 401 

1165. " how to cure vines of 1001 

1166. " soil suitable for 1001 

534. ' ' sorts of, for garden 476 

1164. " white, as field crop KiOl 

267. Bed-bugs, infallible remedy for 242 

465. Bed-.omforters, how to make 415 

308. Betl-room-s fit to live in 283 

463. Beds aud bedding 414 

453. Beef, corned, how to cure and cook. . 400 
468. " gall, its use 416 

454, 455. Beef, pressed, how made —scraps, 

how saved 407 

226. Bees, fourteen sorts in Honduras .... 174 
222. " hives, new -way to make, of straw 171 

222. " hives should be ventilated 170 

223. " how to keep from stinging 172 

223. " how to take honey from 172 

212. " history of their introduction. . . 157 

227. " Italian, their introduction 174 

224. " moths, how to protect, from . . 173 
220. " pasture and feeding 165 

215. " patent hives, bee houses, bee 

palaces 161 

213. " proper form of hives 160 

228. " reasons for keeping 175 

212. " reasoning powers of 159 

226. " stingless, not desirable 174 

214. " straw hives 161 

219. " swarm, proper weight of 165 

217. " swarming, how to manage, do- 

mesticate 102 

218. " swanns, what they consist of . . 164 
212, 225. Bees, their introduction into Cal- 
ifornia 159, 173 

212. Bees, where they flourish best 159 

216. " where to keep hives 162 

529. Beets, varieties of 474 

4. Sec. Beeves, gross and net weight. . . 51 
562. Bene plant 494 



238. 
237. 



CIO. 



402. 
392. 
393. 
401. 
391. 

403. 

398. 
399. 

394. 
391. 
40-5. 
395. 
391. 
393. 



4. Sec. Big Ijullocks 01-50 

353. Billets of wood, building wiih. 331 

Sec. Birds and children ij ; 

239. Birds consume weed .'■eeds '. 200 

11. Sec. Birds, country desolate without. 177 

234. Birds destroy worms and bugs 190 

236. " eating bees jgj 

239. " protected by laws ...'.' ' ' ' ' .' ' " I'M 
239. " quails, their value on the farin'. 190 
11. Sec. Birds, reason and religion in 

preserving j7q 

233. Birds, robins arc worm-eaters, tiie 

quantity consumed ......... 186 

skylarks and imported birds. . 194 
swallows, swifts, and martins 
described jgo 

JV ^"v*^-, J^""'''*' tlie farmer's best friends". 176 

233. Birds, the food of jgj 

230. " the sap-suckers do not destroy 

trees jgj 

232. " to protect fruit-trees against. . 183 
7no' T,.' ■""'iP'gcons, sending to market 201 
493. Bites and stings, remedies for. 439 

620. Blackberries, cut-leaf O.'il 

'l^^- " Dorchester , . 050 

f)!^- ■' Lawtnn, or New Ro- 

chelle .54f; 

, ^ PiU'sley-leafed .' 05O 

Jji-'- " running or trailing 501 

"''• " thomless 500 

^'77 " value for wine 551 

^ *• variety and cultivation 547 

"'"■ " white 5,5Q 

476. Blackberry cordial . . 4->o 

130. Black-hawk Morgans [ joi 

100. Blindness in horses, how to detect. ' ! Ill 

159. Blind staggers in horses, cure for 110 

92u. Boilers and boiling maple sap 838 

0. Boiling weeds for pigs ' 05 

92. Bone in different food '.'. .,[[[ (jg 

998. Bones, how to dissolve 883 

98. " of hogs in cholera 73 

097. " their value gg3 

1 150. Books useful for famiers' bo.ys ' .' . . . ' 991 

088. Botanical names of trees ... . . 020 

1 148. Botany and beauty . . 98ij 

472. Bottles and corks for wine ...... 424 

1141. Boxes, capacity of, to hold barrels' 

bushels, gallons 974 

394. Bread, bake thoroughly 374 

baking, heat of oven 384 

bakers', how made 371 

Boston brown 37 1 

chemicals in, Youmans' 383 

good housewife's rules for 

making 357 

kneading, effect of .' .' 385 

made with saleratus rising . . . 370 
" soda and unfer- 

mented 373 

mixed witli lime water 374 

mixed with potatoes 370, 373 

of corn meal 387 

of sprouted wheat . " . 374 

potatoes in og^ 

i-ye and Indian ,'.,[[ 372 

Sec. Bread, varieties and quality, how 

^™^fle 366 

cread, various rules for making 378 



Bread, various substances, prepara- 
tion of 

ilo' " '^'irginia corn '.[',] 39., 

dyd. wheat and Indian 370 

ia]' " ""heaten,howtomake .. "'366 
OQ, , ""^^"^ ^'=^le, how to use .... 374 
d9d. Yankee brown 370 
390. Breakfast, early, effect on iieaith'.'.'" 365 
^'°- ■' lundi, and dinner of a gour- 
mand 3.5g 

168. Breeding horses and mules '117 

Breeds of pigs, Berkshire, Essex, Sufi 

folk, Chester jg 

108. Brine, poison to cattle .... . .!..." 78 

1068. Broadcast sowing machine 923 

o20. Broccoli, cultivation of. . . 474 

°'0. Broom-corn, how to grow, value " " 745 
<J-0. Brassica family, what it is . 470 

450. Brushes and knives, how cleaned ' 409 

n_b. Buckwheat cultivation 700 

" seeds in a bushel .. " 678 

Budding, bass matting for 578 

liow performed . . 077 

2.34. Bug powder 2-^8 

^^203. Bugs infesting potatoes' ....'. 240 

-62, 4-j7. Bugs, remedies fcr . . 2311 409 

64. Bullock, the largest known ' 52 

01. Bulls, Ayrshire, Jersey, Du-'ham 

Dutch, Hereford, Devon 00 

99o. Burnt earth, value of ' " ' 000 



657. 
656. 



301 
502. 
509. 
499. 
512. 
437. 
608. 
408. 
504. 
511. 
500. 
510. 
500. 
499. 
391. 



iifn' ?"^''^' measure, cubic inches in . . 974 
1140. Bushels of grain, etc., weights of 974 

■'^^"1 Butter affected by food ]] 447 

aft'ected by packages 448 

" colored lo order 4.52 

I' good, how judged . . ' 443 

how to cool without ice 454 

" how to keep 400 

how to make in winter 452 

" making, first requisities for . . 441 

" of Alderney cows 443 

II packing and preserWng 403 

'I quarts of milk for a pound . . , 444 

" rules for salting 403 

" time of churning 440 

_ " _ wasliing and coloring. ......'. 442 

Biscuit, how to make good . . 368 

423. Buy good articles 396 

524. Cabbage cultivation .'...'.'..'. . 472 

o24. " how to head in winter ....! 472 

^-4- " varieties of 473 

536. California beans 477 

(32. " vineyards and wine cellars 653 

Qo r. , ' , , ''^'"'^ making 662 

3j. Calomel for cows 30 

_6. Sec. Calves, selecting and rearing ... 60 

^ 1 8. Calves should be sheltered 61 

29j. Camels, introdactioii of, into V. S. . 264 

298' '^""'^'^s and oil, cost compared 396 

4;8. " bow to improve 397. 

2-d5. Canker worms, preventives 232 

1141. Capacity of boxes 974 

187. Capons, how to make 134 

562. Carraway 494 

527. Carrots and other roots require deep 

soil 474 

884. " and rye on same ground 818 

879. " as a field crop 815 

882. " cultivation of 817 



883. Carrots, liarve.itmg, storing, and value 

of crop 817 

880. " soil anil preparation 81G 

881. " sowing the seed 810 

528. " varieties of 474 

4ti7. Carpets and carpet sweepers 416 

845. Carting hay to market 780 

1U61: C\ist-iron plows, history of 918 

713, 725. Catawba grapes 030, 039 

G. 8ec. Cattle, care and feeding GO 

74. Cattle cars and transportation 58 

104. •' diseases of 76 

105. " diseases, the horn-ail, its cure. 77 
87. " fattening on hay, value of . . . . 64 
83. " %d oil-cake 06 

83. " feeding straw 63 

101. " food analyzed 73, 70 

■ 88. " how to feed roots 65 

84. " how to winter 63 

76. " improvement of breed and 

weight 60 

5. Sec. Cattle market statistics 50 

75. Cattle, me isurement of 59 

958. " on the liighways 865 

108. " poisoned, with brine, with 

cherry leaves 78 

103. " soiUng, tre.rte.i upon 76 

1. " transportation, on Mississippi 

steamboat 15 

107. " with lice, cured with onions . . 78 

1145. Castrating, when to perform 977 

284. Cats killing chickens, to prevent .... 255 
525. Cauliflower, cultivation of 473 

539. Celery, how to grow and keep in 

winter 479 

15. Sec. Cellars, chimneys, and ice-houses 288 

310. Cellars, how to make 288 

350. Cement roofs 327 

1132. Cemented caves for stoiing grain ... . 971 
100. Chaffing or cutting food for stock ... 74 

177. Chandlers' greaves for hens 126 

1037. '■ " value as manure . 902 
967. Chaning fence posts 869 

617. Cheese, English stvle 4.59 

437. " how to keep 400 

516. " how to make it 4-57 

618. " making in manufactories 459 

400. Chemicals in bread 381 

401, 45. Sec. Chemistry and com 383, 711 

677. Cherries, history, cultivation, use ... 599 

673. " varieties of, described 594 

676. Cherry trees, grafting and budding . . 598 

674. " " ornamental 597 

18. Chester County hogs 29 

540. Chiccory, how to grow, prepare, and 

use 481 

183. Chicken coops, how to build 132 

183. " hou.ses warmed by stoves .. . 133 

1148. Children, how to treat 985 

3U. Chimneys, how to build 289 

892. Chinese sugar-cane growing 822 

892. '• " —aee Sorgo 823 

869. " yam, cultivation of 806 

564. " " descriptiou of 495 

431. Chocolate 397 

499. Chums and churning 442 

480. Cider, aerifying, effect of 428 

479. " filtering, how done 428 

477. " how to keep sweet 427 



4ti7 
478, 
710. 
1142. 
334. 



758. 

129. 

347. 

1067. 



813. 
817. 
814. 
815. 
753. 
955. 
1020. 
992. 
51. 
267. 
179. 
431. 
430. 
432. 
599. 
658. 
151. 
960. 
960. 
101. 
713. 
3.52. 
346. 
6. 
385. 
384. 
3S3. 
386. 
1147. 
806. 



804. 
1070. 

405. 

413. 

807. 

343. 

342. 
779, 

100. 
799. 
794. 
795. 
801. 
408. 
794. 
796. 
805. 
800. 
418. 
406,7 
795. 
793. 
802. 



Cider jelly, how made 483 

' ' oilins, to keep 427 

" without pressing 628 

Circular acre, how to measure 974 

Cisterns, value, size, contents, how to 
build, cost, how to calculate ca- 
pacity 310 

Cleaning grain for market 684 

Cleansing wool 96 

Cloacina's temple 321 

Clod crushers 923 

Clothing a man consumes in a life- 
time 357 

Clover growing 754 

" hay, when to cut 758 

" how much seed per acre 756 

" seed growing and harvesting . 757 

" seeds in a bushel 078 

Coal and wood, economy of, compared 859 

' ' aiihes for manure 895 

" value of 882 

Sec. Coal vs. wood for fuel 845 

Cockroaches, remedy for 242 

Cocks, choice of 1 27 

Cocoa, how to buy good 397 

Codflsh, how to keep 400 

Coffee, best sorts, how to prepare .... 396 

Cold frames for plants 528 

Collodion, how made, and use of. . . . 579 

Colts, treatment of 108 

Commons should be cultivated S6f) 

" unfenced 8JiJ 

Composition of various food for stock ~-j 

Concorel grape fiiiii 

Concrete walls, how made o:;0 

Cooking arrangement for a piggery . . 321 

' ' food for swine 23 

" how affected by hard water . 303 

" reasons for improving 302 

" vegetables, changes produced 301 
' ' vessels, improvement wanted 303 

Cooks cause sickness . . 98 1 

Com and crows 74.j 

" and pork, how much will a 

bushel make 19 

" and pumpkins together 742 

' ' baskets improved 924 

" bread 387 

" bread, receipt for 392 

' ' cost and profit of crop 743 

" cribs of raUs 318 

" cribs, how built 318 

r97. Com cultivation. See Indian 

corn 709, 738 

Corn fodder for stock 74 

' ' fodder, value of, for cows 739 

' ' harvesting 735 

" harvesting machines 730 

" how to measure in bulk 740 

" hulled, good food 390 

" husking 735 

' ' husking in the field 737 

" hybridizing 742 

" in drills or liills 740 

" popped, its use as food 393 

' ' roasting ears, sweet corn 3b9 

" shock-cart described 737 

" shocks, how to bind 734 

' ' shrinkage in drying 741 



797. Corn sown broadcast for fodder 738 

794. " stalks, cutting 73G 

803. " yield of starch 741 

5G2. Coriimder 494 

■ 476 Cordial of blackberries 42G 

472. Corking wine bottles 424 

52. Sec. Cost of fences of highways 862 

351. Cost of the author's balloon-frame 

house and barn 329 

94. Cotton cake, its quality and value 

described 69 

1092. " culture, extension north 941 

1091. " " will it increase 940 

1081. " fields, beauty of, in blossom. 932 

1093. " from flax fiber 942 

1083. " f^in, history of invention. . . . 934 

1089. " ginning, per cent, of lint and 

seed 940 

56. Sec. Cotton, history, grow-th, and 

manufacture 928 

1079. Cotton, history of 920 

1080. " " of culture in America 930 
468. " in woolen, how to detect. .. . 418 

1082. " manufacture, history of 932 

1085. " Sea Island, how ginned 935 

1080. " " " grown 936 

1084. " " name of 935 

1090. " seed used as manure 940 

1088. " upland, cost of growing in 

detail 938 

1087. " upland, how grown 937 

47. Cow.s, Alderney or Jersey 44 

44,46. " Ayrshire breed, yield of milk. 43,44 

40. ' ' badly wintered unprofitable ... 40 

32. " cured with calomel 36 

53. " Devon described 46 

31. " directions for spaying 35 

51. " Dutch or Holland breed 45 

26. " exercise and shelter 33 

38. " fed roots 39 

87. " fed sugar-cane 39 

25. " food consumed by 33 

29. " hay required for 35 

28. " health of, aflects milk 34 

52. " Hereford breed 46 

27. " how fed for butter 34 

24. " how many per acre 33 

23. " how to increase value of 32 

33. " how to keep gentle 37 

41, 55. " how to select a good one ... 41, 49 

39. " how to winter 40 

48. " Jersey, origin and description. 44 

42. •' of different breeds 42 

50. " of Durham breed 45 

35. " poor for butter, how improved 37 

30. " remedy for kicking 35 

40. " tons of hay for, needed 41 

3. Sec. Cows, what is a good one, the 

standard 31 

36. Cows, winter feed of, in Orange 

County 38 

22. " with garget, cure of . . .- 32 

45. " yield of milk of breeds com- 
pared 43 

1150. Country schools, what they should 

teach 991 

700. Crauberiies as a field crop, how grown 621 

702. " how to cook 626 

567. " in gardens 498 



701. Cranberries, varieties of, planting .. . 623 

592. Creepers, native 522 

964. Creosote for kyanizing 868 

554. Cress, garden 488 

555. " water 489 

342. Cribs for corn 318 

230. Crows, discussion about usefulness of. 180 
800. " how to prevent mischief 743 

70. Crystal Palace show cattle 64 

840. Cubic feet in a tun of hay 780 

644. Cucumbers, varieties of 483 

469. Currant wine, how made 420 

606. Currants, black, how grown and use. 530 

602. " descriptive list of 532 

605. " expense of growing 535 

603. " how to prune and grow .. . 534 
487. " jelly, how made 432 

604. " productiveness of chcn-y. . . 535. 
601. " varieties and cultivation . . 530 

250. Curculio remedies 216 

100. Chaffing food for stock 74 

258. Cut- worms described 235 

28. Sec. Dairy, butter and cheese making 441 

507. Dairy room, necessity of a 451 

1150. Days of the week and month, names 

of 992 

1064. Deep plowing, its benefits 921 

713. Delaware grapes, history of 631 

936. Descriptive list of hardy trees 841) 

62. Devon bull 51 

53. " cows described 46 

53. " " value for dairy 47 

713. Diana and Anna grapes 632 

1006. Digging machines 923 

562. Dill 4!'4 

869. Dioscorea batatas, cultivation of ... . 800 
564. " " growth and use. . . 495 

104-6. Diseases of cattle, horn-ail, scours, 

poison 76, 77 

459. Disinfectants, how made and used. . . 411 

998. Dissolving bones 883 

959. Division fences, laws relating to 865 

287. Dog laws to protect sheep 257 

288. ' ' traps, how made 258 

285. Dogs generally a nuisance 255 

289. " sermon about, keep them in 

dogs' places 25.S 

286. " Shepherd, Scotch colley, En- 

glish, Iri.sh 2 ■ C 

286. " the Shepherd breed L5n 

1 . Domestic animals J :; 

26. Sec. Domestic wines, cider, preserves. 

Rules for wine making, etc 419 

739. Domestic wine-making rules 6U:i 

469. " wines, how made 42(i 

171. Double and single trees, size of 11-1 

798. Doura corn for fodder "!■>'.< 

10-J3. Drain tile, cost of sizes 014 

]0-j9. " " proper shape of PIG 

1047. Draining (see Tile draining) 910 

1052. " what it does for land 911 

10-J8. " with a mole plow 91G 

1055. " " brush and other substi- 
tutes for tile 915 

1057. " " cement pipes 916 

1060. " " cobblestones 91G 

1054. " " wooden tubes 915 

1051. Drains, descent and depth of 913 

114.''. Driving oxen 977 



1 147. Diptheria, cure for 984 

191. Ducks of various sorts 139 

59. Durham bull 50 

50. " cow 45 

GO. Dutch bull 50 

51. " cow 45 

542. Eirly garden potatoes 482 

330. Earthen stable floors 307 

389. Eating, how it affects health 364 

384. Economy in cooking 362 

299. Eel-streams and eel-fishing 272 

660. Egg plants 487 

210. " trade in this country 155 

203. Eggs, how produced in winter 152 

207. " " to preserve 153 

21 1. " packing for market 155 

208. " quantity consumed in England 153 

209. " " " in Franco.. 154 
206. " should be sold by weight 153 

204. " the sex of, how to tell 152 

205. " the vitality of, affected on rail- 

roads 152 

948. Elder as au ornamental shrub 856 

470. Elderberry wine, how made 423 

656. Endive for salad 489 

7. Sec. English sheep 81 

88. Errors in feeding roots 65 

945. Evergreen seeds, planting of 853 

591. Evergreens, foreign, names of 522 

590. " indigenous, names of ... . 521 

941. " transplanting in summer 851 

941. " yews, junipers, arbutus, 

laurestines 851 

25. Sec. Excerpta of useful knowledge . . 396 

3. Experiments in feeding pigs 19 

745. Fallowing land for wlieat 67 1 

1175. Farm accounts and farm economy. . .1009 

971. " gates and bars 870 

364. " " various kinds described . . 338 

310. " houses, cellars, how to make. . 288 

311. " " chimneys, how to build 289 

303. " " dark, are unhealthy .. . 277 

307. " " howtobuildconvenient 281 

302. " " inducements to beautify 275 
301. " " influence the character 

of occupants 275 

309. " " kitchen in oldcu time . 284 

306. " " necessary rooms in ... . 280 

304. " " not build on high hill. 279 
309. " " of Farmer Slack 287 

304. " " proper location for. .. . 278 

303. " " should be light 277 

305. " " size and form 279 

308. " • " ventilation of 283 

306. " " what constitutes con- 

venient 280 

1173. " laborers' employment in winter 1006 
6. Sec. Farm stock, care of 60 

1150. "Farmers' boys, maxims for 988 

1150. " " what they should learn 

in school 991 

309. " children in olden time 285 

1174. " clubs, how to organize 1009 

1 149. ' ' maxims for 979 

309. " meals in olden time 285 

1150. " school books recommended 991 
1155. " should use raw-hide — value 

of 99"! 

1148. " wives, maxims for 984 



12. 
12. 

329. 
496 
969. 
968. 
963. 
967. 
965. 
966. 

52. 

62. 
959. 
961. 
962. 
958. 
662. 
989. 
984. 
985. 



986. 
53. 
60. 

099. 

497. 
1148. 
1149. 

357. 

368. 

300. 

297. 
1028. 
1027. 



156, 

973. 

462. 
1128. 
1126. 
1125. 
1127. 
91. 

267. 

387. 

570. 

571. 
31. 

569. 

572. 

537. 

574. 

673. 

576. 

578. 

579. 

832. 

101. 
1161. 

378. 

377. 



Farmers, young, maxims for 988 

Fat in different food 66 

Fatting cattle on hay 64 

" swine, begin early 28 

" " on standing corn 28 

Feed-trough, cheap and good 306 

Felon remedy 440 

Fence on soft ground 870 

" portable picket 869 

' ' posts kyauized 867 

" " preserved by charring . . . 869 

by salt 868 

" " top end down 869 

Sec. Fence system, evils of 863 

Sec. Fences, cost of, calculated 861 

Fences, division, laws relating to ... . 865 

" how dispensed with 867 

" waste land 867 

Fencing highways, laws relating to . 8i)4 

Feimel 494 

Fertility, primitive sources of 881 

" promoted by clover 877 

" " by color and 

moisture 878 

" " by fineness of soil 877 

" " byincrustingseeds 878 

Sec. Fertilization, the art of 877 

Sec. Fibrous plants, hemp and flax . . 965 

Figs, where and how they grow 620 

Finger ring, tight, how to get off. . . . 4-10 

Fire making, art of 985 

' ' proof dresses, how to make .... 988 

" " wash.for roofs 335 

" protection from 348 

Fish-breeding, ancient, account of. . . 273 

" " for domestic use 260 

" guano, American 898 

" " Norwegian, how made . . 897 
" trout streams, cause of disap- 
pearance 270 

Fistula in horses cured ]09 

Flat bar iron fence -87 1 

" irons, smooth, to make 414 

Flax crop, cost and profit of 970 

" growing, soil and preparation , . 969 

' ' historical facts about 969 

' ' seed, quantity and time of sowing 969 

Flesh in different food 67 

Flies, how to drive out 242 

Flour, how to select good 364 

Flower beds, how to make 502 

' ' cultivation of hardy 603 

Sec. Flower culture, moral influence. 500 

Flower garden, soil suitable for 500 

" list of choice annuals 503 

Flowering beans 477 

' ' bulbous plants 507 

' ' herbaceous plants, list of . 506 

" list of, hollyhocks 509 

Flowers grown as a farm crop 511 

" soil for, protection of 513 

Fodder, amount necessary 771 

' ' analyzed 75 

Fogs in January — Frosts in May 998 

Food a man consumes in a lifetime . . 357 
' ' adaptation to circumstances . . . 350 

" adulterations of 364 

" analysis of 360 

" consumed by a cow 33 



6. Food for cattle, variety of G3 

490. ' ' for sick, kinds and preparation . 435 
27. Sec. Food for the sick, remedies for 

poisons and bites 435 

381 . Food, French experiments with 360 

371. " how much for a hard-working 

man 351 

37G. " how it affects the system 355 

379. " how it is changed by cooking. . 358 
90-92. " properties for fat, flesh, bone. 66-68 
375. " quality of, suitable for farmers. 354 

372. " rations of slaves 352 

373. " rations of soldiers 353 

382. " relative value of substances 360 

1134. " substances, nutriment in 972 

22. Sec. Food, the question considered of 

quantity, quality, adaptation. 351 

374. Food, time between meals 354 

374. " variety of, necessary 353 

383. " vegetables, changes iu cooking 361 
831. Forage, how to produce and use ... . 770 

1016. Forest leaves for manure 894 

976. " tree hedges 872 

61. Sec. Forests unprofitable on valuable 

soil 845 

181. Fowls, Chinese breeds 128 

178. " fed on putrid meat are un- 
wholesome ] 26 

197. " mode of killing 145 

182. " ornamental varieties of — Ma- 

lay, Gueldcrland, Dorkings, 
Spanish, Game, Java, Jer- 
sey Blue, Poland, Hamburg, 
Bolton Gray. Silky, Frizzleil, 
Cuckoo, Blue Dun Crested, 
Bantam. Dominique, Forked 
Tail, Sonerafs Wild Cock . . 128 

713. Fox grapes 631 

736. French wine-raaker"s rules 659 

1151. Frost, why more on bottoms than hills 993 
698. Fruit baskets and boxes 018 

35. Sec. Fruit books mentioned 5.55 

349. Fruit drying houses 323 

661 . " how to grow large 585 

G98. " how to pack and transport .... 618 

484. " in air-tight cans 430 

703. " tree protectors 626 

G70. " trees, manuring, use cf hogs for 589 

635. " " on the prairies 568 

631. " " rules about planfing 561 

630. " " spring or .autumn planting 558 
029. " " when and how to plant . 558 

482. Fruits, how preserved 429 

697. " small, for field culture 617 

34. Sec. Fruits, small, <,f the garden 530 

456. Furniture renovated 407 

1 152. Fur-skins, how to dress 995 

1 164. " how to prepare for market 996 

4.J7. Furs, how packed and kept 409 

956. Fuel, how it sliould be seasoned .... 860 

51. Sec. Fuel, wood or coal 845 

3. Gain of pigs in feeding 22 

IGl. Galls in horses, remedy for Ill 

202. Game, preparing for market 151 

541. Garden corn 481 

1069. " hoe, improved 924 

519. " vegetables, origin, use, culti- 
vation 465 

29. Sec. Garden vegetables, their history. 



when and how to plant, pleasures 

and profits of a garden 461 

519. Garden vegetables, origin, use, cul- 
tivation 465 

22. Garget in cows, bow to cure 32 

991. Gas lime, value of 882 

364. Gates, how made, cost of 338 

971. " !•«. bars 870 

192. Geese, how and where kept, breeds 

and value 140 

198. " value of corn fed to 145 

1 130. Germination of seeds, time of 971 

1 163. Gestation, periods of 1000 

987. Glauber salts for manure 880 

61. Sec. Gleanings of the field 971 

1015. Glue-maker's waste for manure 893 

468. " to keep sweet 418 

296. Goats, Cashmere, introduction into 

the United States 265 

623. Gooseberries, varieties of 552 

292. Gophers described, beneficial to 

farmers 261 

192. Goslings, how managed 141 

543. Gourds 483 

36. Sec. Grafting, budding, pruning ... . 570 

652. Grafting, antiquity of 576 

653. " clay and wax, how made. . 576 
645. " cleft, splice, tongue, root, 

saddle 574 

651. " new method, natural 675 

644. " on old orch, r.ls 674 

643. " proper time of 673 

6.54. Grafts, how to preserve 676 

655. " influence of stocks upon 677 

778. Grain fanns and stock farms 708 

1133. " mill, new one, described 972 

1132. " stored in cemented caves 971 

754. i" when it should be cut 679 

733. Grape culture in Austria G54 

732. " " California 653 

730. " " Missouri 645 

714. " " by Dr. Grant 633 

716. " cuttings, caution about 636 

726. " " how to grow 641 

715. " grafting 635 

717. " growing, profit of 636 

742. " seedling, prize for 666 

730. " soil, what is best 645 

723. " trellis 638 

718. " vine gigantic 636 

729. Grapes, disea.ses of, remedy fur G43 

483. " how to keep 480 

728. " order of excellence of five .. . 642 

722. " under glass 638 

713. " varieties of 630 

730. Grapevines, care of, planting and 

pruning 644 

727. " hardiness of sorts 641 

730. " object of pruning, rules 

for ^ G48 

730. " summer pruning G47 

731. " what are merchantable. . 652 

254. " worms 226 

254. Grasshoppers, habits of 232 

46. Sec. Grass and its use and cultivation 748 
841. Grass, how much, land can produce. . 778 
825. •' plats, how seeded with sods. . . 766 

820. ' ' seed, how much per acre 762 

823. " sowing in autumn 765 



INDEX. 



1017 



753. 
839. 
811. 

812. 

468. 

468. 

406. 
1030. 
1026. 
1077. 
1151. 
1009. 
1010. 
1010. 
1008. 
1028. 

990. 

916. 

190. 

981. 
1037. 
1141. 

448. 

450. 

445. 

449. 
1145. 

936. 



7i:^ 

'J4J. 

71. 

sm. 

47. 
842. 
1 135. 
846. 
325. 

29. 
841. 
837. 
117. 
950. 
401. 
390. 

389. 
1147. 
1138. 

S75. 

976. 

978. 

977. 
1120. 
1121. 
1124. 
1071. 
1119. 

1123. 
1122. 

174. 

184. 

173. 

332. 

195. 
1148. 



Grass, sweet vernal, seeds in a bushel 678 

" when to cut 777 

Grasses, cultivated varieties of, de- 
scribed 748 

" varieties recommended 752 

Grease in silk, how to remove 417 

" spots, how removed 418 

Green corn as food 389 

" crops and lime for manure 898 

" sand marl, its value 897 

Grindstone, its value on a farm 926 

Gross and net weight of swine 993 

Guano, economy of using 891 

" how to apply 891 

" in solution for gardens 891 

" its history 890 

' ' manufactured of fish 898 

" phosphatic, value of 882 

Guinea com, sorghum viilgare 833 

" fowls 139 

Ha-ha walls 875 

Hair, value of, as manure 902 

Half-bushel measure, how to make . . . 974 

Hams, good pickle for 405 

' ' how to cook 405 

" how to cure 404 

" ho w to keep 405 

Handying steers ....•••• 978 

Hardy trees, ash, maple walnut, Pau- 
lonia, sns3afras, locust, poplar, fir, 

hemlick, chestnut, linden 840 

H irtt'ord prolific grape 632 

H iwthorn, varieties of 854 

ll.\xtun steer, weight of the 54 

H.vy-c.ips, value of, how made 776 

Sec. Haying and haying machines. . . 772 

Hay, how much must we provide. . . . 778 

" load of, how to calculate value. 972 

" measurement, cubic feet in a ton 780 

" mow, ventilation of 805 

" required for cows 35 

" rigging of carts and wagons 779 

" ventilation of 776 

" weight necessary for sheep 85 

Hazel grown for fruit 857 

Health, cautions about 437 

" is affected by early break- 
fasts 365 

" is affected by mode of eating 304 

" maxims of 981 

Hea^•y men in Ohio 973 

Hedges and hedge plants 872 

" of forest trees 872 

" ornamental more than useful 873 

" Osage orange 873 

Hemp, a new variety 966 

" cost and profit of growing .. . 967 

" cutting by machines 968 

" harvester 924 

" history of introduction into 

America 965 

" rotting and dressing 968 

" sowing and harvesting 967 

Hens, number to keep and time to sell 1 24 

" proper time t) set 133 

'• shod to preven' scratching. .. . 124 
Hen-roosts, how buil', 'ud manure of 308 

" how c;in.-=tructed 143 

Herbs preserved 986 



61. Hereford bull 51 

52. " cows described 46 

248 Hessian fly described 213 

945. Hickory seeds, planting 853 

958. Highway fences, laws relating to. . . . 864 

562. Hoarhound 493 

456. Hodge-podge, how made 408 

7. Hog pastures 26 

17. Hogs, gross and net weight 30 

16. " large 30 

13. " of Chester County breed 29 

51 . Holland cow 45 

576. Hollyhocks, list of 509 

409. Hominy, economy of, for food 391 

410. " how to cook, hominy cakes, 

pudding 391 

411. " how it is made 392 

1 168. Hops, culture of, and suitable soil .... 1002 
1170. " growing without poles 1003 

1169. " value of the lupulin 1002 

105. Horn-ail, how to cure, false notions of 77 

531. Horseradish 475 

150. Horse breeding for longevity 108 

834. " rakes 774 

169. " gearing, English and American 119 
162. " shoeing 112 

144. " stables should be light 105 

8. Sec. Horses and mules, history of. . . 

148. Horses, diseases of, capped hock, con- 

tracted hoofs, corns, cough, 
trembling, wheezing, crib- 
biting 106 

152. " diseases of, and remedies ... . 109 

131. " English hunters 99 

132-4 " English roadsters, coach and 

dray 99 

142. " fortlie saddle 105 

140. " for walking 104 

138. " how to drive 103 

146. " how to remove from buildings 

on fire 106 

154. " heaves, cure of 109 

1.35. " Morgan breed 99 

157. " old sores of, cured with white 

lead ■ 110 

171. " plowing with four, how to 

hitch 122 

149. " profits of soiling system 107 

147. " proportion of, to men 106 

145. " sand for bedding of 106 

153. " scratches, how cured 109 

139. " size of roadsters 103 

130. " thoroughbred 98 

141. " torturing with bit and harness 104 

148. " unsoundness, what consti- 

tutes 106 

170. " working three abreast 120 

155. Horse's collar chafing 109 

143. " color indicative of temper. . . 105 
163. " feet, contraction of, and rem- 
edy 114 

565, 595-598. Hot beds, how made, and use 

of 497, 524 

1150. Household science, book of 991 

1031 Housed and unhoused manure exper- 
iments 899 

207. House flies, how got rid of 242 

408. Hulled corn, hcrw prepared 390 

819. Hungarian grass 760 



1018 



INDEX. 



970. 
495. 
340. 
502. 
310. 
317. 
315. 
314. 
313. 
312. 
701. 
111. 
111. 
781. 
185. 
822. 
785. 
779. 



790. 
782. 
791. 
791. 
791. 
790. 
779. 
784. 
781. 



417. 
416. 
414. 
415. 
589. 
(149. 
12. 
270. 
254. 
254. 
243. 
266. 
242. 
249. 
767. 
254. 
267. 
253. 

244. 



Hurdle fence 870 

Hydiophobia, remedy for 439 

Hydraulic rums, liow made, and use. 316 

Hyssop 494 

Ice, how to carry it to the field 298 

" how to keep it in the house. . . . 298 

" how to store it 297 

Ice-bouses, liow to build 292 

" reasons in favor of 291 

' ' their advantage 290 

Illinois wheat growing, cost of 690 

Imported stock deteriorates 80 

" vs. native stock 79 

Improved King Philip corn 719 

Incubation of eggs, time of various . . 1 34 
Indian corn land, seeding to grass. . . 7G4 

" " autumn plowing for 724 

" " crops North and South.. 714 
" " cultivation in hills or 

drills 726 

" " depth and distance of 

planting 725 

" " experiments in growing. . 728 

" " fertilizing seed 722 

" " great crops in Conn 732 

" " " " Kentucky. 731 

" " " " Ohio 733 

" " manures used upon 728 

" " premium crops, cost of . . 716 
" " preparing ground for ... . 723 
" " selecting, saving, prepar- 
ing seed 718 

" " shrinkage in drying 730 

" " soaking seed 730 

" " transplanting, it can be 

done 727 

" " two ears on a stalk, shall 

one grow 722 

" " when to plant 717 

" " where profitably grown . . 715 

" " yield per acre 730 

" " 200 bushels per acre ... . 733 
Sec. Indian corn, a national staple . . . 709 

' " " its history 709 

' " " its use and value as 

food 712 

' " " product in Ohio... 713 

' " " " in slave and 

free states 712 

Indian meal baked pudding 393 

" " cakes 393 

" " mush 393 

" " mush, how cooked 393 

Indigenous trees 521 

ludolence the parent cf langU' r . . . 9f 8 

Sec. Insects, what are 203 

Insects beneficial to farmers 244 

'• convtroations upon 216 

coal-tar to kill 229 

' ' destructive to corn and wheat 205 
" how preserved for reference . . 242 
" infesting the cotton plant . . . 204 

" injurious to fruits 215 

" in wheat, how killed 698 

" kerosene oil, to kill 229 

" of the house, remedies for . . . 242 
" remedies, caustic soda, liquid 

sulphur, oil troughs 224 

" the rice weevil 207 



Introduction to facts. 13 

996. Iron as a fertilizer 883 

972. Iron fences 870 

54. Sec. Irrigation, practice and value of 904 

1044. Irrigation in America 908 

1043. " France, Belgium, etc. . . S07 
1042. " Germany 907 

1040. " Italy 904 

1041. " Piedmont 906 

1046. Irrigation, quantity of water required 909 

1045. " what lands are benefited. 909 

725. Isabella grapes 639 

753. Japan wheat a cheat 679 

58. Jersey bull 50 

48,49. " cow, properties of 44 

875. Jerusalem artichoke, how to grow 

and use 810 

247. Joint worms that destroy wheat 212 

696. Jujube friut 617 

86. Keeping stock warm and variety of 

food 63 

725. Kelly's Island vineyard 641 

427. Kerosene oil for farm-house lights. . . 397 
254. " " to kill insects 229 

30. Kicking cows cured 35 

81. Kindness to cattle G2 

436. Kitchen knowledge and rules 399 

309. " old style, described 284 

403. Kneading bread, effect of 38i 

456. Knives and brushes, how cleaned. . . . 409 

523. Kohl-rabi, its character and use 472 

963. Kyanizing fence posts 867 

636. Labels for fruit trees 6G0 

1145. Lambs, how to feed young 078 

945. Larch, white, seed of 854 

420. Lard, how to keep sweet 397 

562. Lavender 494 

32. Sec. Lawn, how to make 515 

583. Lawn, cause of grass dying upon 516 

581. " clipping, watering, manuring, 516 

584. " glass, new sort 517 

585. " how to ornament 518 

580. " how to set in grass 515 

586. " made by a woman . 518 

587. " trees, what sorts suitable 519 

959. Laws relating to division fences 865 

958. " relating to highway fences .... 864 
615. Lawton blackberries, how to grow . . 548 

1150. Learning comes by observing 989 

713. Lenoir grape 631 

551. Lettuce, varieties of, and how to grow 487 
107. Lice on cattle, how cured 78 

425. Lights, cost of various 396 

424. ' ' farm-house 396 

427. " kerosene oil best ;97 

428. " of candles, how improved.. 397 

426. " oils and candles compared .. . 390 

305. Lightning conductors considered, at- 

traction of. insiilatii'n. i-ize of points, 
con truition. ^hade trees conduct n 342 
367. Lightning rods, area of attraction. . . 347 
365. " " opinions of use 344 

306. " " materials of ?47 

535. Lima beans, how to grow 477 

518, 744. Lime and salt mixture .... 461. 068 

992. Lime ashes, value of 882 

671. " for trees 590 

993. " how to apply 882 

93. Linseed-cake for food 68 



1004. 
1147. 

496. 

945. 

254. 



914. 

818. 

818. 
1151. 

836. 
1076. 
1022. 

695. 
53. 

985. 
1001- 
1003. 
1006. 
1002- 
1(121. 
lOlJl. 
lOUU. 
1031. 



1004. 
1007. 
1035. 
1034. 

999. 
1005. 
1031. 
1033. 
1030. 

936. 

931. 
.50. 

925. 

929. 

926. 



928. 
920. 
932. 
927. 



924. 
921. 
930. 
933. 
168. 
464. 
709 

1145. 
1146 
115). 
1149. 
1148. 
1144. 
1147. 



Liquid manure 887 

Live in tlie liglit 982 

Lockjaw remedy 410 

Locust seeds, planting, how to vege- 
tate 853 

Locusts, are they injurious ? 230 

Lotus, American, substitute for pota- 
toes 806 

Lovering's experiments with sorgo. . 831 

Lucern 758 

Lupine ^ 758 

Machine belts, how to use 994 

' ' to stack hay 775 

Jlachinerjs saving labor 925 

Magnesia iis a fertilizer 896 

Mangosteen fruit 617 

Sec. Manures and manuring 877 

Manure, color and moisture of 878 

' ' experience of farmers using . 886 

" for old pastures 887 

" gained by soiling stock 888_ 

" German experiments 886' 

" how much profitably used . . 898 
" how to apply when, where. . 886 

" " preserve 885 

" leather shavings, woolen 
rags, hair, oil-cake, ammo- 
nia 899 

liquid 887 

" special, use of 889 

" table of values of, on oats. . 900 

" wheat 899 

" " " of substances 884 

" tan bark, use of 888 

" value depends on fineness . . 899 
" value of, used in England. . 899 

Manuring with green crops 898 

Maple, Norway, described 840 

' ' sap, ratio of, to sugar 843 

Sec Maple sugar-making 835 

Maple sugar, boiler and boiling 838 

" " details of expense 842 

" " furnace and setting pans 839 
" " how much will trees pro- 
duce 843 

" " made in a small way .. . 840 

" " preparation for making 836 

" " preparing for market. . . 843 

" " process of making, and 

molasses 839 

" " profits of making 842 

" " siip buckets 837 

" " sap spouts, how to make 

and use 836 

" " storing sap 838 

" " tapping trees for making 836 

" trees, how much they produce 843 
" " why we should plant . . 844 

Mares, size of, for breeding 117 

Mattresses, how to make 415 

Mature trees, best apples for keep- 
ing from 628 

Maxims about stock 977 

■' for all farmers 979 

" " farmers' boys 988 

" " " girls 987 

" " " wives 984 

" " young farmers 975 

Maxims of health 981 



827. Meadows and pastures, plants injuri- 
ous to 767 

827. Meadows, plants that injure 769 

374. Meals, what mtervals between 354 

75. Measurement of cattle compared .... 69 

1142. Measure of acres, square, triangle, 

circle 974 

801. Measuring corn in bulk 740 

380. Meats, boiling extracts albumen of. . 360 

379. Meat, how it loses by boiling 359 

384. Meat and vegetable food compared . . 362 

456. Meat and fowls, how made tender and 

cooked 408 

562. Medicinal herbs 493 

548. Melons, apple-pie 485 

545. ' ' how to grow 484 

547. " " to start early 485 

279. Mice, Osage orange, destroyed by 252 

277. " and their mischief 251 

278. " remedies for eating trees 252 

761. Michigan wheat growing, cost of. ... 091 

777. Millet, soil, cultivation, use 707 

489. Milk and apples for food 434 

29. " cost of producing 35 

515. •' farms, profits of 455 

505. " heating new 450 

500. ' ' how much for a pound of butter 444 

514. " " to make cows give down . . 455 

•54. " mirror described 48 

506. ' ' pans and covers 450 

503. " when to skim 448 

513. Milking machines 454 

701. Jlinnesota wheat growing, cost of . . . 692 

562. Slint, spear and pepper 493 

1147. Mirth is a medicine 983 

741. Missouri, German vine growers in. . . 665 

740. " wine making in 664 

1144. Jlixed husbandry best 975 

435. Molasses, how to buy 399 

927. " of maple sap 839 

276. Moles, American, opinions about. . . . 251 

275. " English, opinions about 251 

13. Sec. Moles, their character considered 248 

958. Moral of pasturing highways 865 

137. Morgan horses, faults of 102 

135. " " history of 99 

359. Mortar, made weather proof 336 

268. Moth, protectors from 243 

457. " remedies 409 

833. Mowing machines 772 

846. Mows and stacks, how to measure 

tuns in 780 

1012. Muck, analvsis of 892 

1013. " mixing with night soil 893 

101 1 . " use and value of 891 

107. Mules, horses, oxen, on the farm. ... 116 

164. '■ history, first importation 115 

165. " longevity of 116 

166. " the largest in the world .... . 116 

693. Mulberry fruit 616 

443. Mushrooms, use and production 402 

545. JIusk-melons 484 

552. Mustard 488 

120. Mutton sheep, age of 90 

123. •' " at the West profitable. 91 

123. " " breeds most profitable 91 

358. Nails m.ade weather proof 335 

55 ". N';vsturtium 488 

Hi. Native va. imported stock 79 



1020 



INDEX. 



272. 
303. 



692. 
1147. 

930. 

431. 
1134. 

101. 

945. 
774. 
770. 
771. 
753. 
773. 

1150'. 

450. 

713. 
1138. 

701. 

114.J. 

95. 

89. 

9t. 

425. 

658. 

994. 

072. 

880. 

887. 

890. 

257. 

889. 

888. 

532. 
35. 

711. 

978. 

974. 

279. 

977. 
1142. 

402. 

no. 

06. 

68. 

67. 
1074. 

65. 
531. 
360. 
1146. 
273 
502. 
885. 
530. 

24. 
830. 
829. 
828. 
1003. 
958. 
713. 
694. 



Katural insect destroyers 246 

Night air not as unhealthy as closed 

rooms 277 

Night soil, how prepared for use .... 893 
Nitrates, muriates, sulpliates, what 

are tliey 878 

Nectarines, history and sorts of 010 

Neuralgia cure for 983 

Norway maple 840 

Nutmegs, how to buy 397 

Nutrnnent in food substances 972 

Nutritive value of various food for 

stock 75 

Oak tree seeds, planting 853 

Oats, cause of rust 703 

" cultivation 700 

" how much seed per acre 700 

" seeds in a bushel 078 

" ho w to make a good crop 701 

" when to sow 701 

Observe and learn 989 

Odors, bad, how prevented 408 

Otfen grape 030 

Ohio, what it produces 973 

' ' wheat production 692 

Oil-cake, about feeding 977 

" composition of 71 

feed for cattle 00 

" stale and moldy, injurious. . 70 

Oils fur light compared 390 

Okra, use and cultivation 489 

Old mortar plastering, value of 883 

Old orchards, how to renovate 591 

Onions, as a field crop 819 

" best fertilizers for 820 

" California, wild 821 

" maggots, salt for 235 

" protit of culture 821 

' ' remedy for worms 820 

" varieties and cultivation. . . . 475 
Sec. Orchards, aspect of, how to plant 550 

Orchard house described 029 

Ornamental iiedges 873 

' ' iron fence 872 

Osage orange, eaten by mice 252 

" " hedges 873 

Oval plats, how to lay off 975 

Ovens, heat of, for baking 384 

Overstocking the farm nnprotitable . . 78 

Oxen, largest of olden time 52 

' ' large ones in Pennsylvania ... 53 

Ox, Leopard, his size 52 

" shovel, road-scraper 925 

" Washington, his weight 52 

Oyster plant, cultivation of 475 

Paints, cheap, fur farm buildings . . . 336 

' ' and preserve tools 980 

Parasite of wheat midge 247 

Par.-iley 494 

I'arsneps, as a field crop 819 

' ■ when to sow, value of ... . 475 

Pasture, how to improve, for cows. . . 33 

' ' improved by sheep 770 

" mixing stock in 770 

" remedy for short 769 

" renovated by top dressing . . 887 

Pasturing highways 865 

Pauline grape 631 

Pawpaws described 616 



009. 
604. 
667. 
188. 
843. 
265. 
685. 
682. 
683. 
686. 
687. 
079. 
084. 
078. 
.680. 
686. 
681. 

533. 
1144. 

761. 
562. 
578, 
250, 
990. 
1024. 
908. 
937. 



9. 

11. 

12. 

8. 

7. 

4. 

2. 

345. 

8. 

18. 

934. 

937. 

1136. 

827. 

271. 

000. 

988. 

55- 

1001. 

1061. 

1005. 

1063. 

1002. 
1000. 
689. 



Peaches, sugar-drying 628 

Peach tree borers, hot water cure 220 

" " worms, tobacco for 628 

" " " soda wash for, cut- 
ting out 587 

" trees, budding of 588 

" " grown fur fuel 589 

" " how tu plant and treat. . 580 

" " winter killed 587 

Pea-fowls described, and use 135 

" vine, hay. . .■ 779 

" weevil, how destroyed 241 

Pears, are they a profitable crop 600 

" and poultry do well together . 005 

blight of 606 

" dwaif, culture of 609 

" list of good ones described. .. . 610 

' ' rules for culture 602 

' ' seedlings 606 

" Select list, cultivation, pruning 001 

" size and improvement 003 

" weight of different sorts 610 

"• when to gather, and how to 

ripen 604 

Peas, kinds and cultivation in garden 475 

" prepare land for wheat 976 

Pennsylvania wheat growing 693 

Peppers, kinds and quality 494 

Perfumer}', manufacture of flowers . . 511 

Pests of gardens and fields 234 

Phosphatic guano, value of 882 

Phosphorus as a m.\nuro 890 

Picket, portable, fence 809 

Pine tree planting 848 

Pickling, the art of 433 

Pie-eating, an Americanism 350 

Pie-plant, how to grow 492 

Pig-breeding, the sow should be 

largest 30 

Pig-feeding, cost and profit 20 

" and pork-making 19 

Pigs fed cinders, and coal ashes, and 

burnt clay 27 

" " hay seed 27 

" " parched corn and honey. .. . 27 

" " standing corn 28 

Pigs, as land workers 26 

" grazing, how many per acre ... 26 

" how to pen them to fatten 24 

' ' what is the licst breed 19 

Piggeries, how arranged 320 

Pig-pen, its value fur manure. ...... 26 

Pork, salting while warm 30 

Plantation of trees 845 

Planting forest trees 848 

Plants, how many per acre 973 

" injurious to meadows 769 

Plant-lice destroyers 245 

Plant-protectors, how made and use of 528 

Plaster of Paris, gypsum 881 

Sec. Plows and plowing, object of 917 

Plows, cast-iron, history of . . 918 

" inventors of 918 

" steam, use of 922 

" steel, manufacture and value 

of 921 

" sulisoil, shape and use 920 

' ' substitute for 923 

Plums, choice varieties described. ... 614 



INDEX. 



1021 



690. Plums, grafting wild stocks 615 

088. " soil, climate, cultivation 612 

•1U2. Poisons, antidotra for 438 

789 Pop-corn as a crop 727 

419. " pudding and calics 394 

420. " " " how made 394 
452. Poric and bacon, value compared 406 

3. " and corn, lbs. per bushel 19 

18. " salting while warm 30 

968. Portable picliet fence 869 

1019. Potash for manure 895 

263. Potato bugs 240 

891. " rolls and bread 370 

850. " rules of culture 792 

856. " seed cut or whole, experiments 795 
867. " " large orsmall, " 797 

857. " " weight of, and yield 798 

853. Potatoes, ashes for 794 

805. " Bergen, John G., experi- 
ments of 803 

850. " best soil for, and aspect of 

field 792 

848. " character of several sorts 

described 786 

864. " cost of producing crops de- 
tailed 801 

849. " crop, importance of 791 

851. " culture by plow alone .... . 793 

866. " disease of 804 

542. " early varieties 482 

849. " estimated quantity used by 

each person 791 

852. " growing under straw 793 

854. " hoeing when wet 794 

383. " how baked, l>oiled, roasted, 

or fried . 361 

863. •' how to keep from sprouting 801 
394 '■ in bread making 373 

855. •' in hills or drills 794 

861. '■ Michigan or Roberts' the- 
ory of seed 799 

860. " planted in autumn 799 

859 " " with sets 798 

858. " " without plowing. . 798 
855. " practical opinions about 

seed 794 

855. " proper depth to plant 794 

882. ■ ■ storing for winter 800 

867. " substitutes for 8C6 

438. " sweet, how to keep 400 

847. ■• the history of 785 

175. Poultry, feeding meat to 124 

177. " food of . 125 

200. " great consumption of 146 

201. " how to kill, and dress, and 

pack 148 

176. " how to treat in confinement 1 24 

196. " how to water . 145 

194. " keeping, management of. . . 142 

9 Sec Poultry, maxims for keepers of, 
how to keep healthy, shelter, 
vennin, water, feed regular, 
yard, to fatten 123 

194. Poultry, pleasures of raising 142 

201 " preparing for market 148 

19& " prices of fixncy 145 

195. " vermin, how prevented ... . H3 
186. " weights of different brseds. 134 
824. Prairie sloughs seeded to red top .... 706 



486. Preserving fruit by dry pressure 432 

484. " '• in air-tight cans. .. . 430 

485. " " in dry sugar 432 

766. " wheat 696 

763. Price of wheat for 60 years 694 

1172. Prices 100 years ago 1004 

759. Product per acre of wheat 685 

760. Productive ability of America 086 

119. Profits of feeding sheep for butchers . 86-89 

110. " selling milk 79 

628. Propagation by cuttings and layers. . 557 

1145. Properties of a good horse 978 

1143. Proverbs; axioms, and maxims 975 

639. Pruning, objections to spring 571 

040, " " autumn 572 

038. " tendency to over 571 

641. " pi-actical directions about . . 572 

042 " root, object of 573 

037. " right time for 570 

804. PumpUius and cjrn together 742 

85. " for cattle 63 

1145. " seeds must be cooked for 

stock 977 

17. Sec. Pumps and windmills for the 

farmery 308 

290. Rabbit breeding 260 

290. Rabbits, domesticated 200 

290. " to prevent gnawing trees . . 259 

500. Radishes, how to grow 492 

013. Raspberries, varieties of 546 

282. Rat-catchers 254 

281, 458. Rat remedies — ai-senic, strychnine, 

tar, plaster, potash, phosphorus. 253, 410 

207. Rats and mice, remedy for 242 

280. Eats, history of 252 

283. Rat-traps, how to make 254 

1155. Raw hide, how to dress . !i90 

1155. " use of, for farmers 990 

7 13. Rebecca grape 032 

450. Refrigerator, cheap one, how made. . 407 

318. Refrigerators 298 

490. Remedies for lockjaw, felons, ulcers . 440 
497. " tight finger-rings 440 

1003. Renovating old pasture.? 887 

1103. Reproduction of animals, proper time 

of 1000 

561 . Rhubarb, how to grow 492 

444. " stalk-s, how to prepare and 

use 403 

471. ' ■wine, how made 423 

430. Rice and sago 397 

58. Sec. Rice, cultivation of 948 

1102. Rice, how it is hulled 952 

1101. 

1103. 
1103. 

1104. 

1100. 

1099. 

52. 

958. Road fences, laws relating to 864 

1075. " scrapers, horse and ox 925 

400. Roasting ears 389 

97. Rock-salt for stock 72 

356. Roofing of paper, tar. and gravel. 334 

20. Sec. Roofs and roofing 332 

357. Roofs, protecting from fire 335 



land, how flooded, and purpose 

of 951 

' ' product of clean, from rough . . 952 
" " per acre, cost, value, 

and profit 952 

' ' statistics of exportation 953 

" " of plantations 949 

" where and how grown 948 

Sec. Road fences, cost of 802 



Roofs, their proper form 334 

48. Sec. Ivoot crops 78-5 

48. Boots for stock o9 

627. " of trees, functions of 550 

891. " quantity a:i acre may produce . 821 

254, 594. Rose bugs and slugs, remedies 

for 220, 524 

562. Rosemary 494 

593. Roses, cultivation recommended .... 523 

508. Rows and plants on an acre 499 

456. Rust of metals, how prevented 408 

878. Ruta b.aga turnips, cultivation of . . . . 814 

884. Rye and carrots grown together 818 

769. " cultivation and yield of 698 

753 " seeds in a bushel of 678 

562. Saffron 404 

562. Sage 494 

4-56. " and herbs, how preserved 409 

430. Sago and rice, how to buy good 397 

551. Salad plants 4S7 

398. Saleratus in bread 376 

531. Salsify, when to sow 47,5 

905. Salt for fence posts 868 

96. " for stock, is it necessary 71 

744. " for wheat, how to use 670 

1030. " value and use of, as a fertilizer . 901 

69 Saratoga County bullock 54 

442. Sauce, pic-nic, how made 402 

441. " tomato, how made 402 

451. Sausage making 400 

354. Sawed shingles condemned 332 

106. Scours in cattle, how cured 77 

153. Scratches in horses, how cured 109 

1084. Sea Island cotton, how grown and 

ginned 935 

950. Seasoning fuel 860 

1014. Sea-weed, its use as manure 893 

821. Seeding land to grass 763 

980. Seeds, how fertilized by inci-usting . . 878 
456. " how preserved 408 

1137. " limit of vitality of '. . 973 

753. " of grain in a bushel 678 

'^"3. " " sown do not all grow 678 
560. " steeped in hot water 498 

1130. " time required to germinate .. . 971 

289. Sermon on dogs 258 

184. Setting hens I33 

194. Shanghae fowls 143 

328. Sheds for cattle made cheaply 306 

120. Sheep, age for mutton 90 

1145. " and calves, yard together. .. . 977 
119. " feeding, compared with beeves 86 

I'O " " grass, h.ay 85 

115. " general care of, thrift, shelter, 
economy in feeding, venti- 
lation, racks, fodder, water, 

salt for 83-4 

122. " gross and net weight of 90 

12^. " grub in, to cure 90 

117. " hay necessary for 85 

7. Sec. Sheep husbandry 81 

124. Sheep in Texas, how managed 92 

288. Sheep-killing dogs 258 

114. Sheep, merinos, first importation of . 83 

126. " numbering and ages of 94 

118. " pasture should be changed. .. 80 

1 25. " producing twins 93 

113. " sexes, how produced 82 

127. " shearing 95 



128. Sheep should be tagged 96 

7. Sec. Sheep, South Downs, Hampshire, 
Le!^;c^te^, Cotswold, Lincoln, 

ShroiJshire, Oxfordshire 81 

7. " Sheep, various breeds of 81 

658. Shellac, use of, in grafting 578- 

78. Shelter for calves 61 

82. " for cattle 62 

20. " for cows, and feeding 33 

1032. " of manure, value of 899 

286. Shepherd dogs described 256 

355. Shingles, how preserved 333 

354. " sawed 332 

755. Shocking wh-cat 681 

50. Short-horn Durham cow 45 

828. Short pastures, remedy for 769 

267. Silk- worms worked by electricity 243 

468. Silver, never wrap in woolen 418 

1 1 47. Simples better than compounds 982 

927. Sirup of maple, how made 839 

1 147. Skin, care of the 982 

1 153. Skins, how to dress soft 996 

1152. " how to dress with fur or wool 

on 995 

293. Skunks, their usefulness considered. 263 

372. Slaves, rations of food of 352 

348. Smoke-houses, how to build and use . 322 

760. Smut of grain 697 

494. Snake bites, and remedies 439 

391. Snow cakes 370 

436. Soap, how to keep and use 400 

400. Soap-making receipts 412 

149. Soiling, advantage of 107 

103, 1006. Soiling cattle, the practice dis- 

cuss'ed 76, 888 

373. Soldiers' rations of food 353 

1021 . Soot as manure, its value 896 

916. Sorghum that has no saccharum .... 8^3 
40. Sec. Sorgo and maple sugar 822 

900. Sorgo, analysis and character of 826 

917. " and com, cost of growing equal 834 
902. " as food for stock 825 

918. " baggasse, stock injured by eat- 

ing 834 

910. " best mode of growing, feeding 

stock 829 

911 " boiler, how to make a cheap one 8r;0 

907. " effect of frost on canes 827 

37 ' ' for cows 39 

905. " fraits of experience in growing 826 

899. " how to make sirup 824 

912. " juice extracted in a domestic 

way 830 

915. " juice proved— it will make 

sugar 832 

90 (. " keeping canes and juice 820 

914. " Lovering's experiments, boiling 831 
895. " manner of planting 824 

913. " mills described 830 

898. " period for manufacturing. ... 824 
893. " preparation and time of plant- 
ing 823 

901. " profits of making 825 

909. " sirup, and cost, by Col. Morris 828 

900. " " how to clarify 825 

919. " " vinegar, how made 835 

892. " soil and situation for 823 

890. " stripping and topping 824 

897. " time of cutting 824 



903, 908. Sorgo, yield per acre 82G, 828 

14. Sows, to prevent killing pigs 2'J 

31. Spaying, directions for 3j 

1007. Special manures 889 

584. Spergula described 517 

431. Spices, how to buy and keep 397 

375. " their xise in food 354 

747. Spring wheat, when to sow G72 

557. Sprouts, how grown for salad 489 

549. Squashes, summer and winter 486 

291. Squirrels and their mischief 261 

330. Stable floors of earth 307 

331. " yards, how arranged 307 

326. SUbles, how to build 305 

327. " build them high, reasons for 305 

756. Stacking grain 681 

835. ' ' hay 774 

468. Stains, removing 416 

168. Stallions, size for breeding 118 

80.3. Starch, yield from corn, use of 741 

344. Stathels for stack bottoms 319 

5. Sec. Statistics of New York cattle 

market 56 

1063. Steel plows 921 

1 145. Steers, how to break 978 

79. " training 61 

706. Stirring soil among trees 627 

1. Sec. Stock growing, short pasture in 

autumn 14 

99. Stock, how to obtain water for 74 

1. Sec. Stock, introduction to facts about 13 

86. Stock^keeping, warm 63 

1145. " ma.xims about 977 

1. Sec. Stock the foundation of fai-m im- 
provement 13 

979. Stone wall fences 873 

980. " how to build 874 

982. " builders' tools 875 

1144. Stones, how to get rid of large 976 

1132. Storing grain in cemented caves 971 

83. Straw for cattle 63 

608. Strawberries, best sorts of, described. 537 
607. " healthy and profitable . 537 
612. " preparation of soil and 

cultivation 544 

610. " product per acre 543 

611. " staminate, pistillate, 

hermaphrodite 543 

609. " the Tiibune prize seed- 

lings 542 

1151. Strength of men and horses compared 994 

303. Stucco whitewash 337 

1062. Subsoil plows, shape and use 920 

24. Sec. Substitutes for bread 389 

1066. Substitutes for the plow 923 

1. Sec. Success in farming based on stock 13 

57. Sec. Sugar-cane cultivation 943 

920-32. Sugar-making from maple-trees . 836-43 

1095. Sugar plantations, Bishop Polk's .... 944 

1094. " production in Louisiana 943 

435. " refined, economical 399 

1098. " refined on plantations 947 

1095. " statistics of plantations 943 

1096. " yield per acre, and cost of pro- 

ducing 947 

988. Sulphate of lime, plaster, gypsum. . . 881 

949. Sumac as an ornamental shrub 856 

1026. Superphosphates, adulterations of, to 

detect 897 



1147. Surfeits are physicians' agents 982 

193. Swans, black and white, young swans 

for the table 141 

158. Sweeney in horses, cure for 110 

808. Sweet corn, early, value of 744 

407. " " how to dry and cook ... 389 

947. " gum, a valuable tree 855 

562. " marjoram 494 

438. " potatoes 400 

870. " " best varieties 807 

874. " " harvesting and storing 810 
565. " " how to grow 496 

872. " " how to set the plants 808 

871. " " making seed beds and 

growing plants. . . . 808 

873. " " soil and preparation 

suitable 809 

873. " " tillage for 809 

870. " " where they can be 

grown 806 

6. Swine, raw food, or cooked 25 

3-15. Swine-feeding experiments 20-30 

6. " weeds 25 

1140. Table of weights of bushels 974 

568. Tables of plants and rows per acre . . 499 

1005. Tan bark as manure 888 

1015. Tanners' and glue makers' waste for 

manure 893 

921. Tapping maple-trees 836 

713. Taylor, or Bullit grape 631 

434. Tea, how to prepare black 399 

433. " its value as food 399 

1171. Teazles as a crop, how to grow 100.3 

1131. Temperature at which plants flourish 971 

986. Theory of fertilizing seeds 878 

1151. Things to be thought about 993 

1139. Thoroughness, what it produces .... 973 
757. Tlirashing grain, machines ra. flails. . 682 
705. Thumb pruning trees and plants .... 627 

562. Thyme 494 

54. Sec. Tile draining, where and when it 

should be 904 

1053. Tile draining, cost and durability of 

tiles 914 

1051. " " descent and depth nec- 

essary 913 

1049. " " how it should be done 912 

1047. " " its importance and va- 

lue 910 

1060. " '■■ laws needed to regulate 917 

1050. " " laying off ground, 

ditching, and laying 

tile 913 

1059 " " proper shape of 916 

1052. " " what it does for land. 914 

1048. " " what land should be 

drained 91 1 

1055. " " with brush, poles, etc. 915 
1057. " " with cement tiles 916 

1054. " " with wooden tubes. . . 915 

826. Timothy seed, harvesting 766 

840. " when to cut, for seed 778 

1073. Tire-bending machine 924 

294. Toads are insect eaters 263 

59. Sec. Tobacco cultivation 953 

1116. Tobacco barn or curing house de- 
scribed 963 

1110. Tobacco, cost and profit of growing . 959 
1106. " exports and consumption . . 954 



1U4. Tobacco, cultivation, worming, top- 
ping, priming 001 

1115. " curing, splitting leaf, string- 
ing, lianging, handling, 
taking down, packing . . . 9G2 

1107. exhausting nature of the 

crop 950 

1108. " growing in Connecticut. .. . 1)57 

1109. " " in New York 957 

1 105. " history of 953 

1111. " rules of a Florida grower . . 960 

1112. " rules of transplanting 900 

1113. " selecting and preparing 

ground 961 

1118. " soil, when to plant 904 

1117. " where it may be grown .... 964 
201. " worms described, and rem- 
edy 238 

713. To-Kalon grape 032 

441. Tomatoes, to preserve and use 401 

441. " catsup and sauce 402 

559. " varieties and cultivation. . 490 

744. Top-dressing wheat land 670 

79. Training steers 61 

724. Traminer grapes compared with Del- 
aware 638 

102. Treatise on feeding 70 

947 . Tree, a rare ornamental and medicinal 855 
033. Tree-planting, preparation for 565 

935. Trees, adaptation of kinds to locations 845 

943. " age of 852 

508. " and plants upon an acre 499 

61. Sec. Trees and tree planting 845 

942. Trees, antediluvian 852 

936. " descriptive list of hardy 840 

941. " evergreens, transplant in sum- 
mer 851 

951. " forked, to prevent from splitting 858 
954. " for sandy wastes 858 

945. " growing from seeds 853 

032. " how to move large ones 563 

939. " how to plant them 850 

937. " planting forest, what has autl 

can be done 848 

35. Sec. Trees, propagation and cultiva- 
tion - . . 555 

946. Trees, seeds of, how diffused 855 

944. " value of, in cities 853 

704. " watering newly transplanted . . 627 

934. " what kind to plant 845 

957. " what to plant for fuel 861 

938. " when and whv to plant 849 

940. " where to plant them 851 

1144. Trenching, wliat it is WO 

298. Trout and trout streams 270 

846. Tun of hay, cubic feet in 780 

1017. Turf ashes for manure— the old sod 

fence 894 

189. Turkeys, improving the breed 138 

189. " profits of raising 137 

189. " wild and domesticated, how 

to feed 1 35 

264. Turnip-fly preventive 241 

876. Turnip.s ;vs a field crop, how and when 

to sow 811 

876. " best manure for 812 

521. " cultivation 471 

1144. " how to winter 976 

622. " protection from insects 471 



878. Turnips, ruta bagas, how to grow . . . 814 

877. " storing and winter feeding. 813 

713. Union Village grapes 631 

80. Unruly animals, how made so 62 

1088. Upland cotton, cost of growing 938 

1092. " '■ inniinois 941 

1087. " or short-staple cotton 937 

944. Value of trees in cities 853 

1134. " of various food substances ... . 972 

308. Ventilation of houses, rooms, cars. . . 283 

577. Verbenas, list of 610 

457. Vermin remedies 409 

481. Vinegar, how to make 429 

919. " of sorgo, how made 835 

719. Vines on city lots 637 

720. " on walls 637 

721. " ringing or girdling 637 

713. Vineyards, how to plant and cultivate 030 

732. " in California 653 

1137. Vitality of seeds, limit of 973 

352. Walls of concrete 330 

401. Washing machines 413 

402. " soft water necessary 414 

962. Waste land around fences 867 

52. Sec. Waste land in the State of N. Y. 862 

1140. Waste not, want not 979 

1039. Water as a fertilizer, value of 903 

80. " for stock in winter 04 

17. Sec. Water for the farmery 30n 

1151. Water heated in wooden vessels 991 

540. " melons, how to grow 481 

385. " suitable for cooldng 30u 

753. Weeding wheat 679 

1144. Weeds, how not to grow 970 

245. Weevil in grain, how to destroy .... 208 
1 140. Weights, bushels of grain, and other 

things 974 

339. Wills, bucket, self-emptying 315 

338. " causes of impure water 314 

336. " horizontal, how made 313 

338. " how to look into 315 

335. " how to dig 313 

337. " on hills 314 

123. Western mutton 91 

700. Wheat, ability of America to produce 086 
391. " bread, how to make good. . . 366 
750 " drilling, advantage of 075 

744 " experiments and details cf 

growing 669 

343. " exposed to rain 319 

744. " fertilization of 668 

701. " growing in different States . . 689 
768. " heaving out, how to prevent. 698 
749. " how much seed is required . . 673 

764. " how stored and handled .... 095 

765. " how to preserve in bins 690 

422. " hulled, boiled, wheat groats. 395 

707. " insects, how destroyed 698 

240. " insect vs. weevil 209 

744. " lodging, to prevent 070 

246. " midge described 211 

273 " " parasite of the 247 

745 " naked fallows for 071 

749. " jmmber of grains per foot and 

acre 074 

744. " plaster, salt, and top-dressing 670 

743. " preparation of .soil for 667 

763. " price 60 years ago 694 

759. " product per acre 685 



762. 
751. 
752. 
753. 
753. 
755 
766. 
746. 
753 
754. 
747. 
362. 
3S1. 
1. 
109. 
1072. 
370. 
369. 
469. 

470. 

735. 

473. 

43. 

732. 



736. 
474. 



Wheat, red and white 

' ' seed, how to select and prepare 

" " pickling of 

" " wliit becomes of it . 

" seeds in a Imshel 

" shookiug in lield 

" smut considered 

' ' spring wheat, growing 

" weeding 

" when it should be cut 

*' when to sow 

Whitewash of zinc and lime 

' ' permanent 

Sec. Wild cattle, fun in handling . . . 

Wild cherry leaves poison cattle 

Willow-peeling machine 

Windmills, self-regulating 

" their use 

Wine, domestic, currants and other 

fruit 

Wine, elderberry 

" from various grapes 

" grape 

Sec. Wine makers' rules, grapes for 

wine 

Wine making and wine vaults in 

California 

Wine making, domestic rules of 

" " in California 

" " rules 

" mashing and pressiag grapes, 
fermentation, racking, bot- 
tling 



425 



475. Wine of tomatoes 420 

471. " rhubarb 423 

734. " what grapes make good 057 

075. Winter cherries 598 

748. " wheat, when to sow 673 

39. Wintering cows 40 

972. Wire fence, detail of cost 870 

259. ' ' worms, remedy for 2«7 

761. Wisconsin wheat growing, cost of . . . 091 

955. Wood and coal, economy of, compared 859 

1018. " ashes for manure 895 

1019. " " substitute for 895 

341. Wooden pipes, durability of 817 

955. " value of kinds compared 859 

129. Wool, how to cleanse 96 

4. Working pigs 24 

200. Worm killers 238 

261 . Worms infesting tobacco 238 

254. " protection from " measuring" 

worms 228 

251. " that infest apple and peach 

trees 220 

502. Wormwood 494 

1038. Worn-out lands, how restored 902 

23 1 . Wrens, their value and beauty 1 82 

401. Wringing machines, value of 413 

397. Yeast cakes, how made 376 

23. Sec. Yeast, how made and how to use 366 

396. Yeast, how to make it 375 

391. " how to make of hops 369 

391. " of potatoes, how made 367 

400. ' ' substitutes for 381 

1144. Young farmers, maxims for 975 



INDEX OF NAMES OF PERSONS 

Referred to as authi)rity, or quoted from, in the com]iUation of tliis work, independent of editors 
of agricultural journals. Most of those mentioned are practical farmers, now living ; and, so far 
as possible, the residence of each is given, to enable others to consult them if desired. The list 
shows that the work is made up of opinions and practices of the present rather than of the past, 
and that its character is American. 



Page 

Adams, J. C, Seymour, N. T 10 

Aikin, Ex-Governor, South Carolina 949 

Aldrich, William, Pennsylvania 644 

Allen, J. Fiske, Salem, Mass 631 

" Lewis F., Black Hock, N. Y 88 

647, 606, 886 

" Mr., Burlington, N. J 623 

Alton, J. E,, Quinsigamond, Mass 137 

Amierson, Pr. , Scotland 889 

Andrews, S. N., Herkimer Co., N. T 459 

Arkwright, Sir Richard, England 933 

AruLstroug, James, Knoxville, Tenn 731 

Avery, E. H., Wampsville, Madison Co., 

N. Y 138 

Ball, Mrs. Lynda, Clevit, Eaton Co., Mich.. 369 

Bamford, R. B., England 793 

Barber, H., Juneau, Wis 697 

Barker, George F., Charlcstown, Mass 892 

Barnard, Lyman, Steuben Co., N. Y 74 

Barnum, P. T., New York city 146, 879 

Barrv, P., Rochester, N. Y COo 

Bartiett, Levi, Warner, N. H 777 

Mr., Dutchess Co., N. Y 88:5 

Beach, Lucius, Port Huron, Mich 298 

Beatson, Gen., formerly commanding at St. 

Helena 79-5 

Beatty, Dr., Terrebonne, La 94 i 

" Messrs., Aurora, Cayuga Countv, 

N. Y 147, 603 

Beckner, Isaac, Goshen, Elkhart Co., Ind. . 794 

Beckwith, Dr., Connecticut 790 

Belding, W. H. and David L., Dutchess Co., 

N. Y 881 

Bell, Thomas, Monmouth Co., N. J 86 

Benjamin, J. P., New Orleans^ La 947 

Bennett, Dr., Boston, Mass 491 

" Mrs. M., Auburn, Mass 137 

BercKinans, Louis E , Augusta, Ga 611 

Bergen, Adrian G., Long Island 345, 592 

J. G., Brookl5-n, L. 1 227, 796, 803 

Biddle, Nicholas, Philadelphia, late of 861 

Bigelow, Mr. , Flushing, L. 1 175 

Bill, James A., Lyme, Ct 717 

Bird, Jonathan, Belleville, N.J 449 

Birney, William, SpringfieM, Mass 771 

Blanchard, Mr., Boston, Mass 75 

Bliss, Benjamin K., Springfield, Mass 500 

P.lodgett, Judge, Lewis Co., N. Y 856 

Blunt, Hon. Joseph, New York city, late of 861 

Bovie, C, Gullprairie, Mich 30 

Bowen, Mr., Orleans Co. , N. Y 88 



I Braekett, Chas., Rochester, Fulton Co., Lid. 676-8 

Brewster, E. M., Griswold, Ct 24 

Brigham, Otis, Wcstborough, Mass 35 

Brocksbank, Mr. , Hudson, N. Y 632 

Brodie, W , England 195 

Brooks, C Edward, Orange Co., N. Y 38 

' ' John, Massachusetts 64 

Brown, Alpha, Eaton, N. Y 180 

" C. B., Alton, 111 924 

" J. L., Indianapolis, Ind 333 

" Lewis B., Westchester Co., N. Y. . . 108 

" Mr., North Stonington, Ct 797 

" Rufus, Chelsea, Orange Co., Yt.l45, 794 

Bryant, Mr., Jessamine Co., Ky 731 

Bryson, Miss Ann, Macon Co.,'N. C 582 

Buchanan, Micajah, South Carolina 853 

Buck, Wm., Herkimer Co., N. Y 459 

Buckholder, John, Adams Co., Penn 581 

Buckingham, James, Illinois 28 

" Leroy, Cadiz, Cattaraugus Co., 

N. Y 19 

Buckman, Professor, England 767 

Buckminster, Wm., Framingham, Mass. .. 444 

Buist, Robert, Philadelphia 610 

Bulkley, H. G., Kalamazoo, Mich 830 

Burden, Mr., South Carolina 930 

Burgwin, Messi-s., Halifax, N. C 714 

Burnett, Judge, Cincinnati, Ohio, late of . . 852 
Burnham, Asahcl, Arkwright, Cattaraugus 

Co., N. Y 784 

Butler, Charles, White Plains, N. Y 638 

Butterfield, Col . , Utica, N. Y 74 

Capron, Col., Marvland 870 

Carpenter, C. W , "jJlount Gilead, Ohio 693 

Jesse, Elmira. N. Y 87, 443 

L., Rutland, Vt 843 

Wm. S., New York city 222, 

294, 572 

Carson, Col., South Carolina, late of 960 

Carter, J. J., Hornville, Chester Co., Penn. 21 

" Mr., Pittsfield, Mass 786 

Cartwright. Mr., England 933 

Cattell,"j. D., Salem, Columbiana Co., Ohio 252 
Oavenach, Tliomas, Brooklyn, L. I. . . . 525, 664 

Chamberlain, Dr., Chicago, 111 722 

Chenery, W. W., Watertown, Mass 50 

Chesnut, Col. James, South Carolina 940 

Chetwood, Mr., Burlington, N. J 623 

Chew, S. H., Fayette, Ky 731 

Chinn, Judge. Baton Rouge, La 947 

Clark, Benjamin, Marcellus, N. Y 958 









































INDEX. 


1027 








Page 


• 




Page 






Clark, E. C, New Haven, Ct 

Clay, Samuel H., Bourbon Co., Ky. . . 




















. 19, 2.3 


Eyre, Prestun,. Darlington, Penn 




827 










Clayton, Hon. John A., New Castle, 


3el., 




Fairbrothers, C. \\'., Saxton's River, V 




781 












224 


590 
820 


Fairchild, J. W., Hudson, N. Y 

Faraday, Professor, England 




808 
347 






Clifford, Benjamin, Norwich, Vt 






Cloud, Dr., Alabama 




933 


Farnum, J., Uxbridge, Mass 




783 










Coats, S. N., Philadelphia 




600 


Fawkes, Mr., Lancaster, Penn 




922 










Cockrill, R. , Nashville, Tenu 




117 


Fay, Mr., Lynn, Mass 




770 










Coe, 0., Port Wa-hington, Wis 




923 


Feeks, Mr., Oyster Bay. L. I 




478 










Coit, Mr., Norwich, Ct 




446 


Field, T. W., Brooklyn, L. I 


603 


880 










Colburn, Mr., Union, Ct 




791 


Fish, A. L., Herkimer Co., N. Y 




880 










Cole, J. M., Saratoga Springs, N. Y. . . 




54 


Fisher, John, Carroll Co., Md 




750 










Colvin, Richard, Baltimore, Md 




175 


Fitch, Dr. Asa, Entomologist of the State 












Comstock & Cfliddon, Milwaukee, Wis. 




923 


of New York 


186 


805 










Conger, A. B., Rockland Co., N. Y.. . . 
Conrad, F. D., Baton Rouge, La 


875 


886 






381 












947 


Flagg, Wilson, Massachusetts 




850 










Coon, A. , Russia, N. Y 




469 


I'lint, Chas. L., Boston, Mass. . 42, 75 


76ti 


991 














240 


Foljambe, Joseph, Rotherham, England. .. 


919 










Crawford, Rev. John, Gallatin Co., 111. 




78 


Fourze, Dr. Victor, Sonoma, Cal 




653 










Cressinger, J. W., Sullivan, Asliland Cc 


.,0. 


782 


Fowler, Mr , England (steam plow). . . 




922 










Crocker, Hon. David, Tompkins Co., N. Y. 


675 


Frantz, Andrew M.. Lancaster, Penn.. 




53 










Crompton, Mr., England 




933 


Freeman, I. G., Iowa 




834 










Cumings. 0. S., Trenton Falls, N. Y.'. . 




459 


French, Joseph, Selden, L. I 




651 










Curtenas, Peter J , New York, late of. . 




918 


Judge, Exeter, N. H 


HV 1 


910 










Curtis, Mr., Tompkins Co., N. Y 

Cushman, S. D., South Bend, Ind 




880 






780 












343 


Froehling & Kohler, California 




602 










Dadd, Dr. Geo. H. (V. S.), Cliicago, H: 


...35, 77 


Frost, Charles, Wayne Co., Ind 




116 










Dana, Dr., Boston, Mass 




888 


Fuller, Andrew S., Brooklyn, L. I. 223 


632 


,568 










Datnall, M. D., Bainbridge, Ind 




806 


Fulton, John, Richland Co., Ohio 




675 














946 


Garlick, Dr., Cleveland, Ohio 




274 










" James B., Charleston, S. C, late of. . 


265 


Gates, W. P., Windham, Ct 














" William, Marengo, Morrow Co., 


Ohio 


230 


Geddes. Hon. Geo., Fairraount, Onondaga 












Pittsfield, Vt 




843 


Co.. N. Y 683, 750, 754, 886 


926 


967 










Dawson, George, Albany, N. Y 




271 


Gilberts, A. Hamilton (letter from Austria) 


054 










Day, Mr., Genesee Co., N. Y 




886 


Glasgow, William, near St. Louis, Mo. 




605 










Delafield, J., Geneva, N. Y 


752 


912 


Glover, Townend, Washington, D. C. 




204, 










Denton, Baily, England 




768 




'210 


215 










Dickenson, A. B., Hornby, Steuben 
N. Y 74, 89. 227, 34.5,441, 


Co 




Gold T S Cornwall Ct 














672 


908 


Golding, Mr., Orange Co., N. Y 




886 










Dickinson, W. D., Victor, Ontario Co., N. Y. 


94 


Goldsborough, M. t., Ellenboro', Md. . 




685 










Dikeman, Mr., Oneida Co., N. Y 




787 


Goldsmith, Mr., Orange Co., N. Y"" 




886 










Dimond, J. M., Eaton Co., Mich 




240 


Goodrich, Rev. Chauncey E., tJtica, N. 


y.. 


786 










Dixie, R., Painesville, Ohio 




227 


Goodwin, P.M., Kingston, Luzerne Co. 


, Pa. 


223 










Dodge, Hon. W. C, Minnesota 




69^^ 


Gorgas, John, Wilmington, Del 




195 










" Mr. , Long Island 




231 


Gould, J. Stanton, Hudson, N. Y 




748 














811 


Gowdy, G., Burlington. N. J 

Grant, Dr. C. W., lona, near Peekskill, 


623 






Doolittle, H. H., Oak's Corners, Ontario 


(;o., 






N. Y 




547 


N. Y 555, 


632 


641 










Downing, Charles, Newburg, N. Y 


595 


873 


Gravson, Mr., near London, England . 




468 










Drew, Dr. 0. W., Waterbury, Vt. ... 




820 


Greeley. Hon. Horace, New York city. 


831 


894 










Dubreuil, Mons., France 




883 


Green, H. Carl, Warren Co., Penn 




530 










Dunglison, Dr., Scotland 




492 


Gregory, J. J. H., Marblehead, Mass.. . 




473 










Dutcher, Josiah, New York city, late of . . . 


919 


Philo, Chester, Orange Co. , N. Y. 38, 76 










Dzierzon, Mr , Munich, Germany 




165 


Grimes, Nahum, Marcellus, N. Y 




958 










Eastman & Snell, Maineville, Warren Co., 




Hall, Dr. {Journal of Health), New York 












Ohio 




807 


city 


242, 


365 










Eldridge, Mrs. Lydia, Andover, Mass. . 




136 


Hall, A S., Maiden, Mass 




235 














81 


Halliday, Daniel, Ellington, Tolland Co., Ct. 
Hambleton, Wm., Ea.st Hamburg, Erie Co., 


350 . 






Ellsworth, Henry L., Lafayette, Ind., 


late 






of 19, 


71fi 


736 


N. Y , 




740 










Elmer, Dr. Wm., Bridgeton, N. J 




53 


Harastzhy, Col. , Sonoma, Cal 




053 










Emerson, Ed., Hollis, Mass 




333 


Harbison, Messrs. , Pennsylvania, and Sacra- 












" Geo. B., Boston, Mass 

Emory Brothers, Albany, N. Y 




991 
934 






17:; 
933 






Hargreaves, Mr. , England 








Engle, Manlius, West Almond, Alleghany 




Harmon, General, Wheatland, Monroe Co., 












Co., N. Y 

Erhard, Charles F., Ravenswood, N. Y 


'534 


842 
606 


NY 


88, 


668 
209, 






Harris, Dr., Cambridge, Mass., late of. 






Evans, Joseph, Warren Co., Ohio 




807 




2i2, 





































10:^8 



INDEX. 



Page' 

Harris, Hiram, Ohio 7a4 

Josepli, Rochester, N. Y 728, tiOO 

Harrison, Isaac, Burlington Co., N. J 30 

Hjrroiui, C. H., Patterson's Slills, Iowa Co., 

Jlich "84 

Hart (Jr.), Nathan, West Cornwall, Ct 716 

llartbUurn, C. W., Burlington Co., N. J 30 

Hartstein, Dr., PoiipelsJorf, Prussia 670 

Hatch, Thorn IS E., Keene, N. H 77 

Haxtun, E., Beekmiu Township, Dutchess 

Co., N. Y 54 

H lyilen, E.lwara, E;ist Hartford, Ct 39 

Hayes, Mr., Newark, N. J 601 

Head, Harvey, Paris Hill, N. Y 783 

Hedges, A., Bourbon, Ky 731 

Heirstera, Samuel, Chester Co., Penn 670 

Heudrickson, Geo., Eose Township, Ham- 
say Co. , Minn 692 

Herjien. Mons., Paris, France 411 

Herrick, E. C, New Haven, Ct 233 

J., Lyndeborough, N. H 840 

Hcstou, Lewis E.. Genesee Co., N. Y 669 

Heusted, Mr., Ulster Co., N. Y 886 

Heutchcraft, J. , Bourbon, Ky 731 

Hickey, Col., Baton Rouge, La 940 

Daniel, West Baton Rouge, La 940 

Hickman, Wellington, Chester Co., Penn. . . 693 

Hilderbrandt, Squire, Stai'k Co., Ohio 67-5 

Hill, Noble, Caton, Steuben Co., N. Y 621 

Hite, Geo. H., Morrisanii, Westchester Co., 

N. Y 227, 420, 463 

Hoag, Thomas, Somhanoek. N. Y^ 22 

-Hocaday, Mr., Clarke Co., Ky 731 

Holbrook, E.-c-Governor, Burlington, Vt 917 

Hooui, Thomas, Ocean Co., N. J 30 

Hooker, H. E., Rochester, N. Y 541 

Horsford, Professor E. N., Cambridge (Uni- 
versity), Mass 381, 427 

House, G. C, Lowville, N. Y 282 

Hovey, C. M., Boston, Ma.ss 185 

Howard, C, England 680 

lliyt, Freeman, Sumterville, S. C 268 

Hubbard, Isaac, Claremont, N. H 65 

lUime, Professor Wm., Charleston, S. C 601 

Hunt, L G., Kalamazoo Co., Mich 691 

" Otis, Eaton Village, N. Y 32 

Hussey, Obcd, Baltimore, late of 772 

Hustman, Geo , Missouri 640, 045 

Hutchins, Warreu, Bethel, Vt 738 

Hutchinson & Wickcrsham, New York city. 871 
Hyde, James F. C, Newton Centre, Mass. . 788 
Ingerson, C. W., New Bremen, Lewis Co., 

N. Y 782 

Jackson, J., Butternut Ridge, Ohio ..;.... 669 

" Prof. Samuel, Penu. University. . . 381 

Jaques, Col., Charlestown,Mass., late of. 42, 444 

J.irvis, Hon. Wm., Weathersfield, Vt 83 

Jivy, John, Bedford, Westchester Co. , N. Y. 851 
J.,'tTeris, Capt. James, Chester Co., Penn ... 29 

Jenks, Professor, Boston 185 

Jennings, R (V. S.), Philadelphia, Penn... 114 

Jewett, Solomon W., Middlebun', Vt 101 

Johnson, Col. B. P., Albany, N. Y 752 

" Jasper, Genesee Co., N. Y 839 

" L. , Washington, Mass 843 

" Professor S. W., Yale College, 

New Haven, Ct 31, 892, 901 

Johnston, John, Geneva, N. Y 670, 911-12 



Jones, John, Middleton, Del 42, 444 

Kanouse, John C, Wisconsin 615 

Keeley, J. T., Alleghany Co., N. \' 782 

Kellogg, E. C, Hartford, Ct 274 

Kelly, William, Ehinebeck, N. Y 752 

Kendall, G. W., New Braunfels, Texas 92 

Kenny, K. K., Lorain Co., Ohio 797 

Kent, E. N., U. S. Assay Office, Philadelphia 396 

Kerns, Andrew, Grundy Co., Ill 567 

Ketchum, Mr., Buffalo, N. Y 773 

Kidd, Mr., England 618 

King, Rev. David, Vernon, I'lumbuU Co., 

Ohio 843 

Kingsbury, H. C, Medina Co., Ohio G75 

Kinnard, Lord, England 899 

Kirk, B. P., Chester Co., Penn 21 

Knox, Rev. Mr., Pittsburg, Penn 540 

" Mr., Worcester, Mass 920 

Ladd, Wm. H., Jefferson Co., Ohio 90 

Lampadius, Professor, Germany 398 

Lampher, Egbert, West Lowell, Lewis Co., 

N. Y 799 

Landis, Abram, Manheim, Penn. 53 

Langstroth, Rev. L. L, Philadelphia 175 

Langworthy, B. F., Alfred Centre, N. Y. . . 138 
Lapice, Mons. .(sugar planter), Louisiana. . . 947 

Lathrop, Paoli, South Hadley, Mass 64 

Lawrence, Wm. B., Newport, R. 1 629 

Lawton, Wm, New Rochelle, N. Y. . . . 218, 223 

Le Contour, Col., Isle of Jersey, Eng 45 

Le Due, Wm. G., Hastings, Westchester Co. , 

N. Y 229 

Lee, Major William, Western Pennsylvania. 85 

Leeds, Mr. (architect), Philadelphia 289 

Legare, Mr., Charleston, S. C 981 

Legnitz, Professor, Elden, Holland 880 

Leland, Major William, Texas 92 

Lester, C. Edwards, Newark, N. J 490 

Lieber, Oscar M., State Geologist of South 

Carolina 752 

Liebig, Professor, Germany. . . 72, 300, 374, 437 
Lincoln, Charles, North Bridgewater, Mass. 226 

" Wm. S., Worcester, Mass 445 

Liniiley & Loudon, England 556 

Lindsley, Hon. Wm. D., Sandusky City, O. 211 
Livingston, Chancellor, Columbia Co., N.Y., 

late of 758 

Locke, Dr. G. J., Danby, Rutland Co., Vt. . 724 
Longworth, Nicholas, Cincinnati, Ohio, 

late of 538, 541, 606 

Lothrop, H. A., Sharon, Mass 924 

Lounsberry, Wm., Com'y. 20tli Regiment 

N. Y. V 380 

Lovering, Joseph S., Philadelphia , 831-2 

Lovet, Capt., Beverly, Mass 550 

Lowman, H. E., Elmira, N. Y 443 

Lyman, II., Johnstown, Wis 297 

Lynde, Mrs. Ruth H., New Bedford, Mass. 516,591 

Macondray, Capt. , California 174 

Macy, Josiah, Westchester Co., N. Y 307 

Madison, James, late President of the U. S. 933 

Mahan, P. J., Philadelphia 175 

Maillard, Dr., France 537 

Manning, Col. (sugar planter), Louisiana. . . 945 

Mansfield, E. D., State Statistics, Ohio 973 

Mapes, Prof., New York city .73,576, 608, 920, 923 

Marks, Mr., Onond.iga Co., N. Y 886 

Martin, Gen., Bayou La Fourche, La 945 

















INDEX. 


1029 




Martin, Wm., Dalilonega, Ga 

Mason, S. P., Walnut Creek, N. Y 


Page 

582 
085 


Peirce, M. R., New York 


Page 
311 


Pell, Robert L., Ulster Co., N. Y.. 249 


209, 582 




Mather, Jos. H., Goshen, N. Y 


217 


1 Percy, Dr., England 


.... 351 






■ " W., Cuyahoga Co., Ohio 


822 


Periam, Jno. , Chicago 


.... 235 






Matson, J., Bourbon Co., Ky 


781 


Perry, A. G., Newark, Ohio 


.... 20 






Matthews, Mr., Durham, N. H 


102 


' ' James, New York city 


.... 381 






M.ittoon, Arannah, Washington, Mass. . . . 


843 


" P. H., Collins Centre, N. Y 


.... 218 






McCall, Henry, Bayou La Fourche, La 


946 


Peters, Hon. Richard, Atlanta, Ga. . . 


265, 681 






•' John R., Austin, Texas 


2(;5 


" Hon. T. C, Darien, Genesee 


Co., 






McCoUum, A., Eayou La Fourche, La. ... 
McKunn, John. Gravescnd. L. I 


1)46 
801 


NY 74 


862, 886 
.... 89 




Pettibone, Mr., Manchester, Vt 




Mead, Peter B., New York city 


227 


Peyton, General, Richmond, Va 


.... 714 






Mears, Thomas D., Wilmington, N. C 


951 


Phelps, Charles B., Colebrook, Ct 


.... 498 






Jleclii, J. J., England 27, 86 


887 


Philippar, Mons,, Versailles 


.... 697 






Metcalf, C. L., Franklin, Mass 


908 


Pitcher, Edwin, Martinsburg, N. Y. . . 


.... 457 






Middaugh, Mr.. Red Wing, Minn 


692 


Plumb, Mr., Onondaga Co , N Y 


.... 75 






Middleton, Col., South Carolina 


116 


Poiteau, Mons. , France 


.... 697 






Miles, William, England 


112 


Polk, Gen. Leonidas, Bayou La Fourche. . . 943 






Miller, George, Canada West 


072 


" William, near New Orleans, La.. 


.... 945 






Mr., La Porte, Ind 


832 


Policy, John C, De Witt, Clinton Co., 


bwa 789 






•' Samuel, Lebanon, Penn 

" William F., Lancaster. Penn 


633 

58 




946 




Poulet, Mons , France 


.... 347 




Mills, Hiram, Lewis Co., N. Y 


705 


Pratt, General, Rocky Hill, Ct 


.... 791 






Miner. T. B., Oneida Co., N. Y 


104 


" E. (Jr.), Freeport, Me 


182, 781 






Molan, Mr., Wayne Co., Ohio 


075 


Priestley, Dr. Jos. , England 


.... 347 






Moody, Mr., New Jersey .• 


249 


Prince, Wm. R., Flushing, L. I 


.... 2S0 






Morely, Mr., Onondaga Co., N. Y 


886 


Proctor, J. W. , South Danyers, Mass. . 


.... 819 






Morgan, John, Lima, N. Y 


100 


Provost, Mr., Williamsburgh, L. I. . . . 


. ... 636 






" Justin, Stockbridge, Vt 


100 


Purvis, Robert, Byberrv, Penn 


, ... 79 






Morrill, P., Maine 


765 
828 


Putnam, Wm. H., Brooklyn, Ct 

Pugh, Thomas, Louisiana 


. ... 716 
. ... 944 




Morris, Col. A. T., Indianapolis, Ind 




" L., Windsor, Ashtabula Co., Ohio . 


477 


Quinby, M., Amsterdam, N. Y. . . 165, 


171, 173 






" Miss, Germantown, Penn 


231 


Quincy, Josiah (Jr.), Boston, Mass. .76 


867, 888 






Jloses, Chester, Marcellus, N. Y 


924 


Quinn, Mr., Newark, N. J 


297, 524 






Motley, Mr., Massachusetts 


452 


Raiinesque, Professor, France 


. ... 491 






Mottier, John L . Cincinnati, Ohio 


658 


Rand, E. S. (Jr ), Boston, Mass 


. ... 185 






Moxley. J. T., Sheboygan Co., Wis 

Murray, 0. S., Warren Co., Ohio 722 


8iH 


Randall, Capt. New Bedford, Mass. . . 


37 






807 


Ransom, Robert, Ipswich, England . . . 


. ... 918 






Mvrick, A. S., Jefferson Valley. N. Y 


784 


Remington, Markhani & Co., Ilion, N.Y 


921,926 






Napp, Christian, Wayne Co., Ohio 


675 


Renick, Wm., Circleville, Ohio 


... 22 






Nash, Professor, New York city 183 


411 


Renwlck, Professor, New York, late of 


... 346 






Nearing, Col. Mars 


958 


Reynal, Mons., Ayort, France 


... 78 






^ Newberry, E. F.. Montgomery Co.. Ill 


823 


Rhoads, B. M., Baltimore, Md 


.... 882 






Newbold, Charles, Burlington, N. J 


918 


Rice, L. B., Middlebury, Vt 


. ... 232 






Newman, Jonas, Ulster Co., N. Y. 


550 


Richard, Robert (sugar planter), Louisiana. 940 






Nightingale, Florence, England 

North, E., Rochester, Racine Co., Wis 


277 




799 






920 


Robie, H., Georgetown, N. Y 


.... 781 






Norris, L., Windsor, A.-ihtabula Co., 0. .477 


485 


Robinson, J. G., Hancock, Vt 


... 843 






Norton, John T., Farmington, Ct 441 


448 


" Dr. D. A., Union Springs, N. 


Y.. 340 






" Capt. Tliomas A., Yarmouth, Mass. 


152 


Roe, «ecley C. , Chester. Orange Co. , N. 


Y. 38, 78 






Nourse, Joel, Boston, Mass 773 


919 


Rotch, Francis. Butternuts, Otsego Co., N.Y. 260 








21 
588 




... 714 




Olney, C, Pittsford, Monroe Co., N. Y 


Ryan, Mr., Sonoma, Cal 


... 653 




Ostensacken, Baron, Sec. Russian .Legation 




Sainsyain Brothers, Los Angeles, Cal. . 


... 662 






United States ' 


185 
848 


Sanborn, Dr. E., Andover, Mass 

Sanderson, John, Bernardston, Mass. . . 


... 210 
... 52 




Otis, Amos, Yarmouth. Mass 




Oyershire, John F., Athens, Bradford Co., 




Savory, Mr., De Kalb Co., Ill 


... 450 








738 
538 


Schncicke, Frederick, Cincinnati, Ohio 
Scribner, J. L., Montpelier, Vt 


... 659 
... 171 






Pardee, R. G., New York 217, 224 


i Parker, Dr. J. W., Columbia, S. C 


733 


Searls, Wm., E-iton Co., Mich 


...843 ■ 


- 


i Parsons, L. M., Wakau, Wis 


Sfifi 


Secor. Mr., New Rochelle, N. Y 


... 548 




1 '■ S. B., Flusliing, L.I 


175 


Seymom-, George, Norwalk, Ct 


... 548 




Peabody, Charle.s A., Columbus, Ga 


541 


SheaS, Mr., Dutchess Co., N. Y 


... 54 




[ Peacock, David, New Jersey, late of 

Peake, Mrs. E. M., Hudson, N. Y 


918 




... 173 




632 


Shepard, Mr., Saratoga Co., N. Y 


... 788 




\~ Pean, Peter, Clarke, Kv 


731 


Sheppard, Wm., Ann Arundel Co., Md. 


... 238 




1 Pease, Wm., Oswego, N. Y 


781 


Shook, J., Wayne-Co.. N. Y 


... 675 






Peck, Mr., Chaplin, Ct 


791 


Sickman, John, Wayne Co., N. Y 


... 675 












__] 



Small, James, Berwickshire, Scotland 918 

Smith, Ira, Peoria, 111 640 

" J. M., Beaver Co., Penn 794 

Mr., Colchester, Ct 222 

" Robert, Buckiugham, Penn 918 

" R. Biird, Ii-rigatioii Eugineer, En- 

glauil 906 

Smoker, Isaac, Aihliud Co., Ohio 675 

Sneedly, Joel, Fiiltoii. Lancaster Co., Penn. 693 

SiielUng, G. G., South Thomaston, Me 783 

Sostz, Mr., Berks Co., Penn 54 

Soyer, Ale.xis, France 357 

Speer, Alfred. Passaic, N. J 423 

Spencer, Thomas, Cape Girardeau, Mo 718 

Sperry, Mr., Bethany, Ct 790 

" Mr., Che.5hire. Ct 797 

Sprengel, Professor, Germany 888 

Squier, E. G., New York city 941 j 

Starr & Gaylord, Lake City, Minn 692 

Stearns, Charles, Springfield, Miss 317 

Steele, Henry, New Jersey 218 

Stevens, Amlirjse, Genes3e Co., N. Y 672 

Edwin A., Hoboken, N J 919 

" JohnO., South Amboy, N.J., late of 316 

" Paran, Boston, Ma-ss 65 

Stewart, James, Lancaster, Penn 53 

Mr., Erie Co., N. Y 883 

Stone, Dr. (sugar planter), Louisiana 946 

Stoughton, T. M., GreenticM, Mass 449 

Strawn, Jacob, Smgamjri Co., Ill 74 

Sturtevant. E, T., Cleveland, Ohio 170 

Summer, Ool A. G., Pomaria, S. C 238 

Sutter, Mrs., C.ilifornia 174 

Swan, R. J . G;;ieva, N. Y 914 

Sylvester, M . VYayne Co., N. Y 886 

Tanner, J. N., Terrebonne, Bayou La 

Fourche, La 946 

Taylor, James, St. Catherine's, C. W 217 

" John, Caroline Co., Va 872 

" Ju ija, Jericho, Ky 631 

WilUim, Ocean Co., N. J 30 

" War \V., South Dartmouth, Mass. 626 

Teubrook, J. \V., Rockville, Ind 496 

Thatcher, Richard, Darby, Penn 22 1 

Thompson, Gen. Waddy, South Carolina . . 130 j 
" J. R. (sugar planter), Louisiana 946 I 

Taomion, Mr., D.Uwarc, Ohio 631 

Thorne, Samuel, Wasliington, Dutchess Co., 

N. Y 87 

Tobey, Nathaniel M., Tompkins Co., N. Y.. 191 

Toguo, Dr., Wilmington, N. C 635 

Townsend, Mr., Edisto Island, S. C 715 

Treadwell, Professor, Cambridge, Mass 187 

Treat & Son, Eastport, Me 274 



Page 

Trimble, Dr., Newark, N. J 217, 

219, 220, 225, 231 

Tucker, James, Bayou La Fourche, La 946 

" J. \V., Bayou La Fourche, La 946 

Luther, Albany, N. Y 340, 910 

Turner, Professor J. B., Jacksonville, III... 923 
Tuttle, Dr. J. T.. Rye, Westchester Co., N.Y. 732 
Underbill, Dr., Croton Pomt, N. Y. 217, 641, 651 

Ure, Dr., England 396 

Vallejo, General, Sonoma, Cal 653 

Vanmeter, A., Fayette, Ky 731 

Vilmorin, Mons., Paris, France 759 

Voelcker, Dr. Augustus, Cirencester, En- 
gland 66, 827, 899 

Vreeder, J. P., New York city 297 

Vulkan, Dr. Franz, Eppan, Ihe Tyrol 643 

Wade, Mr., Canada West 87 

Wagoner, Samuel, York, Penn 175 

Wakeman, James, Du Page Co., Ill 568 

Wales, Theron, Windham, Portage Co., 0.. 181 
Walworth, Mr., St. Lamcnce Co. , N. Y. .. 671 

Ward, Dr , Newark, N. J 538 

Warner, D. W., Sharon Springs, N. Y 194 

Waterbury, Dr., New York city 73 

Watts, James H., Rochester, N. Y C31 

Way, Professor, England 750 

" Thomas (sugar planter), Louisiana . . 945 

Webb, Jonas, England 81 

Webster, Bidlock, England 643 

Weishampol, Rev. J.S. (Sen.),Baltimore,Md. 221 

Wells, William V., New York city 174 

West, J. D., Pump Maker, Broadway, New 

York city 314 

Wetmore, Lansing, Warren, Penn 721 

AVheeler, Mr., Wayne Co., N. Y 525 

White, Mr., Chautauque Co., N. Y 147 

" Mr., Manchester, Ct ... 797 

Whitlock, D. S., Rochester, N. Y 787 

J.S. &G.S., Monmouth Co., N.J. 787 
Whitney, Eli. born in Westborough, Mass.. 934 
Willdnsonj Wra., New Braunfels, Texas. . . 93 
Willard, John H., Wilton, Franklin Co., Me. 731 

Williams, Col., Society Hill, S. C 938 

S., Seneca €o., N. Y 886 

Wing, Benjamin, Rochester, N. Y 789 

Woocl, Isaac N., Hampden Co., Mass 78J 

" Jethro, New Jersey 918 

" J. M., New York 924 

Woodward, (5eo. E. , New York city 325 

Wright, E. C, Gallatin Co., Ill 73 

Mr., Poughkeepsie, N. Y 526 

" Joseph A., Indiana 85 

Youmans, Edward L. , New York city . 359, 383 
Young, Mr., Jessamine Co., Ky 731 



C R E 1) I T . 



" Give honor to icTtom lionor is ihte.^' I lirtve not given credit in tlie body of the work tA 
all tbe sources from wliicli 1 liave gathered facts. 1 freely aclinowledge myself indebted to 
the -whole agricultural press. I give a list of these papers as they were when I commenced 
compiling the worlc in 1861, though we are aware that quite a number of them, particuhirly 
in Southern States, have been discontinued. 

AGRICULTURAL PAPERS IN THE UNITED STATES. 

The Maine Farmer. This is a large-sized folio, clearly printed on good white paper ; one 
page is devoted to well-selected agricultural matter. Homan & Manley, Augusta, Me., pro- 
prietors. Dr. E. Holmes, editor ; weekly, $2 a year. 

Eastern Farmer, published at Ellsworth, Me., a weekly folio, at $1 a year, by "Wasson & 
Moore, is about one third agricultural. 

The New Eamjishire Journal of Agrinilture, folio, is published at Manchester, N. El., by 
Wm. II. Gihnore, at $1 50 a year ; Z. Breed & M. A. Cortland, editors. It is about half 
agricultural. 

Boston makes a good show of agricultural paper.s in the four nest following : 

The New England Farmer is the continuation of one of the oldest of farmers' papers. 
Many will remember The New England Farmer and Fessenden, of aukl lang syTie. It is now 
published weekly by Nourse, Eaton & Talman, with Gov. Simon Brown as editor, and is 
really one of the best on the list. It is a large, handsomely -printed folio, published at $3 a 
year, and always has one i>age or more of valuable matter for the farmer. Thei'e is or was a 
monthly, at $1 a year, made up of the agricultural matter of the weekly. 

The Massachusetts Ploughman is another of similar character, not quite so much devoted to 
farming as The N. E. Farmer, but is a good family paper. Weekly, $2 a year. W. &. "W. .J. 
Buckminster, editors and proprietors. 

Boston Cultivator ; a large quarto, now in its twenty-second volume, published weekly, at 
$2 a year, by O. Brewer & Sou ; is about one fourth agricultural. James Pedder, formerly 
editor of The Farmer''s Cabinet, Philadelphia, was, many years before his death, connected with 
The Cultivator, and so was — perhaps is — Sanford Howard. 

Magazine of Horticulture ; amonthly octavo of 48 pages, published by Ilovey & Co. at $2; 
is now in its twenty-sixth volume. It is devoted entirely to horticultural matters, fruits, 
fl.owers, etc., and is the journal of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and is patronized 
by all the leading horticulturists in the country. It is not so well adapted to the wants of 
farmers' families generally, as it is to. suburban residents who have an abundance of money to 
spend in beautifying their places. It is always faultless in its typography. 

The Homestead, a weekly octavo of 32 pages, formerly a quarto of 16 pages, is published at 
Hartford, Conn., by Mason C. Weld, at $2 a year, and now in its sixth volume. It is devoted 
to agriculture, and particularly to Connecticut farming; often showing np the bad as well as 
the good. It is a good paper for farmers. Rev. Wm. Clift, Henry A. Dyer, Secretary of 
Connecticut State Agricultural Society, and T. S. Gold, are its editors. 

The American Agriculturist, a large, beautifully printed monthly quarto of 32 pages, filled 
with matter designed to advance the science of agriculture and horticulture, and improve- 
ment of all that pertains to rural life. Orange Judd, editor and proprietor ; $1 a year ; New 



1032 CREDIT TO AGRICULTURAL PAPERS. 

York city. This paper is now in its nineteenth year, and probably has the largest circulation 
of any agricultural paper in America, and is published in i^n office with a rent of |3,000 a 
year. This indicates success in a purely agricultural journal. 

Tlie Amerieanischer Agriculturist is a German translation of the above, of the'same form, 
size, and price, and is, we believe, the first German agricultural paper published in tliis 
country. 

The HorticiiUiirist ; originally established by Luther Tucker at Albany, and edited by A. J. 
Downing ; is now published in New York by 0. M. Saxton, Barker & Co., and edited by Peter 
B. Mead. It is a large octavo, 48 pages, monthly, $2 a year (with colored plates $5). It is 
mainly devoted to the higher branches of horticulture, where the outlay is necessarily large, 
rather than to the wants of the many, and its circulation is therefore limited to a class not 
yet very large in this country. It is generally to be found in all first-class rural residences, 
and in those of " fancy farmers," as they are called, and of all gardeners and nurserymen of 
good standing. 

The Working Farmer ; a monthly quarto of 24 pages, beautifully printed, edited by Pro- 
fessor Mapes, and published in New York city by his sou, C. Vr Mapes, at $1 a year. It is 
now in its twelfth volume, and is always filled with valuable matter. It copies from the best 
foreign agricultural journals, and is richly deserving of a much larger circulation. 

American Stock Journal ; a monthly octavo of 32 pages ; D. C. Linsley, editor and proprie- 
tor, New York, %\ a year ; mainly devoted to matters connected with the business of raising 
farm-stock, though it contains mucli useful information upon agriculture in general. 

The Country Gentleman ; a weekly paper, whose title indicates its purpose ; is published at 
Albany, by Luther Tucker & Son, and is one of the neatest specimens of typography exhib- 
ited in any weekly paper, and is always readable, the matter being nearly all agricultural. 
It is edited by the proprietors and J. J. Thomas, a veteran editor, and its readers get from 
it. a mass of valuable information for $2 a year in its 16 handsome quarto pages. 

The Cultivator is a monthly, made up from the above, 24 handsome, large octavo pages, 
at .50 cents a year. It is now in its twenty-second volume. 

The Rural American is a weekly quarto, with just agriculture enough to cill it an agricul- 
tural journal, published at Uliuton, N. Y., at $1 50 a year; T. B. Miner, editor and proprietor. 
It has been published some five years, having started, we believe, at 25 cents a year. 

The Saratoga Farmer. This is a new enterprise, by G. A. Corey, Saratoga Springs; 16 
pages octavo, monthlj', at $1 a year. 

The Dairy Farmer, Little Falls, N. Y., monthly, 32 pages octavo; A. W. Eaton, publisher, 
at 50 cents a year. This is also a new work, devoted chiefly to dairy farming. 

The Genesee Farmer. This is a continuation of the oldest farming paper in the State. It 
is a well-printed octavo, 32 pages, of valuable matter for all farmers, published at 50 cents 
a year monthly, at Rochester, N. Y., by Joseph Harris, editor and proprietor. 

Moore's Rural 2\^ew Yorker, Rochester; large quarto, weekly, $2 a year. It is divided 
equally between agricultural aifairs and miscellaneous matters. It is deservedly a very pop- 
ular family paper. D. D. T. Moore, proprietor and editor, assisted by " an able corps of 
assistants." 

This makes up a round dozen of agricultural papers in the State of New York. Besides 
tliese, several of the political papei-s, of late years, have devoted much space to giving prac- 
tical information to formers. Of this class, the Tribune is one, and is welcomed into many 
a family on account of such information. 

The JS''ew Jersey Farmer ; now in its fifth volume; is published in Trenton, by D. Naar, 
editor and proprietor, at $1 a year ; 32 pages octavo ; agriculture and horticulture. 

The Gardener^ s Monthly ; octavo, 48 pages ; a popular journal, chiefly devoted to horticul- 
ture ; is no w in its second volume. "We hope for it a long life of usefulness. Edited by Thomas 
Meehau, Philadelphia ; $1 a year. 

Farmer and Gardener, Philadelphia ; octavo, 32 pages, agricultural and horticultural ; $1 
a year. A. M. Spangler, editor and proprietor ; is in its second volume. 



CREDIT TO AGRICULTURAL PAPERS. 1033 

The Germantoicn (Penn.) Telegraph is an old established miscellaneous paper with an 
agricultural department ; a -n^eekly quarto, $2 a year. P. R. Freas, editor and proprietor. 

National Agriculturist, Pittsburg, Penn., in its third volume, is an 8 page quarto, pub- 
lished monthly, at $1 a year, by J. T. F. TVright, editor and proprietor; devoted principally 
to agriculture, but in part to general miscellany. ' 

Ohio Farmer, Cleveland ; weekly, $2 a year ; a handsome quarto, filled with miscellaneous 
and agricultural matter suited to an enlightened farmer's family. Col. S. D. Harris, editor 
and proprietor. 

The House and Garden is published monthly, at Cleveland, at 50 cents a year, by Thomas 
Brown, editor and proprietor. It is a 16 page pamphlet, devoted to agricultural and house- 
hold affairs. 

The Woul- Grower is a monthly quarto, devoted to the interests of wool-growers, stock 
niatters^nd miscellany. It i)urports to be printed at Cleveland, Ohio, at 50 cents a year, 
without editor or publisher being named. 

Ohio Cultivator, Columbus; semi-monthly; in its sixteenth volume, at $1 a year, is a large 
octavo, 16 pages, devoted to agriculture, horticulture, and stock. Col. S. D. Harris, editor 
and proprietor. 

Ohio Valley Former, Cincinnati; a monthly quarto, 16 pages, now volume five, |1 a year; 
agricultural and horticultural. Published by B F. Sanford. 

The Cincinnatus, Cincinnati, Ohio; a monthly octavo, 48 pages; a neatly got-np pamphlet; 
published in covers at $2 a year, edited by F. G. Cary, proprietor, is now in its fifth volume. 
It is agricultural and horticultural, and prints the proceedings of the Cincinnati Horticul- 
tural Society. 

The Farm^r^s Borne is the name of another Cincinnati agricultural p.aper, published monthly, 
by E. M. Spencer & Co., at 50 cents a year. 

Indiana Farmer, J. K. Ray, editor and proprietor, Indianapolis; semi-monthly, 16 pages 
quarto, $1 a year, is now in its ninth volume; and though called the Indiana Farmer, is filled 
with matter equally well adapted to farming in the adjoining States. 

Michigan Farmer, Detroit; an old established weekly quarto, 8 pages, $3 a year; R. F. 
.Johnson, editor and publisher ; is mainly devoted to agriculture and kindred subjects. 

Wisconsin Farmer, Madison ; D. -J. Powers & Co., publishers ; 32 pages octavo, $1 a year ; 
agricultural and horticultural ; adapted to the wants of the Northwest. 

Prairie Farmer, Chicago, Illinois; Emery & Co., publishers; a well-printed quarto of 16 
pages, weekly, at $2 a year; making agriculture its leading feature, with horticulture and 
familj- miscellany. This paper dates back over twenty years. It was established by John S. 
Wright, and has always been conducted with such ability as to make it particularly valuable 
to all Western farmers. 

Farmers' Advocate, Chicago; J. Bonham, .editor and proprietor ; a weekly quarto, 16 pages, 
^1 50 a year; an offshoot of the Prairie Farmer of some three years' standing. 

Illinois Farmer, Springfield; Bailhache & Baker, publishers; monthly quarto, 16 pages, 
$1 a year, in its fifth volume ; is mainly agricultural, and especially devoted to the interests 
of the Illinois farmer. 
Iowa Farmer. There was — perhaps is — an Iowa Farmer, edited by Wm. Dnane Wilson. 
NehrasTca Farmer, Brownsville; volume one, monthly octavo, 16 pages, agricultural and 
horticultural, §1 a year ; R. N. Farnas, publisher. 

Valley Farmer. Norman J. Coleman, editor and publisher, St. Louis; A. Gunter, pub- 
lislier, Louisville; II. P. Byram, traveling editor; octavo, 32 pages, %\ a year; a monthly 
agricultural journal, designed to benefit the planter, farmer, gardener, ti-uit-grower, and 
stock-raiser. It is a covered pamphlet, handsomely printed, and in matter well worthy of the 
patronage of tliose it is intended to benefit. 

Oregon Farmer, Portland; A. G. Walling, editor; semi-monthly quarto, 8 pages, $2 50 a 
year ; now in its third volume of agricultural, horticultural, and miscellaneous matter suited 
to that State. 



1034 CREDIT TO AGRICULTURAL PAPERS. 

The Minnesota Farmer and Gardener ; published at St. Paul, monthly, in octavo form, 32 
pages, L. M. Ford & Co., publishers. Vol. I. looks well. Price, $1 per annum. 

California Farmer, San Francisco; 8 well-printed pages quarto, weekly, at $5 a year. 
An agricultural and miscellaneous journal, largely patronized by advertisers. Edited and 
published by Col. Warren. It is now iif its fourteenth volume, and is doubtless found valua- 
ble to the agricultural community in the gold-digging State. 

California Ctdlurist, San Francisco ; Wadsworth & Flint, editors and proprietors ; a 
monthly octavo of 48 pages, at $4 a year; devoted to agriculture and horticulture; in its 
third volume. 

The American Farmer ; first published over forty years ago at Baltimore ; is a monthly 
octavo of 32 pages, at $1 a year; Ly Worthington & Lewis, successors to Samuel Sands, wlio 
succeeded John S. Skinner. This has always been a well-conducted, popular paper, the con- 
tents never belying its name, though somewhat more devoted to Southern than Northern 
farming. 

The Rural Register, Baltimore, ild. ; quarto, 16 pages, in three columns, exclusive of ad- 
vertisements; by Samuel Sands, who was publisher of The American Farmer for a long time, 
and S. Sands Mills. This paper is now in its second volume, and well filled with matter as 
well suited to Northern farmers as Southern planters. Monthly, $1 a year. 

Southern Planter ; a small sized octavo, 0-i pages; published monthly at Richmond, Va., 
by Augustus Williams, at $2 a year ; maintains a popularity established twenty years ago. 

North Carolina Planter; published monthly, at Raleigh, by A. W. Gorman, at $2 a year; 
octavo, 32 pages. This, as its name indicates, is local in its character, and as such entitled to 
patronage. It is now in its third volume. 

The Edgecombe Farm Joimial is published at Tarboro', N. C, in one of the most enter- 
prising, improving sections. of that State. It is now in its first volume; is a well-printed 
quarto, 8 pages, monthly; 50 cents a year; William B. Smith & Co., editors and pro- 
prietors, who certainly give their subscribers (we hope they are numerous) the value of their 
money. 

Farmer and Planter, Columbia, S. C. ; R. M. Stokes, proprietor, Col. Sumner, editor; 
octavo, 82 pages, covered ; monthly, $1 a year. Particularly adapted to Southern agriculture, 
and valuable for all planters. It has been published eleven years, but has never received the 
patronage it merits. 

The Southern Cnltivator ; a large octavo of 32 pages; is published monthly, by W. S.Jones, 
at Augusta, Georgia, at $1 a year ; was formerly edited by Dr. Lee, and now by the pub- 
lisher and Mr. Redmond. It is Southern in its character, and justly popular there. 

Southern Field and Fireside; published weekly, at Augusta, by J. Gardner, at $2 a year; 
is partly agricultural and partly miscellaneous ; a quarto, now in its second volume. 

American Cotton Planter, Montgomery, Alabama; a monthly octavo of 48 pages. A 
Southern journal of agriculture, at |1 a year, by Dr. Cloud, editor and proprietor. 

Southern Rural Gentleman, Grenada, Miss. ; a quarto-weekly, $2 50 a year ; J. L. Davis, 
proprietor ; is now in its third volume, and is made up of agricultural and miscellaneous 
matter suited to that region. 

Canadian Agriculturist, Toronto ; appears to be published by the Board of Agriculture, and 
contains its transactions and other agricultural matter, principally Canadian. It is issued 
semi-monthly, 32 octavo pages, at 50 cents a year. 

Possibly I have missed some, particularly those that print much agricultural matter, like 
the Weekly and Semi- Weekly Tribune, and I also add two new ones: 

The Sorgo Journal, published monthly, by Wm. II. Clark, Cincinnati, Ohio. |1. 

Land- Marks, a quarto monthly, at $1, by Dr. C. W. Grant, the great grape propagator and 
fruit culturist, Zona, near Peekskill, N. Y. 



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